Matthew Henry Commentary
 
 

John 14:13

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

More specifically:

"Whatsoever you shall ask, that will I do (v. 13, 14), as Israel, who was a prince with God. Therefore you shall do such mighty works, because you have such an interest in Me, and I in My Father.’’

(1.) In what way they were to keep up communion with Him, and derive power from Him, when He was gone to the Father—by prayer. When dear friends are to be removed to a distance from each other, they provide for the settling of a correspondence; thus, when Christ was going to His Father, He tells His disciples how they might write to Him upon every occasion, and send their epistles by a safe and ready way of conveyance, without danger of miscarrying, or lying by the way: "Let Me hear from you by prayer, the prayer of faith, and you shall hear from Me by the Spirit.’’ This was the old way of intercourse with Heaven, ever since men began to call upon the name of the Lord; but Christ by His death has laid it more open, and it is still open to us. Here is,

(a.) Humility prescribed: You shall ask. Though they had quitted all for Christ, they could demand nothing of Him as a debt, but must be humble supplicants, beg or starve, beg or perish.

 (b.) Liberty allowed: "Ask any thing, any thing that is good and proper for you; any thing, provided you know what you ask, you may ask; you may ask for assistance in your work, for a mouth and wisdom, for preservation out of the hands of your enemies, for power to work miracles when there is occasion, for the success of the ministry in the conversion of souls; ask to be informed, directed, vindicated.’’ Occasions vary, but they shall be welcome to the throne of grace upon every occasion.

(2.) In what name they were to present their petitions: Ask in My name. To ask in Christ’s name is, (1.) To plead his merit and intercession, and to depend upon that plea. The Old-Testament saints had an eye to this when they prayed for the Lord’s sake (Dan. 9:17), and for the sake of the anointed (Ps. 84:9), but Christ’s mediation is brought to a clearer light by the gospel, and so we are enabled more expressly to ask in His name. When Christ dictated the Lord’s prayer, this was not inserted, because they did not then so fully understand this matter as they did afterwards, when the Spirit was poured out.

If we ask in our own name, we cannot expect to speed, for, being strangers, we have no name in heaven; being sinners, we have an ill name there; but Christ’s is a good name, well known in heaven, and very precious.

(3.) It is to aim at His glory and to seek this as our highest end in all our prayers.

(4.) What success they should have in their prayers: "What you ask, that will I do,’’ v. 13. And again (v. 14), "I will do it. You may be sure I will: not only it shall be done, I will see it done, or give orders for the doing of it, but I will do it;’’ for He has not only the interest of an intercessor, but the power of a sovereign prince, who sits at the right hand of God, the hand of action, and has the doing of all in the kingdom of God. By faith in His name we may have what we will for the asking.

(5.) For what reason their prayers should speed so well: That the Father may be glorified in the Son. That is, (1.) This they ought to aim at, and have their eye upon, in asking. In this all our desires and prayers should meet as in their centre; to this they must all be directed, that God in Christ may be honoured by our services, and in our salvation. Hallowed be Thy name is an answered prayer, and is put first, because, if the heart be sincere in this, it does in a manner consecrate all the other petitions.

(6.) This Christ will aim at in granting, and for the sake of this will do what they ask, that hereby the glory of the Father in the Son may be manifested. The wisdom, power, and goodness of God were magnified in the Redeemer when by a power derived from Him, and exerted in His name and for His service, His apostles and ministers were enabled to do such great things, both in the proofs of their doctrine and in the successes of it.