Lord’s Day 52
Q128. What does your conclusion to this prayer mean?
For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever means: we have made all these requests of you because, as our all-powerful king, you not only want to, but are able to give us all that is good; and because your holy name, and not we ourselves, should receive all the praise, forever.
Scripture Proofs — King James Version
Romans 10:11–13
“For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
2 Peter 2:9
“The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:”
Psalm 115:1
“Not unto us, O LORD, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, for thy truth's sake.”
John 14:13
“And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.”
Modernized Commentary — Zacharias Ursinus (1616)
At first glance, this petition for daily bread seems like it should come after the petition for the forgiveness of sins, since the most important requests should come first and the less important ones last. But Christ, with our human weakness in mind, placed this fourth petition for daily bread roughly in the middle of the prayer He gave us. This arrangement ensures that we both begin and end our prayers with petitions for spiritual blessings, since those matter most, while the receiving of temporal blessings along the way serves to strengthen our confidence that spiritual blessings will be granted as well.
In this fourth petition we are taught to pray for temporal blessings. Regarding these, we need to consider:
I. Why temporal blessings should be prayed for; II. In what manner they are to be sought; III. Why Christ uses the word BREAD to represent temporal blessings; IV. Why he calls it OUR bread; V. Why he calls it DAILY BREAD; VI. Why it should be given DAILY; VII. Whether it is lawful for us to pray for riches; VIII. Whether it is lawful to set anything aside for the future.