John 16:24

Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full. HITHERTO HAVE YE ASKED NOTHING IN MY NAME. Ordinary readers are apt to lay the emphasis of this statement on the word "nothing;" as if it meant, 'Hitherto your askings in My name have been next to nothing, but now be encouraged to enlarge your petitions.' Clearly the emphasis is on the words "in My Name," and the statement is absolute: 'hitherto your prayers to the Father have not been offered in My Name;' for, as Olshausen correctly says, prayer in the name of Christ, as well as prayer to Christ, presupposes His glorification. ASK - `When I shall have gone to the Father, ye shall have but to ask in this new, all-prevailing form;' AND YE SHALL RECEIVE, THAT YOUR JOY MAY BE FULL. So that the new footing on which they would find themselves with Jesus-no longer beside them to be consulte...

24._Hitherto you have asked nothing in my name. _It is probable that the apostles kept the rule of prayer which had been laid down in the Law. Now we know that the fathers were not accustomed to pray without a Mediator; for God had trained them, by so many exercises, to such a form of prayer. They saw the high priest enter into the holy place in the name of the whole people, and they saw sacrifices offered every day, that the prayers of the Church might be acceptable before God. It was, therefore, one of the principles of faith, that prayers offered to God, when there was no Mediator, were rash and useless. Christ had already testified to his disciples plainly enough that he was the Mediator, but their knowledge was so obscure, that they were not yet able to form their prayers _in his name _in a proper manner. Nor is there any absurdity in saying that they prayed to God, with confidence...

23-27 Asking of the Father shows a sense of spiritual wants, and a desire of spiritual blessings, with conviction that they are to be had from God only. Asking in Christ's name, is acknowledging our unworthiness to receive any favours from God, and shows full dependence upon Christ as the Lord our Righteousness. Our Lord had hitherto spoken in short and weighty sentences, or in parables, the import of which the disciples did not fully understand, but after his resurrection he intended plainly to teach them such things as related to the Father and the way to him, through his intercession. And the frequency with which our Lord enforces offering up petitions in his name, shows that the great end of the mediation of Christ is to impress us with a deep sense of our sinfulness, and of the merit and power of his death, whereby we have access to God. And let us ever remember, that to address th...

Verse 24. _HITHERTO HAVE YE ASKED NOTHING IN MY NAME_] Ye have not as yet considered me the great _Mediator_ between God and man; but this is one of the truths which shall be _more fully revealed_ to you by the Holy Spirit. _ASK_] In my name; and _ye shall receive_-all the salvation ye thus request; the consequence of which shall be that _your joy shall be_ _full_-ye shall be thoroughly _happy_ in being made completely _holy_....

HITHERTO - During his ministry, and while he was with them. HAVE YE ASKED ... - From the evangelists, as well as from this declaration, it seems that they had presented their requests for instruction and aid to Jesus himself. If they had prayed to God, it is probable that they had not done it in his name This great truth that we must approach God in the name of the Mediator was reserved for the last that the Saviour was to communicate to them. It was to be presented at the close of his ministry. Then they were prepared in some degree to understand it; and then, amid trials, and wants, and a sense of their weakness and unworthiness, they would see its preciousness, and rejoice in the privilege of being thus permitted to draw near to God. Though he would be bodily absent, yet their blessings would still be given through the same unchanging Friend. ASK ... - Now

EXPOSITION JOHN 16:1 (c) _The bitter issues of the hostility of the world_. JOHN 16:1 THESE THINGS. What things? Primarily the explanation he had given of the opposition and hatred of the world, and the vast consolation which he had promised in the identification of the disciples with himself, and the witness which would be borne by the Paraclete; but not exclusively, for they include all the preparatory instructions based on his own Person, his going to the Father, his return in the power of the Spirit. HAVE I SPOKEN TO YOU, THAT YE SHOULD NOT BE OFFENDED; that you should not be made to fall over the stumbling block of persecution, and the refusal of the people to hear your message concerning me. For the mome

HITHERTO HAVE YE ASKED NOTHING IN MY NAME,.... Not that they had never prayed as yet; for they had desired him to teach them to pray, which he did: they had prayed to him particularly for an increase of faith, and for many other things; but either they had only asked him, he being present with them, and not the Father; or if they had asked the Father anything, yet not in the name of Christ: they had made no mention of his blood, righteousness, and sacrifice, nor any use of his mediation; things they had not as yet such clear knowledge of; or they had not asked as yet any extraordinary thing, as they afterwards did; see Acts 4:29; ASK, AND YE SHALL RECEIVE; that is, in my name, and whatever ye ask for, ye shall have it, to fit you for your work, to carry you through it, and to give you success in it: see...

John 16:1. _These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended._ That you should not be scandalized when you are put to suffering on any account that you should not dread the offence of the cross, and turn aside because of it. How considerate our Master is! It seems as if he might be angry at us if he suspected that we could be offended by anything that he did or suffered, or that we had to suffer for him; but he knows the weakness of our flesh, and, therefore, he speaks with so much elabouration of comfort. John 16:2. They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service. And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father nor me. But these things have I told you, that when t

CHAPTER 16 1. Persecutions Predicted. (John 16:1 .) 2. The Comforter and His Demonstration. (John 16:7 .) 3. Sorrow and joy. (John 16:16 .) 4. The Father Himself Loveth You. (John 16:23 .) 5. His Final Word before His Prayer. (John 16:28 .) Again He announced coming persecutions. The world is the same today as then, and before this age ends these predictions of our Lord will be again fulfilled, during the great tribulation. The coming of the Comforter is once more announced by Him. He could not come unless the Lord departed.

JOHN 16. There is no break between chs. 15 and 16. Jesus has told them beforehand, so that His death and their suffering may not daunt their faith, as the Baptist was offended by the course of the ministry, which did not correspond to his Messianic expectation. They must expect actual excommunication. Their execution will be thought an acceptable sacrifice to God (_cf._ the Jewish comment on Numbers 25:13, He who sheds the blood of a transgressor should be thought of as if he had offered an offering). There is no reference in John 16:2 to the rebellion of Bar-Kochba (John 5:43 *). This hostile attitude will be due to men's ignorance of God and His Messenger. In after time they will remember His warning. It was not necessary to giv