The Gospel of John

The King Commands Petitions

Professor: Dr. R.J. Rushdoony

Subject: Conversations, Panels and Sermons

Lesson: 47- 70

Genre:

Track: 047

Dictation Name: RR197AA49

Location/Venue:

Year:

Let us worship God. Serve the Lord with gladness, come before His presence with singing. Enter into His gates with thanksgiving and into His courts with praise, be thankful unto Him and bless His name for the Lord is good, His mercy is everlasting and His truth endureth unto all generations. Let us pray.

Almighty God our Heavenly Fat her we give thanks unto thee that once again we stand in Thy presence as Thy people, the object of Thy grace, Thy mercy and Thy blessings. Teach us to be ever mindful of how much we owe unto Thee, our everything. That Thou art the one who dost love us more than we in our sin love ourselves. We come to Thee therefore knowing what Thou art and what we are and rejoicing in Thy grace. In Christ’s name, Amen.

Our scripture is John 14:1-14. Our subject: The King Commands Petitions. John 14:1-14.

“Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.

2 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.

3 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.

4 And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.

5 Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way?

6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

7 If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him.

8 Philip saith unto him, Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us.

9 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?

10 Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.

11 Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works' sake.

12 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.

13 And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

14 If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.”

Just before our Lord commands the disciples to be untroubled in heart, unworried, He had told Peter that Peter would deny Him thrice before the cock crow the next morning. Well this shook all the disciples so they were troubled. The thought that had occurred to them if Peter denied Christ would they not do so also? Our Lord’s answer was to reassure them. He did not say ten of your number will not deny me, He gave them no reassurance whatsoever that they would stand firm. Instead, He grounded their future in His grace. So our future is not in our hands nor in the hands of men, it is in the hand of God. Believe or trust in God He said and also in me, not in your own capacity to stand. The future of the disciples was not in their works but in God’s grace and mercy and in God’s presence in their lives and in His power working in them. 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. So Peter is going to deny me, perhaps you all will deny me, but I am going, I am returning to my Father, I am going to prepare a place for you, many mansions. Clearly our Lord refers to heaven, He looks beyond time, beyond the disciple’s confusion and scattering, beyond Pentecost and their apostolic ministries to their place in heaven. They are not Judas, by His grace they are not and any fear or betrayal like Peter’s will also be forgiven. Jesus Himself confidently goes ahead to prepare a place for them. Moreover, in verse three, if I go and prepare a place for you I will come again and receive you unto myself that where I am there you may be also. I will come again can be interpreted in several ways. First, I will return with my resurrection, or second, I will return with the gift of the Spirit, or three, when you die I will meet you, or four, my presence will be with you in the church or five, I will meet you at my coming at the end of the world.

Now since the reference is not specific it probably refers to all of them and certainly to the resurrection. The closer in time the more likely it is the primary reference. Then Jesus says in verse four whither I go and the way ye know but the disciples at this point are too confused to know or to remember the simplest thing and Thomas is not afraid to expose his ignorance and he says ‘Lord we know not whither thou goest and how can we know the way?’ Behind the question there still lurks the expectation of an earthly kingdom, of a Jewish world empire. Jesus saith unto them, verse six, I am the way, the truth and the light, no man cometh unto the Father but by me. I am the way means that no other route to God exists because to reject the incarnate Son of God is to reject God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost. His incarnation provides us with the way, He is our mediator, our great high priest and our atoning sacrifice that reestablishes us as righteous before God. He is the truth, so that for us truth is not an abstract concept but God the Son, the great heart of all reality and the meaning behind all meaning. He is the life, the great creator of life and the only source of all life. To know Him is to have everlasting life. Therefore there is no access to God apart from Jesus Christ. As verse six says: no man cometh unto the Father but by me. To separate the Son from the Father is to deny the Father. It is interesting that every theology that has denied the Son to any degree quickly goes to believe in nothing. Unitarianism began by saying well, Jesus was clearly a supernatural being but He was not God, something between God and man.

It took not too many years for them to deny God also, for to separate the son from the Father is to deny the Father and ultimately to deny all meaning. Verses seven our Lord says if ye had known me ye should have known my Father also and from hence forth thou know Him and have seen Him. To know Jesus Christ is to know the Father. As a result as the early church studied Christology it studied theology and the great statements of faith in the early councils of the church were implicit in the knowledge of Christ, the knowledge of Christ meant the knowledge of God. Philip then asks a question, his fourth appearance in this gospel.

“Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us.”

Philip wants a theophony, a miraculous appearance of God as to Moses and to others. He fails to see God present in the person of Jesus Christ. He wants a vision to confirm his hope, a special experience or a revelation to mark the Father’s reality and presence and our Lord’s answer is very blunt.

“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?”

The disciples were so set in their minds about the Messiah that they could only think in terms of their Jewish kingdom expectations. Three of the disciples had been with Jesus on the mount of transfiguration but that event had not made clear to them that Jesus was God incarnate and was not tied to a national hope to the total purposes of God. So our Lord makes clear here again that He is a member of the Godhead, that His word and works are not self-originated but have their expression from the very being of the Godhead.

He does not speaks as a person but as one of the persons of an undivided Godhead. The words and works of the Godhead cannot be separated. Jesus then continues in verse eleven:

“Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works' sake.”

Start with either my word or my works, Jesus said, and you will see that they are of God. Implicit then is this: my person is of God and is God. Verily, verily I say unto you He that believeth on me the works that I do shall he do also and greater works than these shall he do because I go unto my Father. Jesus declares that He is going to rejoin His Father. The works of the kingdom of God is now their work and ours. These works shall be greater works, now the church’s temptation over the centuries has been to see this matter of the greater works as many greater healing works, greater miracles and some have said we’re going to raise more from the dead. Whereas the meaning is that the kingdom shall see greater works of advance at the hands of the apostles and us. So that instead of a small handful the greater works means that we and those before us and those after us shall be instrumental finally into bringing the whole world under the dominion of Christ and every area of life and thought. And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do that the Father may be glorified in the Son, verse thirteen.

This ties in with what we’ve just discussed. This promise has a kingdom orientation, not a personal one. There are personal promises in scripture but this is a kingdom promise, it has reference to in my name in terms of my kingdom and my victory. I am leaving you and later He tells them at the time of His departure all power is given unto me in heaven and on earth, go ye therefore, disciple all nations, teaching them all things that I have commanded you. Disciple all nations. This is what He means when He speaks of greater works. If you ask anything in my name I will do it, he says in verse fourteen. Some ancient manuscripts read ‘if you ask ME anything in my name I will do it’ but the me is already implicit in the text. But Jesus Christ is our king, priest and prophet, as God made flesh for us. We ask for the sake of His kingdom and reign and because He commands it. The King commands petitions. We are commanded to pray, we are disobedient when we do not, we are to pray for all things, our needs. We have them, every one of us, problems, burdens, needs, ask in my name. There are the needs of our world, the needs of His kingdom, a million and one needs. We are to ask because in our asking we grow so that apart from the answers we read we grow because we no longer think only of ourselves, as though we alone have needs. We bring the whole world or various portions of it into the presence of God. I once had to tell someone who had real needs and was totally absorbed in those real needs so totally that that person had become a problem to everyone around them and yet they could not understand why when they kept asking God did not answer.

The solution was very simple, I said, ask for somebody else. Grow a bit, make your world bigger than yourself and God will bless you. Now that is something at times I have to tell myself which we all need to do. We are to ask in His name and He promises He will do it but we cannot limit the world to ourselves, He commands petitions. Thou art coming to a king who as the great old hymn has it, large petitions with thee bring, for his grace and power are such none can ever ask too much, none can ever ask too much. Let us pray.

Lord give us grace to pray, large petitions to bring before Thee. To be mindful that Thou wilt hear and answer us, but make us mindful that the world is bigger than ourselves, our needs are real, our needs are sometimes very, very grim and great. But bless us as we pray one for another as we bring the needs of Thy kingdom and of a fallen world before Thee. Grant us this we beseech Thee in Christ’s name, Amen.

Are there any questions now about our lesson? Yes?

[Question] You mentioned in your message about the aspect of these promises are for the kingdom and not necessarily personal, could you develop that a little bit more in the aspect of prayer that…[becomes unintelligible]

[Rushdoony] We’re not told not to pray for our needs, in fact, we’re commanded to do that. But we are also commanded to pray for needs beyond ourselves and the frame of reference here is the greater works that they are to do. The world missionary aspect, the world wide dominion aspect. So that we are always to be mindful that whether it’s our personal needs or the broader needs of the kingdom we are in a context. Our context is 1995, the U.S.A., the burdens and problems of the country and of the church, what’s happening one area of life after another, education, economics and so on, so our prayers have to have a broader context than ourselves or our family or even the church. So when we have that type of context we are carried out of ourselves. I was reading the other day just two days ago an account of this young man who was a college student, must have been a remarkable one because he was harem scarem and he had a bill to pay to Harvard for the windows he had broken when he was carousing and celebrating. And yet he went to this service where this puritan pastor prayed for well over two hours and apparently so eloquently about the needs of Christ’s people and of Christ’s kingdom and of the world that this rather wild college student when it was over said he was sorry he had cut his prayer short it was so intensely interesting. I don’t think I could have said that after fifteen minutes I would have been very tired if not before. But the point is he very obviously was despite his harem scarem ways very much attuned to the fact that the world was bigger than himself and so he was profoundly moved.

Any other questions or comments?

I might say in terms of that young man what we’ve seen in this century is a gradual decrease in man’s attention span. A very dramatic one. Some years back a study was made of well, when the first silent films were produced they found they could not, for example, continue an embrace of the hero and heroine more than so many seconds or people from very emotionally moved would start laughing and the professor who told me about these studies said that the attention span had been decreasing steadily sot that this is why we have to have the constant action today in films and television because people won’t sit still for anything more than continual action, the attention span has eroded and as a result it has had an amazing effect on all of us. Whether we like it or not our culture and films and television have altered our ability to concentrate. Any other questions ro comments? If not let us conclude with prayer.

Our Father we give thanks unto Thee for Thy word. We thank Thee that Thou dost command us to come to Thee with our needs and the needs of the world and the church. The needs of others. Give us a spirit of prayer, teach us moment by moment as we go through the day to lift our hearts up unto Thee in sentence prayers, talking with Thee, sharing with Thee our burdens, our wants, our joys. Make us prayerful and grateful, and now go in peace, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost, bless you and keep you, guide and protect you, this day and always, Amen.