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In Matthew 6 the prayer that the Lord teaches us to pray begins with the Triune God, in the sequence of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit (vv. 9-10), and also ends with the Triune God, but in the sequence of the Son, the Spirit, and the Father (v. 13); to pray in this way is to pray that the Triune God will be prevailing on the earth as He is prevailing in the heavens:
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In Matthew 6:9-10 the Lord teaches the believers to pray by expressing three petitions, which imply the Trinity of the Godhead: “Your name be sanctified” is related mainly to the Father; “Your kingdom come,” to the Son; and “Your will be done,” to the Spirit:
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For His name to be sanctified, we should express Him in our living with a daily life separated unto God and saturated with God—1 Pet. 1:15-17; 2 Pet. 1:4; cf. Isa. 11:2.
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For God’s kingdom to come, we must live a life of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit—Rom. 14:17.
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For the divine will to be done on earth is to bring the heavenly ruling, the kingdom of the heavens, to this earth—cf. Matt. 8:9a.
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This is being fulfilled in this age, and it will be ultimately fulfilled in the coming kingdom age, when the name of God will be excellent in all the earth (Psa. 8:1), the kingdom of the world will become the kingdom of Christ (Rev. 11:15), and the will of God will be accomplished.
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The Lord’s pattern of prayer concludes by saying, “For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen”—Matt. 6:13:
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The kingdom is of the Son and is the realm in which God exercises His power; the power is of the Spirit and carries out God’s intention so that the Father can express His glory.
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Thus, the prayer taught by the Lord in His supreme teaching begins with God the Father and ends also with God the Father, who is the beginning and the end, the Alpha and the Omega, that God the Father may be all in all—1 Cor. 15:28.
Morning Nourishment
Matt. 6:9-10 You then pray in this way: Our Father who is in the heavens, Your name be sanctified; Your kingdom come; Your will be done, as in heaven, so also on earth.13 And do not bring us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
The praying ones must be children of God, born of God, so they have the authority, the right, to call God their Father. We cannot call a person our father if we are not born of him. We have a Father in the heavens who has begotten us. This brief but critical prayer covers a number of crucial items.
To be sanctified means to be separated and distinct from all that is common…. If we pray for our Father’s name to be sanctified, we should not just utter this with our words. For His name to be sanctified, we should express Him in our living. We must live a sanctified life, a daily life separated from being common. To pray such a prayer requires us to be sanctified persons, those who are separated from being common. We should be distinct, separate, from all the people around us. In other words, we should be holy. As sanctified people, we should pray, “Our Father, Your name be sanctified.” (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 3, “The God-man Living,” pp. 537-538)
Today’s Reading
Today the world is not God’s kingdom but His enemy’s kingdom. This is why the Bible says that Satan is the ruler of today’s world (John 12:31). In Satan’s kingdom, the world, there is no righteousness, no peace, and no joy. Romans 14:17 says that the reality of the kingdom life is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. In Satan’s kingdom today, there is no joy, because there is no peace. In the United Nations, peace is talked about all the time, but there is no peace, because there is no righteousness. Peace is the issue of righteousness. In his second Epistle, Peter says that the unique thing that dwells in the new heavens and new earth is righteousness (3:13). In the coming kingdom, the millennium, the primary thing will be righteousness. There is no righteousness in today’s world, because this is the kingdom of Satan, the evil ruler.Today Satan’s will is being done on the earth through evil men….Thank the Lord that Satan’s will is not fully carried out. Hitler, Mussolini, and Stalin were destroyed. Napoleon wanted his will to be done, but he did not succeed. We need to pray for the Father’s divine will to be done on earth as in heaven. This is to bring the heavenly ruling, the kingdom of the heavens, to the earth. Then the Father’s will surely will be done on the earth. These three things [in Matthew 6:9-10]—the name, the kingdom, and the will—are the attributes of the one Triune God. The name is of the Father, because the Father is the source; the kingdom is of the Son, and the will is of the Spirit. To pray in this way is to pray that the Triune God will be prevailing on the earth as He is prevailing in the heavens.
The prayer to the Father concludes in this way: “For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen” (6:13). Here is the realization and praise of God’s kingdom, power, and glory. This also refers to the Triune God. The kingdom is of the Son, which is the realm in which God exercises His power. The power is of the Spirit, which carries out God’s intention so that the Father can express His glory. This indicates that the prayer that the Lord taught us to pray begins with the Triune God, in the sequence of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, and ends also with the Triune God, but in the sequence of the Son, the Spirit, and the Father. Thus, the prayer taught by the Lord in His supreme teaching begins with God the Father and ends also with God the Father. God the Father is both the beginning and the end, the Alpha and the Omega. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 3, “The God-man Living,” pp. 538-540)
Further Reading: CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 3, “The God-man Living,” ch. 11