We saw it personally, His majesty – “for He received from God the Father honour and glory”. When did that happen? “When a voice came to Him from the Excellent Glory: This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And we heard this voice which came from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mount”.
He's saying: we saw great honour, great majesty. We saw Jesus honoured by His Father in front of us. Jesus is honoured in front of the crowds; and He's honoured in front of His disciples; and then the Bible tells us that He will return, with exceeding great honour and majesty.
Philippians 2:8-11 – “Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient to the point of death on the cross. Therefore God has highly exalted Him, given Him a name above every other name; that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, that every tongue should confess, that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God our Father”.
Again, it tells us, that Jesus is highly exalted; and when He returns, He will return with glory. We saw the example of Solomon being elevated by God, given exceeding great honour before men. We see Jesus being honoured before men; and in front of His disciples. We see that this honour comes from God Himself. Jesus has received great honour; and Jesus also promised honour to us. He was talking to His disciples; and He promised them honour in the coming kingdom.
Luke 22:28-30 – “You are those who've continued with Me in My trials. I bestow or I gift to you a kingdom, just as My Father has bestowed upon Me, that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom and sit on thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel”.
What an amazing promise that Jesus has made now to His disciples, who have given their lives now following Him, given up their careers, they've given everything to serve Him and to follow Him. He says: in the coming kingdom, just like My Father has bestowed upon Me - I'm going to allow you to eat at My table. It's one thing to eat the bridegroom's table; it's another to eat at the guest's table.
He said: I'll grant you to eat at My table, and to sit on thrones with Me - and you'll be judging the 12 tribes of Israel. He promised them intimacy – “at My table, eating with Me”; and of honour – “I'll bestow on you a kingdom, and of authority, you will judge the 12 tribes of Israel”. He's made that promise, but He's also made a promise now to every believer that follows Him. You see a pattern there: Solomon was honoured; Jesus was honoured by the Father, in front of His disciples; He's honoured when He comes again; and now He's talking about honour to us. Here's the promise…
John 12:26 – “If anyone… “. This is open to all. It's not something that God determines. It's something that you determine, by your response to Him. “If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him will My Father honour”.
Anyone, so this is for anyone. This is an open invitation to any person: “if anyone serves Me, let him follow Me and where I am, My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honour”. If anyone serves Me - they do acts of service to Jesus, or as His representative. If any man serves the Lord, He says: let him follow Me. It seems like a weird combination, saying: if any man serves Me, now let him follow Me. You would've thought ‘those who follow Me, should serve Me’, but He's not saying that.
He's saying: if you serve Me, meaning you already have decided to connect with Him, build relationship with Him… when He says, ‘to follow Me’, this is what He means. This is not evident, when you first look at it. To follow a rabi meant to accompany him, and then copy his teaching and his lifestyle, and become like him; do the same things he did and teach the same things he taught. So to follow Jesus means to allow His words to shape our life and character, so we become like Him. In the Book of Acts, where they said of the disciples: “they perceive they're ignorant untrained men, but they realised they'd been with Jesus”. They had received an impartation of His way of thinking, His character and His lifestyle.