Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Summary: There is one more surprise in this first part of the Lord’s Prayer. I would tell you what it is, but then, it wouldn’t be a surprise, would it? 🙂
Before we move on to the next section of the Lord’s Prayer, I have one more comment on the first section. Some of you, when you read my comment, will probably roll your eyes and say, “Well, duh.” By that, I mean that this observation may be obvious to some or all of you. However, I mention it because (A) I hadn’t thought about it before, and (B) it relates to some of the comments made on earlier parts of this discussion.
So here it is:
This entire first section is one sentence!
Well, duh! (Was I right? 🙂 )
So what is special about this insight? For me personally, it has to do with the way that I have always understood the phrasing of the prayer. The phrasing I have heard all my life goes something like this:
“Our Father in heaven, blah, blah, blah; blah, blah; your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”
Do you see my point?
I have always associated “on earth as it is in heaven” with “God’s will,” but it is more than that. The way the sentence is structured, Jesus is telling us to pray that God’s name will be hallowed on earth as it is in heaven. He is also telling us to pray that God’s kingdom comes on earth as it is in heaven.
This is significant.
In a way, the first two items illustrate and fulfill the third.
The third item on the list is for God’s will to be done. As we have discussed many times, Jesus summarizes God’s will in Matthew 22: 37-40 this way: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind,” and “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
When we love God with all our heart, soul, and mind; we will, of course, honor his name. That is how we show our respect for God. Honoring God’s name with respect and love is the definition of being “hallowed.”
When we love our neighbors as ourselves, we obey our king. When we obey our king we acknowledge his kingship. As ambassadors of his kingdom, we extend the borders of the kingdom as we share God’s love with other people.
Grammatically, it would have made sense if Jesus told us to pray, “Our Father in heaven, your will be done on earth.” That says, essentially, the same thing if you understand what God’s will is. However, to avoid confusion, Jesus (aka God), spells it out. He tells us to pray that God’s will is done which means that God’s name is hallowed and his kingdom on earth is growing.
Of course, God says it better. He says it perfectly. Our God is amazing!
Application: When you pray the Lord’s Prayer, be aware of how all the parts of the first sentence dovetail together.
Food for Thought: Why did Jesus go to the trouble to explain God’s will in the prayer as he did? Was there anything else he should have included?
As you say here, He said it just as it should be said and how He wanted to say it. If there was more that should have been added, it would have been added. There is, of course, much said in those brief words – that God’s name is revered, that His His kingdom come, that His will be done.
Rich,
Totally! God is not some primitive force of nature. Our God is the genius behind every law and rule of physics, chemistry, biology, etc, as well as the inventor of languages. When it comes to communication, you might say God wrote the book! 🙂
He explained it because even though we have it spelled it out for us, we still ask again and again “what is God’s will in my life?” If only we read the answer every time we asked that question instead of looking everywhere else. If only we let ourselves be satisfied by this answer.
I’m sure many people would like Him to get even more specific. I’m sure many of us, even knowing that the correct answer is “Jesus did it right the first time” still want Him to say something more specific about the controversial topics.
Then wanting more is a great thing, it makes you read more, building up a relationship with our perfect Father in heaven. Then at some point you are praying that your prayers are aligned with His will.
T&A,
You make a great point: God’s will in our lives is described in great detail in His Word. It is our own blindness that makes it hard to “see” how that will is to be applied in our lives. Thankfully God’s Spirit is patient and willing to show us where we need to grow and change so that our eyes are more opened every day.
I noticed a pattern at church on Sunday mornings. We start out the service in prayer, and then sing praises for about 20 minutes. The praise songs usually go from slightly upbeat, to more reflective, humbling, and focused on Jesus, until we come to the time of the sermon. I don’t know if this is by human design or led by the Holy Spirit. But I do believe this is done to mentally, emotionally, and spiritually prepare us for the sermon, so that we are in the best place to receive God’s Word.
Why did Jesus go to the trouble to explain God’s will in the prayer as he did?
I think Jesus did this to put our hearts and minds in the best place to pray to God, starting out with the recognition of who God is, and humbling ourselves before Him. We are recognizing that it is all His, and that we are saying to God that we want to be a part of His plan. More than “your will be done” it is “I recognize that Your will is THE will, and I want Your will in my life just like it is in Heaven.” By saying those words we are inviting God into our hearts and minds every time we pray.
Chris,
I really appreciate your illustration of the church service and how God uses praise and worship (and maybe even announcements!) to prepare our hearts for his Word. I see the same thing you see in the Lord’s Prayer; God drawing us in to the right frame of mind to come before him.
12-19-2022, Why did Jesus go to the trouble to explain God’s will in the prayer as he did? Was there anything else he should have included?
A sentence is a set of words that is complete in itself, typically containing a subject and predicate, conveying a statement, question, exclamation, or command, and consisting of a main clause and sometimes one or more subordinate clauses.
It is amazing how God’s word just continues to get bigger. As a fairly new believer, I had been studying the Bible for a time, and I wondered, what I was to do with the knowledge I was being given. I began asking God, “ what am I supposed to do with what you are teaching me? ” God would reply, “ Read My Word. “ Well I was doing that, and my question was, “ what am I supposed to do with what you are teaching me? “
I continued my studies, continued asking my same question, and God kept telling me to “ Read My Word.” In time I began to understand God’s written words have different meanings than as used by men. “ Go tell others, “ means let Christ be seen in our every action, not heard in our words. Gods truths are to be displayed to others in our actions, not our words. We show Christ to others as we overlook all the faults we may see, as He has done with ours, and simply allow Jesus Christ in us to love them as they are. The Holy Spirit will reveal their condition to them and we will be in position to allow Christ in us to minister to their spirits.
Today, “ Read My Word “ means the answers to your questions are written in your Bible Ron. Keep reading and APPLYING!
I think somewhere it may say “ The Lord’s Prayer is one sentence, complete in itself, Jeff! ”
LOL!
Yeah… I think I read that in there somewhere, too. 🙂
I don’t think it was any trouble for Him at all to explain God’s will for us in a prayer. Aren’t we supposed to pray like Jesus? He did set the example for us.
There may have been stuff He didn’t include and maybe He left that for us to figure out through reading His word and prayer. God does want us to respond, right?
His will is to be done on earth as it is in heaven, Like I mentioned before, I have never been to heaven so I wouldn’t know what His will looks like in heaven for me to display it here on earth. All I have to go by is what He has left me through the inspiration of men written in a book called the Bible.
Today I read the first letter to the church of Ephesus and how they walked away from their first love. So sad, they kept on sacrificing even after Jesus fulfilled the law for sacrifice.
I mentioned to the crew that when we sin God turns His face away, it doesn’t mean that He leaves us. He is still right there, He just doesn’t want to see us doing wrong. It’s like He is saying, I don’t want to see you screw up but I am right here for you when you find out you screwed up and need a shoulder to cry on. Let me know when you are done and I will turn around as well as the stuff in your life. Not sure if that’s exactly what I said this morning to them but it was on that line. God is always here with us even when we screw up.
Thanks again, Jeff
Thank you, John!
I like your point about none of us having been to heaven and how that means we have to lean into Scripture and our Lord’s example to know what to do.