words I take to be this. " I have completed the work of re- demption which Thou didst send Me into the world to accom- plish,— My death and resurrection being so near that to all intents and purposes it is finished."
On the use of the past tense here instead of the future, Au- gustine remarks, *' Christ saith He has finished that which He most surely knows He will finish. Thus long before in proph- ecy he used verbs of past tense, when that which He said was to come to pass after many years. ' They pierced,' says He, * my hands and my feet : ' not they will pierce." (Psalm xxii. 16.)
It has been truly remarked that Christ alone, of all born of woman, could say literally " I have finished the work Thou gavest Me to do." He did what the first Adam failed to do, and all the saints in every age fail to do : He kept the law per- fectly, and by so keeping it brought in everlasting righteous- ness for all them that believe. Yet here is the model we ought to keep before our eyes continually. We must aim to finish the work our Father appoints for us, whether great or small.
Musculus remarks, that true godly obedience is to be seen not merely in doing such work as we arbitrarily take up, but in doing such work as God appoints us to do.
It admits of doubt, whether there is not a latent reference in the end of this verse to Daniel's prophecy, that Messiah would " finish transgression, make an end of sins, make reconciliation for iniquity, and bring in everlasting righteousness." (Dan. ix. 34.)
Let it be carefully noted that Christ's redeeming work on earth was " work which the Father gave Him to do." He was the Person commissioned in the counsels of the everlasting Trinity to do this work.
" On the earth " must include the whole period of Christ's incarnation, from His birth until His ascension. During all that period He glorified the Father by perfect unvarying holi- ness.
5. — \_And now, 0 Father, glorify Thou Me, etci\ Having briefly recited His work on earth, or, as it were, rendered an account of His ministry, our Lord now repeats the one prayer with which He began : " Glorify Me." The meaning of this verse I take to be as follows : " Father, my earthly work being now finished, I ask to be restored to that heavenly glory which in an unspeakable manner I had with Thee, as one of the co-equal and undivided Trinity, long before this world existed. The period of my humiliation and self-imposed weakness being ac- complished, let Me once more share Thy glory, and sit with Thee on Thy throne as I did before my incarnation."
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