1 John 5:13-15 | Big Prayers

13 These things I wrote to you, that believe on the name of the Son of God that you may know you have life eternal and that you may believe on the name of the Son of God. 14 And this is the confidence that we have in Him that, if we ask any thing according to His will, then He will hear us. 15 And if we know that He hears us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions we asked of Him.

1 John 5:13-15

We come to the beginning of the conclusion of this letter. Reminiscent of John’s Gospel, the Beloved Apostle gives a explanation for why he’s written. Whereas in His Gospel the reason for writing was so that they might believe (Jn. 20:31), here it is so that they might know. And, not to get too technical, but this knowing is in the perfect aorist, which tells us that it is complete. There isn’t anything further that is needful to be known. As one expositor points out John’s “Gospel exhibits the Son of God, the Epistle commends Him.”^⁠1 Christ has been proclaimed by John, and now Christ is known. This knowledge isn’t merely “pass the test” knowledge, it is the knowing of personal fellowship. He is yours, and you are His. The Gospel isn’t proclaimed, and then a plan is laid out for how you are to earn it. Rather, Christ is proclaimed as God’s free gift of life eternal to those who believe on the name of the Son of God.

In verse 14, we have the fourth & final appearance of the word boldness/confidence. This whole epistle is so that you, the child of God, might be bold. Uncertainty should have no home in your heart. God, by Christ the Incarnate Son, has brought you into His divine council. You might ask, and He will hear you, and answer. This is what Christ Himself taught: “Now we know that God heareth not sinners: but if any man be a worshipper of God, and doeth his will, him he heareth (Jn. 9:13).” The striking thing is that God is more desirous to hear our prayers than we are to offer them up.

Conservative Christians often are put off by the “blab it and grab it” circus of so-called “prosperity Gospel.” But our reaction to this misuse of prayer is also sinful. Being made bold by our assurance of fellowship with God through Christ should show up in boldly asking for all we have need of, with the glad submission to however God in His providence will answer us. Indeed, we don’t have, because we’re cowards to ask.

Man, through Christ, has been restored to fellowship with the Almighty God. Just as Adam walked with God in the cool of the Garden, just as Moses met and counseled with God in the Tabernacle, or as many of the prophets were brought up into the secret place of the Most High, each saint is brought into God’s Holy, awesome presence. Your privilege is to petition the God who made heaven and earth to supply your daily bread, to break the jaws of evildoers, to thwart the designs of Satan, to subdue wicked nations, to bring about true justice in the earth. Our problem, by and large, is that the Gospel we preach is mismatched by the safe prayers we pray. The Great Gospel brings about great prayers.