“And do not bring us into [do not cause us to come into] temptation, but deliver us from the evil one [from evil]. [For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.]”
Matthew 6:13
Holy Bible: Holman Christian Standard Version. 2009. Nashville: Holman Bible Publishers.
One could easily skip the concluding doxology. After all, scholars tell us that the phrase is not in the earliest texts. Even though most Christians have memorized Jesus’ model prayer with the honorary ending, New Testament scholars, like G. Steve Kinnard in The Gospel of Mathew: The Crowning of the King, state that these words were only “added to some manuscripts in the fifth century” (Kinnard, pp. 85-86). This addition is valuable in that it brings the prayer to a close, rounding off the developed ideas by mirroring the opening petition for the manifestation of the kingdom of God in the present reality.
Jesus’ mission was to preach the Good News of the kingdom of God (Lk. 4:43). He was purposed for that very task. In the teachings of Jesus, we find the fabric of the kingdom of God. We enter into that kingdom when we place our lives in His nail-pierced hands. When God in the person of Jesus becomes King of our lives, our lives become conquered territory for His kingdom. When the message of Jesus is accepted and lived out, the kingdom of God becomes evermore visible and inescapably present.
“This is the prayer of mission and commision. If Jesus is the true King of all the world, whose kingdom redefines power and glory so that they are now seen in the manger, on the cross, and in the garden, then to pray this prayer is to pray that this kingdom, this power and this glory may be seen in all the world. It is not enough, though it is the essential starting-point, that we submit in our own lives to God’s alternative kingdom-vision; we must pray and work for the vision to become in reality, with the rulers of this world being confronted with the claims of their rightful king.“
(Wright, p. 66)
Wright, N. T. The Lord and His Prayer. William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2014.
It is our job to continue the spread of the good news! The called-out-people of God, the church, is built on the foundation of faith in this message (Mt. 16:18). Through the lives and works of faithful Jesus-followers in their local church bodies, the kingdom is strengthened, buttressed and reinforced so that the radically life-changing Good News will radiate into the world. As we are going about our lives in the marketplace and commons of the world, the Good News of the kingdom of God should glow on our cheeks. Jesus’ message should be broadcast from our mouths, our hands, and our feet (Mt. 28:18-20; Lk. 24:44-50; Jn. 21:22; Ac. 1:4-8).
As N. T. Wright notes in The Lord and His Prayer, the called-out-people of God, “the church should be active within the world as the people of the true King, as the Christ-people” (p. 67). We are not merely pilgrims passing through but reformers restoring the present world to better reflect the heavenly reality that was made manifest through the life, works and words of Jesus. His followers are His. God the Father is in complete ownership of the kingdom. All the “God-ness” of God is His sole possession. He is all in all. It is His will that this be so from all time to all time.
“Then David praised the LORD in the sight of all the assembly. David said, May You be praised, LORD God of our father Israel, from eternity to eternity. Yours, LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the splendor and the majesty, for everything in the heavens and on the earth belongs to You. Yours, LORD, is the kingdom, and You are exalted as head over all. Riches and honor come from You, and You are the ruler of everything. Power and might are in Your hand, and its is in Your hand to make great and to in Your hand to make great and to give strength to all. Now therefore, our God, we give You thanks and praise Your glorious name.“
1 Chronicles 29:10-13
Holy Bible: Holman Christian Standard Version. 2009. Nashville: Holman Bible Publishers.
The words on which the model prayer’s closing was based were those of King David. We read in 1 Chronicles chapter twenty-nine of David’s obedient provision of material for the building of the temple of God. In His model prayer, Jesus has provided us with the material for the building of God’s kingdom. This parallel should not be taken lightly. The kingdom of God rises to prominence on the earth with much prayer. David’s words were words of praise. God had provided through the nation of Israel the means and material for the good work he had destined for His chosen people to do. David would not build the temple. Solomon would build the temple (1 Ch. 28:6). David was blessed to see the threads of God’s plan draw tightly together. He thanked God for that.
We also see God’s plan being sewn up tightly through Jesus’ prayer. We acknowledge our Father. We honor His name. We pray to see His kingdom real and alive. We pray to be mirrors of the heavenly reality. We pray for daily provision. We pray for just enough. We pray for forgiveness, because we have already forgiven others. We pray for deliverance, because it is God’s good and perfect will that we should depend on Him in the valley of the shadow of death and evil. It is for His glory that we pray these words. He holds tomorrow. He holds all past, present and future. It is altogether good that we should thank Him, praise Him and bless Him for His identity. Only when we recognize God in His greatness do we find our correct position in relationship with Him.
“Until I am born again and really begin to see the kingdom of God, I only see from the perspective of my own biases. What I need is God’s surgical procedure – His use of external circumstances to bring about internal purification. Your priorities must be God first, God second, and God third, until your life is continually face to face with God and no one else is taken into account whatsoever.“
(Chambers, July 13)
Chambers, Oswald. My Utmost for His Highest: an Updated Edition in Todays Language: the Golden Book of Oswald Chambers. Discovery House Publishers, 1992.
New life in Jesus gives us the eyes to see the kingdom of God. The circumstances of life exist in the good and pleasing will of God and are used to orchestrate our reliance on Him. Oswald Chambers knew well that personal devotion to God began by placing God as the supreme priority of human life. All other relationships fall into place if we place God first. The model prayer is one in which God is prioritized above all else. This prayer praises the royal supremacy of God in Jesus Christ. “When people in Jesus’ world backed up a request with the Emperor’s name, people jumped to attention.” states N. T. Wright, “How much more, when we pray in the name of the true King of kings?” (p. 68).
The authority evoked at the mention of the name of God ought to humble us. We should bow our heads and bend our knees at the mention of His name. When God’s glorification in the manifestation of the kingdom is the prize and focus of our prayers, all other things we might desire are satisfied in the peace that comes with a relationship in Jesus (Mt. 6:33; Rm 5:1). We should not neglect our earthly responsibilities, but, as Oswald Chambers reminds us, the Jesus-follower “must make his relationship with God the dominating focus of his life, and to be cautiously carefree about everything else in comparison”.
“What is the object of our quest? The Church? Heaven? No; we are to seek God’s righteousness – His sway, His rule, His reign in our lives… This prayer is a petition for God to reign, to manifest His kingly sovereignty and power, to put to flight every enemy of righteousness and of His divine rule, that God alone may be King over all the world.“
(Ladd, p. 21)
Ladd, George Eldon. The Gospel of the Kingdom: Scriptural Studies in the Kingdom of God. Eerdmans, 2001.
This is in essence what we praise when we echo David’s glad temple prayer. We want God to rule in all of our hearts alone. We are asking for Jesus to make His existence known through our bodies as He was known during His time among us on earth. We are asking for Jesus to make His existence known through our bodies as He will be known in eternity. Existing in the “already but not yet”, we understand that the best is yet to come and yet that God is willing to forecast that heavenly glory through our lives today.
This thought revolutionized the way I looked at the Christian life. God is willing to make an impact for His kingdom through willing and faithful followers if we will but humbly and simply say “Here I am. Send me” (Is. 6:8). This relational, cooperative, yet infinite God is who we worship when we close the model prayer with David’s words. We do this with all other called-out-people of God across the border-less ages, across the territories of the world, and across the threshold of heaven and earth. In the Layman’s Bible Book Commentary, Joe O. Lewis summarizes the essence of David’s prayer as an acknowledgement that “all the things that people have been able to give belong to the Lord” and a proclamation of thanksgiving “that they had been allowed to give them back”.
As I write this, I cannot get the words of this hymn out of my mind:
“Born Thy people to deliver
Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus, v. 2 by Charles Wesley, 1707-1788
Born a child and yet a king
Born to reign in us forever
Now Thy gracious kingdom bring
By Thine own eternal Spirit
Rule in all our hearts alone
By Thine own sufficient merit
Raise us to Thy glorious throne“
May this be our prayer forever and always until the day we are called home to Jesus in fullness and in glory. May the Holy Spirit of Christ fill you and empower you in all you say and do for the glory of God and the furtherance of His kingdom both now and forever. Let it be so dear Lord. Let it be so.
“Remember, God is as Great as He is Good!“
Noah R. Hunt
POIEMA: Created for Truth 