AR 376 - Asking of the Lord

AR 376

Then one of the elders answered, saying to me,
"Who are these arrayed in white robes,
and where did they come from?"
And I said to him, "Lord, you know."
(Revelation 7:13-14)

This symbolizes their desire to know and wish to inquire,
and the reply and instruction given.

John was asked these questions
because it is common in all Divine worship
for a person to first wish, desire, and pray,
and for the Lord then to reply, instruct, and effect.
A person does not otherwise accept anything Divine.

. . . in the Word we frequently read
that the Lord answers
when people call on Him or cry out to Him,
and that He gives to people when they ask.
Yet, even so,
it is the Lord who gives people to ask
and what they should ask for,
and the Lord knows it, therefore, beforehand.
But still it is the Lord's will that a person first ask,
in order that the person may do so as though on his own,
and that the petition may thus be assigned to him.
Otherwise, if the petition itself
did not emanate from the Lord,
it would not have been said in those passages
that people would receive whatever they ask.