Access to God
March
9, 2015
Gary
Chapman, Senior Associate Pastor
Jesus
has been talking about His death and resurrection, but He has not used those
words. Rather, He has said, "A little while you will not see me, and again
a little while, and you will see me" (v. 17). Then he used the picture of
a woman having a baby: great pain being followed with great joy. In verse 25,
Jesus acknowledges that he has been using figures of speech, but indicates that
later He will speak more candidly about the Father. Then, He alludes to one of
those future realities: because of His death, they (and the Church) will have
direct access to the Father.
In
the Old Testament system, only the High Priest could enter into the Holy of
Holies, but when Christ died, the veil in the temple was torn from top to
bottom indicating that because of the sacrifice of Christ, now all of us can
come directly to God. We come to God in the name of Jesus, affirming our faith
in what He did for us on the cross. God receives us because we are now clothed
in the righteousness of Christ.
When
you pause to pray, you are talking to the God of the universe and He is
listening because you have chosen to believe in His Son and what He did for you
on the cross. Don't ever take prayer for granted. Enter His presence with
reverence and gratitude, but always know that He wants to hear your voice
because you are his child. Instead of closing your prayer "in the name of
Jesus," why not begin with: "Father, I come to you in the name of
Jesus."
ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURE: Matthew 27:50-54
TWEET THIS: We can communicate with God
only because of what Christ did on the cross. "In Jesus name" is not
an empty phrase. #UpperRoom
