A Study of the Lord’s Prayer
Lesson # 9
“For Yours is the Kingdom, the Power,
and the Glory, Forever”
Matthew 6:13
“In this manner, therefore, pray. Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. (10) Your kingdom come. Your will be done On 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 do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.” (NKJV)
We began our prayer in praise to God, acknowledging Him as Father and honoring His holy name - Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. We then affirm God’s priorities as our own - Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. We then appropriate God’s provision for our lives here and now - Give us this day our daily bread. We then ask for God’s pardon and commit ourselves to forgive others - And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. We then seek God’s protection from temptation and Satanic attack and engage in spiritual warfare ourselves - And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. And finally, we return to praise as we aclaim the authority, power and glory of God - For Yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen. [J. David Hoke]
Because later manuscripts, discovered after the King James Version was translated, omit this last section of the prayer, newer translations do not include the words, “For yours is the kingdom, and the power and the glory, forever, Amen.” Yet we need not be unduly concerned because these words do fit both the spirit of this prayer and teachings of the Bible in other places. David’s prayer in 1 Chronicles (29:11) says, “Yours, O LORD, is the greatness, The power and the glory, The victory and the majesty; For all that is in heaven and in earth is Yours;Yours is the kingdom, O LORD, And You are exalted as head over all.” (NKJV)
While man has an ego that needs to be stroked by praise, God does not. Yet He calls us to praise Him. He even commands it. Why? Not because He needs praise, but because we need to praise Him is why. Praise does something for us. It reminds us of God’s greatness and of His glory. It alters our perspective. It changes our attitude. Praise should be where we begin and end with God. Notice that the prayer says “for yours is …” here carries the force of “because of ” or “on account of.”
In the three terms of the closing portion of this prayer we are confessing that God exclusively possesses these things, “yours is the kingdom, the power, the glory, forever.” We are saying that these things can be said of God and of no one else.
I. Yours Is the Kingdom, Forever
The wonderful truth is not that Jesus is going to be King, but that HE IS KING NOW!!! When we pray, “yours is the kingdom” we are acknowledging the fact, the present day reality, that Jesus is King. When we pray, “yours is the kingdom” we are also recognizing that we are subjects of the King. We are freely acknowledging his right to LORDSHIP in our lives.
“In the jungle one day, the Lion was feeling somewhat cocky. So he decided to remind all the other animals of his importance. He came up to a Giraffe and asked with a roar, "Who is the king of the jungle?" The Giraffe replied meekly, "You are O Lion." Bolstered by this response, the Lion went up to a Zebra and roared, "Who is the king of the jungle?" The Zebra replied in fear, "Why, you are O Lion." Feeling really good by now, the Lion came to an Elephant and roared, "Who is the king of the jungle?" The Elephant reached out with his trunk and grabbed the Lion and slammed him repeatedly on the ground, finally picking him up and throwing him against a tree. The Lion, dazed and groggy, looked up at the Elephant and said, "Well, you don’t have to take it so personally!" [J. David Hoke. The Pattern Prayer: Returning to Praise. (www.horizonsnet.org/sermons/
sm25.html)]
II. Yours Is the Power, Forever
The Old Testament refers to God as “Almighty” fifty six times in the English text. The New Testament is equally clear. Colossians 1:15-18 says, “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. (16) For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. (17) And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. (18) And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.” (NKJV)
“Sometimes we are just too proud to admit we need God’s power. A man walked into a friend’s home, bleeding, covered with black and blue bruises all over his body. His startled friend exclaimed, "What in the world happened to you?" The wounded friend answered, "Well, I was walking down the street and was accosted by two thugs who told me to give them all of my money. But, I didn’t want to give them my money so I fought them and fought them and fought them!" His friend then asked, "Well, just how much money did you have?" The answer he received shocked him, "35 Cents." His friend exclaimed, "What! You fought for just 35 Cents?" "That’s right," the man answered. "I didn’t want to disclose my financial situation." Don’t be too proud to ask for the power of God. He will give it to you.” [J. David Hoke. The Pattern Prayer: Returning to Praise. (www.horizonsnet.org/sermons/sm25.html)]
III. Yours is the Glory, Forever, Amen
Sometimes this portion of the prayer is called a doxology. Doxology literally means “speaking glory or a word of glory. The word comes from the combination of two Greek words, Doxa which means “praise or glory” and logos which means “word or to speak.” So doxology is an expression of praise to God, a confession of adoration.
Doxologies of praise are found in both the Old Testament and the New Testament. As we have already seen in 1 Chronicles 29:11, “Yours, O LORD, is the greatness, The power and the glory, The victory and the majesty; For all that is in heaven and in earth is Yours;Yours is the kingdom, O LORD, And You are exalted as head over all.” (NKJV)
In the New Testament we read in Revelation 5:13, “And every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, I heard saying: “Blessing and honor and glory and power Be to Him who sits on the throne, And to the Lamb, forever and ever!” (NKJV)
We need to be careful to give all the glory to God. “The story goes that, one time football coach Vince Lombardi climbed into bed and his wife, Marie, said, "God, your feet are cold!" The coach answered, "Dear, in the privacy of the house, you may call me Vince." While that is humorous, and none of you would actually say that, far too many times we can act as though we are the ones who deserve the credit. We should be careful to point people to Jesus. He alone is worthy of our praise.” [J. David Hoke.]
The last thing we need to examine is the use of the little word, “Amen.” The word “amen” is a Hebrew exclamation, which expressed a strong assertion and a solid assurance. “Amen” means, “it shall truly and certainly be.”
As far as its relationship to prayer is concerned, this “Amen” makes three assumptions. First, it expresses the belief that the content of this prayer is line with the will of God. Secondly, it also expresses the conviction that the heavenly father has heard my request. And thirdly, it expresses my belief that the heavenly father has the ability to meet the needs of my request.
