<p>12:28 <i>Father, glorify your name</i>- The Lord Jesus struggled in Gethsemane between &ldquo;save <i>me</i>...&rdquo; and &ldquo;Father, glorify Your name&rdquo;. The glorifying of the Father&rsquo;s Name meant more to him than his personal salvation. Likewise Moses and Paul in spirit were prepared to sacrifice their personal salvation for the sake of Yahweh&rsquo;s Name being glorified in the saving of His people (Ex. 32:30-34 cp. Rom. 9:1-3).</p><p>When He addressed God as <i>abba</i>, 'dad', the Jews would have been scandalized. But this was the experience He had of God as a near at hand, compassionate Father. He purposefully juxtaposed <i>abba</i> with the Divine Name which Jews were so paranoid about pronouncing: &quot;Abba, glorify your name&quot; (Jn. 12:28). This was nothing short of scandal to Jewish ears. And we&nbsp;are to pray as the Lord prayed, also using &quot;Abba, father&quot; (Rom. 8:15; Gal. 4:6). Seeing it was unheard of at the time for Jews to pray to God using 'Abba', Paul is clearly encouraging us to relate to God and pray to Him as Jesus did (cp. Jn. 20:17). The Lord made a big deal of calling God 'Abba', even forbidding His Jewish followers to use the term about anyone else (Mt. 23:9).</p><p>The Lord Jesus prayed out loud: &quot;Father, glorify Your name&quot;. A voice came from Heaven saying that God had already done this and would do it again. And the Lord told the listeners that this response came not for His sake, not really as an answer to His prayer, but for their sakes, that in the apparent 'answer' to His words, they might see the power of prayer and the extent of the Father's relationship with the Son (Jn. 12:28-30). But He knew that the prayer had already been answered before it was prayed. And even with us, answers can come not necessarily for the sake of the answer, but to demonstrate other principles. Likewise the Lord asks us to pray for the Kingdom to come, not because this means that a certain number of prayers will change the date, but surely because the process of petition for the Kingdom is for our benefit.<br />&quot;Father, glorify your name&quot; could have been a request for the whole crucifixion and resurrection event to start there and then. It would only be natural for any genuine human to wish for it to start and be done with. There is good reason to understand that in those wretched hours of crucifixion, God was especially manifested to the world. There was a matchless, never to be surpassed partnership between Father and Son on the cross. God was in Christ on the cross, reconciling the world unto Himself (2 Cor. 5:19). There the Lord Jesus manifested and declared the Father's Name, His essential character, to the full (Jn. 12:28; 13:31,32; 17:5,6,26). The Lord's references to 'going to the Father' referred to His coming crucifixion. That was where the Father was, on the cross. In the very moment of His death the observing Centurion gasped, twice: &quot;<i>Truly</i> this was the Son of God&quot; (Mk. 15:40; Lk. 23:46). There was something so evidently Godly in that death. God was so near.</p><p>&quot;Hallowed be your name&quot; isn't merely an ascription of praise- it's actually a request for God to carry out all the implications of His Name in practice. When we sing praise to God's Name, we ask for it to be glorified- and here is where praise isn't mere painless performance of music. Once we bring the Name of God into it, we're actually asking for action in our lives. Jesus Himself prayed that part of His model prayer- &quot;Father, glorify your name&quot; (Jn. 12:28)- and soon afterwards He could comment that in His death, &quot;Now the Son of man is glorified, and in him God is glorified&quot; (Jn. 13:31). Thus in the Lord's case, a request to glorify God's Name lead Him ultimately to the cross.</p><p>The continuity of personality between the human Jesus and the now-exalted Jesus is brought out by meditation upon His &ldquo;glory&rdquo;. The glory of God refers to His essential personality and characteristics. When He &lsquo;glorifies Himself&rsquo;, He articulates that personality- e.g. in the condemnation of the wicked or the salvation of His people. Thus God was &quot;glorified&quot; in the judgment of the disobedient (Ez. 28:22; 39:13), just as much as He is &quot;glorified&quot; in the salvation of His obedient people. God glorified Himself in redeeming Israel, both in saving them out of Babylon, and ultimately in the future. Thus He was glorified in His servant Israel (Is. 44:23; 49:3). There are therefore both times and issues over which the Father is glorified. He was above all glorified in the resurrection of His Son. Each of these 'glorifications' meant that the essential Name / personality of the Father was being manifested and justified. The glory of the Lord Jesus was that of the Father. He was glorified in various ways and at different times within His ministry (e.g. Jn. 11:4); but He was also glorified in His resurrection and exaltation (Jn. 7:39). As the Lord approached the cross, He asked that the Father's Name be glorified. The response from Heaven was that God had already glorified it in Christ, and would do so again (Jn. 12:28). At the last Supper, the Lord could say: &quot;Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in him&quot; (Jn. 13:31).&nbsp; And yet various Scriptures teach that the Son of man was to be glorified in His death, in His resurrection (Acts 3:13), at His ascension, in His priestly mediation for us now (Heb. 5:5), in the praise His body on earth would give Him, in their every victory over sin, in every convert made (Acts 13:48; 2 Thess. 3:1), in every answered prayer (Jn. 14:13), and especially at His return (2 Thess. 1:10)... So the glorification of the Lord Jesus wasn't solely associated with His resurrection, and therefore it wasn't solely associated with His nature being changed or His receiving a new body. In each of these events, and at each of these times, the Name / glory / personality of the Father is being manifested, justified and articulated.</p><p><i>I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again</i>- The Name was glorified in the Lord's perfect life, and would be supremely in His death. There, in the nakedness, blood and spittle of the cross, the Name of God was declared. And yet the Name is glorified in that the characteristics of God are declared in the willing response of people (&quot;Who shall not fear You and glorify Your Name?&quot;, Rev. 15:4 s.w.). But here, God speaks of how He will glorify His Name; the revealing of His characteristics in people is not only over to them to achieve; God through the Spirit will do His part in bringing this about.</p>