No. 810
“And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.” (Luke 11:1)
We are not to suppose that the disciples had never prayed when they asked the Lord to instruct them in the matter. On the contrary, we can assume that, in harmony with our Lord’s example and like the Jews in general, they were accustomed to going to God in prayer. They seemed to realize that as our Lord’s teachings differed from those of the Scribes and Pharisees on various points, so also His conception of prayer was probably different.
Several instances are recorded in which our Lord Jesus prayed in the presence and in the hearing of His disciples, refuting the claims of some that public prayer is improper. Nevertheless, our Lord’s usual method was to go to the Father privately, as He instructed His disciples to do: “But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.” (Matt. 6:6)
In the spirit of this injunction, our Lord withdrew from His disciples into a mountain alone for prayer, and we have several accounts of Him spending a considerable portion of the night thus in communion with the heavenly Father. If our Lord Jesus in His perfection needed to have spiritual fellowship and communion with the Father in order to carry on His assigned work, we who are imperfect have much more need to look continually to the Father for the guidance, comfort, and sustenance needed in all the trials and difficulties of life. It is in accordance with this that the Apostle exhorted: “Pray without ceasing. In every thing give thanks.” (1 Thess. 5:17-18)
We do not understand this to mean that the Lord’s people are to be continually upon their knees, but rather that their hearts are to be constantly in an attitude of prayer, mentally and spiritually, looking to the Lord for guidance in all the affairs of life. This perpetual communion with the Lord is the attitude of the advanced Christian, to whom every day and every hour is a time of fellowship with the Lord. Whenever the cares of everyday life interfere with such communion, it is evidence that we are being overcharged with the cares of this life, and we should rectify matters by diminishing our responsibilities, etc. If this is impossible, we should counterbalance the cares of life with the more earnest and frequent turning over of our hearts to the Lord for guidance.
THE LORD’S PRAYER
It was probably on our Lord’s return to His disciples from such a season of private fellowship with God that they asked Him to teach them to pray. Had He been in the frequent habit of praying with them audibly, we may presume that they would have known to take His style of praying as a proper example for their own.
The account of our Lord’s lesson on prayer as given by Luke differs somewhat from the account given by Matthew, the latter apparently being a much more complete statement. Luke’s account begins, “When ye pray, say . . .” (Luke 11:2) We are not to understand that our Lord meant that the exact words that followed were required. Matthew’s account states the instruction more properly: “After this manner therefore pray ye.” (Matt. 6:9) In other words, our Lord was not giving the words for our prayers, but rather a general sample of style. We are inclined to think that our Lord’s followers have, to a considerable degree, neglected the style, and instead of the brief, orderly petition, all seem inclined to adopt more or less the manner which our Lord ascribed to the improper prayer – namely, vain repetitions, as though it were expected that the prayer would be accepted only if it were of certain length. We are not to suppose that our Lord spent hours in prayer, and yet used so brief a form as the one here given to the Apostles, but we may reasonably expect that the order which He here set forth would be the one which He observed, namely:
(1) “Our Father which art in heaven.” The term “Our Father” would be new to the Jews, for they were a house of servants. By using this term, the Apostles were to understand that they had become identified with the Lord Jesus and were now privileged to consider themselves sons of God. If they had heard the Lord Jesus addressing God as His father, they may have wondered whether or not they would be so privileged to address Him. This prayer would assure them that God recognized them, not as servants merely, but as sons. This is in accordance with the statement made by the Apostle John, “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.” (John 1:12)
The affection of a true father for his child, being one of the most precious in the world, is used to illustrate the relationship of the Lord’s consecrated members to the Creator. It is necessary to be some time in the school of Christ as disciples, learners, before we are able properly to appreciate the meaning of this word Father as applied to God, but the more we come to know of the love of God, which passes all understanding, and the more we are enabled to draw near to Him through faith and obedience, the more precious will this term “Father” become.
(2) “Hallowed be thy name.” This expresses adoration and appreciation of divine goodness and greatness, and a corresponding reverence. In addressing the Father, our first thought is not to be a selfish one respecting ourselves or the interests of others precious to us. God is to be first in all of our thoughts, aims, and calculations. We are to pray for nothing that would not be in accordance with the honor of our heavenly Father’s name. We are to wish for nothing for ourselves, or for our dear ones, that He would not fully approve. There is perhaps no quality of heart in greater danger of being blotted out among professing Christians today than this thought of reverence for God. However much we have grown in knowledge and have gotten free from superstitions and errors, we fear that reverence has been losing ground, not only in the nominal church, but with many of the Household of Faith as well. Such loss of reverence is a distinct disadvantage, both to the Lord’s people and to the world, paving the way to various evils, and ultimately to anarchy.
Ignorance and superstition were the foundation for much of the reverence of the past. As the light of Truth has dispelled the error, only a few have received the precious Truth instead of the error, replacing the false reverence of superstition and fear with the real reverence of love. The Lord’s people will be helped in cultivating this reverence of love by following the order of prayer which our Lord Jesus laid down – considering first the will and honor of God as superior to their own and every other interest.
(3) “Thy kingdom come.” As God and His glory and honor are to be first in the minds of His children, so their next thought should be for the glorious Kingdom, which He has promised will bless the world. Our own personal interests and affairs, and our desire to have the Lord’s blessing and guidance in them, are not to outrank our appreciation of the beneficent arrangements He has so clearly promised in His Word. We are to remember that when the Kingdom comes, it will be a panacea for every ill and every trouble, not only for us, but for the whole world of mankind. We are not, therefore, to permit our own personal needs to be too prominent, but are to remember that the whole creation is groaning and travailing in pain together, waiting for this glorious Kingdom.
These thoughts of the Kingdom, its necessity, and the blessings that it will bring will keep our own consecration prominently before our minds. If the hope for the Kingdom is clearly before our minds, it will be, as the Apostle expressed it, “as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast.” (Heb. 6:19) This anchor of hope in the future Kingdom will enable us to pass safely, and with comparative quiet, through the trials and storms of this present evil world. While praying for the Kingdom to come, our hearts will naturally turn to our hope that we may be participators in its great work of blessing the world. Then will come the thought that the present trials and difficulties are preparing us for the Kingdom. Thus, the very offering of this prayer in its proper order will bring us a measure of relief from our trials and disappointments.
(4) “Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth.” This petition offered from the heart implies that the one offering it has made a full consecration of his will, his heart, to the Lord. He hopes for the Kingdom to soon come, establishing the divine will from sea to sea, and from pole to pole. Being thus in accord with the Lord’s will, and thus wishing that it might be universally in control, he will see to it that this will is ruling in his own heart – that in his own affairs God’s will is done to the best of his ability in his earthly condition, even as he hopes to have it perfected in the Kingdom. No one can intelligently and honestly offer this petition and not desire and endeavor to have the Lord’s will done in himself while on earth. A blessing comes to the one who offers this petition before he has asked any special blessing upon himself or others. The mere thought of the divine arrangement brings a blessing, a peace, a rest, a sanctification of heart.
(5) “Give us day by day our daily bread.” The thought here seems to be that of continual dependence upon the Lord, day by day, for the things needed – accepting for each day the Lord’s providential care and direction of our affairs. Daily bread should be understood in the broad sense of things that are necessary. The Lord’s people, who recognize Him as their Father, must trust Him as children, while seeking to use the various instrumentalities and opportunities within their reach. They are to provide the things necessary for themselves, yet to recognize the divine provision and care which has pre-arranged matters so as to make their present conditions and blessings attainable. Agnosticism and higher criticism in general may deny divine providence in suppling for man’s necessities, but the eye of faith sees behind these supplies the love, wisdom, and power of God in giving the things necessary in such a manner as will be for the advantage of mankind.
This petition does not warrant us in asking for particular kinds of food or comforts. We are to leave to the Lord’s providence to direct whether our careful management of life’s affairs results in material prosperity or whether we must toil unceasingly to provide barely what is sufficient. The Scriptures admonish that we are to be: “Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord.” (Rom. 12:11) We are not to be avaricious, but as the Apostle admonishes, “Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” (Heb. 13:5)
The children of God who live in modest circumstances may really be much happier than are some who are much more prosperous in temporal matters. Their contentment with inferior conditions arises, not from less ambitious minds, but rather from their faith, hope, and love. Under the guidance of the Lord’s Word, they discern that the present life is merely a vestibule to eternity, and that the Lord is supervising the affairs of His people. The trials, persecutions, discouragements and disadvantages in the present time will work in them and for them the preparation of heart and the development of character which will make them fit for the Kingdom.
(6) “And forgive us our sins.” Those who come to God in prayer acceptably must approach Him with a realization of their own insufficiency and unworthiness. They must realize that they are by nature sinners, and that their flesh is both fallen and weak. As the Apostle said, “So that ye cannot do the things that ye would.” (Gal. 5:17) It is not the Adamic sin, but personal transgressions that are here referenced. Adamic sin, unrepented of and unforgiven, would stand as a barrier so that the supplicant would have no right to go to God in prayer at all, until he had thus repented and been forgiven through the merit of the Mediator. He would have no right whatever to call God his Father, but would still be one of the unregenerated Adamic race. Our coming to God in prayer and calling Him Father implies that we have accepted the mediation of the great Redeemer, through the merit of His sacrifice. It implies that our sins have been forgiven, and that we have been covered with the robe of Christ’s righteousness, and that the Lord is no longer dealing with us as sinners.
What sins, then, have we to confess? We reply that all should recognize that their very best efforts in the flesh necessarily come short of perfection – short of the glory of God. Although the forgiveness of sins is not here mentioned as being through the merit of our Lord Jesus Christ, yet other Scriptures clearly show us that this is the only ground for our fellowship with God: “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12)
To petition the Lord for forgiveness of sins implies that we are at heart opposed to the sins, and that any sins committed have not been willful ones. The Lord, according to His covenant of grace with us, agrees to accept the intention of our hearts in place of the actual, full, complete, perfect obedience to the divine requirement in thought, word, and act. This petition signifies that we recognize that the robe of Christ’s righteousness granted to us has become spotted or sullied, and that we desire to be cleansed, so that we may again be without spot or wrinkle.
The Lord expresses His willingness to cancel the wrong upon its being properly repented of, but He reserves to Himself the giving of stripes, or chastisements appropriate and necessary to His child as an instruction in righteousness, and correction of weaknesses, etc. Happy are they who, with growth in grace and knowledge, find their hearts so fully in accord with the principles of the divine arrangement that they will never transgress with any measure of willfulness. But blessed also are those who, finding some measure of willfulness in their deflections from the divine rule, are pained thereby, and who, as the Apostle said, are led to discipline or correct themselves that they may the more quickly learn the lessons, and bring their bodies more completely into subjection to the new mind – “But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.” (1 Cor. 9:27) “For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.” (1 Cor. 11:31)
(7) “For we also forgive everyone that is indebted to us.” Matthew’s rendering expounds on this statement: “For 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.” (Matt. 6:14-15) As we are imperfect and cannot keep the divine law, so likewise others are imperfect. As we realize that we have received, and will still need, divine compassion and mercy with respect to our shortcomings, so the Lord teaches us that we must exercise similar benevolence toward others. Our Lord would thus develop in His consecrated people the spirit of the Father, even as He instructed us, saying: “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” (Matt. 5:48)
That is to be the standard. However far short of it we may come, we can have no lower standard than that; and in proportion as we are striving for that standard and realize our own weaknesses and imperfections, we should have proportionate compassion upon fellow-creatures and their shortcomings toward us. This is love, sympathy, compassion, and whoever attains this degree of love will have compassion upon others and their weaknesses, and will be ready to forgive them and glad to forgive them. Whoever does not attain this degree of love to the extent of being able to love his enemies, so as to even pray for them, that person fails to reach the mark of character which the Lord demands. He may be sure that his own shortcomings will not be overlooked, because he is lacking the one important quality of love, which covers a multitude of sins of every kind. None will gain a place in the Kingdom unless they have this forgiving quality, this quality of love.
(8) “And lead us not into temptation.” We are to remember the words of the Apostle: “Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man.” (Jas. 1:13) The prayer does not signify that we fear God will tempt us, but that we entreat Him that He may guide our steps, our cares in life, so that no temptation or trial will come upon us that would be too severe for us.
The Apostle assures us that this is the divine will, and that such a prayer would be in accordance with it. God will not allow us to be tempted above what we are able to withstand, but will with every temptation provide also a way of escape. The temptations are of the Adversary, and of our own fallen natures, through our own flesh, and through the weaknesses of others. God is not responsible for these, but He is able to so guide the way of His people that they will not be overwhelmed by these natural difficulties and weaknesses, nor by the wiles of the Adversary.
(9) “But deliver us from evil.” These words are not found in the original of Luke’s account, but corresponding words are found in Matthew’s record, which would properly read, “Deliver us from the Evil One.” There never was a time when there was greater need of this petition than now, as the Evil One is especially seeking to trap and ensnare the Lord’s people in the present time. The Scriptures inform us that God is sending “strong delusion” – that is, He is permitting the Adversary to bring strong delusions upon the world and upon the nominal church. Our Father is permitting this because the time has come for a complete separation of the wheat from the tares. He has promised, however, that those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, who are seeking to walk in His steps, will not be stumbled and will never fall, but will enter into the everlasting Kingdom. The question, then, is one of loyalty of heart to the Lord.
The trial of this day will try the work of the Lord’s people “of what sort it is.” (1 Cor. 3:13) The trial will be so severe that, if it were possible, the very elect would be deceived: “For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.” (Matt. 24:24) But this will not be possible, because the Lord will give them special care. The Lord’s people will nonetheless seek assistance of the Lord about these matters and they will be preserved through His power. It is our expectation that very shortly now the forces of evil will gain much greater strength than at present. In the meantime, the Lord is staying the adverse forces so that His true people may put on the armor of God and be able to stand when the evil day comes.
The words included in Matthew’s account, “For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever, Amen,” are not found in the oldest Greek manuscripts, and are therefore properly omitted in the Revised Standard Version, and many other translations, as being no part of the Scriptures. The kingdom or rule of the present time is not of God. His Kingdom and power and glory are nowhere evident. We await the ushering in of the divine Kingdom and power and glory with the establishment of Messiah’s Kingdom and the overthrow of Satan’s Empire.
WHY THE DELAY?
Our Lord then gave a parable showing the importance of “importunity” – that is, persistence – when making a request. (Luke 11:5-8) In the parable, a man goes to a neighbor’s house in the middle of the night to ask to borrow three loaves of bread to feed an unexpected guest. The neighbor at first refuses the request. But, the Lord said, if the man were to persist long enough, his friend would get up and give him what he needed. Our Lord did not use this illustration to imply that God is opposed to His people’s requests and will only grant them when they become tedious to Him. He instead used it to show that if a person can be that persistent regarding some slight earthly favor he desires, the Lord’s people need to be much more persistent and earnest with respect to the divine blessings that they desire.
Our heavenly Father has promised us good things, and He delights in giving them to us, yet some of them are far off. For instance, He has allowed His dear people to pray for the Kingdom to come on earth as in heaven for nearly twenty centuries. Why has He not answered the petition sooner? Why did He suggest that we should so pray, if the answer were to be so long delayed?
We reply: The Lord had a plan, including the time for the Kingdom, already mapped out before He taught us to pray for it. That prayer of now nearly twenty centuries, going up from the hearts of His people, has brought blessings to their hearts, and has led them to appreciate and long for the Kingdom far more than if they had not thus prayed. The longing for the Kingdom has been a blessing of itself and has been an encouragement, and so we are praying today for the Kingdom to come, more earnestly perhaps than ever before, because we appreciate the need of God’s Kingdom more and more as we get down to the time when it will be ready to be given to us.
ASKING, SEEKING, KNOCKING
Our Lord’s words in the conclusion of the lesson are very soul-satisfying to those who have faith: “And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.” (Luke 11:9-10) In considering these words of the Master, we are to remember the order He had just given us in prayer. We are to ask nothing that is not hallowing and honoring to our heavenly Father’s name; we are to ask for nothing that would in any way interfere with the coming of His Kingdom, or the doing of His will on earth as in heaven. We are to ask only for what is in harmony with the divine plan, as revealed in the Word and prayed for by us, having faith that it will ultimately be fully accomplished, and that it will fully satisfy our hearts.
The asking, seeking, and knocking are to be done by us individually. We may ask the Lord for a share in the Kingdom, and may labor for it, praying His blessing upon our labors; but we may not attempt to direct the divine arrangement and to ask the Lord to especially favor others in connection with the Kingdom, however dear to us they may be. On the contrary, we are to preach the Word to such dear ones, telling them of God’s goodness and grace, and of the Kingdom and its blessings, and encourage them to make a consecration of themselves to the Lord. In connection with that consecration, we are to urge them to ask for themselves, to seek for themselves, and to know for themselves that they may receive and find and enter into the blessed favors of the Lord.
EVERY GOOD AND PERFECT GIFT
Our Lord’s words appeal to the fatherly spirit in man, reminding His hearers of how earthly fathers would delight to give good things to their children: “If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?” (Luke 11:11-12) Not only will a loving father not give his child something injurious when he asks for something good, he would not give the injurious things even if he were asked for them.
How much more is our heavenly Father good, kind, benevolent, and disposed to bless His children. How much more will He give to us the right things. We have thought of this frequently when hearing some of our dear friends praying that the Lord would baptize them with fire, as He promised in the Scriptures. (Matt. 3:11) We are rejoiced to think that God, in His goodness, would not answer that prayer, would not take advantage of the misunderstanding of the matter, and answer a prayer which would be so injurious to the petitioner. What they desired was a measure of divine blessing; what they were asking for was the curse, or trouble which came upon the chaff in the end of the Jewish Age, and which is again to come upon the tares in the end of the Gospel Age.
We trust that the Lord’s people will more and more cultivate a spirit of prayer, and that in so doing they will more and more appreciate their relationship to God as children, and come to Him as to a father, with simplicity, with sincerity.
We are not at all advocating the thought, so prevalent today, of “the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man.” That false doctrine finds no place in the Word of God. God does not stand as a sponsor for the human race in its current depraved condition. He was the father of Adam in his perfection, but our Lord declares the imperfections in Adam’s posterity to be of the Adversary. He said to the Pharisees of His day, “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do.” (John 8:44)
In order to get back again into the family of God, as Adam was a son of God before he sinned, it is necessary for us to go by the appointed way – through the merit of Jesus, the merit of His sacrifice for our sins. It is from this standpoint that we come to the Father, from this standpoint that we have our fellowship, and from this standpoint that we are hoping, trusting, and believing that all things are working together for good to us, because we love God. As the Apostle said, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.” (Jas. 1:17)
(Based on Reprint 3351.)
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