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The Lord’s Prayer (Part 2): The First Three Petitions (Matthew 6:9c-10)
I. Hallowed Be Thy Name
II. Thy Kingdom Come
III. Thy Will Be Done In Earth, As It Is In Heaven
Transcript:
Introduction
I thank the Lord for this opportunity to be able to stand before you and share His word. I also want to mention my thanks to Reverend Paul for giving me this privilege. Let us open our Bibles to the Gospel according to Matthew 6:9-10.
Last time we looked at the Lord's Prayer and in particular the preface. Tonight we will be looking at the first three petitions, which are found in Matthew 6:9-10. Let me read it to you. Matthew 6:9: "After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven." May the Lord bless us in the reading of his holy and perfect word.
Let us bow our heads before the Lord. Almighty God, thou who art our most gracious, loving Father, thou art the God who is Christ, holy, almighty, sovereign, perfect in every aspect. How we thank thee for the privilege that we can come into thy presence at thy throne of grace this evening. We are here, oh Lord, to pray unto thee, to bring our petitions, and to give thee thanks for all thy goodness upon us. As we do so, Lord, we want to meditate upon thy word, especially the prayer as taught by our Lord himself. How we want to understand the truth of thy word and how we want to apply it into our lives. So, Lord, we pray for thy Holy Spirit to help us understand thy truth and apply it in our life. We pray all these things in Jesus’ name. Amen.
02:34 Introduction
The title of my message this evening is "The First Three Petitions of the Lord's Prayer." Last time, as I mentioned, we looked at the preface. Tonight we will be looking at the content of the prayer, and we have six petitions in the content of the Lord's Prayer. Tonight we will be looking at the first three petitions, which pertain to God. The second three petitions concern the needs of humanity. God willing, we will be looking at that part also in future. Tonight, let us just focus on the second part of verse 9 and the following verse, that is verse 10.
As we all know, prayer is essential for being a Christian. Without prayer, you cannot live a true Christian life, because prayer is a part and parcel of being a Christian. It is essential for salvation. It is essential for growing spiritually. It is as essential as breathing to life, as we mentioned before. But prayer has been abused and misused. So, in order for us that we may pray rightly, in a manner that God will be willing to hear our prayer and answer us, then we need to follow the biblical teaching. The teaching, in fact, that comes directly from the mouth of our Lord himself.
Last time we looked at the preface, in which we noted several things. God is our Father in a special sense, that we are regenerated by the power of the Holy Spirit and we are adopted to be his children. So we have this special relationship with God the Father. We are his children and he is our God. And having that privilege, and having given all the honour and reverence due unto his being, his name, then we are now taught to pray the first three petitions. The first three petitions have to do with God. Everything is about God. So, since there are three petitions, let us look at them one by one.
I. Hallowed Be Thy Name [05:32]
Firstly, let us look at the first petition, which is found in verse 9: "Hallowed be thy name." Hallowed be thy name. Now the question we want to ask and wish to answer is this: what does this prayer mean? What is the name of God? What does "hallow be thy name" really mean in our daily life? As I mentioned before, this is not just a prayer. This prayer is a lesson, a teaching for us to live out in our daily activities.
Firstly, let us look at the names of God, because we are taught to hallow God's name, to sanctify God's name. So we need to have some understanding of the names of God. If we look at the Bible, we have many names given to God and given by himself and given by the people also. In terms of human names, generally I do not know your culture, but in our culture names are given to people by other people, not in reference to the person being given a name. What I'm trying to say is, generally human name is given for identity and distinction from other persons. I do not know your culture, but in my culture, in our culture, the name points to and is descriptive of the giver of name, the person who gives the name, not the person who is given the name. In other words, if I were to give a name to someone, normally I would refer to those blessings of God that I have received in my life, and on that basis I will give name to the person. So the name is not descriptive of the person who bears it, but rather the person who gives it the name. That is, I think, generally true of human name. But with regard to God's name, that is not exactly true. In fact, God's names are descriptive of who he is, not the people who give that name. And actually, God's names are given by himself most of the time. And his people, in praise and glorification of his mighty deeds, sometimes they give him name, but it is also reflective and descriptive of his great works in the lives of his people.
So let us look at some of God's name as revealed to us in his holy word. In the Old Testament, the most common name is the word El. El. The name El in the Old Testament means the supreme being, the mighty one. And from this basic name El, we have various combinations added to it. For example, we have Elohim in the Old Testament, which is a plural for referring God, and it speaks of his fullness of power and his being as the creator. For example, Genesis 1:1: "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." There we have the word Elohim. It is a combination of the word El and Elohim. And we also have other combination, for example, like El Shaddai, meaning God Almighty. It speaks of God as the source of salvation for his people. Genesis 17:1, Exodus 6:1 and others. Another name is Elyon, which means the Most High. Yet another, Olam, normally translated as the everlasting God or the eternal God. It speaks of God's eternity, having no beginning and ending. And another combination is El Roi, which means the God who sees me. A name given by Hagar to God as God concerns and cares for her in her adversity. This is found in Genesis 16:13.
Another common name for God in the Old Testament is Adonai. Adonai speaks of God as Lord and Master. And we have many examples of it in the Old Testament. By far the most significant name of God in the Old Testament is Jehovah. Jehovah is the covenantal name of God. It speaks of God as the covenant maker and the covenant keeper to his people. It is a most unique name, most hallowed and honoured by the Jews, the Israelites in the Old Testament. I believe it is still true in today's time. And from this we have other combination, for example, like Jehovah Jireh, meaning the Lord will provide; Jehovah M'kaddesh, the Lord who sanctifies; Jehovah Nissi, the Lord is my banner; Jehovah Rapha, the Lord who heals; Jehovah Shalom, the Lord is peace; Jehovah Shammah, the Lord is there, the Lord who is present. It speaks of his presence. And Jehovah Tsidkenu, the Lord our righteousness; and Jehovah Sabaoth, the Lord of hosts. These are common names of God in the Old Testament, and they speak of who God is and what he has done for the world and for his people in particular.
In the New Testament, there are two names commonly used in reference to God. The first is the word God itself, Theos. It means God. And another name is Kurios, which means Lord and Master. So the idea, the meaning, is basically the same with the Old Testament. What I am trying to stress tonight is, these names of God describe who God is and what he has done for his people. That is the meaning of the word "name." "Hallowed be thy name." God's name. In order for us to honour and glorify and sanctify God's name, we must know God's name. So, please do your best to understand the various names by which God reveals himself.
Next, let us turn our attention to the word "hallowed." We say, "Hallowed be thy name." What does it mean? The word "hallowed" appears many times in the New Testament. It is a New Testament word commonly translated as "hallowed," "sanctified." In its long form, it is translated as "saint," and in its adjectival form, it is translated as "holy." So the basic idea is holiness. Holiness. So "hallowed be thy name" means we hallow, we sanctify God's name. But as human beings, as creature, can we sanctify God's name? That is impossible. Then what does this mean?
Before we answer that question, let us have a short look at the holiness of God, because we must sanctify God's name. This means that God is absolutely holy. We must first understand the holiness of God. In Isaiah chapter 6, verse 3, we read: "And one cried unto another" (speaks of the seraphims in heaven) "and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory." This is a scene in heaven, and the heavenly beings glorify God by ascribing holiness, a threefold repetition of holiness to him: holy, holy, holy. And in the New Testament, in the last book of the New Testament, Revelation 4:8, we read: "And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come."
In other words, what we have in these two passages is a description of what the heavenly beings do to God. They glorify and they praise God for his holiness. God's holiness is his distinctive attribute by which he is absolutely distinct from his creature. He is perfectly holy. So by praying that "hallowed be thy name," there is nothing, absolutely nothing, we can add to his holiness. He is already holy in the most perfect sense. By saying "hallowed be thy name," we are simply ascribing and recognising what is already his, and thereby giving him praise. So that is what it means.
Now, let's remember before we go on to the next point with regard to this first petition, "Hallowed be thy name." Let us remember these few things. Firstly, God's name is God himself. By his names, he reveals his nature and his work. Therefore, we must give him the honour and reverence that he alone deserves. That is the highest possible honour and reverence. He must receive the highest and purest adoration, honour, reverence, and glory from our very lips and from our hearts and from our lives. Negatively, all profanations in thought, speech, and deed must be set aside. Any unclean thoughts, any profane imagination, any unclean speech, and any unholy deeds must not be found in our lives, in our lips, and in our thoughts. Positively, we are here taught to avoid those things, and we are here taught to think purely and holy.
For example, in today's context, it is common for people in the world to use the words like OMG, and that is irreverence. That is disrespectful to God's holiness, God's name. And we must avoid all those things. Our thoughts, speech, and deeds must be pure and holy. Every falsehood and lie, and every unholy thing must not be found in our lips and in our lives. So let us examine our lives. Dear brothers and sisters, your thought matters, your speech matters, and your life matters. Is there anything unholy, unclean, and profane found in those areas of your life? When we come to the Lord in prayer specifically, every evil thought, every unholy thought, though people around us may not see it, God sees it. All these things must be set aside, must be put off. And we must give him his due respect and honour. That is what is taught by the first petition.
The Westminster Shorter Catechism succinctly summarised for us in Question 101: "For what do we pray in the first request?" I'm going to read the answer from a contemporary version. In the first request, "hallowed be your name," we pray that God will enable us and others to glorify him in everything he uses to make himself known, and that he will work out everything to his own glory. In other words, everything by which God has revealed himself to us, we must glorify him, and we must pray that he himself will also work out everything to his own glory. In other words, we give him the due honour and respect and reverence to him.
II. Thy Kingdom Come [21:50]
Secondly, let us look at the second petition: "Thy kingdom come." Verse 10. "Thy kingdom come." The kingdom of God is a major topic in Bible study, and many people are unfortunately confused about it. When we pray, "Thy kingdom come," what are we really praying? What is God's kingdom? Is it a literal kingdom or a spiritual kingdom? Are we to pray for a literal kingdom or a spiritual kingdom? What is all this about? Now, let me give some descriptions from the Bible itself. For example, in Matthew 12:28, Luke 11:20, 17 and 21, we have expressions like, "the kingdom of God is with you," "the kingdom of God has come unto you," "the kingdom of God is within you." In other words, in a sense, there is a sense in which God's kingdom has already come and is within us. That is the Bible's description itself. And in another sense, for example, Luke 21:31, Acts 1:6, we have the Bible telling us that the kingdom of God is still future, is still to come. So, in other words, the kingdom of God is already come, is coming, and will come. So we have this kind of expressions in the Bible. And Romans 14:17 says: "For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost." In a sense, the kingdom of God is not material. It is more of spiritual.
One Bible expositor explains God's kingdom is past in the sense that it embodied Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, meaning those Old Testament saints. It was present in the time of Jesus' earthly ministry in the sense that the true divine king was present in the midst of you. But the particular focus of our praying is to be on the kingdom that is yet to come. In other words, what this expositor is saying is, there are three aspects of God's kingdom: already there in the past, the present, and the future. And what we are taught here to pray is for the future kingdom. That is the literal kingdom, the millennial kingdom which will be established here on earth. But is that the only thing we are really here to pray? What about spiritual kingdom? And what is the meaning of kingdom? The word "kingdom" speaks of God himself, the king, as ruling supremely, sovereignly. So it speaks of the rule of a supreme king, God himself. That's the meaning of God's kingdom.
Now some questions emerge. Has God not been ruling all the time in the universe? Is there anyone else greater than God himself? Well, if we look at the term "the kingdom of God" in a certain aspect, we may say that in a certain sense, God has been, and is, and will always be the sovereign ruler, the sovereign king of the entire universe all the time. But if we look at it in a materialistic perspective, look at the world, there are many, many places where God is not sovereign. People do what they like. People live their lives according to their will and their pleasure. So what does this really mean?
In fact, as I mentioned, the kingdom of God speaks of God himself as king, the sovereign king ruling, and that is most certainly true in the lives of his people whom he has redeemed through the death, burial, and resurrection of his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Personally, I believe that there is a sense in which we can pray this prayer spiritually and literally as well. So there are two senses by which we can pray this prayer.
Firstly, spiritually, since the kingdom of God speaks of his rule, his sovereign rule, and since we know that that is not true in many parts of the world, this prayer speaks of the spiritual reign of Christ to extend all over the world. In other words, the reign of Satan must be destroyed and the reign of God must prevail. In other words, this is a prayer for the salvation of souls and the obedience of the believers in their daily lives. We may say this way: when we pray this, we are praying that more and more people will be subjugated and brought into the rule of God himself in a most meaningful way; that is, their hearts must be given to the Lord. So this is, in a sense, a mission prayer, a prayer for the salvation of souls and for the believers to live obedient life.
But that is not the only sense. I believe when we say, "Thy kingdom come," we also pray for the literal establishment of Christ's kingdom here on earth. And that is the millennial kingdom that starts from the rapture of the church, leading all the way to the actual establishment and reign of Christ himself here on earth for a thousand years.
So, let us, for the sake of application, apply this second petition in a twofold manner. Firstly, it is a prayer for the salvation of souls and the edification of the believers. God's kingdom, God's rule must be realised in the lives of the people. And that is realised when they are converted to Christ and accept the Lord Jesus Christ not only as their Saviour but also as the Lord of their lives. And in the lives of the believer, when we continuously obey his words, then we are truly in his kingdom. We are his subjects and he is our sovereign. Literally, the kingdom of God is yet to come. It will be fulfilled in the millennium, and that is what we also pray.
The Shorter Catechism emphasises the spiritual aspect, and it says here: "For what do we pray in the second request?" Question 102. The answer is: "In the second request, 'Thy kingdom come,' we pray that Satan's kingdom may be destroyed; that the kingdom of grace may be advanced, with ourselves and others brought into it and kept in it; and that the kingdom of glory may come quickly." The kingdom of grace may prevail, and the kingdom of glory, the future kingdom, will come quickly.
Dear friends, the question we need to ask ourself is, are we truly submissive to God's rule in our lives?
31:18 III. Thy Will Be Done In Earth, As It Is In Heaven
Thirdly, let us go to the third petition, which is found in verse 10: "Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven." Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. You see here the logical connection: the kingdom of God, now the will of God. Those who are in the kingdom of God must do and be submissive to obey the will of God.
Now, when we speak of the will of God, we can explain it in different ways. The founding pastor of the Bible Presbyterianism in the Far East, the late Dr. Timothy Tow, explains that God's will is consisted of sevenfold. So he explains God's will as directive will, cooperative will, punitive will, perceptive will, permissive will, decorative will, and decretive will. In a summary fashion, in a certain form, we may say that for people who are ordinary believers, I think it is easier for us to understand God's will like this: God's will we may understand it as his perfect will and his permissive will, covering all the sevenfold aspects—God's perfect will and God's permissive will—and that's what we find in the Bible. In other words, we may say that these are God's revealed will in his holy and perfect word.
Now, what is being done in heaven? His permissive will or his perfect will? Now, permissive will means that, you know, there are certain things that God permits and God allows due to the stubbornness and the hardness of the people. For example, in Matthew 19, we find the people asking the Lord Jesus Christ, "Is it lawful to divorce?" Moses in the law prescribes that you write a divorcement letter and you can divorce. So is it lawful or not? They come to the Lord to ask that question. Our Lord's answer reveals what his permissive will means: "from the beginning that is not so. That was granted to you by Moses" (and I'm paraphrasing) "due to the hardness of your heart." In other words, because of our corruption, because of the hardness of our hearts, because of our disobedience, there are certain things that God allows to happen, but that is not the ideal. That is not his perfect will. So those things are his permissive wills. But is that kind of will being done in heaven? No. Absolutely not. That is simply unthinkable. The will that is being done in heaven is his perfect will. Perfect will. His perfect will is the most holy and righteous things to be done either in heaven or in earth.
So the next question we want to answer is this: How is God's perfect will being carried out in heaven? I want to summarise it like this. God's perfect will is being done in heaven: 1. Completely. 2. Heartily. 3. Speedily or immediately. His perfect will is being done in heaven by the heavenly beings with trembling and fear, completely. They never miss anything. They obey his word perfectly and completely. That is in contradiction to our lives here on earth. Remember the life of King Saul, when he was commanded to attack and destroy the Amalekites, he obeyed only half; he didn't obey completely. And I think that is very common to human beings. Many times we fail to obey or do God's will perfectly, completely. We do only half, or even less than half. But God's will is being done in heaven perfectly, completely. All of his perfect will is done. Secondly, it is done heartily, from the heart. It is not like a command given and you do it without any heart in it. No. For example, in your workplace or in your studies, those in authority keep the command, and you have no heart to do that. But because you are there, you cannot avoid it. You just do it. That is the opposite of doing things heartily. To do things heartily means you yourself are completely convinced and willing to do it. And that is how God's will is done in heaven. Thirdly, it is done immediately, speedily, at once. There is no delay of obeying his will. The heavenly beings are very eager and very willing and very quick to carry out God's will in heaven.
Now, the question we need to ask ourself is this: Are we doing the same here on earth? Is God's will being obeyed completely, heartily, and immediately all over the world? The answer is obvious. It is not. So here we are taught to pray for God's will, just like it is being carried out in heaven, to be also carried out here on earth. Dear friends, this is a huge prayer, a huge demand, and we are privileged that God has chosen and ordained us to be instrument to get involved in the carrying out, or the perfecting, of his will, the completion of his will—I mean the fulfilment of his will—here on earth. We can be involved in that. God has given us the privilege by our prayer and by our active service. That is why we are here taught to pray, "Thy will be done here on earth, as it is in heaven."
Look at the world. God's will is being resisted and rejected in many parts, and it's very sad. It's very sad indeed to see people all over the world rising against God's will, speaking blasphemous words against God's name. Now, when God's will is completely, heartily, and speedily done here on earth—in our community, in our church, in our home—then we can have a foretaste of heaven. We can have a foretaste of heaven. So, in other words, the prayer here is to pray that we may taste heaven before we enter into it. It is indeed wonderful. It is a wonderful prayer.
The Westminster Shorter Catechism once again summarises this way: In the third request, we pray that by his grace, God would make us have the capability and the will to know, obey, and submit to his will in everything, as the angels do in heaven. One commentator summarised this way: When we pray, "Thy will be done," we are praying, first of all, that God's will become our own will. I think that's very true and very interesting. When we pray, "Thy will be done," we are actually praying that God's will become our will. Now, in many cases, our will is supreme in our lives, right? Honestly, if we examine ourself, we do not keep God's will the first place in our life; we rather keep our will the first place in our life, and that is biblically wrong. So when we pray, "Thy will be done," we are praying that God's will become our will. Secondly, we are praying that his will prevail all over the earth as it does in heaven: "as it is in heaven."
How we are to pray that evils, corruption, unrighteousness, unholiness, perverse things will diminish, and that God's will, his righteousness, his dignity, his holiness, will prevail all over the world.
42:07 Conclusion
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this is a very demanding prayer. The Lord's Prayer comes directly from the mouth of our Lord himself. And in the first three petitions, which have to do with God—his name, his kingdom, and his will—we are here, before we bring up our needs, our petitions, first of all, we must give God all due respect and honour. Let us remember his names, and let us remember that he is completely, absolutely, and perfectly holy. Every evil, unclean thought, speech, and deed must be taken away, must be set aside from our thoughts, our life, our speech—especially when we come to the Lord in prayer, but also in our everyday life.
Secondly, God's kingdom, his rule, his sovereign rule, which refers to the salvation of souls, because when they are saved then they are willingly given themselves to the Lord. They become subjected, submissive to God's rule, God's sovereignty. Then, in the lives of believers, we are to be submissive to his rule here. And in a literal sense, there is a future kingdom yet to come. Let us pray for it. How we should set our affections to the future, our glorious day. Here in this world, we suffer. We suffer many evils, many things, many bad things. How we should focus our spiritual eyes to heaven and to eternity. How we should pray for it.
Lastly, his will. We must pray for his will to prevail in this world. Let us try, let us make every effort to make his will to become our will, and let us pray for his will to prevail completely in this world. May the Lord help us.
Let us pray. Our dear loving Father, how we thank thee for the teaching from thy holy word, especially the Lord's Prayer which comes from his mouth itself. We pray, oh Lord, that thou wilt teach us to follow this pattern of prayer and to live out what we pray for in our daily life. We thank you for all thy goodness upon us. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen. Thank you. The Lord bless all of you.