The Father Receives Prayer from Three Different Sources
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God the Father receives prayer from three different sources in the church age: (1) God the Son (Rom. 8:34; Heb. 7:25): He intercedes for the believer at the right hand of God the Father. (2) God the Holy Spirit (Rom. 8:15, 26-27; Gal. 4:6): He makes intercessory prayer to God the Father for us when we don’t know what to pray for. (3) Believer-Priest (Heb. 4:16): He makes intercessory prayer for others and personal petitions for himself.
The apostle Paul teaches in Colossians 1:15-20 that Jesus Christ is the creator and sovereign ruler over all creation and every creature and ruler of the church and first-born from the dead.
The Scriptures assign to Jesus Christ the same divine essence as God the Father and God the Holy Spirit meaning that He possesses all the attributes of deity.
The Scriptures teach that He is sovereign (Matt. 28:18a; Col. 2:10b), that He is perfect righteousness (John 8:46a; 2 Cor. 5:21; Heb. 7:26; 1 Pet. 2:22; 1 John 2:21b) and justice (John 8:16a; 2 Tim. 4:8; Ps. 9:8; Deut. 32:4; Rev. 15:3b). Furthermore, the attribute of love is ascribed to Him (John 13:34; Rom. 5:8; Eph. 3:19; 1 John 4:9-10) as well as eternal life (1 Tim. 1:17; 1 John 5:11), omniscience (Luke 11:17; John 2:24-25; 6:64; 21:17), omnipresence (Matt. 18:20; Prov. 15:3), omnipotence (John 1:3, 10; 5:21; 1 Cor. 1:23-24; Phil. 3:21; Heb. 1:3; Rev. 1:8), immutability (Mal. 3:6; Heb. 1:10-12; 13:8) and veracity (John 1:14; 14:6a; 1 John 3:16).
The preexistence of Jesus of Nazareth who is called the Christ testifies to the fact that He is infinite, eternal Son of God (John 1:1-2; John 8:58; 10:30a; Col. 2:9a; Rev. 1:8).
John 8:58 Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.” (NASB95)
The virgin birth was the means by which the incarnation became a reality.
John 1:14 And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only uniquely born One from the Father, full of grace and truth. (NASB95)
1 Timothy 3:16 And by common confession great is the mystery of godliness: He who was revealed in the flesh, was vindicated in the Spirit, beheld by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory. (NASB95)
The second person of the Trinity, the Lord Jesus Christ, entered permanently into the human race by means of the virgin birth.
He is the only member of the Trinity to take upon Himself a human nature.
Therefore, He is different from the other members of the Godhead.
The Scriptures use the following titles when stressing our Lord’s humanity: (1) “The Son of Man” (Matt. 24:30; Mark 26:64; Luke 5:24; 6:5; John 1:51; 3:14; 8:28). (2) “The Son of David” (Matt. 1:1; Mark 10:47; Luke 1:32; 18:39; Rev. 22:16). (3) “The Man Christ Jesus” (1 Tim. 2:5). (4) “Jesus” (Acts 2:32; 8:35; Rom. 3:26; 1 Thess. 4:14; Heb. 2:9; 6:20).
The Scriptures teach that the Lord Jesus Christ has a human body like ours but without a sin nature (John 1:14; Heb. 10:5; 1 John 1:1; 1 John 4:2-3), that He has a human soul (Matt. 26:38a; Isa. 53:11a) and a human spirit (Luke 23:46; John 13:21; 19:30).
He did not have an old sin nature like every human being born in Adam because of the virgin birth. He did not have a sin nature because He did not have a human father (Luke 1:35).
Therefore, our Lord was found to be without sin in His humanity (John 8:46a; 2 Cor. 5:21; Heb. 7:26; 1 Pet. 2:22; 1 John 3:5).
He was tempted in all things as sinful humanity (Heb. 4:15).
However, even though He was tempted to act and live independently from God the Father’s plan for His life, He never once sinned (Luke 4:1-4; Matt. 16:21-23).
He even was tempted not to go to the cross (Luke 22:39-44).
The Word of God also testifies to the fact that our Lord performed the following human functions and suffered circumstances common to humanity.
First of all He was said to have “wept” (John 11:35; Heb. 5:7). He “slept” (Mark 4:38) and became “hungry” (Luke 4:2). He was “thirsty” (John 19:28), “ate” and “drank” (Mark 2:16; Luke 5:30).
The Scripture tells us He was “weary” (John 4:6) and was in “agony” (Luke 22:44).
He had to “grow” physically and mentally (Luke 2:40) and had to “learn” the Scriptures (Luke 2:52) and also had to learn “obedience” (Heb. 5:7).
Our Lord also “prayed” (Luke 21:41-42; Heb. 5:7) and He also was “tempted” (Luke 4:2; Heb. 2:18; 4:15) and was a Man of “sorrows” (Isaiah 53:3).
He was “despised” and “forsaken” of men (Isaiah 53:3) and He is also said to have “rejoiced” (Luke 10:21).
He “died” physically (John 19:33) and “died” spiritually (Matt. 27:45-46).
In 1 John 1:1-4, the apostle John asserts that he was an eyewitness to the fact that Jesus of Nazareth was the incarnation Son of God.
The Scriptural evidence is overwhelming that Jesus of Nazareth, who is the Christ, is both God and man forever.
The two distinct natures, which as to their attributes differ significantly, were brought together into personal union, which will continue forever.
In theology or specifically Christology (the study of Christ), the term “hypostatic union” is used by theologians to describe the teaching of the Scriptures that Jesus Christ is undiminished deity and true sinless humanity in one person forever.
As we noted only, does the Father receives prayer requests from His Son, but also from the Holy Spirit.
In theology, God the Holy Spirit is identified as the third person of the Trinity.
The Scriptures teach that the Spirit is a person not a thing (John 15:26; 16:7; 2 Corinthians 13:14; 1 Peter 1:2).
The Titles of God the Holy Spirit: (1) “Spirit of holiness” (Romans 1:4) (2) “Spirit of life” (Romans 8:2) (3) “Spirit of knowledge” (Isa. 11:2) (4) “Spirit of truth” (John 14:17). Titles related to God the Father: (1) “Spirit of God” (2) “Spirit of our God” (Gen. 1:2; Matthew 3:16; 1 Corinthians 6:11) (3) “Spirit of your Father” (Matthew 10:20). Titles related to God the Son: (1) “Spirit of Christ” (2) “Spirit of Jesus Christ” (Romans 8:9; Phil. 1:19) (3) “Spirit of His Son” (Galatians 4:6) (4) “Spirit of the Lord” (Acts 5:9). These titles do speak of an attribute because an attribute would not be designated by a personal pronoun such as “He,” “Him,” and “His.”
God the Holy Spirit is a separate and distinct Person in the Godhead.
He is called “Lord” in 2 Corinthians 3:17 just as God the Father and God the Son are.
The Holy Spirit has the attributes of personality: (1) Intellect (1 Corinthians 2:10-13; Romans 8:27). (2) Emotion (Ephesians 4:30; Hebrews 10:29; James 4:5). (3) Will (1 Corinthians 12:11; Acts 16:6-11). (4) He has a mind, and therefore He thinks, searches and teaches.
The Spirit performs the actions of personality: (1) Teaches (John 14:26; 16:13-15). (2) Testifies or bears witness (John 15:26). (3) Guides and Leads (R. 8:14). (4) Performs miracles (Acts 8:39). (5) Convinces (John 16:7-8). (6) Restrains (Gen. 6:3; 2 Th. 2:6-7). (7) Commands (Acts 8:29). (8) Intercedes in prayer (R. 8:26). (9) He receives ascriptions of personality. (10) He can be obeyed (Acts 16:6-7). (11) He can be lied to (Acts 5:3). (12) He can be resisted (Acts 7:51). (13) He can be blasphemed (Matthew 12:31). (14) He can be grieved (Ephesians 4:30). (15) He can be insulted (He. 10:29).
Romans 8:26 Furthermore, in the same way, the Spirit also assists with our weakness because we are totally uncertain as to what to pray for in accordance with that which is absolutely essential but rather the Spirit Himself intercedes on behalf of us with inexpressible groanings. 27 That is, the one who searches our hearts, knows perfectly and intimately what is eternally the Spirit’s mind-set because He always intercedes on behalf of the saints in accordance with God the Father’s will. (My translation)
Romans 8:26-27 affirms that the Spirit assists the Christian in his weakness because the Christian does not always know what to pray for by interceding on behalf of the Christian in accordance with the Father’s will, with inexpressible groanings to the Father.
As we noted, the Scriptures teach that not only does the Father receive prayer requests from both His Son and the Spirit, but He also receives requests from members of the body of Christ who are royal priests.
The believer-priest intercedes on earth for his fellow Christian, while the Lord Jesus Christ intercedes for the believer in heaven at the right hand of the Father and the Spirit intercedes for the believer on earth while indwelling the Christian.
Intercessory prayer is a function of the church-age believer’s royal priesthood, which allows the believer to represent himself in prayer before the Father.
God calls every church-age believer to intercede on behalf of all men, especially one’s fellow believers, since every church-age believer is a royal priest.
At the moment of justification, God gives the church-age believer two royal commissions: (1) a royal ambassadorship (2 Corinthians 5:20), which represents Christ before the unbeliever and (2) a royal priesthood (1 Peter 2:5, 9), which represents himself before God.
1 Peter 2:5 You also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. (NASB95)
1 Peter 2:9 But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God's OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. (NASB95)