The Lord’s Prayer and the Bible

When I wrote the initial conclusion to this study of the Lord’s Prayer, the Sermon on the Mount, and Matthew’s Gospel I never intended on revisiting the writings for any reason other than for basic editing. Over the past few weeks, however, I’ve come to realize that something was missing; I left something out. As I’ve continued my daily practice of reading the Bible and praying through the Lord’s Prayer, I have noticed how not only does the Lord’s Prayer show us the sort of people we should strive to be (Sermon on the Mount), and the sort of person Jesus, the Christ, the son of the Living God was when he walked the earth (Matthew’s Gospel), but it also encapsulates the fullness of the gospel.

What I mean is this:

• The Lord’s Prayer tells the story of creation.
• The Lord’s Prayer speaks of God’s wisdom.
• The Lord’s Prayer reveals that God’s active hand guides his people.
• The Lord’s Prayer reminds us that God’s creation — all of us — has sinned and rejected him.
• The Lord’s Prayer unveils the sacrifice God made to forgive all of us our sins.
• The Lord’s Prayer emphasizes that we must forgive others because we have been forgiven.
• The Lord’s Prayer assures us that God leads any who trust in him away from temptation and protects them from evil.
• Finally, the Lord’s Prayer proclaims that God’s kingdom is eternal, his power undiminished, and his glory unfading.

These claims about the Lord’s Prayer, I am convinced, are true, but not merely true in and of themselves: they are the essence of the Lord’s Prayer. Furthermore, as we pray in the way in which Jesus instructed us and as we meditate on the words of the prayer he has given us, we will find that not only are we learning to become more Christ-like, but we are also praying through the full scope and sequence of the Bible.

When we pray, “Our Father in Heaven, hallowed be your name,”

• We affirm that God fully and completely existed in the depths of eternity prior to creating this realm of existence,
• We affirm that God created the heavens and earth by the power of his word,
• We affirm that God brought order into chaos,
• We affirm that God entered into a relationship with mankind, and
• We affirm that God revealed his holy nature to us so we might become who God has created us to be.

In other words, when we pray, “Our Father in Heaven, hallowed be your name,” we meditate upon the many great works of our Father in Heaven as described in…

• Genesis.

When we pray, “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven,”

• We recognize that God chose a man, Abram, and built of him a nation — God’s kingdom on earth,
• We recognize that God chose a man, Moses, and revealed to him his law — God’s will on earth,
• We realize that we reject God’s kingdom and God’s will when we rely on our own wisdom or trust in our own power,
• We accept God’s right to judge and punish those who reject his kingdom or his will, and
• We believe that even though we mess things up, God’s kingdom and God’s will can never be overcome.

In other words, when we pray, “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven,” we meditate upon the Father’s earthly kingdom and his revealed will as described in…

• The Pentateuch: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy,
• The Books of History: Joshua, Judges, Ruth, I & II Samuel, I & II Kings, I & II Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther,
• The Wisdom Books: Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon,
• The Major Prophets: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, and Daniel, and
• The Book of Twelve (The Minor Prophets): Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi.

When we pray, “Give us this day our daily bread,”

• We thank God for completely satisfying our every material need,
• We thank God for sending his Son, the bread of life, down from heaven, to completely forgive us of our sins, and
• We thank God for sending his Son, the bread of life, down from heaven, to give us abundant and eternal life,
• We thank God for sending his Son, the bread of life, down from heaven, to fill us with springs of living water, and
• We thank God for sending his Holy Spirit to guide and comfort his followers while we await Jesus’s return.

In other words, when we pray, “Give us this day our daily bread,” we meditate upon how our Heavenly Father sent his Son Jesus, the bread of life, from Heaven as described in…

• The Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

When we pray, “And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors,”

• We affirm that God is the only one who can eternally and completely forgive us of our sins,
• We thank the Father for sending his Son, whose death makes eternal atonement for our sins,
• We embrace the privilege of forgiving others in the same extravagant way in which God has forgiven us, and
• We recognize that the church is built upon the foundation of forgiveness and held together by Jesus’s blood.

In other words, when we pray, “And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors,” we meditate upon God’s forgiveness and ask for the strength to forgive others as described in…

• The Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and
• The Early Church History Book: Acts of the Apostles.

When we pray, “And lead us not into temptation,”

• We affirm that God calls us to live a holy life, set apart from the world in accordance with his will, but
• We also affirm that God allows us to choose our own path, and
• God will give us over to the desires of our hearts should we choose to ignore him, but
• We know and are humbled by God’s continuing works of mercy as he will always accept his wayward children back home.

In other words, when we pray “And lead us not into temptation,” we thank God that even though he allows us to walk our own path, he always provides a way out of temptation and sin as described in the books of…

• The Pauline Epistles: Romans, I & II Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, I & II Thessalonians, I & II Timothy, Titus, and Philemon, and
• The Universal Epistles: Hebrews, James, Peter, John, and Jude.

When we pray, “but deliver us from evil,”

• We acknowledge that in God there is no sin, no evil, and no shadow of turning,
• We affirm that God’s deliverance requires our trust in him alone,
• We accept the fact that God is the sole source of truth,
• We believe that God has actively revealed the truth to us through his word, the law, the prophets, his Son, and the apostles,
• We know that there are many other people, forces, and dominions seeking to seduce us with their lies, and
• We pray for God’s protection from accepting and embracing, deliberately or passively, the lies of this world.

In other words, when we pray, “but deliver us from evil,” we thank God for revealing the truth and we pray for discernment as we live in this fallen world, as taught in the books of…

• The Pauline Epistles: Romans, I & II Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, I & II Thessalonians, I & II Timothy, Titus, and Philemon, and
• The Universal Epistles: Hebrews, James, Peter, John, and Jude.

Finally, when we pray, “For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever. Amen,”

• We affirm that God’s kingdom, of all the kingdoms in the universe, is the only eternal kingdom,
• We affirm that God’s power, of all the powers in the universe, will never diminish,
• We affirm that God’s glory, of all the glory and beauty in the universe, is the only glory and beauty that will never fade,
• We affirm that any kingdom or power or glory other than God’s is temporal and doomed to certain failure, and
• We thank the Father that he has given, as an inheritance, to all who follow him a part in his eternal kingdom, protection under his undiminished power, and joy in his unfading glory.

In other words, when we pray, “For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever. Amen,” we meditate upon how God’s eternal kingdom, undiminished power, and unfading glory will withstand any attempt to usurp them as described in,

• The Apocalypse: The Revelation to John.

The Lord’s Prayer, far too often pushed aside because it seems too simple, is, in point of fact, the most complete prayer any of us could ever conceive of praying. What might seem so one-dimensional is, in point of fact, the door through which we must travel if we are to have a relationship with our eternal Father whose being is rooted in eternity, whose wisdom is beyond comprehension, and whose beauty is inconceivable. Even now, as I am writing these last few words (perhaps they are the last I will write on this subject, I don’t know) I feel as though I have not yet even begun to scratch the surface of the prayer Jesus offered to his disciples so many years ago when they said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray.” Perhaps eternity might provide enough time for us to more fully appreciate the profundity of this most simple of prayers.