Expository Thoughts on Luke — J. C. Ryle
Luke 11:1-4 — Jesus’ Teaching on Prayer
And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples. And he said unto them, When you pray, say, Our Father which are in Heaven, Hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done, as in Heaven, so in earth. Give us day by day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.
These verses contain the prayer commonly called the Lord’s Prayer. Few passages of Scripture perhaps are so well known as this. The most benighted Roman Catholic can tell us that there is a prayer called the “Pater Noster.” The most ignorant English child has heard something about the “Our Father.”
The importance of the Lord’s Prayer appears in the simple fact, that our Lord Jesus Christ delivered it twice with very slight variations. He who never spoke a word without good reason, has thought fit to teach us this prayer upon two distinct occasions. Twice the Lord God wrote the ten commandments on tables of stone. (Deuteronomy 9:10; 10:4.) Twice the Lord Jesus delivered the Lord’s Prayer.
The occasion of the Lord’s Prayer being delivered a second time, in the verses before us, is full of interest. It appears that “one of the disciples” said, “Lord, teach us to pray.” The answer to that request was the well-known prayer which we are now considering. Who this “disciple” was we do not know. What he did will be remembered as long as the world stands. Happy are those who partake of his feelings, and often cry, “Lord, teach me to pray.”
The substance of the Lord’s Prayer is a mine of spiritual treasure. To expound it fully in a work like this, is manifestly impossible. The prayer, on which volumes have been written, does not admit of being handled properly in a few pages. For the present it must suffice us to notice its leading divisions, and to mark the leading trains of thought which it should suggest to us for private meditation.
The first division of the Lord’s Prayer, respects the GOD whom we worship. We are taught to approach Him as our Father in heaven — our Father no doubt as our Creator, but specially as our Father reconciled to us in Christ Jesus — our Father whose dwelling is “in Heaven,” and whom no temple on earth can contain. We then make mention of three great things — our Father’s name, our Father’s kingdom, and our Father’s will.
We are taught to pray that the NAME of God may be sanctified — “Hallowed be your name.” In using these words, we do not mean that God’s NAME admits of degrees of holiness, or that any prayers of ours can make it more holy than it is. But we declare our hearty desire that God’s character, and attributes, and perfections — may be more known, and honored, and glorified by all His intelligent creatures. In fact, it is the very petition which the Lord Jesus Himself puts up on another occasion, “Father, glorify your name.” (John 12:28.)
We are next taught to pray that God’s KINGDOM may come — “May Your kingdom come.” In so saying, we declare our desire that the usurped power of Satan may speedily be cast down — that all mankind may acknowledge God as their lawful King — and that the kingdoms of this world may become in fact, as they are in promise, the kingdoms of our God and of His Christ. The final setting up of this kingdom has been long predicted, even from the day of Adam’s fall. The whole creation groans in expectation of it. The last prayer in the Bible points to it. The canon of Scripture almost closes with the words, “Come Lord Jesus.”
We are taught, thirdly, to pray that God’s WILL may be done — “May Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.” In so saying, we express our longing desire that the number of God’s converted and obedient people on earth may greatly increase; that His enemies, who hate His laws, may be diminished and brought low; and that the time may speedily arrive when all men shall do their willing service to God on earth — even as all the angels do in Heaven.
Such is the first division of the Lord’s Prayer. Its marvelous fullness and deep importance cannot be overrated. Blessed indeed are those Christians who have learned that God’s name is far more honorable than that of any earthly potentate — that God’s kingdom is the only kingdom which shall stand forever — and that God’s law is the rule to which all laws ought to be conformed! The more these things are understood and believed in a land — the happier that land will be. The days when all acknowledge these things, will be the “days of Heaven upon earth.”