Believers’ Ask in Jesus’ Name—John 16:23–24
And in that day ye shall ask me no question. Verily, verily, I say unto you, If ye shall ask anything of the Father, he will give it you in my name. Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be made full.
The twelfth admonition provides the new basis for prayer in that, from now on, prayer and petitions are to be made in the name of Yeshua. This is a dispensational distinctive. Jesus said that until now, they had not asked anything in His name.
In fact, earlier in His ministry the disciples came to Yeshua and asked Him, “Lord, teach us to pray.” At that time, Jesus taught them how to pray and gave them a sixfold outline. This is sometimes called “the Lord’s Prayer,” but it is not a very good title, because it is merely the Lord’s outline of how to pray. But at that time He did not tell them that they should pray in His name. That was not to be so until after His death and resurrection. So until now they had asked nothing in the name of Jesus. They had prayed to God the Father and had made petitions of God the Father, but they had not prayed in the name of Yeshua.
Now, this was to change. Now, they ought to pray in the name of Jesus. To pray in the name of Yeshua is not a secret magic formula. To pray in someone’s name is to pray in his authority. Believers are to pray in Jesus’ name because they have authority given to them by the Messiah to ask in His name.
Just as an ambassador, who becomes a government official on behalf of one’s country to another, can speak in his country’s name, so can believers. An American ambassador in France can make petitions in the name of the President of the United States. He has that right because of his position. That is what it means to pray in the name of Yeshua. We are praying in His authority because of the authority He has given us. To pray in His name means we are in a specific position. Just as an ambassador can make petitions in the name of the President of the United States because he is in the position of an ambassador, by the same token, because we are in a new position of being in Christ, that position gives us authority. One of the privileges of this authority is that we can now ask and pray in the name of Jesus, with His authority, because of our position.
Excerpt from Dr Arnold Fruchtenbaum:
MBS060 THE UPPER ROOM DISCOURSE: Pg 20-21
