This is the Lord's Prayer which Christ gave His disciples when He
preached the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 6:9-13) and when one of His
disciples said to Him, "Lord teach us to pray" (Luke 11:2-4). "It is
the prayer of prayers. It is the best and most beautiful, the simplest
and yet the deepest, the shortest and yet the most comprehensive of
all forms of devotion. Only from the lips of the Son of God could such
a perfect pattern proceed. It embraces all kinds of prayer--petition,
intercession and thanksgiving; all essential objects of prayer,
spiritual and temporal, divine and human, in the most suitable and
beautiful order."
It has been divided, and this is the natural division, into three
parts, an address, six petitions and a doxology.
The Address.--"Our Father who art in heaven" (Matthew 6:9). This
phrase "Our Father" shows the paternal relation which the Almighty
sustains to us in Christ and the filial relation which we bear to Him
through faith in Christ. It also reminds us that since we have a
common Father in God, we are all brothers in Christ. The phrase, "Who
art in heaven" shows us our heavenly origin and that our home is in
our Father's house. We use the word "our" before Father and by it mean
to embrace in prayer all the children of God. In using the word,
"Father" we at once say we believe in a personal good God at the heart
of all things and controlling all, one who loves and cares for us
supremely (Galatians 3:26; Ephesians 2:19; Psalm 103:13; Matthew 7:11;
John 1:12,13; Romans 8:14,15).
The first three petitions refer to God.
First Petition.--"Hallowed be Thy name" (Matthew 6:9). God's name
stands also "for His word, His day and His commandments." God's name
is hallowed when we think and speak of Him with reverence and
love. Any man who speaks of God's name with contempt or takes it in
vain at once shows his position in regard to God. The character of a
man and of a community is shown by the respect or disrespect in which
God's name is held. Hence in praying "Hallowed be Thy name" we pray
not only that God may be rightly worshipped but for the upbuilding of
the character of men and communities. "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord
of hosts: the whole earth is full of His glory" (Isaiah 6:3; John
17:3; Matthew 5:16; 1 Corinthians 10:31; Exodus 20:7).
Second Petition.--"Thy Kingdom come" (Matthew 6:10). "This is the
spiritual kingdom of grace and glory." The supplication is here for
the reign of righteousness in all hearts throughout the world; this
includes the building up of the home church, and home and foreign
missions. It expresses the desire for the conversion of all nations
and bringing them under the dominion of our Lord (Revelation 11:15; 1
Corinthians 15:28; Matthew 9:37,38; 6:33; 13:31-33; Luke 17:21).
Third Petition.--"Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven"
(Matthew 6:10). The will of God concerning us is that we should be
holy as He is holy (Leviticus 11:44) that we should be perfect as He
is perfect (Matthew 5:48) and that we may believe on His Son (John
6:40). In proportion as God's will is done on earth, evil, want,
misery, oppression, hate, jealousy, vanity and evil speaking will
disappear from the earth. We might then, when His will is done on
earth as it is in heaven, shut up our jails, dismiss our police force,
close our courts, and reduce taxes to a minimum. When we offer this
petition we are asking for large things.
The last three petitions refer to man and his needs.
Fourth Petition.--"Give us this day our daily bread" (Matthew
6:11). This supplication calls our attention to the fact that we are
dependent upon God for daily food and that we are to ask Him to supply
our bodily wants. Daily bread includes food, raiment and shelter and
all that belongs to our temporal necessities. The answer to this
prayer may be in health, bodily and mental strength to procure daily
bread, but nevertheless it comes from the hand of God and He should be
thanked for it as well as asked for it (Deuteronomy 8:10; Psalm 145:
15,16; Proverbs 30:8).
Fifth Petition.--"Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors"
(Matthew 6:12). The word debts here means sins. In asking for
forgiveness of sins, we acknowledge that we have sinned and are in
need of forgiveness. We pray the Father to forgive us and seek in this
way to be reconciled to Him. But it is through Jesus Christ that the
Father forgives men their sins. "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh
away the sin of the world" (John 1:29; 1 John 1:7-9; John 3:16-19;
Ephesians 1:7). In repeating the latter clause of the petition, "as we
forgive our debtors" we acknowledge that we have not only sinned
against God but also against our fellow men and that they have sinned
against us and caused us to cherish enmity in our hearts. If we desire
God's forgiveness we must forgive our fellow men and be reconciled
with them before we can expect to come to God and receive His full
forgiveness for our transgressions. "Be not overcome of evil but
overcome evil with good" (Romans 12:20,21). "If ye forgive men their
trespasses your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if ye
forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive
your trespasses" (Matthew 6:14,15; 18:21,22; Luke 17:3,4).
Sixth Petition.--"Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from
evil" (Matthew 6:13). In this petition we acknowledge our weakness and
proneness to go astray. We seek for God's strong power to guard us
from and in all temptations of the flesh and spirit. We ask for final
deliverance from the power and effects of all evil. We look forward to
an abode with God where no evil can come to us. "The Lord shall
deliver me from every evil work and will preserve me unto His heavenly
kingdom" (2 Timothy 4:18; Psalm 31:5; 1 Peter 5:8; 1 John 5:4; 2:15;
Matthew 26:41; 2 Timothy 4:7,8).
The Doxology.--"For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory
forever. Amen" (Matthew 6:13). This is an ascription of praise showing
that in God is vested all power and glory, that there is no kingdom
above His kingdom and that He is supreme over all. Before Him must
come all things for judgment. He alone is to be worshipped, for in
Him is all power and truth and goodness. "Thine, O Lord, is the
greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the
majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is Thine;
Thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and Thou art exalted as head above all"
(1 Chronicles 29:11,12; Psalm 115:1; Ephesians 3:20,21).