Jesus spoke these things, looked up to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify you, since you gave him authority over all people, so that he may give eternal life to everyone you have given him. This is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and the one you have sent —Jesus Christ. I have glorified you on the earth by completing the work you gave me to do. Now, Father, glorify me in your presence with that glory I had with you before the world existed” (John 17:1-5, CSB).

The glorification of Jesus through His death on the cross and subsequent resurrection and ascension to be seated at the right hand of God forever is explained again in John 17. Jesus first framed His explanation of His glorification around the betrayal of Judas when the betrayal was exposed during the Last Supper as told in John 13.

After Jesus finished instructing His disciples at the last supper, Jesus then prayed for them. When Jesus prayed for His disciples, He didn’t mention the specifics of the events about to take place. But, He did indicate the result of what these events would produce—His and the Father’s glorification.

When he had left, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man is glorified, and God is glorified in him. If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once ” (John 13:31-32, CSB).

The three stages of Christian development and the doctrine of glorification are usually associated with the writings of Paul: “For those he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, so that he would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined, he also called; and those he called, he also justified; and those he justified, he also glorified” (Romans 8:29-30, CSB; see also 1 Corinthians 15:35-53; 2 Corinthians 3:18).

In the coherent parlance of a master storyteller, Jesus introduced His disciples to the intricate theological construct of glorification in the final hours before His arrest.