“Our Father…”; the prayer starts out with “Our” because Jesus was asked by His disciples who believed how they should pray. Therefore the prayer starts off with the presupposition that the prayer is coming from a/some believer(s). Father is an acknowledgement that GOD is the adoptive Father of those who believe; the “Our” if you will. The word “Our” also implies some form of fellwoship or commonality amongst those who enter into the prayer. As a father is the head of a family, “Our Father” implies the status of a family member (or members) addressing their Father.

“…Who art in Heaven…”; the “Who” refers to “Father” and addresses Him in His position and location of authority which is not only Father, but which is a domain understood by the term Heaven, and by the description of Heaven provided in the Bible where there will be no tears, no night and no sin. Heaven will have no dissension either, because of no sin. God rules eternally in Heaven without question or resistance – His will is done constantly. In Heaven, God gets His just due which is absolute and total reverence, obedience and worship!

“…Hallowed be thy name…”; assigns a status to GOD’s name. To be “Hallowed” is to be placed into a unique status of reverence, love and respect without question, hesitation or reservation. The “NAME” is the name above all names as Scripture tells us. The word “Thy” applies to the person referenced – that being “Father”.

“…Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.” Again, the word “Thy” refers to “Father”. The “Father’s” “Kingdom” is where He resides formally. We know God is everywhere, but from a reference standpoint of a formal location from which He operates (His ways are too high for us who can know them) Heaven is His base of operations, and therefore He rules from Heaven and that is His Kingdom although he rules universally on earth as well. As described above, Heaven has no tears, night or sin, and therefore, it is a very desireable place to be and reside. Not only is it very desireable, but it is quintessentially the best and ultimate place to reside – who could fail to want to be where there is no want? Only a rebellious unbeliever would want that. So the prayer is asking that “His Kingdom come”, and “His will be done” “on earth as it is in Heaven.” This is an entreaty by His adopted family (believers) to be able to have His rule apply in the temporal world on this earth that justice and mercy might prevail. It is not a prayer for Heaven on earth as the liberals and atheists (I repeat myself) might wish, but merely a chance to live peaceably and equitably while we sojourn on this earth. Within the context of that petition, there is no guarantee that we, the believers, expect that this will come to pass as in the fullness of Heaven, as we are all sinners living in a very wicked and sinful world. It will only come to pass at the end of time when we have a new Heaven and new Earth. There is also the prayer “come quickly LORD Jesus – until He does, we are stuck in a sinful world. For now, it is merely a plea that God may or may not answer, and may do so in partial ways or in temporary ways. Nonetheless, we are told to pray it regardless of the way or degree to which He answers the petition.

“Give us this day our daily bread…”; is a reminder to us that He provides us with all of our needs. The Biblical example would be the manna from Heaven and the water from the flinty rock – food and water are two of the three most necessary items for the survival of mankind on earth. He also gives us our every breath which covers the third of the three. By implication, in Heaven, this will never be an issue.

“…and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors…”; this is a very challenging petition, as we have a qualification in this petition. We are asking God to forgive us, but it is contingent upon us forgiveing our debtors. The key word here is “as”. If we don’t truly forgive our debtors, then He will not forgive us our debt to Him. And, what is our debt to Him? Everything! That means we have to forgive everything others have done to us. Within the context of that is some discretion. For God to forgive us, we must repent – even the thief on the cross repented at the last moment. Our enemies (debtors) must also repent to recieve our full forgiveness. To forgive means to “let go”. We can forgive our debtors, while still holding them accountable, and certainly GOD will hold them accountable. As believers, we can fully forgive minor transgressions with no accountablity required 70 X 70 as Jesus said. To fully parse this petition could take a very long explanation.

“…and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil…”; as man makes his plans, but GOD guides his footsteps, He never tempts us, but He may allow us to fall into temptation. To “deliver us from evil” is a joy. The way GOD ultimately delivers us from evil for eternity is by receiving us in Heaven where there is no evil – in other words, death is deliverance from evil. If He does not deliver us FROM evil, then we will be delivered TO evil for eternity in Hell.

“…For Thine is the Kingdom, Power and Glory forever – Amen.”; We’ve discussed Kingdom, His Power is absolute, universal and unlimited. His Glory is His and eternal which distinguishes Him from all of His creation. “Amen” means so be it – an affirmation of agreement to all that preceded in the prayer’s petitions. It means you are committed to what you said – a scary thought if you are a double minded person.

Pensiamento Peligroso