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John 3:16 says that He (God) gave His only begotten Son; and Psalm 2:7 says, "You are My Son, today I have begotten You." God has existed as three persons from eternity past. Before creation, God the Son was happy and content in His role as the eternal Son of God. In John 17:5, Jesus prayed to the Father, asking Him to glorify the Son with the glory He had before the creation of the world. Jesus seems to be referring to the glory He had before Satan and the angels fell into sin.
It would have been a time when God's glory was untarnished and unaffected by the evil, wickedness, and corruption of His creation. When God's created beings, (angelic and human) rebelled and fell into sin, they dishonored their Creator. This is why God sent His unique and only Son to earth, to restore the peace and harmony to His creation, and His glory at the same time.
When we read about the creation account in Genesis 1, we find all the persons of the Godhead involved. In Genesis 1:1 it says, "God created the heavens and the earth." Verse 2 says, "And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters." In verse 26 it says, "Let Us make man in Our own image, according to Our own likeness." When it uses the word Us, it is referring to the trinity, all three persons.
The gospel of John makes it clear that the Son was present and involved in creation, when it says that the Word (Son) "was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him and without Him nothing was made that was made."
The eternal Son was before creation, He was present and active in creation, and He will be present and active in the restoration of all things, when time as we know, it is no more.
Matthew 1:20 says, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit." Then we find this statement in Luke 1:35, "the Holy spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One Who is to be born will be called the Son of God." I Timothy 3:16 says this about the Son.
God was manifested in the flesh,
Justified in the Spirit,
Seen by angels,
Preached among the Gentiles,
Believed on in the world,
Received up in to glory.
The only begotten Son was received up into glory because he was an obedient Son who glorified His Father. Are we glorifying our Heavenly Father?
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Lyndon Stimeling, of Richfield, has been writing about faith and family for many years. He has self-published three books, Common Thoughts on The Word in 2016 and Eye of a Needle in 2017 and Common Thoughts on The Word II in 2019. He has also had articles published in The Coming Home Journal and local newspapers and has written a children's book.