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The verses that follow I Cor. 13: 8 indicate that as our earthly life ends and eternal
life dawns, faith and hope will vanish with sight and reality, but love will remain as an
indispensable attitude and outworking, both between the saint and his fellow saints, but
also between them and their heavenly Father.
The defection of Judas Iscariot has been the subject of many studies and much
surmise. It may be really only helpful to observe what has been actually recorded. Our
Lord was grieved and troubled (13: 21) in the knowledge He had of this imminent act of
gross betrayal. Judas had already witnessed the selfless sacrifice of riches to display utter
devotion by Mary with her spikenard. Our Lord's rebuke (John 12: 7, 8) to Judas was
lost on him. The example set by Christ in washing his feet was passed over and finally
the honour done to him by being the one to whom Christ gave the sop can only have
hardened the heart of Judas still more.
Our Lord realize here the Judas would not repent and that another prophecy placed by
God in the O.T. (Psa. 41: 9) was being fulfilled by Him and so He says to Judas:
"That thou doest, do quickly" (13: 27).
In order that the subsequent action by Judas should not be a cause of discouragement
and despair to the disciples, He assures them of His prior knowledge of the betrayal (19)
and its importance as prophecy fulfilled. It is this latter fact that leads Christ to say:
"Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in Him. If God be glorified in
Him, God shall also glorify Him in Himself, and shall straightway glorify Him" (13: 31,
32).
We see nothing in the way of `glory of magnificence' of Christ then or in His
appearances after resurrection. We are told of His coming glory, of that resplendent
nature, in many places in the Scriptures including Luke 21: 27: "Coming in a cloud
with power and great glory". To what glory then is our Lord referring in the context of
John 13: 31, 32? Surely it is the faithful fulfillment of O.T. prophecy set there by His
Father, so vindicating the truth of the Scriptures, and by the resurrection of Christ the
vindication of all the words and claims of the Lord Jesus Christ in regard to His relation
to His heavenly Father and specifically His apostleship, that is "the sent One" from God.
This chain relationship--the Father, the Son, and the Word we have referred make us
realize its paramount importance in the world today. It establishes the message of
salvation and knowledge of the ways of God, for otherwise we should have no link with
an unseen and unknowable Creator and God.
This chain Christ now extends to His disciples who were to carry the witness on after
our Lord's return to heaven:
"He that receiveth whomsoever I send receiveth Me;
and he that receiveth Me
receiveth Him that sent Me" (13: 20).