Why did Jesus Christ pray to the Father when He was the God Himself?

      We can see Jesus praying to the Father, why does He have to pray if He is God Himself?

 

Matt 14.23

Standing in the position of man (Mat 4.4), the heavenly King, as the beloved Son of the Father (3.17) needed to pray privately to His Father who was in the heavens, that He might be one with the Father and have the Father with Him in whatever He did on the earth for establishing of the kingdom of the heavens.  He did this not in the deserted place but on the mountain, leaving all the people, even His disciples, that He might be alone to contact the Father. 

 

Mark 1.35

To fellowship with God, seeking God’s will and pleasure for His gospel service.  The Slave-Savior performed the evangelistic service not by Himself, independent of God and according to His own will, but according to God’s will and pleasure by being one with God to fulfill His purpose

 

Again in Matt 4, we see Jesus was led up into the wilderness by the Spirit to be tempted by the devil.  As the Son of God, Satan cannot stand against Him to challenge, but as the Son of man, The Lord Jesus intended to follow every human limitations to make His life, death and resurrection a successful mission.  In Matt 4.3, we read that the newly anointed King fasted in His humanity, standing on the ground of man.  On the other hand, He was also the Son of God as God the Father had declared at Christ’s baptism (3.17).  Thus under this criteria, He had to accomplish His ministry for the kingdom of the heavens.  He had to defeat God’s enemy, the devil, Satan as a man as He was the sacrificial Lamb of God for the redemption of Mankind.  Hence, He stood as the Son of man to confront the enemy of God.  The devil knowing this clearly tempted the Lord time and again to leave the standing of man and assume His position as the Son of God.  At the start of the forty days wilderness period, the subtle tempter took the declaration of God the Father that Jesus was His beloved Son to be the ground to tempt Him.  If Christ had assumed His position as the Son of God before the enemy, He would have lost the criteria to defeat Him and save His creation. 

 

Later we read that on many occasions, the evil spirits tried to expose the Lord as the Son of God.  However, Christ’s mission was to accomplish where the first Adam failed by becoming the Second Adam.  As the Second Adam, He submitted to every human limitation, endured trials, and prayed as a man on earth.  This also set a pattern for us today in our walk with God to be like Him. 

 

Summary

Jesus praying doesn’t diminish His glory, but as the incarnation of God on earth, His mission was to accomplish what we couldn’t due to the Law.  He stood on the grounds of human limitation and thus prayed within that limited premise to know the will of God the Father and go on with His mission.