We have much to learn from the Lord Jesus concerning prayer. After warning His disciples how not to pray, he then models for them how to pray. We will consider the first part of the Lord’s prayer as He zooms in upon the God we are to pray to, the reality of His rule and how we are to submit to Him.
Pray then like this:
“Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
As Jesus teaches His congregated disciples (Matt. 5:1-2) about the realities of the Kingdom that He is bringing, He draws their attention to a phrase He has used severally in His Great Sermon, “Our Father” (cf. 5:16, 45,48; 6:1, 4, 6 (x2), 8). Jesus is revealing that those who are in His Kingdom are being welcomed into a deeper, more intimate relationship with Yahweh. He is not merely their God and Master, but is introduced as their Father. It is amazing to be writing this on Easter Week and to ponder exactly how it is that sinners and rebels can be welcomed into the family of God. It is the fruit of the work of Christ upon the cross, that by faith in Him, we are given “the right to become children of God.” (John 1:12). Paul says that through Jesus, we have “access to the Father in the Spirit” (Eph. 2:18). Rebels and sinners are reconciled to God through Jesus’ work so that we can be welcomed into God’s family, becoming “members of the household of God” (Eph. 2:19) and get to call God “Abba, Father” (Romans 8:15).
This means we have no fear of coming before Him, because we know that He will receive us as a father receives the children whom he loves. We can come to Him simply and boldly, because of the intimacy of relationship that we share with Him. He needs no practices and procedures in order to receive us. This means that He is close to us. Theologians speak of His immanence – a term summarized in the word Immanuel, “God with us” (Matt. 1:23; Isaiah 7:14, 8:8). We can reach out to God and know that He is present with us, able and eager to hear our prayers, through the relationship Jesus has mediated for us.
Contrasted with God’s immanence is His transcendence. This is the reality that “God is exalted in his royal dignity and exercises both control and authority in his creation”. This is what the Lord’s prayer submits to us in the acknowledgement of God’s throne, call for honor and desire for His Eternal reign. “Our Father in heaven, hallowed by your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”
Jesus teaches us to pray and recognize the greatness of God as the One who dwells “in heaven”. The psalmists are especially helpful in guiding us to see why this acknowledgement is important. “The Lord is in his holy temple; the Lord’s throne is in heaven;” (Psalm 11:4). “Now I know that the Lord saves his anointed; he will answer him from his holy heaven with the saving might of his right hand.” (Ps. 20:6). “The Lord looks down from heaven; he sees all the children of man;” (Ps. 33:13). It is the place from which God reigns as ruler of the cosmos. To acknowledge the place of his throne is to acknowledge his rule and transcendence. This is why the prayer continues, “hallowed be your name”. This is a call to honor God’s name as holy – set apart. To hallow the name of our Father is to call to attention his uniqueness and greatness, as the One who is in a league of his own and therefore worthy of being held in distinction and worshiped.
To the Great, Transcendent God, whom we get to call Father, under whose rule we live, as we seek to honor his name as holy we pray, “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” The Old Testament testifies to God as the Everlasting King who rules over all. “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever. The scepter of your kingdom is a scepter of uprightness;” (Psalm 45:6). “For the Lord, the Most High, is to be feared, a great king over all the earth. . . For God is the King of all the earth; sing praises with a psalm! God reigns over the nations; God sits on his holy throne.” (Ps. 47:2, 7-8). Jeremiah, in addressing those who opted for idols says: “But the LORD is the true God; he is the living God and the everlasting King.” (Jer. 10:10). King Nebuchadnezzar after being humiliated for seven years rises to bless the God of heaven and acknowledge: “for his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom endures from generation to generation;” (Dan. 4:34-35). Compared to the kings of the earth, God reigns as the Eternal King, who upholds righteousness forever. His kingdom stretches across time and space. He not only rules forever, but he rules the whole universe (all that exists), as the Creator of all that is.
But if God is already ruling as King, why should we pray “Your kingdom come”? This is because of the consequence of sin and the brokenness of this world. While God is truly King over all, because of sin, his rule is rejected. Genesis 3 cast a shadow of rebellion upon God’s creation that persists to this day. Sin, in its essence, is the attempt to usurp God’s rule over our lives and establish ourselves as rulers but this leaves us only with God’s right judgement. While God reigns, we continue to rebel against Him and deceptively live as if we rule ourselves, experiencing His judgement.
But when we pray, “Your kingdom come”, we pray as those who have received God’s grace and mercy, having been woken up from our self-deception. We are humbling ourselves under his rule, turning away from our sinful rebellion. We pray this in repentance. We pray this as those welcomed into the kingdom of God through Christ – no longer under God’s right judgement but as those who know his favor and salvation. More to this, we are praying in yearning for the coming end of things when God’s rule will be obvious and undeniable, when sin is finally dealt with forever, and God’s kingdom remains; when “every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”(Phil. 2:10-11)
The latter is also echoed in the next part of the prayer, “your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” Once again we are not praying for the fulfillment of God’s will as if His will is not being done. The psalmist testifies, “Whatever the Lord pleases, he does, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps.” (Ps. 135:6). As we pray these words, we are once again longing for God’s rule to become apparent in our lives as well as in the world. We are praying to want and obey all that the Lord wants of His saints. We are praying for our rebellion to end. We are submitting ourselves to God’s rule. We are seeking the perfect and visible fulfillment of God’s will in heaven to be imitated here on earth. We want all ‘rivals’ to God’s rule to be completely done away with and for God alone to be honored as King, as he is in heaven! We are praying for Jesus to return and bring the fullness of God’s kingdom forever!
Let us pause here to think about how quickly we spout out these words without careful consideration of what we are really saying and to whom we are saying them. Pause and repeat the opening words of this prayer slowly, “Our Father. . . in heaven. . . hallowed, be your name. Your kingdom come. . .your will be done on earth as it is in heaven”. Think over what these words mean. Consider the transcendence and immanence of God. He is at the same time the Royal King of Heaven and Our Father. He is the One who is infinitely greater than us, but whom we are brought into intimate relationship. Jesus directs us to call on this God in trust and humble reverence. Jesus calls us to adore and worship this God. Jesus calls us to submit to this God.
Do you take the time to ponder and pray to this God? I am not sure I always do. Not all my prayers carry this great view of God. This is why I want to pray this prayer more regularly. I want to take the time to slow down over these words and think upon God in His greatness and nearness and to really submit to His rule. Too often I come to God like He is an ATM or genie meant to fulfill my wants, as if He serves me and not the other way around! I need help correcting my often-skewed view of God. I can tell that some of my friends also need help correcting their view. I think my friends who “decree and declare” and “”speak” things in their prayers also suffer from a small view of God. What they claim as confidence in prayer is actually a bid for authority that only God has. Instead of submission to the Great Transcendent God, they stand in defiance of Him – refusing to respect and honor Him. What might look like confidence is actually arrogance and pride instead of humility. My friends and I really need to pray this prayer that Jesus modeled for us. We need a greater view of God. We need to learn to stand in awe of God and yet draw near to Him in simple, trusting prayer. We need to surrender our rebellion and submit to His kind rule.
“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven . . .”