Preaching Reflections
The Lord Jesus taught His disciples to pray, beginning with “three petitions.” This not only shows that Christians should hold such desires, but it also emphasizes God's own heartfelt expectations. God anticipates that all people will hallow His name, that all people will recognize His reign and rule (the coming of God's kingdom), and that all people will live according to His will. When people live in opposition and rebellion, God Himself makes efforts to fulfill these “three petitions” by sending His beloved Son to preach the gospel, accomplish the salvation of the cross, and send His disciples to evangelize everywhere, even to the ends of the earth. This reveals that our God is truly a missionary God, and that the subjects of His mission are all people in the world, every nation and every tribe, so that all people may hallow God's name. The focus of the mission is the gospel of the Kingdom of God, that God will save the lost and bring them back under His authority. The scope of the mission is the entire world, so that God's will may be done on earth as it is in heaven.
God is most holy and glorious, worthy of awe and reverence, the Creator of heaven and earth, sovereign over all things. Created humanity ought to hallow His name, love God, believe and obey Him, praise Him, and honor Him. The heavens declare God's glory, the firmament proclaims His handiwork, flowers, trees, mountains, and green fields rejoice and sing. However, humanity, favored by God, is foolish and stubborn, misusing their freedom. They not only fail to hallow God's name but even scorn it and become enemies of God. Some replace the true God with false gods, attributing glory to the sun, moon, stars, and all natural phenomena. Others replace the true God with great figures, offering praise to lifeless idols carved from stone or wood. Still others deny the true God's existence through strange sciences and philosophies like skepticism, evolution, materialism, and atheism. In short, most people do not hallow God's name. God's name represents who God is, God's very being. God is self-existent, omnipresent, the Almighty who was, is, and ever shall be, holy, glorious, righteous, loving, wise, omniscient, supremely good, perfect, and worthy of all honor, power, and praise. But since the first ancestors, Adam and Eve, rebelled against the true God and fell into sin, humanity's hearts and minds have become darkened. Willfully ignorant of God, they do not hallow His name. Thinking themselves wise, they have become fools, ultimately falling short of God's glory and losing His blessings. All have turned to their own way, ensnared in sin, awaiting God's righteous and fearsome judgment. But thanks and praise to the loving true God! He sent His Son into the world to seek and save the lost. Through the Son's atoning death on the cross, humanity is reconciled to God, and people are moved to willingly hallow God's name. When the Lord Jesus taught His disciples to pray, though the salvation of the cross was not yet accomplished, His purpose in coming was to suffer. This plan of salvation was ordained before all ages. He walked step by step toward Golgotha, so that through the salvation of the cross, His Father's name would be glorified (cf. : 約12:27-28; 17:4-6Therefore, when we pray “Hallowed be thy name,” we should reflect on God's exalted nature, His glorious deeds, and His great salvation. He desires all people to be saved and not one to perish. He is a missionary God, and thus Christians should also be missionary Christians.
“The second petition of the Lord's Prayer, ”Your kingdom come,“ also illustrates that God is a missionary God and that the church should be a missionary church. ”The Kingdom of God“ is an important theme throughout the entire Bible, appearing over a hundred times in the New Testament (including ”the Kingdom of Heaven“). Although it appears only a few times in the Old Testament, such as ”the kingdom of God is an everlasting kingdom" (Psalm145:13; 45:16 ）, But the kingdom of God is incorruptible7:14 ）, But the depiction of “God as King” is very common. The poet declares God is the King of all the earth (Psalm24:1; 47:2; 93:1; 95:3-7 and so on); God is the king of all nations (Psalm47:2,3; 99:2; 耶10:7and so on); after Moses led the people out of Egypt through the Red Sea, he immediately composed a poem praising God, saying, “The Lord shall reign forever and ever.” (Exodus15:18）; The judges ruled for over three hundred years, and it seems there was no king in the land. But the last judge, Samuel, plainly told the Israelites, “The Lord your God is your king.” (1 Samuel12:12）; During the reign of King Uzziah, the prophet Isaiah saw in a vision “the great King, the Lord Almighty” (Isaiah6:5The “kingdom of God” means the “reign of God” is coming. This is because Hebrew nouns and verbs often evolve from each other and are related in meaning. Thus, the noun “kingdom” comes from the verb “to reign, to rule, to govern,” and “the kingdom of God” is closely related to “God reigning.” God has always ruled over all created things in the universe; God has always reigned and exercised authority between heaven and earth. The created beings, Adam and Eve, ought to have submitted to God's rule. Unfortunately, they rebelled against God, rejected God's kingship, and instead listened to the devil's deception, resulting in Satan's power ruling over humanity, causing the world to die in sins and trespasses, and to be separated from God. However, thanks and praise be to the merciful God, who sent His Son into the world to preach the gospel of the kingdom of God: “The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news.” (Mark1:14）, and explain that through the salvation of the cross, people can have eternal life by believing in the Lord, be reborn by the Holy Spirit, and enter the Kingdom of God (John3:14, 15, 3, 5Therefore, all who repent to God and believe in the salvation of the Lord Jesus Christ, that is, all who humbly (poor in spirit) ask the Lord Jesus to reign as King and Savior in their hearts, the kingdom of God has come to them, and the blessings and life of the Lord Jesus“ reign are realized in them. That is why He said, ”Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.“ When the Lord Jesus taught His disciples to pray, ”Your kingdom come," it shows that God wants to save the world from Satan's dominion through the gospel and bring them back under His rule. God has already accomplished this great salvation, and God desires this salvation to be realized. God is a missionary God, and the church should also be a missionary church.
“The third petition of the Lord's Prayer is, ”Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.“ This petition appears quite broad at first glance, as God's will encompasses everything, from the movements of the universe to the details of personal lives, all of which should be done according to God's will. However, in the Gospel of Matthew, the phrase ”God's will“ is used only seven times, and the other six instances are related to the salvation accomplished by God through the Lord Jesus (as explained below). Therefore, ”Thy will be done on earth,“ while it can refer to the accomplishment of all of God's comprehensive will on earth, most importantly signifies the realization on earth of the cross salvation that God planned in heaven to bring to the world through His beloved Son, and the desire for all people to accept this great salvation.
When “the will of God” is used another six times in the Gospel of Matthew, three times it clearly refers to the Lord Jesus“ impending crucifixion: when the Lord Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, hoping that the Heavenly Father would take away the cup of suffering of the cross, but twice emphasizing ”nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done" (Matthew26:39) and “Your will be done” (Matt26:42）; The third time, the Lord Jesus rebuked Peter, saying, “You do not have in mind the things of God” (Matthew16:21-23）, Because Peter opposed the Lord Jesus going to Jerusalem for His suffering. The fourth time was when the Lord Jesus was preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God all over Galilee and performing many miracles, but those cities did not repent. The Lord Jesus then prayed, “Father, yes, for this was Your good pleasure” (Matthew11:26The intelligent and arrogant refuse to repent and believe the gospel. But those who are humble like infants have their eyes opened by God, repent and believe in the Lord, and are thus saved from future judgment.(太11:20-24)God's good intention is to save those who are “poor in spirit” (Matthew5:2), through Christ's redemptive sacrifice, bore the penalty of judgment. Thus they are spared future judgment, and so “God's good pleasure” here is also related to the salvific grace of the Lord Jesus on the cross. Finally, the fifth and sixth instances are very similar in usage: “Only those who do the will of my heavenly Father will enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matt.7:21) and “Whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.” The “will of my Father” here clearly does not refer to the hundreds of divine wills inferred from the Bible. If it did, surely no one could enter the kingdom of heaven, nor could anyone become the Lord Jesus“ brother or sister. In the Sermon on the Mount, doing the ”will of my Father“ means obeying ”these words of mine" (Matt7:24), which is to follow the teachings of the Sermon on the Mount. The most important essence of the Sermon on the Mount is that the Lord Jesus came to fulfill the law and the prophets. He fulfilled the salvation of the Messiah prophesied by the Old Testament law and prophets (especially Isaiah61Chapter, road4:15-21）; He himself also fulfilled the prophetic, ethical requirements of the Old Testament law and the prophets, and he will also fulfill the ethical lives of his disciples who recognize him as king. Therefore, the “will of the Father” here can be summarized into three categories: first, prophetic; second, salvific; and third, ethical. Prophetic—The Messiah foretold in the Old Testament has come; salvation—Through the salvation of the cross, the Messiah will bestow “righteousness” upon those who hunger and thirst, mourn, and are meek; ethical—The Messiah is to fulfill the ethical life of his disciples. Therefore, the “will of the Heavenly Father” is for the world to accept the Messiah as Lord and King and enjoy his kingly salvation and ethical life. Only those who thus obey the Father's will may enter the kingdom of heaven and be called brothers and sisters of the Lord Jesus. It can be seen that the “will of the Heavenly Father” in these two places is also related to the salvific atonement of the Lord Jesus“ cross. Therefore, when the Lord Jesus taught his disciples to pray, ”Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven,“ the primary meaning is: ”May the Father's salvific will be realized on earth, and may the people on earth receive the salvation planned in heaven."
In summary, the “three petitions” in the “Lord's Prayer” all reveal that God is a missionary God. He desires all people to repent and return to Him, that His name be hallowed, that all people turn from the dominion of Satan to His kingdom where He reigns, and that all people on earth accept His salvific will planned in heaven. For nearly two thousand years, God has continued to work incessantly, through His church, engaging in missionary work among all nations, regions, peoples, and tribes. Facing the 21st century, may all Christians and the universal church fervently follow the missionary God, becoming missionary Christians and a missionary church, in order to further realize these great “three petitions.”
