Welcome to Day 2771 of Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom – Theology Thursday –The Prayers of Christ and the Destiny of the Faithful.  

Wisdom-Trek Podcast Script - Day 2771

Welcome to Wisdom-Trek with Gramps!   I am Guthrie Chamberlain, and we are on Day 2771 of our Trek.   The Purpose of Wisdom-Trek is to create a legacy of wisdom, to seek out discernment and insights, and to boldly grow where few have chosen to grow before.    

Our current series of Theology Thursday lessons is written by theologian and teacher John Daniels. I have found that his lessons are short, easy to understand, doctrinally sound, and applicable to all who desire to learn more of God’s Word. John’s lessons can be found on his website   theologyinfive.com.   Today’s lesson is titled The Prayers of Christ and the Destiny of the Faithful.  

When Jesus prays to the Father in the Gospels, He does so as the Incarnate Son, fully God and fully man. His prayers are not signs of weakness or inequality, but expressions of true humanity. They reflect His relationship with the Father within the limitations of flesh and blood, taken on voluntarily to accomplish the redemption of mankind.

Yet Christ’s prayers do more than model dependence. They reveal His mission, not merely to forgive sin, but to lead those united to Him into eternal fellowship with Yahweh, where they will be glorified through their relationship with Him. In His High Priestly Prayer in John seventeen, Jesus says:

“I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one” (John seventeen verse twenty-two).

This is not poetic exaggeration. It is a clear expression of Christ’s intent to raise His followers into the glory that He shares with the Father, restoring and transforming them in the process.

The first segment is: Jesus’s Prayers as Revelation of His Mission.

In John seventeen verses one and two, Jesus prays:

“Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him.”

Christ’s authority includes granting eternal life, an existence defined not merely by duration, but by nature: incorruptibility, righteousness, and unending communion with God. Later in the same prayer, He says:

“Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory…” (John seventeen verse twenty-four)

Though Christ is fully divine, He chose to humble Himself. As Paul writes in Philippians two verses six through eight, though existing in the form of God, He did not cling to His divine status but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant. Hebrews two says He was made for a little while lower than the angels, not because He lost divinity, but because He embraced full humanity. His prayers reflect this self-imposed humility and His desire to elevate those He redeems.

The second segment is: The Resurrection Body and the Nature of Glorified Transformation.

Scripture consistently affirms the transformation of the faithful, not merely morally, but ontologically. Psalm eight states that man was made “a little lower than the heavenly beings,” but destined to be crowned with glory and honor. Hebrews two applies this to Christ and, by extension, to all who belong to Him.

First Corinthians fifteen declares that believers will be raised with glorified, incorruptible bodies. Paul contrasts natural and spiritual bodies, perishable and imperishable, and concludes:

“Just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, so shall we bear the image of the heavenly man” (First Corinthians fifteen verse forty-nine).

Scholar David A. Burnett has demonstrated that Paul’s language in First Corinthians Fifteen verse thirteen-nine through forty-two draws from Deuteronomy Four verses fifteen through nineteen, where the sun, moon, and stars are described in terms of divine beings. Paul is not making an abstract comparison. He is identifying the resurrection body with the glory and nature of celestial beings. Believers are not merely renewed humans. They are glorified and transformed, made fit for divine rule.

Burnett also shows that Paul’s reference to Genesis fifteen verse five in Romans four verse eighteen draws from Jewish interpretations in which Abraham’s descendants were not only numerous like the stars, but became like the stars—radiant, immortal, spiritual-class beings. Paul uses this framework to show that those united to Christ will experience this transformation through Him.

The third segment is: Deification in the Early Church.

The early Church did not shy away from this truth. Athanasius famously wrote, “He was made man so that we might be made god.” This was not a claim to deity in the sense of identity with Yahweh, but a declaration of transformation. The faithful are not absorbed into the essence of God, but are elevated by grace into divine status, as sons and daughters, glorified beings, and members of the divine family.

In this sense, the faithful are called holy ones (hagioi in Greek, qedoshim in Hebrew), a term used throughout Scripture for divine beings in God’s presence (Deuteronomy thirty-three verse two, Psalm eighty-nine verse five through seven. Believers are not just called holy—they are made holy, transformed into beings fit for God’s eternal kingdom.

The fourth segment is: Resurrection and Embodied Divinity.

The destiny of the faithful is not to escape physicality, but to be restored to it, fully transformed. In the New Creation, believers will be raised in glorified, incorruptible bodies. They will not be spirits floating in the heavens, but immortal and embodied rulers, bearing the image of the risen Christ.

This restored humanity is not a return to Eden, but something greater: humans made fit to dwell in the presence of Yahweh, participating in His rule and glory. Revelation two verse twenty-six and twenty-seven promises.

“To the one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron, as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received authority from my Father.”

Revelation three verse twenty-one continues,

“The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on His throne.”   These are not metaphors for private spiritual experience. They are declarations of real, embodied rulership in the world to come.

Believers are not Yahweh, and they are not members of the Godhead, but they are divine beings, glorified sons and daughters, part of God’s restored council, and eternal rulers in His kingdom.

In Conclusion.

Christ’s prayers reveal His humility and His mission: to bring those given to Him into eternal fellowship with Yahweh, where they will be glorified through their relationship with Him. Those who are united with Christ are not merely forgiven, they are transformed. They are raised. They are made glorious. They become what God intended humanity to be from the beginning.

Not metaphorically. Not symbolically. Truly.

This is the destiny of the faithful: to become glorified, immortal, embodied divine beings who, through union with Christ, are transformed and appointed to rule in the New Creation forever.

Here are some Discussion Questions to expand your learning.

What do Jesus’s prayers in John 17 reveal about the future of those who follow Him?

How does the biblical term elohim help clarify what believers become after death and resurrection?

What does 1 Corinthians 15 teach about the nature of the resurrection body?

How does David A. Burnett’s research deepen our understanding of Paul’s view of deification?

How should the promise of glorified embodiment shape our understanding of salvation?

Join us next time on Theology Thursday, where our lesson will explore: Joseph the Dreamer: Discovering the Depths of a Beloved Biblical Figure

If you found this podcast insightful, please subscribe and leave us a review, then encourage your friends and family to join us and come along tomorrow for another day of  ‘Wisdom-Trek,  Creating a Legacy.’       

Thank you so much for allowing me to be your guide, mentor, and, most importantly,   I am your friend as I serve you through this Wisdom-Trek podcast and journal.      

As we take this Trek of life together, let us always:         

Liv Abundantly.       

Love Unconditionally.      

Listen Intentionally.      

Learn Continuously.      

Lend to others Generously.       

Lead with Integrity.       

Leave a Living Legacy Each Day.       

I am Guthrie Chamberlain, reminding you to,   “Keep Moving Forward, Enjoy your journey, and create a great day, every day!  Join me next time for more daily wisdom!