9 In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.
10 Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us this day our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
13 And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
Our Father in heaven (v.9) — In Exodus 4:22 we read, “… Thus saith the Lord, Israel is My son, even My firstborn,”
Our Lord insisted on this when He replied to a pleading Gentile woman, “It is not meet to take the children’s bread, and cast it to dogs” (Matthew 15:26).
But in what sense were the people of Israel God’s children? Had they all been born again? Certainly not. Nicodemus was an Israelite but he had not been born again (John 3:3-10).
When God said to Pharaoh, “Let My son go” (Exodus 4:22-23) He referred, of course, to the nation. It was a national matter, based on a covenant relationship. Thus we read in Hosea 11:1-2: “When Israel was a child, I loved Him, and called My son out of Egypt.”
It was in this covenant relationship that the Lord, in His Sermon on the Mount, spoke to His disciples about the Fatherhood of God, with the desire that each might know God as his Father in a deeper sense. — Stam, page 91.
hallowed (v.9) = held in reverence and awe
in heaven (v.9) = in “the heavens” — in the universe
in heaven (v.10) — singular, as distinguished from earth
Your kingdom come; Your will be done in earth as it is in heaven (v.10) — At our Lord’s birth the multitude of the heavenly host had praised God, saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men” (Luke 2:14).
It was nothing less than the millennial kingdom the angels heralded that day and this is what the disciples were told to pray for. Thus they were instructed to proclaim the kingdom: “And as ye go, preach, saying, the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 10:7).
They were told to practice the kingdom. “Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give, provide neither gold, nor silver, nor brass in your purses” (Matthew 10:8-9).
They were told to pray for the kingdom. “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10).
Indeed, our Lord later promised His twelve apostles twelve thrones in that kingdom. “Verily I say unto you, that ye which have followed Me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man shall sit in the throne of His glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (Matthew 19:28). Stam, pages 92-93
give us this day our daily bread (v.11) — They [the disciples] had given up even their daily employment to follow the Lord Jesus, and He had told them: “Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat; neither for the body, what ye shall put on … consider the ravens: for they neither sow nor reap; which neither have storehouse nor barn; and God feedeth them: how much more are ye better than the fowls” (Luke 12:22, 24).
This was all in line with the kingdom program, and it explains why the disciples were told to pray “give us this day our daily bread,” with the assurance that this would be provided. — Stam, page 93
And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors (v.12) — Let us not neutralize this clear statement, for our Lord had no more than finished the prayer, than He said, “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” (Matthew 6:14-15).
There is a difference, of course, between the judicial forgiveness, or justification, proclaimed in Romans and the parental forgiveness obviously referred to here. Nevertheless salvation by grace through faith alone had not yet been manifested. These were the standards of the kingdom to be established on earth, and the subjects of this kingdom were given no hope of receiving forgiveness if they did not forgive others. — Stam, page 94
temptation (v.13) = testing
The English word “temptation” had a broader meaning when our Bibles were translated, than we give it today. It meant trial or testing, and the prayer “Lead us not into temptation,” evidently refers to the great tribulation, “the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth” (Revelation 3:10).
This throws light upon the last part of the phrase, “Deliver us from the evil one.” In Revelation 12:12, we read concerning the great tribulation, that “the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time,” i.e., before he is judged and Christ reigns. — Stam, pages 95-96.
evil one (13) — Satan
The latter part of verse 13, beginning with “For Yours …” is not in the best manuscripts.
This sample prayer appears right after the Lord’s instructions to avoid repetitions and to pray alone in secret.
This perfect model of prayer was given by our Lord to His disciples to be used by them individually and previously to the gift of the Holy Spirit. It was then all on Jewish ground; they were Jewish believers and as such they received this model prayer and used it in the transition state. There came a day when our Lord said another word to these very disciples who had come to Him with the request, “Lord, teach us to pray, even as John also taught his disciples.” It was in the upper room where He spoke all the precious words concerning the Comforter, all that which was so new, altogether new, that which would take them upon a new ground. He said, “Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full … In that day you will ask in My name …(John 16:24, 27). — Gaebelein, page 140
When the Church is taken from the earth a believing Jewish remnant will give the witness and preach the Gospel of the Kingdom once more. They will undoubtedly use this prayer during the great tribulation through which they will pass, the tribulation in which the evil one is in the earth and famine and many temptations will abound. Then can they truthfully ask, “Give us this day our daily bread — lead us not into temptations — deliver us from the evil one,” which is the personal Antichrist. “Thy kingdom come.” This prayer will be answered, deliverance will come for them from heaven in the coming of the King. — Gaebelein, page 143
