The Lord’s Prayer and the Father’s Love

One of the things you must believe if you are to hold fast to naturalism is that every particle of dust in the universe is merely that; a particle of dust. Likewise, if you are to hold fast to most any transcendental point of view you are almost always required to believe that every particle of dust in the universe isn’t; it’s just an illusion. But if you hold fast to theism, Christianity in particular, your point of view must include the fact that every particle of dust is uniquely designed and created by God; in some way, it reflects the infinite glory of God and in some way, the infinite glory of God is found within it; dust is more than mere dust, it is the very fingerprint of the infinite.

I’m pretty sure someone will want to debate me on those points, and that’s okay. I enjoy a good debate. But until that time, let’s just go with it. Only in Christian Theism can a sense of wonder creep into the ordinary; the ordinary, as we often call it, is not so ordinary after all—it is extra-ordinary. Our problem is that we see the ordinary every day—that’s why we call it ordinary! Our other problem is that we think we can entirely master the ordinary at first glance, or at least after taking a semester-long class. But we would be sorely mistaken. The infinite waits to break free from the ordinary, but we take the time to observe and allow it to speak; it will, and in ways we could never have expected.

I am nearly at the conclusion of my present thoughts on the Lord’s Prayer but I have a few more things to say. Although, I know that even when I finish I will feel as though I have only just begun to scratch the surface of the “ordinary” prayer given to us by Jesus. I’ve looked back on some of the things I’ve written and they seem like a kindergartener talking about astrophysics. I liked being in kindergarten, but I can’t imagine going back. I trust you feel the same way about your growing understanding of the Bible, and in particular, about prayer.

This week I’d like to step back a little and look at the Lord’s Prayer within the larger context of the Bible as a whole. I hope to show how this simple prayer reflects the entirety of scripture; it is the blueprint for God’s interactions with humanity beginning with his initial creation and concluding with his creating new heavens and a new earth.

As we all probably know, the Bible begins with a few simple words, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” There’s a good chance we pass over those simple words so we can get to the stuff about sin, redemption, salvation, and sanctification; the really practical stuff, right? But even as important as those practicalities are, when the writer of Hebrews started his (or her) discourse on faith it was with these words, “By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible” (Hebrews 11:3). While we can praise our Father in heaven for many acts, I would suggest there is no greater single act for which praise should flow from us than the act of creation. For that alone we should say, “Hallowed be your name!”

When God created, he brought order to chaos; then he placed us in it as his image-bearers and thus claimed creation as his own. He brought his kingdom to earth. And in his kingdom, God provided Adam and Eve with his occupational will when he told them to tend the garden. Then God gave his moral will when he told them to not eat from “that” tree. Pretty simple, right? Work the garden and don’t eat that fruit. This kingdom the Father brought to earth was a kingdom like his kingdom in heaven where his will was always done.

God also said to Adam and Eve that they could eat from every other tree, and bush, and…everything! Okay, sure, it was a vegetarian diet, probably without pop-tarts, but still, God built his kingdom in such a way that the daily provisions for his image-bearers would be met. God’s kingdom provided their daily needs—their daily bread, if you will.

But then something happened; didn’t it? Adam and Eve wanted the fruit from “that” tree, and so they disobeyed. Afterward, they felt guilt and shame and tried to cover their sins with fig leaves. But God knew fig leaves weren’t sufficient. He knew real forgiveness required a blood sacrifice. God replaced the fig leaves with the skins of animals; he later revealed to Moses the blood sacrifices for forgiveness and atonement; later he even sent his own son to be the ultimate sacrifice that would once-and-for-all forgive us our debts.

But God wanted us to do more than just passively accept his forgiveness, so when Jesus was on earth, he talked a lot about forgiveness. Remember the woman caught in adultery? According to the Mosaic laws, she was supposed to be killed. But Jesus, the one to whom the Father gave all judgment (John 5:22), offered forgiveness instead of judgment. Jesus forgave her sins, but he also told us that we need to forgive others or the Father wouldn’t forgive us. Remember the guy who owed his master 10,000 talents of gold (i.e. 750,000 pounds of gold)? Remember how his master forgave him, but then this guy met another guy who owed him a hundred denarii (i.e. one day’s worth of wages) and threw him in prison until he paid him back? Yeah, I remember that too. Remember how the master found out and sent that guy to prison until he repaid him the entire 750,000 pounds of gold? Yeah, me too. If we want the Father’s forgiveness, we must forgive others.

I think one of the reasons Jesus emphasizes forgiveness is that we can so easily go off the rails. We are creatures prone to sin and therefore, we sin. It’s that simple. This started in the garden when Eve thought she could find wisdom in the works of creation (Genesis 3:6) instead of from the Creator himself. Ever since that time we have tried to do it on our own. But we can’t. We can’t sanctify ourselves. We need the indwelling Spirit of God to guide us (John 16:13). The Spirit has been sent so we could become like Christ. And we become like Christ when the Spirit lives within us and leads us away from temptation.

But the Spirit does more. He also keeps us from evil. John writes, “Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come…Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son” (I John 2:18-22). Most of us probably think that the antichrist is the most heinous of all evils, and we would be correct. But notice that John is telling us that the most heinous of all evils is found in anyone who says that Jesus is not the Messiah, the son of God. How many people do you know that have fallen prey to this evil? Far too many, I would guess. And, left to our own…well, let’s just say that this is the worst of evils from which we need to be delivered.

But all of this would be for naught if the universe was really just dust or an illusion. Wouldn’t it? Human history when viewed without the lenses of Christianity is merely a set of tales of powerful people building sandcastles that eventually erode. Those kingdoms with their power and glory are only dust in the wind. But, when we look at history through the lens of Christianity, we see another story. There is a promise of a coming Kingdom that surpasses every other kingdom in the history of the earth. It begins when God creates a new heaven and a new earth. There will then no longer be kings and kingdoms that flutter away. This new Kingdom will be one where we are the sons and daughters of the true King who will dwell on earth with us (Revelation 21:3). That kingdom God started with Adam and Even that fell into disrepair and needed a divine act of God to redeem it will be a thing of the past. The new Kingdom of the Father will not fade, dim, or be overcome with sin. Its power and glory will last forever.

So, you see, in that ordinary little prayer Jesus taught to his disciples over 2,000 years ago lies the seeds of God’s entire work with humanity. His creation, his will, his providence, our fall, his forgiveness and redemption, his protection, and his coming. It’s all in there. This ordinary prayer of Jesus contains extra-ordinary truths. This is what Jesus taught us to pray when he said, “When you pray, say…”

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