by Harold Camping
Family Stations Inc.

"Our Father"

When Jesus prayed, He ad-dressed God as His Father. Amazingly, God commands us to also address God as "Our Fa-ther." We do not fully under-stand such condescension on God's part, but we do know that the Bible speaks of the Father as the giver of every good and per-fect gift. We read in James 1:17, "Every good gift and every per-fect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no vari-ableness, neither shadow of turning."

The greatest gift of all, which is also the focus of the Lord's Prayer, is the gift of salvation. "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16).

The Old Testament also has references to God as our Father. For example, Psalm 68:5, "A fa-ther of the fatherless, and a judge of the widows, is God in his holy habitation."

In the Bible, the fatherless is a reference to the spiritually des-titute, the unsaved people. We are of God our Father through creation, but our sins have es-tranged us from God. Spiritually we are orphans, but God comes to us as a Father to the father-less. God may be a Father to those who acknowledge their or-phaned condition, their spiritual bankruptcy.

The Lord Jesus is spoken of as the everlasting Father in Isaiah 9:6, "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace."

We read in Psalm 103:13, "Like as a father pitieth his chil-dren, so the LORD pitieth them that fear him." God cares for those who love Him.

See also Isaiah 63:16, Isaiah 64:8, Romans 9:21, Romans 8:15-17, John 6:44, Luke 15:18.

"Which art in heaven"

God has revealed many things, but who God is remains a mystery. Mankind by nature wants to have a god whom they can see, the sun, an idol, or a river. Even if they become iden-tified with the Christian reli-gion, they may have all kinds of paraphernalia in their place of worship, because they want to see something tangible that they hope relates to God.

When we become saved, our relationship to God is a relation-ship of faith. In faith we believe that which we cannot see. We believe with fervency, abandon-ment, and trust.

Some say, "Well, we can see the Father in the Lord Jesus Christ." Jesus said in John 14:9, "he that hath seen me hath seen the Father." It is true that He is the express image of the Father, but that does not tell the whole story. Jesus was on this earth to pay for our sins; He emptied Himself of His glory. He was not seen as the glorious God He re-

ally is, and He prayed to the Fa-ther while He was on this earth. He is the Father and yet the Fa-ther is a separate person, which is a mystery that our minds can-not comprehend.

If we sincerely pray, "Our Fa-ther who art in heaven," effec-tively we are saying, "Oh, God, we cannot see you with our physical eye, and we have no idea of how majestic, infinite, and great you are, but we know that you are the one to whom we look for redemption."

"Our Father who art in heaven," means that our salva-tion is rooted in heaven. Some people passionately want a sal-vation of this life and of this earth. They long for a day when they will see Jesus on this sin- cursed earth, but our salvation is infinitely more glorious than anything this earth can produce. We have become citizens of heaven, and eternally we will be with God in the new heavens and the new earth.

"Hallowed be thyname"

The word "Hallowed" is the word "holy," which means "set apart." Holy is thy name. Holy (set apart) is thy name. Each of us has a name to identify us among the people of the world. God needs no such identifica-tion because He alone is God. God does give Himself many names, such as Jesus, Christ, the Lord of Hosts, Faithful, True, etc. These names describe attributes or characteristics of God.

The references in the Bible which speak of the "name" of God are speaking of God in all of His fullness, in all of His es-sence, everything that God is. And He in all of His fullness is set apart (hallowed) as the only God, whom we are to fear, re-vere, obey, glorify, serve, and worship. He alone is supremely righteous. He is the creator of the world and upholds it by His power. He alone is the Savior; He is supremely holy and majes-tic.

"Thy kingdom come"

We read about the kingdom of God in John 3:3, "Jesus an-swered and said unto him, Ver-ily, verily, I say unto thee, Ex-cept a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." And in John 3:5, "Jesus an-swered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he can-not enter into the kingdom of God."

Jesus is talking about the kingdom that God has estab-lished through the Lord Jesus Christ, which we enter into when we are saved. The king-dom of God consists of all who will become saved and live with Christ forever in the new heav-ens and the new earth. When we pray, "thy kingdom come," we are saying, "Oh, God, I want to be part of your kingdom; I want to be saved. Thy kingdom come in my life."

We are also saying, "Oh, Lord, we want thy kingdom to go out into the world and en-

compass all who are to be saved. We pray that the program of sal-vation which you designed from before the foundations of the earth will come to fruition."

"Thy will be done"

The will of God is ex-pressed, for example, in Mat-thew 16:18, "I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."

The will of God is that He will redeem a people for Him-self. He will bring salvation to this world, and that relates per-sonally to each of us, i.e., "Thy will be done" in my life. God's will will be done in my life only if I am saved, if I have become a child of God.

If you are unsaved, God's will is not part of your life; if you are unsaved, you are going to live with your own will and not care about God's will. "Thy will be done," prayed from the heart means, "O God, make me obedient to thee; help me to abandon myself to thee. I want you to be my Savior."

The will of God also in-cludes the damnation of the un-saved. God's justice will be completed. When the day comes, He will finish vengeance upon the unsaved; that is God's business, and yet that is implied in the phrase, "thy will be done."

"Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven"

God's will was established in heaven.

The Lord Jesus Christ was in perfect obedience to the Father's will. In the Garden of Gethsemane, Christ said, "not what I will, but what thou wilt" (Mark 14:36). Christ in His per-fect obedience illustrates the per-fect will of God. We ought to pray as He prayed so that in our life we might be obedient to God.

"Give us this day our daily bread"

Many people conclude that God is teaching us to pray for physical sustenance. Of course, we are dependent upon God for clothing, housing, and food, but what about Luke 12:22-23, "And he said unto his disciples, Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat; neither for the body, what ye shall put on. The life is more than meat, and the body is more than raiment. Consider the ravens: for they neither sow nor reap; which neither have store-house nor barn; and God feedeth them: how much more are ye better than the fowls?" He then says in verse 30, "For all these things do the nations of the world seek after: and your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things."

God gives no guarantee that believers in the Lord Jesus Christ will always have a full bowl of rice. Whether we have enough to eat or not is immate-rial. The big question that God wants us to face is: Are we spiritually nourished?

"And forgive us our debts"

At least three words are com-monly used in the New Testa-ment to signify "sin," including the word "debt."

We are debtors to God be-cause we have sinned. The Bible says, "For the wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23). There is a penalty that we must pay to God for our sins, and that payment is eternal destruction. When we pray, "forgive us our debts," ef-fectively, we are praying, "O God, have mercy on me. I'm a sinner. Will you pay the penalty that I rightly deserve to pay?"

The Lord Jesus came to en-dure that payment on our be-half. He came to ransom us from the power of the grave, from eternal destruction, from the wrath of God.

"As we forgive our debtors"

The Lord's Prayer is focused on God our Savior until this phrase, which could be a bell-wether or indicator as to where we stand before Christ.

The unsaved can be bitter, resentful, and angry if they be-lieve they have been wronged by another person's word or deed. The reason is because mankind by nature is egotistical and proud.

When God calls us, He effec-tively says, if you pray and ac-knowledge God as your Savior, and there is resentment in your heart for some individual whom you cannot love, then examine your heart. You do not know what salvation is.

When we have resentment, we have to ask, "Am I born again? How can I expect God to forgive me if I continue with this unforgiven relationship?" The phrase "As we forgive our debt-ors," therefore, is a reminder to examine ourselves to determine whether we are truly saved.

"And lead us not into temptation"

The word "temptation" can also be translated "trial." Whenever Satan tempts us, en-deavoring to make us sin, we are being tried. But God does not tempt anyone to try to make them fall into sin. In James 1:13-14 we read: "…for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed."

Moreover, God declares in 1 Corinthians 10:13: "There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it."

That way of escape that God provides is salvation. When we have become saved we earnestly desire to be obedient to God. Remember, a man is tempted when he is drawn away by his own lusts. Therefore, that

which to an unsaved person is a definite temptation to sin, is not a temptation to the true be-liever, because he is happiest when he is obeying God.

God comes to the human race with His law. If a person breaks that law, the inherent lusts that are characteristic of an unsaved person make that law a temptation to sin. However, it was not the law that God gave that caused that man to sin. Rather it was that man's own sinful desires. The law had been given to help him under-stand his need of a Savior. God tempts no one to commit sin. The way of escape which He provides is salvation.

Thus as we pray "lead (or bring) me not into temptation," we are praying for salvation so that we will no longer lust after sin, but will desire greater and greater obedience to God.

"Deliver us from evil"

The word "evil" here can be understood as Satan, as sin, and as the wrath to come.

Before we are saved, we are in bondage to Satan, and we are in bondage to sin. These are the terrible evils to which every hu-man is enslaved.

But in addition we are under the wrath of God. The judgment of God is a terrible evil that man is under because God's perfect justice demands full payment for sin. Therefore, the prayer "deliver us from evil" is also a prayer for salvation. To become saved is to be set free from bondage to sin and Satan and to be delivered from the wrath of God.

"For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen."

The Lord's Prayer concludes with this marvelous doxology.

The focal point is on God: "Our Father, who art in heaven. Hallowed by thy name," then the focal point shifts to God's salvation program in the world and in my heart, which is all through Christ.

The Lord's Prayer is a mag-nificent prayer for mankind who desperately needs salvation. Jesus tells us how to pray. We are dead in our sins, and we are destined for destruction. Christ tells us in this beautiful prayer how we should seek salvation. And we see that all of the glory throughout eternity goes to God. Praise God for His wonderful salvation!

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