The Kingdom and the Power and the Glory Forever
For the past five weeks, we have been asking Jesus to teach us to pray, just as he taught his disciples to pray. This prayer, which we call the Lord’s Prayer, is a fantastic model of prayer.
We begin by acknowledging who God is. Though God is above all else, He is also our Father who loves us. As His children, we accept the responsibility to “hallow” His name, to set it apart as holy. One way we do this is by reflecting His character in our actions and nature.
We call God “King” and thus accept his unconditional rule over us. In light of His love for us, and because of our subsequent love for him, we actually obey what he says and we live out His Kingdom here on earth. He is our King, and we are His ambassadors.
When we ask for our daily bread, we acknowledge our dependence on God for everything. and as we ask Him to provide for our needs, both physical and spiritual. At the same time, we recognize that He might be using us to provide daily bread for others.
As we reflect on the great debt that God has paid for us, we forgive others as well. We recognize that this goes against every fiber of our beings, and we need help to even have the desire to forgive. As we recognize that withholding forgiveness is also sinful.
And we realize that on our own, we are powerless against sin, temptation, and evil. So we ask God to deliver us from the evil that each of us is fully capable of and ask that our times of temptation will not be great enough to derail our faith.
The goal of our prayers is for us to connect with God, to recognize the relationship that He wants with us, to transform us into the kind of people who reflect his character in the world.
If you have been reading along in your Bible, you’ll see that the Lord’s prayer stops in Matthew 6:13 with “deliver us from the evil one.” And then there’s probably a little letter or an asterisk. If you look down at the bottom of the page, you’ll see that some late manuscripts include: “For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.”
This is an important way to end our prayer, because it reinforces to whom we pray and acknowledges the reason for our prayer.
We remember that the Kingdom is God’s forever. We have devoted entire sermons to God’s kingdom and haven’t covered the topic fully. But to acknowledge God as king is to remember who rules. God’s subjects are those who have committed themselves wholly to carrying out the will of the king. When I think about the great kingdoms of the earth, even mighty Rome, who ruled the known world, only lasted 1000 years. But God’s kingdom lasts forever. As many debate whether or not the USA is a Christian nation, we recognize that our country has only been around for less than 250 years. We also recognize that in our country, we choose our own leaders and we make our own rules; if enough people want something to be a rule, we vote on it and allow it. And at times, they put the same things on the ballot again and again, just trying to get us to allow gambling and casinos. But if we make bad decisions as a country, we make new rules. Not so with God’s kingdom: God makes the rules.
Thus the concept of God’s Kingdom is closely related to God’s role as judge. In Romans 3:6, we are reminded that God will judge the world. When someone breaks a law in our country, judgment is swift. We have the right to a speedy trial. Sometimes it seems like trials drag on and on, and sometimes the ruling isn’t just at all, with the guilty going free or the innocent being sentenced. As we await God’s justice, we recognize that not only is He patient, but He has already paid the penalty for anyone who is in His Kingdom. So God’s kingdom stands for the entire blessing of salvation.
And because of who God is and what He does, as we pray to Him, we are reminded that God is the only one to whom worship is due. His is the kingdom forever.
We also acknowledge God’s power. God’s power is the power to save. Israel saw this in Egypt, as God performed mighty miracles: He sent plagues that convinced Pharaoh to let Israel go. He parted the Red Sea to give them safe passage out of Egypt and to save them from the Egyptian army. He miraculously fed them with manna and quail and provided water in the desert.
But the ultimate power of God is demonstrated in the cross. In the sacrifice that Jesus made, God acts to save us from the bondage of sin, death, and guilt. These no longer have any sway, because God has the power forever.
In fact, God’s power is made manifest even in our weaknesses. God gave these words to Paul (2 Cor 12:10) “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Indeed, when we admit our need for God, He meets us there with power. Christ Himself indwells us.
Eph. 3:16-19 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
Only when we are filled with this power, can we begin to fathom the magnitude of God’s love for us. And as we start to grasp this love, He fills us to completion with the Holy Spirit, transforming us into his likeness. Colossians 2:10: You have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority.
Because of God’s power, we, too, have been given power. 2 Timothy 1:7 For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline. God is powerful, and we, as Christians, also have his power. 1 Cor 4:20 tells us For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power. This is God’s power – the power over sin, death, and guilt, and he gives us the power to overcome.
And his power is forever.
We also ascribe to God all glory. We do a pretty good job of understanding kingdom, because we are used to politics and leadership. We can understand power, because so much of life is about power: who has it and who doesn’t (and the subsequent abuse of power). But glory is a different story. I believe that we have no real idea about what glory is.
Few concepts in antiquity were more important than honor, distinction, esteem, and glory. The word that we read as “glory” here in Matthew is doxa, which originally meant “opinion.” This is a distinguished quality that was readily evident in a person. In other words, someone doesn’t have to tell you that he has glory: everyone can see it! This term came from the Hebrew term kavod: the honor intended for God only. God can’t be seen, but his radiance can be apprehended, and to enjoy God’s presence is to enjoy his glory.
When God was delivering Israel out of Egyptian captivity, He himself led them, in a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. When they arrive at Mt. Sinai, God’s glory descends on the mountain, shrouding it in cloud. Exodus 19:18: Mt. Sinai was covered with smoke, because the Lord descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up like smoke from a furnace and the whole mountain trembled violently.
Then when they had established the tent of meeting, in Exodus 40:34, Then the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.
Then when Solomon finally built the Temple, in 1 Kings 8:10, we read that When the priest withdrew from the Holy Place, where the ark of the covenant was, the cloud filled the temple of the Lord. And the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled his temple.
God lived among his people. But in Ezekiel 10:18, we see the turning point in the history of Israel: The glory of the Lord departed from over the threshold of the Temple.
God has left the building. This is one of the most depressing verses in scripture. The place that was made to be a dwelling place for God, now empty. The rituals meant for worship of God, now simply duties. Habakkuk 2:14, however, offers a hope: The earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.
The glory of God left. But when Jesus is presented in the Temple, Simeon offers a hymn of praise, because in the person of Jesus Christ, he has seen the return of God’s glory. God’s glory is indeed God himself at work, and God is in the House! Jesus Christ shows doxa when he reveals the Father through his works. True of his signs, but especially true of his resurrection. The connection between glory and light is clear: in bringing God’s glory, Christ ushers a divine light into the world.
There is an important paragraph in Exodus 34 When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the testimony in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the Lord. The people were frightened because Moses’ face glowed. So he would wear a veil when he was with the people.
We, as God’s people who spend time with God, reflect God’s glory. But if we withhold worship and adoration (which is the due response to the divine glory) and exchange God’s glory for creaturely images, we forfeit the privilege of reflecting God’s glory. This is the whole deal with Romans 1. This is where we get envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice, gossip, insolence, arrogance, boastfulness, disobedience, and even invention of new ways to commit evil. Not only do we humans actively practice these things, but we approve of those who practice them. This is the opposite of what we’re meant for, and the truth is that God’s glory is the measuring stick for humanity. Unfortunately, all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). This means that sin has made it impossible for us to reflect God’s glory. In fact, 2 Thessalonians 1:9 portrays everlasting destruction as being shut out of God’s presence and the glory of his might. You see, obscuring God’s glory is the worst possible happening in the human experience.
But God planned for that, and Romans 3 continues saying and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. Jesus gave himself on the cross for us, for His church, so that we, as his bride, might be glorious, reflecting God’s glory. All Glory is God’s!
This isn’t about us! The Lord’s Prayer is about God and about how we reflect Him (or fail to reflect Him). It’s about God choosing the Church as His bride and about us showing everyone how great He is. And truly His Kingdom, power, and glory are everlasting, even to the point where Heaven is said to be without a sun – we won’t need one, because God’s glory will light everything. So even the last line of the Lord’s Prayer is a challenge: to honor God’s Kingdom, to obey His power, and to give Him glory in everything.
We begin by acknowledging who God is. Though God is above all else, He is also our Father who loves us. As His children, we accept the responsibility to “hallow” His name, to set it apart as holy. One way we do this is by reflecting His character in our actions and nature.
We call God “King” and thus accept his unconditional rule over us. In light of His love for us, and because of our subsequent love for him, we actually obey what he says and we live out His Kingdom here on earth. He is our King, and we are His ambassadors.
When we ask for our daily bread, we acknowledge our dependence on God for everything. and as we ask Him to provide for our needs, both physical and spiritual. At the same time, we recognize that He might be using us to provide daily bread for others.
As we reflect on the great debt that God has paid for us, we forgive others as well. We recognize that this goes against every fiber of our beings, and we need help to even have the desire to forgive. As we recognize that withholding forgiveness is also sinful.
And we realize that on our own, we are powerless against sin, temptation, and evil. So we ask God to deliver us from the evil that each of us is fully capable of and ask that our times of temptation will not be great enough to derail our faith.
The goal of our prayers is for us to connect with God, to recognize the relationship that He wants with us, to transform us into the kind of people who reflect his character in the world.
If you have been reading along in your Bible, you’ll see that the Lord’s prayer stops in Matthew 6:13 with “deliver us from the evil one.” And then there’s probably a little letter or an asterisk. If you look down at the bottom of the page, you’ll see that some late manuscripts include: “For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.”
This is an important way to end our prayer, because it reinforces to whom we pray and acknowledges the reason for our prayer.
We remember that the Kingdom is God’s forever. We have devoted entire sermons to God’s kingdom and haven’t covered the topic fully. But to acknowledge God as king is to remember who rules. God’s subjects are those who have committed themselves wholly to carrying out the will of the king. When I think about the great kingdoms of the earth, even mighty Rome, who ruled the known world, only lasted 1000 years. But God’s kingdom lasts forever. As many debate whether or not the USA is a Christian nation, we recognize that our country has only been around for less than 250 years. We also recognize that in our country, we choose our own leaders and we make our own rules; if enough people want something to be a rule, we vote on it and allow it. And at times, they put the same things on the ballot again and again, just trying to get us to allow gambling and casinos. But if we make bad decisions as a country, we make new rules. Not so with God’s kingdom: God makes the rules.
Thus the concept of God’s Kingdom is closely related to God’s role as judge. In Romans 3:6, we are reminded that God will judge the world. When someone breaks a law in our country, judgment is swift. We have the right to a speedy trial. Sometimes it seems like trials drag on and on, and sometimes the ruling isn’t just at all, with the guilty going free or the innocent being sentenced. As we await God’s justice, we recognize that not only is He patient, but He has already paid the penalty for anyone who is in His Kingdom. So God’s kingdom stands for the entire blessing of salvation.
And because of who God is and what He does, as we pray to Him, we are reminded that God is the only one to whom worship is due. His is the kingdom forever.
We also acknowledge God’s power. God’s power is the power to save. Israel saw this in Egypt, as God performed mighty miracles: He sent plagues that convinced Pharaoh to let Israel go. He parted the Red Sea to give them safe passage out of Egypt and to save them from the Egyptian army. He miraculously fed them with manna and quail and provided water in the desert.
But the ultimate power of God is demonstrated in the cross. In the sacrifice that Jesus made, God acts to save us from the bondage of sin, death, and guilt. These no longer have any sway, because God has the power forever.
In fact, God’s power is made manifest even in our weaknesses. God gave these words to Paul (2 Cor 12:10) “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Indeed, when we admit our need for God, He meets us there with power. Christ Himself indwells us.
Eph. 3:16-19 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
Only when we are filled with this power, can we begin to fathom the magnitude of God’s love for us. And as we start to grasp this love, He fills us to completion with the Holy Spirit, transforming us into his likeness. Colossians 2:10: You have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority.
Because of God’s power, we, too, have been given power. 2 Timothy 1:7 For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline. God is powerful, and we, as Christians, also have his power. 1 Cor 4:20 tells us For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power. This is God’s power – the power over sin, death, and guilt, and he gives us the power to overcome.
And his power is forever.
We also ascribe to God all glory. We do a pretty good job of understanding kingdom, because we are used to politics and leadership. We can understand power, because so much of life is about power: who has it and who doesn’t (and the subsequent abuse of power). But glory is a different story. I believe that we have no real idea about what glory is.
Few concepts in antiquity were more important than honor, distinction, esteem, and glory. The word that we read as “glory” here in Matthew is doxa, which originally meant “opinion.” This is a distinguished quality that was readily evident in a person. In other words, someone doesn’t have to tell you that he has glory: everyone can see it! This term came from the Hebrew term kavod: the honor intended for God only. God can’t be seen, but his radiance can be apprehended, and to enjoy God’s presence is to enjoy his glory.
When God was delivering Israel out of Egyptian captivity, He himself led them, in a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. When they arrive at Mt. Sinai, God’s glory descends on the mountain, shrouding it in cloud. Exodus 19:18: Mt. Sinai was covered with smoke, because the Lord descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up like smoke from a furnace and the whole mountain trembled violently.
Then when they had established the tent of meeting, in Exodus 40:34, Then the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.
Then when Solomon finally built the Temple, in 1 Kings 8:10, we read that When the priest withdrew from the Holy Place, where the ark of the covenant was, the cloud filled the temple of the Lord. And the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled his temple.
God lived among his people. But in Ezekiel 10:18, we see the turning point in the history of Israel: The glory of the Lord departed from over the threshold of the Temple.
God has left the building. This is one of the most depressing verses in scripture. The place that was made to be a dwelling place for God, now empty. The rituals meant for worship of God, now simply duties. Habakkuk 2:14, however, offers a hope: The earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.
The glory of God left. But when Jesus is presented in the Temple, Simeon offers a hymn of praise, because in the person of Jesus Christ, he has seen the return of God’s glory. God’s glory is indeed God himself at work, and God is in the House! Jesus Christ shows doxa when he reveals the Father through his works. True of his signs, but especially true of his resurrection. The connection between glory and light is clear: in bringing God’s glory, Christ ushers a divine light into the world.
There is an important paragraph in Exodus 34 When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the testimony in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the Lord. The people were frightened because Moses’ face glowed. So he would wear a veil when he was with the people.
We, as God’s people who spend time with God, reflect God’s glory. But if we withhold worship and adoration (which is the due response to the divine glory) and exchange God’s glory for creaturely images, we forfeit the privilege of reflecting God’s glory. This is the whole deal with Romans 1. This is where we get envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice, gossip, insolence, arrogance, boastfulness, disobedience, and even invention of new ways to commit evil. Not only do we humans actively practice these things, but we approve of those who practice them. This is the opposite of what we’re meant for, and the truth is that God’s glory is the measuring stick for humanity. Unfortunately, all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). This means that sin has made it impossible for us to reflect God’s glory. In fact, 2 Thessalonians 1:9 portrays everlasting destruction as being shut out of God’s presence and the glory of his might. You see, obscuring God’s glory is the worst possible happening in the human experience.
But God planned for that, and Romans 3 continues saying and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. Jesus gave himself on the cross for us, for His church, so that we, as his bride, might be glorious, reflecting God’s glory. All Glory is God’s!
This isn’t about us! The Lord’s Prayer is about God and about how we reflect Him (or fail to reflect Him). It’s about God choosing the Church as His bride and about us showing everyone how great He is. And truly His Kingdom, power, and glory are everlasting, even to the point where Heaven is said to be without a sun – we won’t need one, because God’s glory will light everything. So even the last line of the Lord’s Prayer is a challenge: to honor God’s Kingdom, to obey His power, and to give Him glory in everything.
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