Jesus Is Our Mediator With God The Father

Acts.13:44-52 & Jn. 14:7-14

We often hear the expression, 'Their loss is our gain.' How true it is in relation to the Jews in Antioch who rejected Paul and Barnabas: they directed their efforts of conversion to the Gentiles as a result. The words spoken by God about Paul were now to come true, “I have made you a light for the nations, so that My salvation may reach the ends of the earth.” From now Paul would be known as the ‘Apostle of the Gentiles’.

Christians usually end their prayers with some phrase like, 'We ask this through Christ our Lord.' Sadly, for many, these words probably have the force of a magic spell in the sense that, invoking the name of Jesus in their prayers, will somehow guarantee that God will give everything being requested. This is just not true. What then does it mean to pray in Jesus' name? It is a way of acknowledging that He is our Mediator, our 'go-between' with God the Father. His mediating work flows both ways. He represents us to the Father, pleading our case before God, helping us to make our confession of sin and our petition for mercy. Jesus represents the Father to us, revealing God's will to us, helping us to see our duty and calling us to serve God's cause.

If Christians are disappointed that God does not answer their prayers when they pray in the name of Jesus, it is precisely because they have not understand the terms in which Jesus taught us to pray. The use of His name is to give us absolute confidence in approaching the throne of God our Father and our heavenly Father will always give us what we ask in Jesus' name, if our request is for the honour and glory of the Father and for our own good or the good of others.

Lord Jesus, help us to know the will of Your Father, and to ask in Your name for those things that are agreeable to His will. Then we can be truly certain our requests will be answered.