The Lords prayer

As we now know, our job is to loose Heaven on Earth… that’s what it says in Matt 16:19. “Whatever you loose on earth shall already have been loosed in Heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall already have been bound in Heaven.”

We do this loosing by proclaiming, or speaking… remember that our tongue has life and death, our tongue can bless or curse.

So, with that understanding, I went back to the Lords prayer to double check this approach. One of the disciples asked Jesus Christ how to pray… so if this understanding of scripture is correct, then wouldn’t He have taught them to pray in that way?

And if He does teach them to pray in a way which proclaims a finished work, then that would confirm this once and for all. Agreed?

The Lords prayer appears in two places, each are slightly different.

A longer form in the Gospel of Matthew 6:9–13 is a part of the Sermon on the Mount, and a shorter form in the Gospel of Luke 11:1–4 is a response by Jesus to a request by “one of his disciples” to teach them to pray.

The prayer as it occurs in Matthew 6:9–13

    Our Father in heaven,
    hallowed be your name.
    Your kingdom come,
    your will be done,
    on earth, as it is in heaven.
    Give us this day our daily bread,
    and forgive us our debts,
    as we also have forgiven our debtors.
    And lead us not into temptation,
    but deliver us from evil.

and the prayer as it occurs in Luke 11:2–4

    Father,
    hallowed be your name.
    Your kingdom come.
    .
    .
    Give us each day our daily bread,
    and forgive us our sins
    for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us.
    And lead us not into temptation.
    .

Firstly, its worth noting which verses are common to both… and which are different.

Let’s focus on Matt 6:10 with the Strongs Greek numbering…

Thy G4675 kingdom G932 come G2064.
Thy G4675 will G2307 be done G1096
in G1909 earth G1093, as G2532 G5613 it is in G1722 heaven G3772.

Lets focus on “Thy kingdom come G2064.”

Throughout my whole life I’ve heard people pray that in this way “Your Kingdom come… at some time… in the future… dear Lord please don’t let it take too long to come!”

But that word “come G2064” is not in the future tense. Its not even in the present tense. Its past tense… meaning… when you say these words of the prayer you are declaring that it HAS arrived.

Need evidence of that, before you let it blow your mind and revolutionize your prayer life?

According to the Blue Letter Bible that word “come” in the Greek is…

Tense: Second Aorist
Voice: Active
Mood: Imperative

What is second aorist?

The “second aorist” tense is identical in meaning and translation to the normal or “first” aorist tense. The only difference is in the form of spelling the words in Greek, and there is no effect upon English translation.

See Aorist

OK… lets see aorist then…

The aorist tense is characterized by its emphasis on punctiliar action; that is, the concept of the verb is considered without regard for past, present, or future time. There is no direct or clear English equivalent for this tense, though it is generally rendered as a simple past tense in most translations.

The events described by the aorist tense are classified into a number of categories by grammarians. The most common of these include a view of the action as having begun from a certain point (“inceptive aorist”), or having ended at a certain point (“cumulative aorist”), or merely existing at a certain point (“punctiliar aorist”). The categorization of other cases can be found in Greek reference grammars.

The English reader need not concern himself with most of these finer points concerning the aorist tense, since in most cases they cannot be rendered accurately in English translation, being fine points of Greek exegesis only. The common practice of rendering an aorist by a simple English past tense should suffice in most cases.

Your Kingdom come… should be understood as Your Kingdom has come… here… now… already.

And that matches up well with scripture that says to ask, believing that you HAVE received.

And it matches with the scripture that says to walk by faith, not by sight… meaning… even though you don’t always see the Kingdom around you, you still proclaim it HAS come.

And as I showed in a previous post, Jesus said He would not drink the fruit of the vine until the Kingdom came… and then on the cross it says He knew it was finished, so He said He was thirsty and then He drank wine… meaning… it came then.

Just think back to how many parables were about the Kingdom. And consider that He twice said to seek first the Kingdom of God (and then all the things will be added to you).

We are to declare and proclaim and pray… Your Kingdom HAS come, it IS here. Past tense. Life and death, blessing and curses, are in our tongue.

We have seeked the Kingdom, now we have found it, we receive it by faith.

But wait… what about Thy will be done? Is that future tense… that His will be done at some time in the future?

Thy will be done G1096… let’s see…

Tense: Aorist
Voice: Passive Deponent
Mood: Imperative

Aorist!  Hey, we already know what that means… it means we are to declare that His will is ALREADY being done in whatever situation.

1. As we declare His Kingdom has ALRESDY come (in a place), it manifests here.
2. As we declare His will is ALREADY being done in any situation, it manifests here.
3. As we loose (by proclaiming) whatever has been loosed in Heaven, it is loosed here.
4. As we bind (by proclaiming) whatever has been bound in Heaven, it is bound here.

Think about how many times He said that He is sending them “to proclaim” the Kingdom of God. Not to proclaim the future arrival, but that it had arrived.

Hmmm… and that’s how Jesus Christ did it too… He only did what He saw His Father doing, He only said what He heard His Father saying. Jesus Christ loosed (as complete, past tense) what He knew had been loosed in Heaven.

And He said “as the Father sent Me, so I send you”. We are to do as He did… in the same way… but even greater things. 🙂