Pater noster: Jesus' 'kingdom prayer' and justification

The Jesus Institute Forum

Paternoster: Jesus’ ‘kingdom prayer’ and justification

Lee F. Greer
Loma Linda, CA
© 2001

(Last updated November 2005)

‘The Lord’s prayer’ has been one of the favorite passages in the Gospels for Christians down through the ages. Modern scholarship has often considered it to be part of the so-called document Q, a discernable gospel tradition from which both Matthew and Luke seem to have borrowed. However, the differences between the two versions indicate that this prayer may well have had a varied oral or written history before being codified in the forms we know today in the two Gospels:

Matthew 6:9-13a

Luke 11:2-4

^{9 Our Father
the (One) in the heavens,}
^{Hallowed is Your name.}
^{10 Your kingdom, let it come;}
^{Your will, let it be done,}
^{As in heaven so on earth.}
^{11 Give us today our daily bread.}

^{12 And forgive us our debts}
^{As we forgave our debtors.}

^{13 And lead us not into temptation;}
^{But rescue us from the evil (one).}

^{2 ‘Father,}
^{Hallowed is Your name;}
^{Let Your kingdom come;}

^{3 Our bread belonging to the morrow,}
^{give us each day.}

^{4 And forgive us our sins,}
^{For we indeed [our]selves forgive}
^{every one indebted to us.}

^{And lead us not into temptation.}

By whatever means our current versions of ‘the Lord’s prayer’ originated, it is highly significant to note the Covenant allusions in this prayer. Along with the backdrop of Jesus’ oft-repeated heralding of ‘the kingdom of God’ there was also an undertone in Messianic prophetic thought based on the Jubilee Day of Atonement type.

According to Leviticus 25, every 49^th year on the 10^th day of the 7^th month, the Day of Atonement (Lev. 16), a Jubilee year (the 50^th year) was to be proclaimed by blowing of the shofar when all debts were to be canceled and forgiven. Those bonded and in debt were freed and inheritances lost through debt bondage were redeemed. This ‘year of release’ was inaugurated on the Day of Atonement: In effect through the atonement on the mercy seat of the Ark of the Covenant in the Holiest, the Lord God became Surety for the indebtedness of the Covenant people! Meanwhile as they were forgiven on the objective basis of the Atonement in the Holiest of the sanctuary, they were to forgive each other of their debts. In effect this was the enthronement of Yahweh and His kingdom in Israel! The pattern is simple. Following are a few examples:

Atonement on the ark of the Covenant in the Holiest		Redemption, freedom, & restoration in the land of Israel
49^th Day of Atonement		50^th year of liberty
Propitiation-Atonement	Redemption		References
Two aspersions on mercy seat & scapegoat – Israel clean from all her sins before the Lord	Israel delivered by the sending of the scapegoat into the wilderness		Lev. 16
Propitiation in the Holiest – debt cancellation above	Debt cancellation below, freedom		Lev. 25-26
Day of vengeance of our God	The acceptable year of the Lord		Isa. 61:2 cited in Luke 4: 18-20
Day of vengeance in My heart	Year of My redeemed is come		Isa. 63:4
Being justified freely – A propitiation through faith in His blood	The redemption in Jesus Christ		Rom. 3:23-24
Through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil	And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.		Heb. 2:14-15
The Mediator of the new Covenant by means of death	For the redemption of the sins under the first		Heb. 9:15

The Lord’s prayer follows this pattern: God’s kingdom and will have been done in heaven in Christ – propitiation and redemption; now may they be done on earth in the fruit of the objective atonement. The Father forgives us our debts in heaven as we forgive those indebted to us on earth. Atonement, redemption, and release!

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