ROBERT@kontu.utu.fi (Robert W. Johnson) (10/21/90)
By what power, or in what name, have ye done this? Acts 4.7. Our eyes must be opened to see the mighty change wrought by the ascension. The name of Jesus certainly establishes the idenity of the One in the throne with the Carpenter of Nazereth, but it goes further than that. It represents the power and dominion before which every knee in heaven and earth and beneath the earth must bow. Even the Jewish leaders recognized that there could be this kind of significance in a mere name, when they asked this question of the disciples concerning the lame man's healing. Today the name tells us that God has committed al authority to His Son, so that in the very name itself there is power. But further, not only is it His, but it is "given among men." he has placed that authority in our hands for us to use. In three passages in His last discourse the Lord Jesus repeats the words "ask in my name." What confidence he must place in us to say, "Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do!" I believe that this "asking in His name" involves a certain knowledge of what the Lord wants. We just cannot ask anything. Try asking in "His name" for a million dollars, and of course you will not get it. But, there is a portion of our human spirit called intuition. It is by intuition that we know the Lord's mind, and thus know what to "ask for in His name." ----- Robert W. Johnson Computer center, The University of Turku, Turku Finland robert@kontu.utu.fi (InterNet) robert@firien.bitnet (BITNET) The preceeding is my opinion and may not express the opinion of my employer and furthermore has nothing to do with my employment.