The Hour of Glory: Jesus' Crucifixion, Not Ascension: A New Look at John 17:5

 The Hour of Glory: Jesus' Crucifixion, Not Ascension: A New Look at John 17:5

Many readers assume that when Jesus speaks of being glorified (not to be confused with glorification), He refers to returning to heaven or resuming a preexistent glory. But in the Gospel of John, a careful reading shows that “the hour” of His glorification is not His ascension—but His crucifixion.

“The Hour Has Come…”

John 12:23 – "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified."

What was about to happen when Jesus said this? Not His ascension, but His betrayal, suffering, and death. Just a few verses later, He makes it crystal clear:

John 12:27 – "Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. 

And how does the Father respond?

John 12:28 – ....."I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.”

Clearly, “the hour” and the glory are tied to the mission of Jesus on the cross. He isn’t trying to escape it—He’s embracing it, because His obedience to death is His glory.

“The Hour” in John's Gospel

Let’s trace how “the hour” is used in John. It consistently points forward to the suffering and death of Jesus:

John 2:4 – "My hour has not yet come." (At the wedding at Cana—He delays public signs that would lead to His death.)

John 7:30 – "They sought to arrest him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come."

John 8:20 – "No one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come."

These are all signs that Jesus’ death is the appointed hour, not some heavenly glory.

Finally, the shift comes in chapter 13:

John 13:1 – "Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father..."

And how does He go? Through betrayal, crucifixion, and death.

Glory Through the Cross

When Jesus says in John 17:1:

"Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son, that the Son may glorify you..."

He is not anticipating His return to heaven, but the climactic obedience of the cross. This is supported again and again in the New Testament:

Philippians 2:8–9 – "He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him..."

Hebrews 2:9 – "Jesus... crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death..."

John 13:31 – "Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him."

(Said after Judas leaves to betray Him—again, pointing to the cross.)

So what is John 17:5 saying?

On the surface, this sounds like Jesus is asking to return to a preexistent divine status. But there’s another, more grounded way to understand this—one that fits the context and the rest of John:

“Glory I Had” = Foreordained Glory

Jesus could be speaking proleptically, just as God speaks of things not yet done as if they were (Romans 4:17, Titus 1:2). Jesus “had” glory in God’s purpose, not in literal preexistence. Another possibility is that Jesus is talking about the beginning of his ministry with the Father. 

Moreover, we run into another difficulty with the phrase "before the world came to be." Here, the Greek word is Kosmos and it means people/society/civilization, not a geographical world/ planet. This is true due to how it used in the rest of John and the whole immediate chapter in 17. 

We must remember, that before the New Testament, Judah/Jerusalem was a dead nation. It was brought back into existence during the time of Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther. Taking all the details together, a paraphrase can look like this.

Father I spent my time glorifying you in my ministry(you were always by my side), now with the glory I gave you at the beginning of my ministry, please give it back to me at the cross, which was planned by you, before this wicked people were brought into existence at the Babylonian exile (or even Mt Sinai). 

Conclusion: The Hour of Glory Was the Cross

Jesus' obedience, faithfulness, and willingness to die was the path to glory. This expression of glory is an invitation. For believers, to share in Christ’s glory is to share in His mindset: serving, suffering, and surrendering, trusting that resurrection life flows through the cross.