the Name Of

J e s u s:

It’s For Life,

Not Just For Christmas

  

-2-

In our last meeting, we began looking at the counterfeit claim that The Lord Jesus gave His Church an unqualified legal right to use His Name; the power of attorney, if you will. This belief is largely based on the artificial teachings of E. W. Kenyon & Kenneth E. Hagin. In order to give foundation to their falsehoods, both men have systematically ignored the Messianic trend of Scripture & opted for a gnostic view of Christ instead. Hagin’s liberally plagiarised book, The Name of Jesus, endeavours to prove that Jesus gave The Church a blank cheque, in order for us to ask for & receive anything in prayer. Is this really what The Lord did? Leaning heavily on E. W. Kenyon’s writings, Hagin hammers out a premise that is slimmer than a supermodel. What has The Church at large done with this presumed power of attorney? What have the purveyors of this teaching within Charismania & modern Neo-Pentecostalism produced? Well, the movement has dressed itself sumptuously & situated itself very comfortably in luxury. It eats well & has steadily grown fat, because in their world there is little or no separation between church & steak. It ignores the poor in its midst, regularly instructing them to believe heartily & give generously. It has become a sickening caricature. Its assumed illumination flickers violently & the hill of sand that it is built upon, is slowly giving way under the weight of the movement’s obscene bulk. It denigrates Christ. It exalts man. All of this is done in Jesus’ Name. The believing Church must tackle this fundamental issue to its root & it has to do it quickly. It must do it now!

Kenneth Hagin made the following claim concerning The Name of Jesus, in his book of the same title: ‘I have not prayed one prayer in 45 years (I'm talking about for me and for my children while they were young) without getting an answer. I always got an answer—and the answer was always yes.’. Wow, that’s quite a record Ken. How did you manage that?

He continues: ‘We come bringing the Name of Jesus! And God's Word works today, just as much as it ever did. "Ask the Father in My Name," Jesus said. "I will endorse that, and the Father will give it to you." This puts prayer on a purely legal basis for He has given us the legal right to use His Name. As we take our privileges, and rights, in the New Covenant and pray in Jesus' Name, it passes out of our hands into the hands of Jesus; He then assumes the responsibility of that prayer, and we know that He said. "Father, I thank Thee that Thou hearest Me, and I know that Thou hearest Me always." In other words, we know that the Father always hears Jesus, and when we pray in Jesus' Name, it is as though Jesus Himself were doing the praying— He takes our place.’.

Really Ken? You mean that The Father cannot tell the difference between our petitions & those of The Lord Jesus Christ, when we utilise His Name in prayer? Do you actually mean that Jesus is our Prayer Broker?

He goes on: ‘This places prayer not only on legal grounds, but makes it a business proposition. When we pray, we take Jesus' place here to carry out His will, and He takes our place before the Father.’.

The Name of Jesus © copyright Kenneth Hagin 1979 (emphasis added).

Brethren, do you have any idea how thin the doctrinal ice actually is here? If Hagin is to be believed, The Church has hit the jackpot! He is saying that The Lord gave The Church a cast iron, twenty four carat, hallmarked guarantee for answered prayer. Well? Is Kenneth Hagin to be believed? No. He is not. Lifting a verse out of its context does not institute a truth, any more than a single Swallow constitutes a spring or summer. 

Before The Lord offered His disciples this so called ‘business proposition’, an ‘unqualified legal right to use His name’ & the ‘power of attorney’, He said something that blows Kenyon & Hagin’s theories right out of the water. Jesus begins this portion of His discourse with the words; ‘These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended.’ (John 16:1). He continues, telling them they’ll be thrown out of Synagogues & even suffer martyrdom at the hands of those who believe they’re doing God’s will. He tells them that He is going back to The father, but that He will send The Holy Spirit to them. He knows that they are sorrowful. I would have been solemn too. Wouldn’t you? Jesus tells them, ‘A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me, because I go to the Father.’ (John 16:16).  

²⁰ Verily, verily, I say unto you, That ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice: and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy. ²¹ A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world. ²² And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you. (John 16:20-22).  

Jesus tells the disciples these things in order to encourage & keep them. Then He gives them a contrast between the sorrow they are feeling & the joy which is to come. Remember, Jesus isn’t speaking to Americans or Europeans. He isn’t speaking to Lawyers either. He is speaking to Jews. 

²³ And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you. ²⁴ Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full. ²⁵ These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs: but the time cometh, when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall shew you plainly of the Father. ²⁶ At that day ye shall ask in my name: and I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you: ²⁷ For the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God. ²⁸ I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father (John 16:23-28).  

Jesus is not saying, ‘..tag my Name onto the end of your prayers & you will always get what you pray for..’. However, He did say something that is regularly skipped over. ‘Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full (John 16:24). Moreover, this was not the first time The Lord spoke to His disciples along these lines. We will see this when we go to John 14 & John 15. Buckle up, buttercups. 

The phrase ‘..that your joy may be full..’ does not mean you’ll be ecstatic when you ask for & then receive whatever you want. No. Instead, the disciples & any Jew worth their salt, reading these words in John’s Gospel, may have immediately thought of familiar portions of Old testament Scripture. Remember, Jesus isn’t speaking to Americans or Europeans. He isn’t speaking to Lawyers either. He is speaking to Jews. 

The disciples were sorrowful because Jesus was going away, but He spoke to them of a day when they would see Him again & in that day they would have direct access to The Father, in His Name. Notice that Jesus doesn’t say, using my Name. This is not a ‘business proposition’ This is not an ‘unqualified legal right to use His name’. Nor is it the ‘power of attorney’ These terms are all transactional. The Lord Jesus was speaking of something more than that. He speaks of something relational. This fullness of joy is the principle of soba semachot or simchah (seem-KAH). Only YHWH can give us this & He does it by allowing us access to Him & His presence, in Jesus’ Name. In His Name, not in His place; because no one can take His place! 

The Lord Himself experienced deep sorrow as He approached the cross; ‘And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy.’ (Matthew 26:37) & yet Hebrews tells us, ‘Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.’ (Hebrews 12:2). Jesus’ statement was not plucked out of thin air. It was plucked out of God’s Word. 

⁸ I have set the LORD always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. ⁹ Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope. ¹⁰ For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. ¹¹ Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore (Psalms 16:8-11). 

In telling the disciples to ask in His Name, The Lord is demonstrating His authority, His dominion & His mastery. He is showing them His Divine credentials. He is not telling them that they can get whatever they want in prayer, simply by uttering His Name as an incantation. The Name of Jesus is not a magic wand! He is telling them that because of Who He is & what He will accomplish, they & we by extension, can have access to the fullness of joy the Psalmist speaks of. Peter quotes these verses in his sermon on the Day of Pentecost. 

²⁵ For David speaketh concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved: ²⁶ Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope: ²⁷ Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. ²⁸ Thou hast made known to me the ways of life; thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance (Acts 2:25-28). 

Their joy will be full because He is showing them the path of life to The Father. In His presence is the joy that no one takes away from them. At YHWH’s right hand is Messiah & in His Name we have access to our Father. This language is relational, not transactional. No Bulls. No Goats. No Heifers. No Turtledoves. We approach YHWH in The Name of Jesus. Because of Who He is. Because of what He has done. To teach or to preach anything else, is to flirt with damnable heresy in an uncomfortable proximity. We will come to this in our next meeting. 

There is no delegation of the use of Jesus’ Name to The Church, in order to guarantee that the answer to our prayers will always be yes! I know you’ve done that. I’ve done it too. How did it work out? There is no endorsement of any of our requests, simply because we wave The Name of The Lord as if it were a lucky charm, while we quote Scripture as if The Bible was a book of spells! There is no extension of any legal right to His Name for whatever we want. That would negate the pure grace of God that has been granted to us, because of the finished work of Christ at the cross (Ephesians 2:8-9). 

²⁹ His disciples said unto him, Lo, now speakest thou plainly, and speakest no proverb. ³⁰ Now are we sure that thou knowest all things, and needest not that any man should ask thee: by this we believe that thou camest forth from God. ³¹ Jesus answered them, Do ye now believe? ³² Behold, the hour cometh, yea, is now come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone: and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me. ³³ These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world (John 16:29-33).  

Kenneth Hagin is dead wrong. His doctrine is a gross misrepresentation of the words of The Lord Jesus Christ & the most grotesque of false pretences. 

¹ That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; ² (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;) ³ That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. ⁴ And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full (1^st John 1:1-4). 

¹² Having many things to write unto you, I would not write with paper and ink: but I trust to come unto you, and speak face to face, that our joy may be full (2^nd John 1:12). 

If the false preposition foisted upon The Church were true, why didn’t the disciples ask for the overthrow of Rome & the destruction of their enemies? Why didn’t they go out trawling & pull in huge draughts of fish, all with gold coins in their mouths? Why didn’t they go barefoot water skiing on The Sea of Galilee, during storms? All that they would have had to do, was use The Name of Jesus. Well, I’ll tell you why. They didn’t do these things because that is not what The Lord meant by what He had said to them. What The Lord Jesus taught about His Name was not about the disciples & not about us. It was & is all about Him.

 

 

 

 

 

 

copyright © by david Samuel Parkins mmxxvi all rights reserved.

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