The final part of Jesus’ prayer is bracketed by ‘forgive others as God has forgiven you’. In a sense, that’s looking backwards to sins we have committed.

So in that context, we are told to pray ‘Lead us not into temptation’. Which is a forward look to potential sins.

The first thing to say is that God does not tempt us to sin – James 1:13 – but he does allow us to go through various trials. In fact, it’s pretty much a certainty that as Christians we will go through different kinds of trials or testing. Though we also have the promise that we will not be tested beyond our ability to endure it – 1 Corinthians 10:13.

The first chapter of James is quite helpful with this. It opens with the statement that we should count trials as ‘joy’ (James 1:2) – because when our faith is tested we grow stronger. But James also identifies the source of our temptations. Not God, but our own desires, our sinful natures. 

So the prayer could be worded ‘lead us not to the place of testing’. Rather, Psalm 23 for instance describes other, positive, places where God does lead us: ‘beside still waters’ and ‘in paths of righteousness’. 

This leading is not ‘dragging’, against our will – it is more like guiding. Our own hearts or desires will tend to take us away from God. Through his Word and the inward prompting of the Holy Spirit, he will lead, or guide, us away from temptation and towards righteousness.

It is not just our inward desires that can tempt us. Clearly there are temptations all around us, though they will almost always find footing in our minds.

The second part of this prayer ‘deliver us from evil’, refers to an external source of temptation. The word ‘evil’ is not an abstract word – it is a personal word. It is often translated as ‘deliver us from the evil one’. While this could mean an evil person, it most likely refers to the devil. So, deliver, or rescue, us from the devil. 

The devil is a spiritual being who is more powerful than we are but is powerless against Jesus. As an example, Jesus tells the disciples that Satan wanted to ‘shake’ them, something Peter says he will be able to resist (Luke 22;31-34). It turned out that he couldn’t as he denied Jesus three times. Nevertheless, Jesus delivered him by praying for him (Luke 22:32), restoring him after his resurrection (John 21:15-19) and subsequently making him the leader of the church in Acts 2:14ff. Peter could not withstand the devil in his own strength, but with Jesus’ strength the devil was disempowered and Peter was raised to be a witness and apostle in the church.

‘Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us form evil’ is a prayer for protection from influences and forces that are stronger than we are, but over which God has ultimate power.

Some versions of the Bible include a doxology (praise) after this final part of Jesus’ prayer:

It’s unlikely this was in the original manuscripts, but it is a very appropriate way to finish this prayer as it brings our focus back to our all-powerful, glorious Father who will love, care for, provide and protect his children.

Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors

Matthew 6:12

This is the penultimate petition on Jesus’ model prayer. It clearly carries some importance as immediately after giving the prayer, he returns to the importance of forgiving others.

He says that because God has forgiven us, we must forgive others, then goes further saying that if we do not forgive others, God will not forgive us.

Does that mean that God will stop forgiving us? That we can therefore lose our salvation? No, because our salvation, or justification, is a one-time event which cannot be undone (see Romans 5:1, 9; 8:1; 10:10). Also, if God waited to see if we forgave others before he forgave us, then our salvation would be based on our works – which is not the case (see Ephesians 2:8-9).

Rather, it has to do with our ongoing relationship with God. Remember the prayer starts with ‘Our Father’. The context is that of children praying to their father. But is possible for us to spoil that relationship. We can grieve the Holy Spirit by our behaviour (see Eph 4:30). God made us in his image, which means we are like him, so we should mirror him in everything we are and do. The work of the Holy Spirit in us is to restore that image, which was corrupted by the Fall, and if we resist his work by choosing to not reflect his image, he is grieved. In the context of forgiveness, God has forgiven us so it follows that we should do as he does and forgive others.

Forgiving others can be very hard to do, which is why we need the reminder of how much God has forgiven us. Jesus illustrates this in the parable of the unforgiving servant (Matthew 18:23-35). Here, there is a servant who owes his master an astronomical amount (equivalent to billions of pounds). How he got into such debt is not the point, the amount represents something which is completely unpayable. And that is the point. Our ‘debt’ to God is beyond our ability to pay. It’s not simply financial, it’s the debt of treason, the consequence of our sin. RC Sproul describes sin as ‘cosmic treason’. CS Lewis says ‘Fallen man is not simply an imperfect creature who needs improvement: he is a rebel who must lay down his arms’.

The other day, I was reading the account of Jesus in Gethsemane, just before his arrest. He sweat drops of blood – a sign of great stress. Here is the perfect man, the Son of God, recoiling from the terror of the punishment he was about to face. That indicates the depth of our sin – and the fact that he determined to go through with it shows the enormity of his love for us. While we may never really grasp the real gravity of our sin, we can at least understand that God’s forgiveness is for something we could never repay. And however much other people sin against us, it will still not compare to our sin against God.

And that is the point of the second part of the parable. The forgiven servant refused to forgive a smaller debt. While it was not insignificant in human terms (in the parable it was measured in thousands of pounds), it was tiny compared with the original debt owed by the servant.

In other words, whatever we think others might owe us, it is nothing compared to the debt God has forgiven us. 

And it’s because of that that we should be willing to forgive others. A willingness to forgive is an indication of our own forgiveness. James writes that while we are saved through faith, our faith is demonstrated by our works. (James 2:18). That is, our behaviour or outward actions. 

In Ephesians 4, Paul makes this very practical. He says that a Christian is someone who has ‘put off their old ways’ and ‘put on a new self, created after the likeness of God’ (Ephesians 4:22-24). He then lists several ways this might be demonstrated, finishing with ‘forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you’ (Ephesians 4:25-32).

So when we pray ‘forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors’, we are both asking God for forgiveness, and committing ourselves to forgive others.

Daily Bread

Continuing with the Lord’s Prayer, we get to the next petition which switches the focus. So far, the prayer has been God-centred – His name, His holiness, His will. In summary, the prayers have been ‘in heaven’.

But now it’s very much down to earth. Give us this day our daily bread. Daily bread is a recognition of our dependence on food. And at the most obvious level, Jesus is referring to our dependence on our Father to provide us with our physical needs. In the West, the majority of us are ‘distanced’ from the source of our food – we don’t see it grow or processed – which can lead us to be ‘distanced’ from the source of that food, namely God himself. 

So this prayer is not about reminding God that we need bread every day – he knows that already – in fact that is the very context of the Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:8 see also Matthew 6:31, 32). Rather it is to remind us of our dependence on God and to acknowledge and thank him on a daily basis.

Manna

It’s also likely, when Jesus’ hearers heard the word ‘bread’, that their minds will have gone to the provision of manna in the wilderness. The book of Exodus recounts how the whole nation had just been released from slavery in Egypt, and were now wandering in a wilderness. They were hungry and cried out for food. God provided in a miraculous way with manna – bread from heaven – which came every day except on the Sabbath. Many lessons here. It was God’s provision, all they had to do was gather it. It was sufficient – no-one went without – but they couldn’t hoard it (except for the day before the Sabbath). It foreshadowed God’s ultimate provision of our greatest need in sending Jesus (I am the bread of life John 6:48-51).

The people’s reaction is interesting. At first they were obviously grateful. But some had to test God – What if we try to keep some for the next day (it went bad), what if we don’t gather enough for the Sabbath (you go hungry because there is none on the Sabbath). 

Then after a while, they got bored with it. So they complained. They wanted more variety, something that was more interesting. In recounting this is Psalm 106, the psalmist writes about a ‘wanton craving’ (for meat). God’s response was to give them what they wanted, but he also sent a ‘wasting disease’ amongst them.  

God’s provision for us is always sufficient. To want something more or different is to distrust him and think that we know better.

The Word

There’s also a relationship between bread and the Word. In his testing in the wilderness, Jesus (quoting from Deuteronomy) said how ‘man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God’ (Matthew 4:4). Our lives consist of more than food – we need to hear from God himself and are also dependent on him to speak to us. The primary way he does this is through the Bible – his Word. But I’ve found that whenever we talk about this, there seems to be an immediate reference to how God can use other ways as well and the focus shifts to how God uses other means. It’s as though we’re not satisfied with God’s regular provision – we want something else.

I have no doubt that God uses different ways to speak to us – but the point is that the primary way is through his Word. That is where we will find him daily, and that is where we should be seeking him. 

Contentment

Jesus said effectively to take one day at a time and not to worry about tomorrow – including God’s provision of our food – rather to be seeking God’s kingdom. Matt 6:25-34. This, I think, is the secret to contentment as Paul writes in 1 Timothy 6:6-8.

In this phrase, Jesus draws a distinction between ‘on earth’ and ‘in heaven’. God’s will is done in heaven, so there will be no need to pray for that; but it is not done everywhere on earth, hence the need to pray.

So I got to thinking about where, on earth, God’s will is done, where can his Kingdom be seen to be coming, and where is his name hallowed.

And the only place is the Church. 

The Church

That is, the body of Christians across the world, the family of believers, not just those who meet in a particular building or belong to a particular organisation. There are several terms used to describe different facets of the church – one being the Church Universal. This refers to all believers, both on earth and in heaven 

Another description of the Church, that joins up earth and heaven, is the idea of the ‘Church Militant’ (believers on earth) and the ‘Church Triumphant’ (believers in heaven). 

While we may not be overly comfortable with the word ‘militant’ these days, it’s intended to convey that the church on earth is involved in a battle. Not a physical battle, but spiritual warfare against the world, the flesh and the devil. In my last blog I mentioned a few passages which speak of ‘this is the will of God…’ including abstaining from immorality, giving thanks in all circumstances, doing good and so on. Keeping these commands can sometimes be difficult, and that’s where we experience the battle. Particularly in the area of sanctification. 1 Peter 2:11 says: 

Dear friends, I urge you as foreigners and exiles to keep away from fleshly desires that do battle against the soul

While we are on earth we will be constantly in this battle, but we have to remember that Jesus has already won. We are, as it were, fighting the last skirmishes with a defeated enemy. While that doesn’t make is easy, it does mean there is nothing to fear. 

Because the good news is that there is something better to come. The Church Triumphant is made up of those believers who have ‘made it’. They’re in a place of triumph. Through his life, death and resurrection, Jesus has triumphed over all our enemies, so that when we die, we’re taken off the battlefield. We’re in a place of rest, a place where God’s will is done perfectly, a place of triumph.

That in itself should be enough to encourage us to persevere (see how Paul views this in Philippians 1:22-24).

Beyond that the Bible speaks of a ‘new heaven and a new earth’ where we will be reunited with our bodies and become ’gloriously human’ – see Revelation 21-22.

So the prayer ‘your will be done on earth as it is in heaven’ is multi-faceted. It includes a request for God to help us keep his will in our own lives, a recognition of a battle and a request for victory over our enemies. 

But I wrote this on Good Friday, and going through the events that lead up to Jesus’ arrest, there’s a place where he uses the expression ‘your will be done’ for a second time, so I’ve taken a different perspective on what it means for God’s will to be done.

As well as in the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus prays ‘your will be done’ in Gethsemane, the night before his crucifixion. He’s there with his disciples, wrestling with the awful prospect of what’s to come. He says how his soul is ‘sorrowful unto death’; Luke records his agony and how he sweat drops of blood. He pleads with God to save him from the suffering to come (‘the cup’¹ ), but then says ‘nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will’. Two more times he prays ‘My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done’. There it is.

He doesn’t pray that again, it’s as though the matter is resolved, and he goes willingly to the cross.

It’s an example of submission to the will of God, even in circumstances that no other human being will have to face. At one level he is resisting the prospect of a horrific death, enduring the wrath of his Father, knowing that at that point his Father will be against him, not with him. But he is also resolved to obey his Father and complete his mission despite the cost, and so he submits to his Father’s will.

In so doing, Jesus is providing us with an example, albeit extreme, of what it means to follow him.

There are many occasions in the New Testament, where obeying, or keeping God’s will is the mark of a Christian. It is not that obeying God earns us salvation – that is not possible – but having been given salvation as a gift, we demonstrate the consequence, or fruit, of that gift in our lives in our submission to God’s will.

For instance, it is the one who does God’s will who enters the Kingdom of heaven (Matt 7:21) and is Jesus’ brother or sister (Matt 12:50).

We get to know God’s will by renewing our minds (Rom 12:2), so that doing God’s will becomes a delight and a heart-response (Eph 6:6).

We are called to endure in doing God’s will (Heb 10:36) becoming mature and fully assured in it (Col 4:12).

While the will of God for our individual lives will be specific to each one of us – for instance, in the introductions to many of his letters, Paul says how he has been called to be an apostle ‘by the will of God’ – there are some general principles of what God will is for all of us.

Sanctification, abstaining from sexual immorality, is God’s will (1 Thess 4:3). So is giving thanks in all circumstances (1 Thess 5:18), and doing good (1 Peter 2:15). We choose the will of God over ‘human passions’ (1 Peter 4:2), which can come from within (1 John 2:15-16) and from the influences of others (Eph 4:17).

As with the other phrases in the Lord’s prayer, ‘Your Will be Done’ is powerful and rich in meaning. It can, and does, apply to God’s will in the world. But it is also a personal prayer of submission to the will of God – what is good, acceptable and perfect (Rom 12:2). Having endured the suffering, Jesus is now at the right hand of God (Her 12:3). The will of God may take us through hard times, but it will always be for our good. I recently heard someone sum it up this way – we do Gods will because we trust him and trust he wants the best for us.

1. In the Old Testament, the “cup” normally signifies the outpouring of God’s wrath (Psalm 75:8; Isaiah 51:17, 22; Jeremiah 25:15, 16; see also Revelation 16:19)

In the UK we’ve been used to having a Queen as head of state for some 70 years and are still getting used to having a King. Ours is a constitutional monarchy, with the King or Queen having limited powers. But in God’s Kingdom, God is an absolute monarch – what he says goes, there is no higher authority, and he is not subject to anyone or anything.

It started at Creation with God as absolute authority making everything by a word of command, granting men and women dominion over the earth and giving them commands to follow. 

Adam and Eve’s rebellion (the Fall) meant they were expelled from the Kingdom, meaning they no longer had direct access to God and were subject to decay and ultimately death. As their children (and subsequently the whole human race) were born after the Fall, we are all, from birth, outside the Kingdom.

The rest of the Bible is an account of how God’s Kingdom will be restored, principally bringing men and women back in (and because of humanity’s dominion mandate, the rest of creation also).

As this has yet to be fulfilled, the prayer ‘Your Kingdom come’, not only makes sense, but is in line with the whole story of redemption.

Jesus said that his kingdom was ‘not of this world’ (John 18:36), so it is not like other kingdoms. It is not bound by time or place because it is spiritual in nature, not physical. It is centred around its King – namely Jesus. When he started his earthly ministry, both Jesus and John the Baptist said that ‘the Kingdom of heaven is at hand’¹ (Matthew 3:2, 4:17). 

That is a remarkable thing. Human beings have been banished from the Kingdom, but Jesus’ appearing meant that God was providing a way back. The barrier to our entry – sin – was being dealt with by Jesus taking that punishment – death – on our behalf. It being a spiritual kingdom means that we cannot come back in on our own, it requires a spiritual action. Jesus called this being ’born again’, or ‘born from above’ (John 3:3).

To come back into the Kingdom means there must be a change in our hearts (as we cannot continue in rebellion) so that we may begin to reflect the values and character of the King. This is not an instant thing but is probably what Jesus meant in many of his parables which describe a process of growth in the Kingdom from a small start. (See Matthew 13).

Matthew’s Gospel has been called a ‘Kingdom Manifesto’, and in the Sermon on the Mount in particular, Jesus describes the character or the heart of those who belong. They are in stark contrast to the values of worldly ‘kingdoms’, with descriptions such as poor in spirit, mourn, meek, hunger after righteousness, merciful, pure in heart, peacemakers, persecuted and so on (Matthew 5).

The visible representation of God’s is the church, which grows through missionary work, church planting, evangelism and discipleship.

And of course, ultimately God will fully restore all things in a new heaven and new earth – meaning the Kingdom of God fully re-established with no more rebellion (Revelation 21:1-4ff).

So, when we pray ‘your Kingdom come’ we are dealing with several levels, from the grand overarching story of God bringing about a restored Kingdom, through the growth of the church, to a change in our hearts and behaviour.

We are asking God to bring about all of these things, indeed without him nothing would happen. But, interestingly, our part in this prayer is in reverse order. We may have little direct influence over world affairs; we can play a significant part in the growth of the church, whether that is in our own church or in church expansion; we have a major part to play in our own lives as we develop the fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22-23) and the characteristics of the Kingdom (Matt 5-7), seeking first the Kingdom (Matt 6:33).

It might be only three words – but ‘Your Kingdom Come’ is a powerful prayer!

1. The terms ‘Kingdom of God’ and ‘Kingdom of heaven’ mean the same thing

In fact, it is probably the most important part of the prayer, providing a foundation for the rest.

So what’s in a name?

On my first day at ICL, I stopped at the security barrier on my way in. The security guard came and asked who I was. I explained that this was my first day. ”So you’re a bit of a nobody at the moment. What’s your name?” “Mike Smith”. A broad grin crossed his face “Well with a name like that you really are a nobody!”. So much for my name!

But God’s name, throughout the Bible, is taken very seriously. His name is not simply a ‘label’, rather it is his character and his reputation. In the same way that we sometimes speak of someone having a ‘good name’. Everything he does is for the sake of his name. For instance, he saves us (Psalm 106:8), he forgives us (Psalm 25:11), he leads us (Psalm 31:3). He acts to protect the honour of his name (Ezekiel 20:9, 14 and 36:22, Daniel 9:19).

His name is exalted above everything else (along with his word) – Psalm 138:2.

And in this prayer, Jesus is saying that God’s name is to be hallowed, or treated as holy. Clearly, God’s name cannot be any more holy than it already is, so Jesus is not suggesting that his name becomes holy – rather that it becomes recognised and treated as such.

What does that mean?

Hallowed, or holy, means to be set apart. To say that God is holy is to say that he is set apart or distinct from us. There are two principal ways in which God is not the same as us.

Firstly, there is the creator/creature distinction. He is infinite, we are finite; He is unchangeable, we change; he is immortal, we are mortal; he is self-existent, we are dependent; and so on.

God has bridged this gap, in a sense, by making humanity in the image of God. So while there are these aspects of God that are beyond us, there are also those where we can be like God. We can love, communicate, be creative, and principally, commune with God and worship him. This is how we are made.

But there is a second distinction – pure/sinful. This came about as a result of the Fall which took all of mankind into a state of sin, breaking the fellowship with God and creating a gulf between us. 

That means we cannot approach God, we are under condemnation and, amongst many other things, we cannot be our true selves where we commune with and worship God. It is impossible for mankind to recover from this situation.

Again though, God has provided a ‘bridge’ by sending his Son as a human being to bear the consequences of our rebellion and make a way back to him. This is the core message of Christianity.

It is these two things that are the centre of worship in heaven – he created everything, and he redeemed a people for himself (Rev 4:11, Rev 5:9-13).

To say ‘hallowed be your name’ then is a statement of worship. It is to say that all the character, reputation and works of God (his name) are to be treated with the highest respect and honour (hallowed).

It follows that this has a significant impact on those who are called by his name. For instance, Jesus tells us that we can ask for anything ‘in his name’ (John 16:24). That’s not a magic formula to get whatever we want by reciting the right words. It means that we ask for those things that are in conformance to his name – his works and his character.

What we have so far in the Lord’s Prayer then is:

‘Our Father in heaven’ – a close relationship of trust in one who is in the highest place of authority.

‘Hallowed be your name’ – we recognise and worship the supremacy (or transcendence) of his being, character, and reputation.

More to come!

But prayer is, of course, ongoing and daily. So I thought it would be good to take a closer look at what we call The Lord’s Prayer over the next few blogs.

The prayer is recorded twice in the Gospels. In Matthew (Matt 6:9-13) it forms part of the Sermon on the Mount, while in Luke 11:2-4, it’s a response to one of his disciples asking Jesus to “teach us to pray” In both instances, Jesus gives more teaching on prayer as well as the prayer itself – not heaping up empty phrases, being persistent and so on.

The wording of the prayer is slightly different in the two accounts, which implies this was something Jesus regularly taught. It also suggests that it’s a model prayer, a pattern to follow, not one we have to repeat word-for-word. Obviously there’s nothing wrong in reciting it as written, but we can also use it as an outline and example of the way we should pray.

The very first word is plural. Jesus is talking about praying together. While we can and should pray on our own, there is something special and powerful about praying together. Elsewhere, Jesus refers to “where two or three of you agree … about anything you ask” (Matt 18:19-20). In Acts here are several examples of the church praying together.

Since we introduced the idea of ‘Pray First’ in church, it has become increasingly common to see groups of two or three praying for each other after the services. It’s brilliant, and reinforces the community aspect of ‘church’.

To call God ‘Father’ is pretty much taken for granted in our day. But in Jesus’ time it was revolutionary. The Jews had a sacred name for God YHWH (derived from ‘I am’, the name given to Moses) which they dared not even say out loud. So to refer to him in a familial way would have been a shock. While the word here is ‘Pater’ in Greek (meaning father, parent), elsewhere the Aramaic word ‘Abba’ is used (Mark 14:36 and Romans 8:15). This word is equivalent to ‘Dad’ or even ‘Daddy’.

A friend of ours once described how he was in a motorway services café and was sat near to a Jewish family. One of the children was running up and down between the tables, and the father called to her to come back. She turned round and called out ‘Abba!’ and ran into his arms. A perfect picture of God as our Father.

In the New Testament, the fatherhood of God is reserved for Christians. We have been adopted into his family, giving us the right to be called children of God (John 1:12) and to call God our Father (Romans 8:15). There is a sense in which God could be considered father of everyone, but that is by virtue of creation. But nowhere does the Bible indicate that anyone can approach God as father – in fact the opposite is true. It is not until we trust that Jesus has died for our sins and submit to his Lordship (i.e. become Christians), that we then have the enormous privilege of being adopted into his family. This is the meaning of Romans 8:15-17 – it is only by the Holy Spirit that we can call God ‘Father’, and approach him as that young girl ran to her father.

Martin Luther once said that if he could just understand the first two words of the Lord’s prayer, he would never be the same again.

To say that God is in heaven means something more that his spatial location. After all, God is omnipresent so is not limited to a particular place. To say he is in heaven is to say that God is not of this earth. He cannot be confined, he is ‘other’, above and beyond us. The theologians refer to this as God’s transcendence. 

Heaven is also the place of authority and power. God rules from heaven (e.g. Heb 8:1).

So, there is a kind of tension in the first phrase of the Lord’s prayer. On the one hand, we can address God as Father – an intimate, filial relationship. On the other hand, God is separate, different from us. It’s a healthy balance that prevents us from becoming over-familiar (‘matey’) or becoming presumptuous (see Psalm 19:13), but enables us to come confidently into God’s presence (Heb 4:16)

It means that when we pray, we need to remember who we are, and who we are praying to.