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Will God Punish Me For Praying To Jesus?
Ask a Bible Teacher
By Jack Kelley
Question: I have always felt very close to Jesus as if He is always sitting right beside me.
When I think of God, he seems further away somehow. I look at Him as I do my earthly father who is stern and strict. I always address 99 % of my prayers to Jesus, even though I love God, I don't feel that same one on one connection. I am afraid that he is going to punish me for this, but I don't know how to change my way of feeling this way.
I have been listening to all your mp3 studies and they kind of make me understand a little why I feel this way. I take them as we are all children of God, but He will be concerned more with his covenant people than the Church. When the final judgement comes, will we be united with God and his covenant people on Earth, or will we still be in the New Jerusalem hovering above?
Answer: There's a belief in Christianity that our view of God as adults will be influenced by our view of our earthly fathers as children. I've seen this many times.
The truth of the matter is that the Father and Son are one. Jesus is simply God in the flesh. When we say Jesus we mean God.
I don't think it's any accident that the real name of God has been lost. It was forbidden to speak or write God's name, except for once a year on Yom Kippur, when it was spoken 7 times. YHWH are initials that stand for His name, and when you see LORD written all in caps in the Old Testament, in the Hebrew it's YHWH. Vowels were added later to make Jehovah and then Yahweh, something we could pronounce. But you'll notice that Orthodox Jews don't call him that. They call Him Ha Shem (the Name). They haven't been able to pronounce His name since the Temple was destroyed, and no longer remember it.
But in Philippians 2:9 we see the reason for all this. God has made Jesus the name above all names. His is the name by which God desires to be known. So don't worry about being punished. You're doing what He wants us all to do.
I've written that when dealing with Earth God's focus is either on Israel or the Church, never both simultaneously. When He turns back to Israel for the End Times events, the Church has to disappear just like Israel disappeared while He focused on the Church.
If you're referring to the time after the Millennium when you say after the final judgment, no one knows what will happen because the Bible only tells us that there is an eternity. It doesn't describe it in any detail because the Bible was written for the Age of Man, and the Millennium is the final 1000 years of that age. All during the Millennium, the Church will be in the New Jerusalem and Israel will be on Earth.
Original Article
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