At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore (Ps. 16: 11)
After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen (Matt. 6:9-13).
The second thing mentioned in the coda of the Lord’s Prayer is the power. As the Lord was training His apostles over the course of three years, He was not preparing them for indoor clerical work. They were given the mission of preaching the gospel to every creature, bringing all the nations of men into submission to the authority of Christ, and teaching them to obey all that Jesus had taught throughout the course of His earthly ministry. This obviously involves a transformation of the entire world, and just as obviously, this is something that cannot happen without a great exercise of power.
In this prayer, the disciples were taught to pray that God would perform certain things—the last one mentioned being “deliver us from evil.” Then the reason why these petitions were presented to the Father is given. For the kingdom is His, and the power, and the glory. God is not a paper monarch. He is no figurehead. His is the kingdom, certainly, but it is a kingdom suffused with power. The word here is dynamis. “For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power” (1 Cor. 4:20).
Because the kingdom of God is a kingdom of power, then it follows that the emissaries of this kingdom should be able to proclaim it with power. “For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God” (1 Cor. 1:18).
As we learned earlier in the prayer, we are to beseech the Father for His kingdom to come. We are to offer this petition because it is plain that He has every intention that His kingdom come with power.
