It's All His - The Kingdom, The Power, and The Glory!

Reflection Text

1 Chronicles 29:10–13 ESV

10 Therefore David blessed the Lord in the presence of all the assembly. And David said: “Blessed are you, O Lord, the God of Israel our father, forever and ever. 11 Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all. 12 Both riches and honor come from you, and you rule over all. In your hand are power and might, and in your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all. 13 And now we thank you, our God, and praise your glorious name.

Scripture Reading

Matthew 6:9–13 KJV 1900

9 After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. 10 Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in 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 lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

Pastoral Prayer

2 Chronicles 20:6 ESV

6 and said, “O Lord, God of our fathers, are you not God in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. In your hand are power and might, so that none is able to withstand you.

Key Text Matthew 6.13b

Matthew 6:13 KJV 1900

13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

For many of us, this prayer is so engrained in our minds…such a mundane part of a bygone liturgy that while our familiarity may not have bread contempt; it has at least relegated it to something less than what it is!

We’ve taken this short thing and made it a long thing…I hope that’s not your view. This study has altered my prayer life - it’s made it messier when I ask for “stuff”. I find myself holding my requests to the standard of God’s Word - that’s a REALLY REALLY GOOD THING.

The Doxology Text

We know this as the traditional doxology of the Lord’s Prayer…the proper finish. I’ve joked in recent days with some of you about the reading of this text from the King James Version…joking that some readings just fall short of their poetic and authoritative tone in some of the more updated and (yes) measurably more accurate and readable translations.

You’ll note, however, in our pew Bibles - the English Standard Version - and many other translations that the phrase is absent or appears as a footnote reference. Why is that?

Many of the ancient manuscripts include this text in the prayer, but some do not, among them the Codex Vaticanus, which is one of the most important of the ancient texts.

As a result, some scholars believe that this ending was not in the original prayer but was added very soon afterward. It was customary among the Jews to conclude their prayers with a doxology.

RC Sproul writes, “But even the scholars who are convinced that this line was in the original prayer give little or no attention to it. Instead, they treat it as something of a postscript, sort of a throwaway line that isn't all that important, particularly in light of the significant petitions that precede it.”

Is this a problem?

We can’t ignore that these words do not appear in the original manuscripts of Matthew. It would be wrong to aggressively assert that these words are indeed a part of the original text. We should never say something is part of Scripture that the author never intended.

At the same time, it is not wrong to recite the Lord’s Prayer with the concluding doxology or to benefit from this tradition—so long as we understand the words are not themselves Scripture. The reasons for this are numerous.

First: Doxologies are found all throughout the Scripture.

They were likely added later to the Lord’s Prayer. One of the earliest Christian documents outside the NT dating back to the first century, The Didache had this doxology included in the Lord’s Prayer.

This one is lifted from 1 Chronicles 29. Our reflective verse today.

Second they are appropriate responses to God and his glory.

JI Packer writes, “Prayer and praise are like a bird’s two wings: with both working, you soar; with one out of action, you are earthbound. But birds should not be earthbound, nor Christians praiseless.”

Third all the elements of this doxology are present in the components of the prayer. It perfectly and succinctly sums up the character of God as revealed in the Lord’s Prayer and does so in the posture of praise.

That is, if it weren’t here, any good preacher/teacher would have cross referenced to any number of doxologies in the Bible to tie the elements of the prayer together in memorable way.

There is no hint of error or erosion of Biblical inerrancy here. One writer writes, “…if this closing doxology is not from Jesus’ lips it certainly reflects His mind.”

back to the text

Matthew 6:13 KJV 1900

13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

Let’s unpack this doxology with the elements of the prayer:

FOR THINE...

The reminder that it’s all HIS!

His Kingdom, His Power, His Glory.

Psalm 100 ESV

A Psalm for giving thanks. 1 Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth! 2 Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into his presence with singing! 3 Know that the Lord, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. 4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name! 5 For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.

The word for is the hinge that connects the rest of the Lord’s Prayer and this lovely doxology.

“FOR” grounds our petitions in our praise.

First comes our long list of requests. How can we can expect God to grant them in accordance with His will? “For thine is the power.” This is a statement of our faith.

HIS KINGDOM

Back in the second petition we prayed for the kingdom to come. We pray, “Thy kingdom come,” trusting that through the preaching of the Gospel and the conversion of sinners, God’s Spirit will spread God’s rule through all the earth.

In the doxology we acknowledge that God is already the King. Jesus is the King; where he is, the kingdom is.

Psalm 103:19 ESV

19 The Lord has established his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom rules over all.

Kingdom and power, as ascribed to God in this doxology, are two words expressing a single composite thought. (Grammarians call this idiom hendiadys: it is common in ancient literature.)

Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary (Eleventh Edition) Hendiadys

[Late Latin hendiadys, hendiadyoin, modification of Greek hen dia dyoin, literally, one through two] circa 1577: the expression of an idea by the use of usually two independent words connected by and (as nice and warm) instead of the usual combination of independent word and its modifier (as nicely warm)

The thought is of omnipotent control. Kingdom is used as in Psalm 103:19 pointing to God’s all-embracing mastery of the order of creation - so the order of redemption touches everything.

HIS POWER

This power is actual mastery that God’s rule and reign shows.

This is not like an unchecked arbitrary power, like a devastatingly unpredictable tornado, or a rogue elephant, or a Fascist totalitarian dictator.

No, this is our God and King as the unconquerable beneficence, victoriously fulfilling His purposes of mercy and loving-kindness “to us and to all men.”

This is the power by which God is good to all, and rescued Israel from Egypt, and raised Jesus Christ from the dead.

Ephesians 1:19–23 ESV

19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might 20 that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. 22 And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

Not every king has as much power as he would like. The kingdoms of this world have always been limited monarchies. But the King who reigns above is the Lord God Almighty. His power is absolute:

Revelation 19:6 ESV

6 Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns.

HIS GLORY!

Ephesians 3:20–21 ESV

20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

Philippians 4:20 ESV

20 To our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen.

1 Timothy 1:17 ESV

17 To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

It was the habit of Johann Sebastian Bach to write, at the bottom tom of each of his musical compositions, the initials "S.D.G." to remind himself and everyone who played his compositions that the glory was God's alone.

"S.D.G.," of course, stands for the Latin phrase Soli Deo gloria, which means "Glory to God alone." Bach didn't write simply "D.G."-"Glory to God." It always had to be "S.D.G."-"Glory to God alone."

That's what we’re doing here near the end of this model prayer from our Lord.

We acknowledge that we have no glory in us, that God is glorious beyond our ability to express, and that He is never required to share His glory with men.

1 Peter 1:7 ESV

7 so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

DEFINED: Once we have been brought into God’s kingdom and have seen his power, the only appropriate way for us to respond is by giving him the glory. The word glory comes from the Hebrew term for “heavy,” and thus “signifies gravity, heaviness, greatness, and abundance.”

OUR GLORY?

The principle of human sin (which is the devil’s image in man) is this: glory is not God’s, but mine.

So, we parade what we think of as our glory, so that admiring watchers will give us likes, and shares, and “attaboys”, and…well, glory!

In our vanity, we put on a show with our features: physical shape, clothes, skills, position, influence, homes, brains, relationships (name dropping), or whatever they are most proud of, expect applause, and feel resentful and hurt if people do not play up to them and act impressed.

But Christians know that this facet of pride is a lie! It puts us at the center of attention. It assumes that we should be praised and admired for what we are; and that is not so.

Biblical Christians know, not indeed to pretend that we lack qualities that we know very well that we have, but to acknowledge that all we have is God’s gift to us, so that he alone should be praised and admired and glorified.

The song is not, “It’s all about “me””

“Glory,” wrote Jonathan Edwards, “is also the outshining of the internal greatness or excellence. The word glory is used in Scripture often to express the exhibition, emanation, or communication of the internal glory. Hence it often signifies an effulgence, or shining brightness, by an emanation of beams of light.”3

The most spectacular display of God’s glory is through his Son Jesus Christ. God the Son became a man so that we could see the glory of God. He revealed God’s glory in many ways, but especially by suffering and dying on the cross for our sins. In his death and resurrection, Jesus made the most amazing display of God’s love and justice, demonstrating the glory of God in the salvation of sinners.

The reason Jesus saved us was so that we would glorify God. This is the third way the Bible speaks of glory:

First, glory is the inward majesty of God;

second, it is the brightness God sometimes shines out into the world;

third, it is the worship we offer to God.

When we see God’s glory, the proper way for us to respond is to give him the glory—to offer him all the honor and praise he deserves. To God alone be the glory!

Even within the church…it’s all His!

1 Peter 4:10–11 ESV

10 As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: 11 whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

IT’S ALL HIS…FOREVER!

AMEN!

2 Historians from Duke uncovered a beautiful moment from the dark days of WW2.

In a prison camp in World War 2, on a cold, dark evening after a series of beatings, after the hundreds of prisoners of war had been marched before the camp commander and harangued for an hour…when the prisoners were returned to their dark barracks and told to be quiet for the rest of the night; someone, somewhere in one of those barracks began saying the Lord’s Prayer. Some fellow prisoners lying next to him began to pray with him.

Their prayer was overheard by prisoners in the next building who joined them. One by one, each set of barracks joined in the prayer until, as the prayer was ending with, “thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory," hundreds of prisoners had joined their voices in a strong, growing, defiant prayer, reaching a thunderous “amen!"

Philip Regan rights that war story is a picture of what we do when we pray the way Jesus taught us to pray. We offer our prayers from the barracks, for we are still at war with our old enemy, the devil. Soon our warfare will be over, and Christ will reign victoriously.

But in the meantime it is cold and dark, and we must take courage by praying together. Right at the end of our prayers, we give God the glory for the power of his eternal kingdom, and then we say, "amen!"

Charles Wesley once took this traditional conclusion to the Lord’s prayer and turned it into verse. His words provide a fitting doxology to this book on prayer:

Yea, Amen! Let all adore thee,

High on thine eternal throne;

Saviour, take the power and the glory:

Claim the Kingdom for thine own:

O come quickly!

Alleluia! Come, Lord, come!

An unknown author summarizes well the impact f this pattern of prayer:

I cannot say “our” if I live only for myself in a spiritual, watertight compartment.

I cannot say “Father” if I do not endeavor each day to act like His child.

I cannot say “who art in heaven” if I am laying up no treasure there.

I cannot say “hallowed be Thy name” if I am not striving for holiness.

I cannot say “Thy kingdom come” if I am not doing all in my power to hasten that wonderful day.

I cannot say “Thy will be done” if I am disobedient to His Word.

I cannot say “on earth as it is in heaven” if I will not serve Him here and now.

I cannot say “give us … our daily bread” if I am dishonest or an “under-the-counter” shopper.

I cannot say “forgive us our debts” if I harbor a grudge against anyone.

I cannot say “lead us not into temptation” if I deliberately place myself in its path.

I cannot say “deliver us from evil” if I do not put on the whole armor of God.

I cannot say “Thine is the kingdom” if I do not give to the King the loyalty due Him as a faithful subject.

I cannot attribute to Him “the power” if I fear what men may do.

I cannot ascribe to Him “the glory” if I am seeking honor only for myself.

I cannot say “forever” if the horizon of my life is bounded completely by the things of time.

Have everyone stand

reflect on the Gospel presented

POST MUSIC: Would you pray this prayer with me?

Matthew 6:9–13 KJV 1900

9 After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. 10 Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in 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 lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

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Tee up for next week: Psalm 145

These are five wonderful reasons we ought to praise the Lord:

praise glorifies our God;

praise heals our hurts;

praise fortifies our faith;

praise tells our thanks, and

praise protects our peace.

Rogers, Adrian. When We Say Father . B&H Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.