14 The Kingdom and the Power
The Kingdom and the Power
As music can express the whole range of human feelings, so our Lord’s pattern prayer covers the whole range of concerns with which life confronts the Christian disciple. Praise for our redemption (Father), adoration of God’s transcendent greatness (in heaven), zeal for his glory (hallowed be thy name), longing for his triumph (thy kingdom come), and self-dedication to him (thy will be done) are all expressed in the first half; in terms of the common analysis of the elements of prayer as Adoration, Consecration, Thanksgiving and Supplication (making the mnemonic A-C-T-S), all save the last are now covered. Then the supplications of the second half have expressed our reliance on God for material needs (give us . . . our daily bread), our repentance over failures in faithfulness and our renouncing of mercilessness as a way of life (forgive us . . . as we forgive), and our sense of weakness in face of the forces of our spiritual foes (lead us not into temptation, butdeliver us). Now, finally, following the traditional form of the prayer, we are led back to praise.
The doxology with which, following the older versions, we round off the Lord’s Prayer is not in the best manuscripts. Nevertheless, it is in the best tradition! Doxologies (that is, acts of praise to God for his glory) pop up all through the Bible, and we saw before how in personal devotion praise and prayer grow out of, lead into, and stir up each other. Need felt and need met are their respective mainsprings, and praise for what God is, and does, is the strong support of hope in what he can, and will, do. So the more you praise, the more vigor you will have for prayer; and the more you pray, the more matter you will have for praise.
Prayer and Praise
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. The clauses “who art in heaven” at the start and “as it is in heaven” in the middle are pauses for praise in the Lord’s Prayer’s flow, and if this closing doxology is not from Jesus’ lips it certainly reflects his mind.
Praise is linked to prayer here by the conjunction “for”: “for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory . . . ” The connection of thought is that we ask our heavenly Father for provision, pardon, and protection with great confidence, since we know that for him to give this to his children on the one hand is within his capacity, and on the other is in line with the character he shows when he deals with men—that is, his glory. This, therefore, is an actual instance of praise for God’s power and glory coming in to under-gird prayer for the fruits of both.
Kingdom and Power
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.) The thought is of omnipotent control. Kingdom is used as in Psalm 103:19, “His kingdom rules over all”: it denotes God’s all-embracing mastery of the order of creation which is presupposed by the petition that God’s kingdom in the other sense, the order of redemption touching everything, may “come.” Satan, the prime example of how sin breeds cunning but saps intelligence and rots the mind, does not accept that the Lord is king in this basic sense, and would dismiss this doxology—indeed, all doxologies—as false; but Christians know better, and praise God accordingly.
Power is the actual mastery which God’s rule shows: not, then, naked arbitrary power, like that of a tornado, or a rogue elephant, or a dotty dictator, but unconquerable beneficence, triumphantly fulfilling purposes of mercy and loving-kindness “to us and to all men.” It is the power by which God is good to all, and rescued Israel from Egypt, and raised Jesus Christ from the dead (Ephesians 1:19ff., etc.).
Psalms proclaiming God as the invincible gracious King (Psalms such as 47, 93, 97, 145, for a start) form the best exposition of “the kingdom and the power” in this doxology. Read them, ponder them, get them under your skin and into your heart—and join the Christian glee club! “It is good to sing praises to our God; for he is gracious . . . ” (Psalm 147:1).
Further Bible Study
God on the throne:
Daniel 4
Psalm 145
Questions for Thought and Discussion
How do praise and prayer lead into and feed each other?
What is “omnipotent control,” and how is God exercising it in the world today?
What is God’s power like?