J. Oswald Sanders
The All-Powerful Name
Anything in My name (John 14:14)
Is it not significant that in His last discourse with His disciples, our Lord six times in close succession spoke of praying “in My name” (John 14:13-14; 15:16; 16:23-27)? He must surely have attached singular importance to this advanced lesson in the school of prayer.
It is the view of Dr. A. T. Pierson that this truth of identity with Christ in the use of His name is the richest lesson ever taught by the Lord Himself, and this is the theme of our eighth study.
It was a new concept to the apostles, and He endeavored to impress them with the all-prevailing power He was placing in their hands. “Until now you have asked for nothing in My name,” He said; “ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be made full” (John 16:24). Henceforth their prayers were to have a new dimension and they were to pray in a different way. As they prayed in His name, the Father would hear and answer their prayers for His sake.
In encouraging the disciples so to pray, He used universal and unconditional terms concerning the level of answer they could expect — whatever, anything — so influential is the name of Christ. As Samuel Chadwick wrote, “Prayer reaches its highest level when offered in the Name which is above every name, for it lifts the petitioner into unity and identity with Himself.”1
PRAYING IN THE NAME
What does it mean to pray in the name of Christ? It is a striking fact that Jesus never defined what He meant by this — apparently because it would be self-evident to members of the nation to which God had entrusted the honor of His name. This is implicit, for example, in God’s lament: “My holy Name, which you have profaned among the nations where you went” (Ezek 36:22).
The name stands for the person. When a name is called, we immediately envisage the person bearing it. When Jesus said to His Father, “I manifested Thy name to the men whom Thou gavest Me” (John 17:6), He meant that He had shown them God’s character, all that He is in Himself and in His relations to men. To believe “in the name of the only begotten Son of God” (John 3:18) means to believe in the person of Christ, in all that He is and has done. The name stands for the person.
In this connection, Dr. H. W. Frost makes an illuminating comment.
First, a name signifies personality, for names are given to distinguish between individuals … Second, a name signifies a person’s character, for the name which designates a person stands for what that person is … Third, a name signifies a person’s life-work, or life-history, for … what he is represents also what he has done … Fourth, a name signifies a person’s reputation before men … [Fifth] … , a person’s name signifies the individual’s standing before God, for … [it] represents … what he has done.2
Bearing these thoughts in mind, we note that the significance of the name of our Lord lies, in part, in the fact that in Scripture there are no fewer than 143 names and titles given to Him, each of which reflects light on His character and work. His is indeed a name above every name.
Is it not a staggering thought that our unique and glorious Lord has authorized us to make use of His mighty name in our prayers? There is obviously infinitely greater significance in this than merely appending the formula “in Jesus’ name” to our prayers, for His name enshrines not only His love but also His power.
MAKING USE OF HIS NAME
What does it mean to do something in the name of another? Does it not imply that we do it as his representative and with his power and authority? We are not acting in our own name or authority. The Pharisee in Christ’s parable came to God in his own name and pleaded his own virtues, and he went away empty (Luke 18:9-14). We have been authorized to make Christ’s name the basis of our plea. Our prayers are answered and we experience God’s favor on the grounds of His merit, not our own.
A striking example of the use of another’s name occurs in Esther 8:7-8. “So King Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther and to Mordecai … ‘Write to the Jews as you see fit, in the king’s name, and seal it with the king’s signet ring; for a decree which is written in the name of the king and sealed with the king’s signet ring may not be revoked.’” Is this not exactly what Christ is doing? He entrusts us with His name and gives us the signet ring of God so that what we ask in His name becomes divinely authoritative.
So when we pray in His name, it means that we present prayers that He can endorse and of which He would approve. We shall pray only for things that are consistent with His name and character.
A man entrusts his loved wife, who is one with him in interests and purpose, with his check book, but he would not entrust it to an embezzler. So Christ entrusts the use of His name to those who are in harmony with Him in His purpose and who have a community of interest with Him in seeking His Father’s glory.
“To pray in the Name of Christ,” said Samuel Chadwick, “is to pray as one who is at one with Christ, whose mind is the mind of Christ, whose desires are the desires of Christ, and whose purpose is one with that of Christ. … Prayers offered in the Name of Christ are scrutinized and sanctified by His nature, His purpose, and His will. P:rayer is endorsed by the Name, when it is in harmony with the character, mind, desire, and purpose of the Name.”3
What high honor the Master has conferred on us in giving to all His followers the use of His Name at all times for all they desire — for this is what is involved in the verses we have been considering. The only limitation is on our side — that we ask only things consistent with His name and character.
Here again we are dependent on the help of the Holy Spirit to know how to use the name of Jesus aright. Instructing His disciples in the art of prayer, He said, “Until now you have asked for nothing in My name … In that day you will ask in My name” (John 16:24, 26; italics added]. In what day? The day when the Holy Spirit would be outpoured and begin His full ministry in their lives, teaching them “all the truth” (John 16:13). He would interpret to them the petitions that were consistent with the name of Christ and were therefore assured of answer.
Before He returned to heaven, Jesus committed His interests into the hands of failing and frail men. He signed a power of attorney in their favor entitling them — and us — to use His name in drawing on the bank of heaven for any needful supplies for the welfare of His work.
PRAYER
Eternal Father, who didst give Thine only Son the Name most dear to Thee and needful for mankind, betokening not His majesty but our salvation: we pray Thee to set the Name of Jesus high above every name, and to plant in every heart the love of the only Savior, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end. CAMBRIDGE BEDE BOOK
QUESTIONS
- Praying in the Name of Jesus is to pray in union with the life and mind of Christ. What is involved in this statement?
- Follow through the way of the apostles used the powerful name of Jesus in Acts 2-4.
Note
1S. Chadwick, The Path of Prayer (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1936), p 50
2Frost, Effective Praying, pp 53-54
3Report received by the O.M.F.
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