In “His” Name? Whose Name?

Before I get into today’s message – it’s been well over a year since I wrote anything. I truly believe that God was getting me through some things – call it whatever, writer’s block or the Spirit wasn’t speaking at the moment – but the Lord used some people, including my wife, to speak into me to start writing again – if for no other reason than to do my job and spread the Gospel, and to keep my mind busy. (crosswords weren’t cutting it).

With that said, off to the pet peeve that’s been on my mind that I’ll be writing about today, and that’s to hear people closing prayer with the term “…in his name”. I hear many people doing it – including many pastors and elders.

In his name? In whose name are you referring?

You might say, “So what’s the big deal?”

Everything! Especially if you’re a Bible believing Christian!

First off, the pronoun “his” can mean anybody – including allah, buddah, vishnu, or even satan himself.

That’s bad enough, but if it’s being used in a Christian context – again, of whom are you speaking? The Father? Jesus? the Holy Spirit?

We are to pray to the Father, in the name of the Son – Jesus. This is why we close prayer with the words, “in Jesus’ Name”.

So let’s dive into just how we’re to pray, and why these closing words are so important.

Let’s look at the Lord’s Prayer – Matthew chapter 6, starting in verse 8:

“Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him. In this manner, therefore, pray:

Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread. and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.
For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.“

It starts with “Our Father in Heaven” – our Father, Yahveh. Jesus taught this to the disciples as a model prayer, and Jesus, as Son, referred to His Father as such, it’s a prayer to our Heavenly Father.

Further, notice that the closing is merely “Amen,” not in anyone’s name. Jesus again, was giving a model prayer to His disciples – and He wasn’t going to end it “in My name”.

In addition to that He was not yet crucified and wasn’t yet the sacrifice for our sin – people, including Jesus, were still living under the Law.

When you were younger, or a young Christian, how did you close your prayers? Probably with the words, “in Jesus’ Name”.

Why is that – when Jesus taught to just say Amen?

Let me ask a couple of questions:

• Who saved you from eternal torment and damnation in Hell?
• Through whose eyes does the Father look at you as saved and clean?

The answer to both questions is Jesus Christ! He’s the only way to Heaven and He’s the only way to be saved. It’s through His eyes that the Father sees us as clean and worthy to enter Heaven.

Isaiah 64:6-7 shows us just what Yahveh (the Father) thinks:

But we are all like an unclean thing,
And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags;
We all fade as a leaf,
And our iniquities, like the wind,
Have taken us away.
And there is no one who calls on Your name,
Who stirs himself up to take hold of You;
For You have hidden Your face from us,
And have consumed us because of our iniquities.

Yahveh – God the Father – views our so-called righteousness as filthy rags?

Why is that? Because God is Holy, and He cannot exist where there is unholiness. We are all born into sin and until we repent and turn from our sin – and come to salvation through the shed blood of Jesus, that’s just how God the Father sees us – unclean and filthy and worthy of Hell.

No amount of good deeds or works can change this. You can be the best person around, you can give to all kinds of various causes, you can be the best husband or wife, you can treat your family royally, but how is this viewed in the Kingdom of Heaven? If you’re unsaved, you are viewed as evil – plain and simple.

Matthew 7:11 says it all – If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him! 

But in order to get good gifts – and to get the best gift of all, eternal life, from the Father, we need to be seen as clean – and that’s salvation through the Son- Jesus Christ.

Romans 10:8-11 says:

But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.”

It starts with a confession that Jesus Christ is Lord – of your life and of all Creation, then believing with all of your heart that Christ was risen from the grave on the third day – the basics of the Gospel, and you will be saved.

It’s simple really – if you’re saved, God sees you through the eyes of Christ because you’re saved – but if you’re not saved, God sees you as filthy rags because you’re not seen through the eyes of Christ.

To illustrate this further, in John chapter 10, Jesus was talking to unbelieving Jewish leaders and said the following:

“I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in My Father’s name, they bear witness of Me. But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep, as I said to you. My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. (John 10:25-28)

The Pharisees were not believers, and Jesus told them so – He also told them that believers know His name and follow Him. You know Jesus, and He knows you – and God knows you too, through Jesus, His Son.

And this is exactly why we pray in the name of Jesus. We close all prayer “in Jesus’ name” – and not “in his name” – we give Jesus all praise, honor and glory, not some unknown person.

It gets back to the question we asked at the beginning: In his name? Who are you referring to? If you close with In Jesus’ Name, there’s no ambiguity – you know exactly to whom you’re referring.