Verse 23
And in that day ye shall ask me no question. Verily, verily, I say unto you, if ye shall ask anything of the Father, he will give it you in my name.
This means that in the totally changed situation after the resurrection, the apostles would not need the Lord's physical presence as an ever-available teacher to answer their questions and allay their doubts and fears. All that would be changed. They would ask Jesus nothing, that is, in the ordinary sense of inquiring of a human teacher. On the other hand, they would pray to the Father in Jesus' name.
This also indicates that the apostles would soon understand the great spiritual verities and would not need to ask, "Where art thou going?" (John 13:36), or "How can we know the way?" (John 14:5), or "Show us the Father" (John 14:8), or "Lord, what has happened that thou art about to manifest thyself to us and not to the world?" (John 14:22), or "What is this that he saith, A little while?" (John 16:18). All such uncertainties would disappear in the light of the events which would, in a matter of hours, be unfolded.
He will give it you in my name ... These words show that Jesus intended that his followers should pray, not to himself, but to the Father IN JESUS' NAME. It surfaces here also that the giving, as well as the asking, shall be in Jesus' name. In all petitions to the Father, the name of Jesus Christ should be mentioned as the ground of the petitioner's right to be heard. High-sounding prayers offered in no other name, and upon no other grounds, than those of the petitioner, or even ambiguously, "in thy name," can be nothing other than an affront to Almighty God. Ignoring or bypassing the name of the One Mediator between God and man is presumptuously sinful. Particularly reprehensible is the custom of closing prayers with a mere "Amen," for fear that some unbeliever might be offended by the name of Christ. Loving the praise of men more than the praise of God was fatal to believers in Jesus' day (John 12:42); and it is beyond question fatal to fall into the same error today.
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