Why is the prayers of the saints used multiple times in revelation?
Revelation 5:8And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints.
Revelation 8:3-4
And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne.
And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel's hand.
And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel's hand.
The word intercession is used numerous times in the Bible. Why does Paul ask for prayers for him?
2 Thess 3:1Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may have free course, and be glorified, even as it is with you:
Paul assures others that we are in his prayers.
Eph 1:16Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers;
Paul urges for supplications, prayers, intercessions and thanksgivings.
1 Timothy 2:1I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men;
We pray that God may make you worthy of His call?
2 Thess 1:11 Wherefore also we pray always for you, that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfil all the good pleasure of his goodness, and the work of faith with power:
God has Job pray for his friends.
Job 42:8 Therefore take unto you now seven bullocks and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering; and my servant Job shall pray for you: for him will I accept: lest I deal with you after your folly, in that ye have not spoken of me the thing which is right, like my servant Job.
Pray for one another.
James 5:16 Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.
Are we, the church, one body in Christ?
1 Corinthians 12:20-27,20 But now are they many members, yet but one body.
21 And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you.
22 Nay, much more those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are necessary:
23 And those members of the body, which we think to be less honourable, upon these we bestow more abundant honour; and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness.
24 For our comely parts have no need: but God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honour to that part which lacked.
25 That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another.
26 And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it.
27 Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.
21 And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you.
22 Nay, much more those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are necessary:
23 And those members of the body, which we think to be less honourable, upon these we bestow more abundant honour; and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness.
24 For our comely parts have no need: but God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honour to that part which lacked.
25 That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another.
26 And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it.
27 Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.
Rom 12:5 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
Gal 3:28,So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.
The church is the body, Christ at the head.
Colossians 1:24 Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the church:
Are saints dead or is our God, the God of the living?
Matthew 22:32 I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.
How do the saints know what is happening on earth?
Luke 16:27-28 Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father's house: For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment.
A Cloud of witnesses
Hebrews 12:1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.
“Praying to saints is not in the Bible.”
Argument from silence.
Praying to the Holy Spirit never occurs in the biblical corpus.
So should we not do it?
IVF is never mentioned in the Bible.
“One mediator”
1 Timothy 2:5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;
If taken literally it would prove prayers for others contradict Christ's role as one mediator. Would asking a friend to pray on your behalf be wrong since we've declared that this petition be brought to Christ directly?
“Is praying to saints necromancy?”
No because necromancy involves the transfer of information from dead to the living. Intercession the flow of information is reversed.
Saul uses necromancy to summon the deceased prophet Samuel to obtain advice about military/spiritual troubles.
“Is praying to saints making them out to be omniscient and omnipresent?”
No, because there are a finite prayers to saints. God knows an infinite amount of laws concerning mathematics.
The Difference between God and men is grasping the infinite.
Prayer is acceptable for friends. Saints are not dead.
Oration on Simeon and Anna XIV (c. A.D. 300)
"Hail to you for ever, you virgin mother of God, our unceasing joy, for unto you do I again return. You are the beginning of our feast; you are its middle and end; the pearl of great price that belongs to the kingdom; the fat of every victim, the living altar of the bread of life.Hail, you treasure of the love of God. Hail, you fount of the Son's love for man. Hail, you overshadowing mount of the Holy Ghost. You gleamed, sweet gift-bestowing mother, of the light of the sun; you gleamed with the insupportable fires of a most fervent charity, bringing forth in the end that which was conceived of you before the beginning, making manifest the mystery hidden and unspeakable, the invisible Son of the Father — the Prince of Peace, who in a marvelous manner showed Himself as less than all littleness.
Wherefore, we pray you, the most excellent among women, who boast in the confidence of your maternal honors, that you would unceasingly keep us in remembrance. O holy mother of God, remember us, I say, who make our boast in you, and who in hymns august celebrate the memory, which will ever live, and never fade away. And also, O honored and venerable Simeon, you earliest host of our holy religion, and teacher of the resurrection of the faithful, be our patron and advocate with that Savior God, whom you were deemed worthy to receive into your arms. We, together with you, sing our praises to Christ, who has the power of life and death, saying, You are the true Light, proceeding from the true Light; the true God, begotten of the true God;"
Back to Top