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Grace to you and Peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus.
“In that day you will ask Me nothing. Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you. Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.”
This is your Word heavenly Father. Sanctify us by your truth. Your Word is Truth. Amen.
Fellow redeemed: As He prepares His disciples for His death and resurrection, Jesus instructs them to begin doing something they’d never done before. He instructs them to ask whatever they’d ask of God in Jesus’ name. Remember, ‘pray’ is just an old fashioned word for ‘ask.’ So to put it in more religious sounding words, when you pray, pray in Jesus’ name.
Before this moment, all who would in faith ask anything, make any prayer, petition, or request of God, would do so only in an unnamed way. Even the Name given in the Old Testament, ‘Yahweh’ only means ‘He who Is.” It was oblique. Prayers until this moment were asked if you will, by addressing a title; ‘Lord,’ ‘Master,’ ‘God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,’ and the like. For there remained between God and mankind a terrible separation. The Creator and His created were not in direct communion one with another, for God is perfect, and through sin, we are not perfect. Perfection cannot tolerate the presence of the imperfect. To break anew into your life with His perfection would undo you entirely.
Sin is likened to deep darkness; holiness to light. Our heavenly Father dwells in the midst of unapproachable, uncreated light. You, in your sin are a creature of deep darkness. What would happen should He who is Light come near you who are darkness? The Light would drive out and undo you entirely. So when Moses was afforded the slightest glimpse of the passing backside of the Creator, his face had to be swathed in layers of cloth when he came down to the encampment of the tribes of Israel, for nobody could bear even that lingering, slight reflection of a fleeting glimpse. And that man of God’s hair was turned white from that moment on.
So in our darkness, insofar as we could speak to Him at all, it was only by title, and not directly approaching His Person. And we could only pray through the innocent blood of the sacrifices offered, and not on our own. Only filtered through the blood, the life of the innocent lamb could we approach at all.
Now God has done a New Thing. He has entered our sorrow, with no sin of His own, the Perfect One takes into Himself your sin. Having humbled Himself, and being born one of us, the uncreated Light of the Perfect God is veiled that we might behold Him through the innocent body and blood of the man He Is, our Lord Jesus. The Word of God by whom all things were made– and there is nothing in existence in all Creation that has not been made by this Word– which Word surely would undo us as surely as the sight of His Light, now The Word becomes incarnate, and speaks with the lungs and throat and tongue and mouth of our fellow man, Jesus.
Even so, the Holy One has throughout His incarnation to this point remained veiled in His Body and Blood, though His Body and Blood is fully Him, that we should not be undone. Teaching veiled in parable, and warning those eager to see the Day that His time had not yet come, Jesus spent years among us, gathering the Twelve, making all things ready for the reconciliation of creation to Creator. For as in Christ is united already man and God, so now in Him and through Him Jesus would make the sacrifice of the infinite Innocent on behalf of all sinners, that through His own blood mankind should at last be brought near and be received at last in the intimate presence of the God who loves you, and whom you now may name. So now, through the perfect sacrifice on your behalf of the God who loves you and for your sake has taken on your nature to reconcile you to Him, that the veil might at last and forevermore be torn down and removed, you may ask God by His own Name every request and petition and prayer. His Name, the only Name by which He may perfectly be approached, the only Name He gives you is ‘Jesus.’
The titles of His divinity of course remain, but now you are brought near, a child held close by the Father who loves you. For in Jesus you now also are named to your God. He sees you only through the reconciliation of the perfect Life given to take away the sin which formerly kept you far away. Jesus identifies God to you, and you to God, for He is very God, and true man, bringing us into His oneness and peace.
Whatever you would ask, ask in Jesus’ Name, in His person, through His blood, for His sake, and by His will, His good and perfect will. Stand upon this earth, ruined as you are in your sin and shame, and boldly defy that fallen nature and the death which attends you, praying as Jesus now bids you pray, and as He has taught you, in His Name you pray ‘Our Father.’ And with a mighty blow heaven-sent His Grace empowers you to defy sin, death, and the devil too, ‘Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.’ For in Jesus’ name, by His personal identity you are known, and you are loved, and His will is done in you too, in spite of your sin, against all temptation, and to your great and never-ending joy.
The Creator who could not be known has made Himself known to you, dear one, for He loves you. The Name which could not be spoken is put upon your lips, and it purifies you of your sin and death and shame, for your guilt has gone on Him, and Jesus, your God, is Himself your Champion, and His victory over death is your victory. His cross is your payment, His rising is your eternal life.
Now dear one, blood-bought in Jesus, pray your prayers, and live the Life delivered in defiance of all that would deny you, for your sin is removed from you, the accusation is hollow, for Jesus has paid the penalty, and death is dead, for He has undone it, the darkness, and deep darkness is undone entirely by His uncreated Light now joined into His creation, Jesus, true God and man stands for you, and you in Him. His identity is yours, and the prayer He has taught you to pray illustrates His will perfectly in your praying, and in your living. No longer is God your enemy whom in your sin you hate and from whom you cower, for He has undone the true enemy of your soul, the devil is cast down, and your flesh is redeemed, washed, filled with His Word of forgiveness and life, that lively and forgiving you are made, and you are feasted even here and now as you await the eternal Feast to come. Jesus has reconciled you, you are made His joy, and He is yours. You are forgiven, you are free, ask whatever you will in Jesus’ Name. He is hearing you even before you say it. You are loved.
The peace of God which passes all understanding is keeping your heart and mind through Christ Jesus. Amen.