Jesus has opened the way to the Father, so that whatever we ask of the Father in Jesus’ name, “He will give it to you.” We pray, therefore, confident that we will be heard and answered and that our “joy may be full.” We pray because we have heard the Gospel—and the Lord has opened our hearts to believe it. We pray in the name of Jesus because we have been baptized into Him, as Lydia and her household were baptized. We have been healed, so we live and walk and pray in newness of life.
On earth “you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy.” We are saved by the cross of Christ—He has defeated death and we have received freely “from the spring of the water of life.” The Spirit is already granting us peace and joy through the forgiveness of our sins. The Spirit will continue working in us by His grace, glorifying the Son of Man in us by our love for one another in the same way He was glorified by God in the cross.
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came from the Father and became flesh among us in order to rescue us, His sheep. He laid down His life for us and took it up again in order to give us eternal life. By the preaching of His Gospel, He calls His sheep to Himself and keeps them with Him forever. They hear His voice and follow Him, and “no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.” The Good Shepherd gathers his flock in worship with all the company of heaven. Together we cry, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”
“Worthy is the Lamb who was slain,” who by His cross has conquered sin and death! This same Lord Jesus calls people of all nations to Himself by the Gospel. With His blood, He has ransomed all people. He restored Simon Peter to faith and life and commissioned him to feed His lambs and tend His sheep. Likewise, He revealed Himself to Saul of Tarsus and brought him to repentance, so that the persecutor of Jesus might instead carry and confess His name.
In Revelation we read the vision given John the Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, the incarnate Son of God, the Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last, the Living One, the firstborn of the dead. Jesus died for all people, and behold, He is alive forevermore! His death atoned for sin and conquered death, and in His resurrection He opened the kingdom of heaven to us. He calls us to believe, that by such faith we “may have life in His name.”
