The will of God is used in two senses in scripture: God’s secret will (that is, his counsel or decrees by which he foreordains whatever comes to pass) and his revealed will (that is, his precepts or commands).

The secret will of God is sometimes called the decretive will. God’s decretive will cannot be known except as it unfolds in the events of providence or is revealed through special revelation, as in the prophecies of scripture.

The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law (Deut. 29:29).

The decretive will of God cannot be successfully opposed or resisted (cf. Psalm 115:3; Dan. 4:35; Acts 2:23; Eph. 1:11).

I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, “My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose” (Isaiah 46:9–10).

[God] has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills. You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?” (Rom. 9:18–19).

There is also God’s preceptive will; that is, his precepts or commands. God’s preceptive will is made known in scripture.

Unlike God’s decretive will (which cannot be successfully resisted), the preceptive will of God is constantly resisted and opposed by rebellious humanity (cf. Matt. 7:21; 12:50; 21:31; John 6:38; Heb. 13:20–21).

The third petition of the Lord’s Prayer has in view both the secret will of God and his revealed will. As J. G. Vos says,

The third petition … refers both to the revealed will of God and to the secret will of God. We are to know and do the revealed will of God; we are to submit cheerfully to the secret will of God, that is, to the events of God’s providence. Thus the revealed will of God requires us to obey the Ten Commandments, to love God and our neighbor, etc., while submission to the secret will of God means that we will endure suffering, disappointments, hardships, bereavements, etc., patiently and without murmuring or rebelling against God.[1]

With regard to the revealed will of God, when we pray “Thy will be done,” we request, says Thomas Vincent, that “ourselves and others, who naturally are dark and ignorant of his will, may, by his Word and Spirit, be enabled to know and understand it” (cf. Eph. 5:17; Col. 1:9–10; Rom. 12:2).

We also request that “ourselves and others, who naturally have in our hearts an enmity against God’s law, might be inclined and enabled to obey and do whatever it is the will of God to command” (cf. Rom. 8:7; Psalm 119:4–5, 35–36; 143:10).[2]

With regard to the secret will of God, when we pray, “Thy will be done,” we request, says Vincent, “that ourselves and others might have compliance of will with the will of God, so as thankfully to accept merciful providences, and patiently submit unto afflictive providences” (cf. Luke 1:38; Acts 21:14; Matt. 26:39, 42; Luke 22:42; Heb. 5:7–8; 2 Cor. 12:8–9; Matt. 8:2).

“Thy will be done” is a prayer of submission or a prayer of dedication. It prays that God will accomplish his purposes, and that we will accept his providences, and also that we will obey his precepts.

Endnotes

[1] Johannes G. Vos, The Westminster Larger Catechism: A Commentary (Phillipsburg, NJ: P & R, 2002) 233.

[2] Thomas Vincent, The Shorter Catechism Explained from Scripture (Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1980) 87.

As devout Jews in the first century were waiting for the kingdom of God, they prayed earnestly for the appearance and reign of the Messiah.

Luke tells us that when the elderly prophet Simeon, who was “waiting for the consolation of Israel,” held the child Jesus in his arms, he blessed the LORD for answering his prayers. “Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel” (Luke 2:25-32).

Likewise, Mark tells us that Joseph of Arimathea, a respected member of the Sanhedrin, was “looking for the kingdom of God” (Mark 15:43).

So devout Jews in the first century were waiting and praying for the appearance and reign of the Messiah. Most of them, no doubt, had wrong ideas about the nature of the messianic kingdom, but they were praying for its arrival.

We see examples of this in the prayers of the synagogue.

And Jerusalem, Your city, return in mercy, and dwell therein as You have spoken; rebuild it soon in our days as an everlasting building, and speedily set up therein the throne of David. Blessed art thou, O LORD, who rebuilds Jerusalem (Amidah 14).

Speedily cause the offspring of David, Your servant, to flourish, and lift up his glory by Your divine help because we wait for Your salvation all the day. Blessed art thou, O LORD, who causes the strength of salvation (Yeshua) to flourish (Amidah 15).

Exalted and hallowed be God’s great name in the world that he created according to his will. May he establish his kingdom, and may his salvation blossom and his Anointed one be near … speedily and soon (Kaddish).[1]

The kingdom of God is not simply God’s eternal, universal reign over the world but his redemptive reign in the person of Jesus Christ, who, as the only mediator between God and man, exercises the offices of prophet, priest, and king.

The nature of the messianic kingdom is not geopolitical or earthly, and it is not confined to the Jews but includes all nations. The kingdom of God is spiritual and heavenly; present and future; already and not yet.

To pray for the coming of the kingdom suggests that it has not yet fully come. The petition—“Thy kingdom come”—has in view the as yet incomplete nature of the kingdom.

The second petition of the Lord’s Prayer is a cry for the consummation of the kingdom like the prayer of the primitive church: “Come, Lord”; “Maranatha” (cf. 1 Corinthians 16:22; Revelation 22:20).

Until the consummation, the kingdom of God will grow and advance throughout the world. “Thy kingdom come” is an eschatological prayer for the consummation of the kingdom, the return of Jesus Christ.

But it is also a missionary prayer for the advancement of the kingdom through the spread of the gospel.

“Thy kingdom come” prays for the reign of Christ, the growth of the kingdom, the salvation of the lost, the subjection of Christ’s enemies, the destruction of Satan’s kingdom, the return of Christ, and the consummation of his kingdom at the end of the age.

All of these ideas are included in the simple petition: “Thy kingdom come!”

Endnotes

[1] See C. W. Dugmore, The Influence of the Synagogue Upon Divine Office (London: Faith Press, 1964). Though a bit dated, this book is still a helpful resource on the Jewish roots of Christian worship. More recent scholarship tends to be skeptical with regard to what we know about synagogue worship in the first century.

The first three petitions have in view God’s name, God’s kingdom and God’s will; the last three petitions, our bread, our forgiveness and our deliverance. 

All six petitions—not only the first three—are God-centered. All six petitions have in view God’s glory as well as our benefit.

God is glorified in the last three petitions as much as in the first three petitions. And we benefit or profit from praying the first three petitions as much as from praying the last three petitions.

The first petition is “Hallowed be your name.”

This petition is a prayer of praise, adoration, wonderment, reverence, and awe.

Prayer is a matter of awe and wonderment. It begins with praise or adoration that arises out of our awe and wonderment as we contemplate God.[1]

We may begin our prayers by reciting (or singing) psalms or hymns of praise and adoration. Praise hallows God’s name. Praise is the gateway into God’s heavenly presence. “Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise” (Psalm 100:4).

In scripture, there are many different genres of prayer. There are prayers of praise, adoration, thanksgiving, lamentation, confession, supplication, petition, and intercession (cf. 1 Tim. 2:1; Phil. 4:6).

It is appropriate to begin our prayers with praise and adoration (cf. Isaiah 6:2–3; Luke 1:46–49; Psalm 103:1; 145:1–3; 113:1–3; 8:1).

The Shorter Catechism sums up the content of the first petition. When we pray, “Hallowed be your name,”

we pray that God would enable us and others to glorify him in all that whereby he maketh himself known, and that he would dispose all things to his own glory” (SC 101).

That’s what we pray in the first petition.

In our next post, we will look at the second petition of the Lord’s Prayer.

Endnotes

[1] Hughes Oliphant Old, Themes and Variations for a Christian Doxology: Some Thoughts on the Theology of Worship (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1992) 23.

It begins with an invocation, “Our Father in heaven.” The middle section consists of six petitions. It ends with a doxology, “For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.”[1]

The word invocation comes from the Latin word invocare, which means to call upon, to appeal to or to invoke in prayer. An invocation is when one calls on the name of the Lord.

This is one of the most basic acts of worship. The very act of calling on God’s name is itself worship.

At that time people began to call upon the name of the LORD (Gen. 4:26b).

[Abraham] built an altar to the LORD and called upon the name of the LORD (Gen. 12:8b).

You call upon the name of your god, and I will call upon the name of the LORD, and the God who answers by fire, he is God (1 Kings 18:24a).

Oh give thanks to the LORD; call upon his name; make known his deeds among the peoples! (Psalm 105:1)

The LORD is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth (Psalm 145:18).

For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Rom. 10:12–13).

Prayer begins with an invocation. An invocation names the God to whom the prayer is addressed, and it claims God as our God.

O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! (Psalm 8:1a)

Bless the LORD, O my soul! O LORD my God, you are very great! (Psalm 104:1a)

Praise the LORD! Praise, O servants of the LORD, praise the name of the LORD! Blessed be the name of the LORD from this time forth and forevermore! From the rising of the sun to its setting, the name of the LORD is to be praised! (Psalm 113:1–3)

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places (Eph. 1:3).

At that time Jesus declared, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth…” (Matt. 11:25a).

Jesus often invoked God as Father (Abba, Pater), which is a short nickname children had for their fathers (cf. John 17.1, 11, 25; Mk. 14.36).

According to the New Testament scholar Joachim Jeremias,

Abba was an everyday word, a homely family-word, a secular word, the tender address of the child to its father: ‘Dear father.’ No Jew would have dared to address God in this manner. Jesus did it always, in all his prayers which are handed down to us…. Jesus spoke with God as a child speaks with his father, simply intimately, securely, childlike in manner.[2]

Jesus invoked God as Father and teaches us to follow his example. This implies intimacy and affection for God. Prayer is an “intimate conversation,” says Calvin (familiare colloquium).[3]

The point is our prayers are being made from within the intimate fellowship of the household of God.

God is our Father by adoption and regeneration. Moreover, it is through faith in Christ that we become his children (cf. Eph. 1.5; Jn. 1.12–13; Gal. 3.26).

Thus, the Lord’s Prayer is for believers only. Only believers can call God “Father.” Faith is the foundation and necessary condition of prayer (Heb. 11.6; Gal. 4.4–6; Rom. 8.15).

We can invoke God as our Father only in virtue of our faith-union to Christ.

To invoke God as our Father is to pray in the name of Christ. Calvin said,

Since we call God our Father, it is certain that we understand beneath it the name of Christ also. Certainly, as there is no man in the world worthy to introduce himself to God and appear in his sight, this good heavenly Father … has given us his Son Jesus to be our mediator and advocate toward him, by whose leading we may boldly approach God, having good confidence that, thanks to this intercessor, nothing which we will ask in his name shall be denied us, since the Father cannot refuse him anything.[4]

In prayer, we approach God as children approach their father, with a childlike trust, with confidence in his fatherly goodness, with confident faith and boldness.

What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” (Luke 11:11–3)

As Martin Luther remarked,

God lovingly invites us, in this little preface, truly to believe in him, that he is our true Father, and that we are truly his children, so that full of confidence we may more boldly call upon his name, even as we see children with a kind of confidence ask anything of their parents.[5]

Likewise, in answer to the question, “Why is God called our Father, rather than some other name,” Calvin writes,

Since it is essential that our consciences have a steadfast assurance, when we pray, our God gives himself a name, which suggests only gentleness and kindness, in order to take away from us all doubt and anxiety, and to give us boldness in coming to him personally. Shall we then dare to go to God familiarly, as a child to his father? Yes, in fact with greater assurance of obtaining what we ask. For if we, being evil, cannot refuse our children bread and meat, when they ask, how much less will our heavenly Father, who is not only good, but sovereign goodness itself?[6]

In like manner, the Heidelberg Catechism says that Christ commanded us to address God as our Father so that

at the very beginning of our prayer, he may awaken in us the childlike reverence and trust toward God which should be the motivation of our prayer, which is that God has become our Father through Christ and will much less deny us what we ask him in faith than our human fathers will refuse us earthly things (HC 120).

The first part of the invocation—“Our Father”—emphasizes God’s paternal goodness; the second part—“in heaven”—emphasizes his transcendent majesty. The first part evokes intimacy and confidence; the second part, reverent fear.

The transcendence of God does not make intimacy impossible. Wonderment and intimacy are combined in prayer.[7]

In prayer, we should have a heavenward disposition and direction. Jesus lifted up his eyes toward heaven in prayer.

And taking the five loaves and the two fish he looked up to heaven and said a blessing and broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set before the people. And he divided the two fish among them all (Mar 6:41a).

And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me (John 11:41b).

When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you” (John 17:1).

To you I lift up my eyes, O you who are enthroned in the heavens! Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a maidservant to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the LORD our God, till he has mercy upon us (Psalm 123:1–2).

When we address the LORD as God in heaven, it is the same as if we were calling him exalted, mighty and incomprehensible, so that

when we call upon him, we may learn to lift up our thoughts on high, and not to have any carnal or earthly thoughts of him, not to measure him by our apprehension, nor to subject him to our will, but to adore his glorious Majesty in humility. It teaches us also to have more reliance on him, since he is Governor and Master of all.[8]

So that’s the significance of the invocation in the Lord’s Prayer, “Our Father in heaven.”

In our next post, we will look at the first petition.

Endnotes

[1] Some Greek manuscripts do not contain the doxology, but for reasons which we will explain later, we think it should be included in the Lord’s Prayer.

[2] Joachim Jeremias, The Lord’s Prayer (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 1964) 19–20.

[3] John Calvin, The Institutes of the Christian Religion, ed. John T. McNeill, tr. Ford Lewis Battles (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1960) 1:2:1.

[4] John Calvin, Instruction in Faith (1537), ed. and tr. Paul T. Fuhrmann (Louisville, KY: Westminster/John Knox Press, 1992) 59.

[5] Martin Luther, Luther’s Small Catechism (Philadelphia, PA: Lutheran Publication Society, 1893) 275.

[6] From Calvin’s 1545 Catechism (260 and 261); see James T. Dennison Jr., ed. Reformed Confessions of the 16th and 17th Centuries in English Translation: Volume II, 1552-1566 (Grand Rapids: Reformation Heritage Books, 2010).

[7] Hughes Oliphant Old, Praying with the Bible (Philadelphia, PA: Geneva Press, 1980) 23.

[8] Calvin’s Catechism (1545), 265, in Dennison (2010).

The earliest witness, however, is the Didache.

And do not pray like the hypocrites, but as the Lord commanded in his gospel, pray in this manner: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come; your will be done, as in heaven, so also on earth. Give us today our bread for the day. And forgive us our debt, as we also forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one, for yours is the power and the glory forever. Pray in this manner three times a day (Didache 8:2–3).

The Lord’s Prayer played a central role in the worship of the early church, both corporate worship on the Lord’s Day and daily private worship.

The Lord’s Prayer also played an important role in Reformed worship.

Both the Larger and Shorter Catechisms contain an exposition of the Lord’s Prayer. The Lord’s Prayer is particularly useful, they state, as “the special rule of direction” that Jesus taught his disciples “to direct us in the duty of prayer” (LC 186; SC 99).

In the Gospels, Jesus teaches us how to pray both by instruction and by example.

Luke says that when Jesus had finished praying in a certain place, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples” (Luke 11:1).

To this, Jesus responded by giving the disciples the Lord’s Prayer. Thus, the Lord’s Prayer is a prayer that teaches us how to pray (cf. Luke 11:1–4).

In the Sermon on the Mount, the Lord’s Prayer is surrounded by instructions concerning two auxiliary disciplines to prayer: almsgiving and fasting (Matt. 6:1–18).

Pious Jews gave alms when they went to the Temple or to the synagogue to pray (cf. Acts 3:1–3; 10:1–4). Fasting was often used as an aid to prayer (Luke 2:36–37; 18:10–12; Acts 13:1–3; 14:23).

Immediately before he teaches the disciples the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus gave them two warnings about prayer.

First, do not be like the hypocrites (Matt. 6:5–6).

And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

That is, do not make a show of your prayers.

Second, do not be like the Gentiles (Matt. 6:7–8).

And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

That is, do not try to impress God by heaping up empty phrases, “for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.”

After these two warnings, Jesus gives the Lord’s Prayer, which may be used as either a prayer form or a prayer guide (cf. LC 186, 187).

As a prayer form, it is read or recited from memory. Notice that in Luke’s account, Jesus says, “pray these words” (Luke 11:2).

As a prayer guide, it is used as a model for making our own prayers. In Matthew’s account, Jesus says, “pray this way” (Matt. 6:9).

It is appropriate to use the Lord’s Prayer (both as a form and as a guide) in public worship, family worship and private worship.

The Didache instructs Christians to pray the Lord’s Prayer three times a day:

And do not pray like the hypocrites, but as the Lord commanded in his gospel, pray in this manner: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name…. Pray in this manner three times a day (8:2–3).

The first step in learning how to pray is using the biblical forms of prayer such as the Lord’s Prayer or the Psalms.

To get started, one may pray the Lord’s Prayer daily and or pray through the Psalms monthly or weekly. It is also helpful to memorize the Lord’s Prayer and selected Psalms for use in daily prayer.

Tomorrow, we will look at the beginning of the Lord’s Prayer: the invocation.