Part 5 (1/2)
(1) What a contrast to the a.s.sertions which we have already pondered of His oneness with the Father, and to His a.s.surance in almost the same breath that He would Himself answer His people's prayers! It is inexplicable, save on the hypothesis that He has a dual nature, by virtue of which, on the one hand, He is G.o.d, who answers prayer, and on the other the Son of Man, who pleads as the Head and Representative of a redeemed race.
(2) It is, however, in harmony with Old Testament symbolism. The High Priest often entered the Presence of G.o.d with the names of the people on his breast, the seat of love, and on his shoulder, the seat of power; and once a year, with a bowl of blood and sprig of thyme in his hands, pleaded for the entire nation. What more vivid portrayal could there be of the ceaseless intercession of that High Priest who was once manifested to bear the sin of many, and who now appears in the presence of G.o.d for us.
(3) In the days of His flesh, He pleaded for His _Church_, as in the sublime intercessory prayer of chapter xvii.; for _individuals_, as when He said, ”Simon, Simon, Satan hath desired to have you that he may sift you as wheat; but I have prayed for thee”; and for _the world_, as when He first a.s.sumed His High-priestly functions, saying from His cross, ”Father, forgive them; they know not what they do.” Thus He pleads still. For Zion's sake He does not hold His peace, and for Jerusalem's sake He does not rest. For His Church, for individual believers, for thee and me, He says in heaven, as on earth, ”Father, I pray for them.” Perennially from His lips pours out a stream of tender supplication and entreaty. This is the river that makes glad the city of G.o.d. Antic.i.p.ating coming trial; interposing when the cobra-coil is beginning to encircle us; pitying us when the sky is overcast and lowering; not tiring or ceasing, though we are heedless and unthankful; He pleads on the mountain brow through the dark hours, whilst we sleep.
(4) These intercessions are further stimulated by our love and obedience. ”If ye love Me, keep My commandments, _and_ I will pray the Father.” He looks on us, and where love is yearning to love more fully, and obedience falters in its high endeavors, He prays yet more eagerly, that grace may be given us to be what we long to be. He prays for those who do not pray for themselves; but He is even more intent on the perfecting of those who are the objects of His special interest, because of their loyalty and love--”I pray for them; I pray not for the world.”
(5) His special pet.i.tion is that we may receive the gift of Pentecost.
”I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter.” It would almost seem as though He spent the mysterious ten days between His ascension and Pentecost in special intercession that His Church might be endued with power from on high. The pleading Church on earth and the pleading Saviour in heaven were at one. The two voices agreed in perfect symphony, and Pentecost was the Father's answer. The Saviour prayed to the Father, and He gave another Comforter. Nor has He ceased in this sublime quest. It is not improbable that every revival of religion, every fresh and deeper baptism of the Spirit, every new infilling of individual souls, has been due to our Saviour's strong cryings on our behalf. It may be that at this hour He is engaged in asking the Father that He would dower the universal Church with another Pentecost; and if so, let us join Him in the prayer.
II. THE PRAYING CHURCH.--”Whatsoever ye shall ask in My name.”
(1) Prayer must be addressed to the Father. As soon as we utter that sacred name, the Divine nature responds; and, to put it vividly, is on the alert to hear what we desire. A little child cannot utter a sigh however slight, a sob however smothered, without awakening the quick attention of its mother; and at the first whisper of our Father's name, He is at hand to hear and bless. Alas! we have too often grieved His Holy Spirit by a string of selfish pet.i.tions, or a number of formal plat.i.tudes! To the wonderment of angels, we thus fritter away the most precious and sacred opportunities. Be still, then, before you pray, to consider what to ask; order your prayers for presentation: and be sure to begin the blessed interview with words of sincere and loving appreciation and devotion.
(2) The conditions of successful prayer are clearly defined in these words. There must be _love_ to Christ and to all men; _obedience_ to His will, so far as it is revealed; _recognition_ of His mediation and intercession, as alone giving us the right to draw nigh; _identification_ with Him, so as to be able to use His name; _pa.s.sionate desires for the Father's glory_. Where these five conditions exist, there can be no doubt as to our receiving the pet.i.tions which we offer. Prayer that complies with them cannot fail, since it is only the return tide of an impulse which has emanated from the heart of G.o.d.
(3) Note how the Saviour lives for the promotion of His Father's glory.
How often, during His earthly ministry, He declared that He was desiring and seeking this beyond all else! Though His prayer could only be granted by His falling into the ground to die, He never flinched from saying, ”Father, glorify Thy Name.” But here He tells us that through the ages as they pa.s.s He will still be set on the same quest. By all means He must glorify His Father; and if, in any prayer of ours, we can show that what we ask will augment the Father's glory, we are certain to obtain His concurrence and glad acquiescence.
”That,” He says, ”will I do.”
(4) We must pray ”in His Name.” As the amba.s.sador speaks in the name of queen and country; as the tax-collector appeals in the name of the authorities; both deriving from their identification with their superiors an authority they could not otherwise exercise; so our words become weighted with a great importance when we can say to our Father, ”We are so one with Jesus that He is asking in and through us; these words are His; these desires His; these objects those on which His heart is set. We have His sanction and authority to use His name.”
When we ask a favor in the name of another, that other is the pet.i.tioner, through us; so when we approach G.o.d in the Name of Jesus, it is not enough to append His sacred name as a formula, but we must see to it that Jesus is pleading in us, asking through our lips, as He is asking through His own in the heart of the sapphire throne.
III. THE LINK BETWEEN THESE TWO.--”He will give you another Comforter.”
The word Comforter might be rendered Advocate. We have two Advocates; one with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous, and one with us. As the one went up, the other came down. As the one sat down at the right hand of G.o.d, the other rested on the heads and hearts of the company in the upper room. As the one has compa.s.sion on our infirmities, so the other helps our infirmities. As the one ever liveth to intercede for us in heaven, so the other maketh intercession in us for the saints with groanings that cannot be uttered.
This is the clue to the mystery of prayer. It is all-important that the Church on earth should be in accord with its Head in His pet.i.tions before the Throne. Of what avail is it for a client and advocate to enter an earthly court of justice unless they are in agreement? Of what use is it to have two instruments in an orchestra which are not perfectly in tune? And how can we expect that G.o.d will hear us unless we ask what is according to His will, and, therefore, what is in the heart and thought of Jesus?
This, then, is the problem that confronts us. How can we ascertain what Jesus is pleading for? We may guess it generally, but how be a.s.sured of it particularly? Who will tell us the direction in which the current of His mighty pleadings is setting, that we may take the same direction? These inquiries are answered in the ministry of the Holy Spirit. On the one hand, He fills and moves the Head, and on the other, His members. There is one Spirit of life between Jesus in the glory and His believing people everywhere. One ocean washes the sh.o.r.es of all natures in which the life of G.o.d is found.
Be still, therefore, and listen carefully to the voice of the Spirit of G.o.d speaking in thine heart, as thou turnest from all other sounds toward His still small whisper, and He will tell thee all. Coming, as He does, from the heart of Jesus, He will tell thee His latest thought.
In Him we have the mind of Christ. Then, sure that we are one with Him, and therefore with the Father, we shall ask what is according to His will to give. Prayer goes in an eternal circle. It begins in the heart of G.o.d, comes to us through the Saviour and by the Spirit, and returns through us again to its source. It is the teaching of the raindrops, of the tides, of the procession of the year; but wrought out and exemplified in the practice of holy hearts.
IX
The Other Paraclete
”He shall give you another Comforter.”--JOHN xiv. 16.
There was no doubt in our Lord's mind that His asking would be at once followed by the Father's giving. Indeed, the two actions seemed, in His judgment, indissolubly connected--”I will ask, and He shall give.”
From which we learn that prayer is a necessary link in the order of the Divine government. Though we are a.s.sured that what we ask is in G.o.d's purpose to communicate--that it lies in the heart of a promise, or in the line of the Divine procedure, yet we must nevertheless make request. ”Ye have not,” said the Apostle James, ”because ye ask not.”