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"Should We Pray To The Father Or To The Son?"

q.gif (1639 bytes)    Recently, I met a few Christians who said we should not pray to Jesus Christ but pray to God the Father in the name of Christ Jesus in the Holy Spirit as St. Paul used to do in all the epistle.  As well when Jesus told the model prayer He asked them to pray to the Father.  Also, they say we should not glorify Jesus as it should be given only to the Father as per Isaiah 48.  Jesus Christ is the Son of God and not God but He will be God only during eternity till then he is at the right hand of the Father.  What is this doctrine?   Is this correct?

 

a.gif (1659 bytes)        No, not everything that they have said is correct.  Some is in serious error.

We are told to pray to the Father in Jesus’ name.  Jesus said in Matthew 6:5-13, “And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.  But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, PRAY TO THY FATHER which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.  But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.   Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.  AFTER THIS MANNER THEREFORE PRAY YE: OUR FATHER WHICH ART IN HEAVEN, Hallowed be thy name.  Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.  Give us this day our daily bread.  And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.  And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.”  Jesus said in John 16:23, 24, “And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, WHATSOEVER YE SHALL ASK THE FATHER IN MY NAME, he will give it you.  Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.

In the matter of glorifying the Lord Jesus Christ, we should seek to do that every day of our lives.  Jesus said in John 5:22, 23, “For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son:  THAT ALL MEN SHOULD HONOUR THE SON, EVEN AS THEY HONOUR THE FATHER. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him.”  To glorify the Lord Jesus Christ is to glorify the Father.  John 14:1-9 says, “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.  In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.   And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.  And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.  Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way?   Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.  If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him.  Philip saith unto him, Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us.  Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? HE THAT HATH SEEN ME HATH SEEN THE FATHER; and how sayest thou then, Show us the Father?”

Jesus has always been God Almighty — that is not just some future position.  It is blasphemy to say that Jesus is not God right now, but only in some future sense.  As the previous verse shows, Jesus and the Father are One.  Jesus told them that if they had seen Him, they had seen the Father.  Jesus said in John 10:30, “I AND MY FATHER ARE ONE.”  In Hebrews 1:8 we see the Father referring to the Son as “God,”  “BUT UNTO THE SON HE SAITH, THY THRONE, O GOD, IS FOR EVER AND EVER: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom.”  In Isaiah 9:6, Jesus is called the “Father,”  “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and HIS NAME SHALL BE CALLED Wonderful, Counsellor, THE MIGHTY GOD, THE EVERLASTING FATHER, The Prince of Peace.”

Being “God” is not some position that can be given and taken.  God has always been God from everlasting in the past, into everlasting in the future.  Psalm 90:2 says, “Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even FROM EVERLASTING TO EVERLASTING, THOU ART GOD.”  That same phrase was used in describing the birth and the place of the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ.  Micah 5:2 says, “But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; WHOSE GOINGS FORTH HAVE BEEN FROM OF OLD, FROM EVERLASTING.”

How important is it to believe that Jesus is God Almighty?   Jesus said in John 8:24, “I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for IF YE BELIEVE NOT THAT I AM HE, YE SHALL DIE IN YOUR SINS.”  If a person does not believe that Jesus is God, that person will die in his/her sins (and thus, go to hell).   A “Jesus” who is not “God” is not the real “Jesus.”  Matthew 1:23 says, “Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, GOD WITH US.”

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