The Exclamation of Faithful Prayer
Closing Out the Westminster Larger Catechism
Howdy!
First of all, I want to thank you for bearing with me through this two-year journey through the Larger Catechism. I hope that these lessons have been a blessing for they certainly have been for me. Here on Thursdays moving forward I’ve bandied about several ideas and I’ve come down to a decision that will have us continue to look at the documents adopted by our Scottish forefathers that we call the Westminster Standards, which include not only these catechisms, but the Sum of Saving Knowledge, Directory of Church Government, Directory of Public Worship, and other literature. The more familiar we become with our heritage the more I think we’ll understand why we are Presbyterians, and convinced ones at that.
However, before we get ahead of ourselves let us look at the last WLC question:
Q. 196. What doth the conclusion of the Lord’s prayer teach us?
A. The conclusion of the Lord’s prayer, (which is, For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen. ) teaches us to enforce our petitions with arguments, which are to be taken, not from any worthiness in ourselves, or in any other creature, but from God; and with our prayers to join praises, ascribing to God alone eternal sovereignty, omnipotency, and glorious excellency; in regard whereof, as he is able and willing to help us, so we by faith are emboldened to plead with him that he would, and quietly to rely upon him, that he will fulfil our requests. And to testify this our desire and assurance, we say, Amen
I want to deal with an issue that while seemingly odd, is important to rightly grasping why we say the ending of the prayer and why our Catechism includes it. Some of your copies of God’s word (ESV, NASB, NIV, etc...) are based on a Greek manuscript tradition (the Eclectic or Critical Text) which does not have the this ending to the Lord’s Prayer. In my ESV Study Bible the wording is completely absent, relegated to a footnote. At Bethany we have the NKJV in the pews and that is the version of the Bible that I preach and teach from on Lord’s Day mornings and evenings as well as use in Sabbath School and Wednesday Nights. The NKJV and the KJV are translations which come from the Received Text or the Textus Receptus. This devotional is not the place to get into the reasonings and histories as to whether one is right or not (and by my use of the NKJV I kind of give my position away). Yet it is worthy of our time to note the difference so that when we notice it, we know there is something going on and we can trust that the WLC is acting in good faith in including that part of the prayer.
What does the conclusion say? It moves from supplication to thanksgiving. You are proclaiming grand truths about God and what He is doing and why He is doing it. Our Lord does all things for His glory and we experience that blessing with the kingdom He has established in His Son Jesus Christ. All the things we prayed about in the petitions of the prayer come to pass due to the fact that Jehovah alone has the power to accomplish these particular mercies listed one by one as the believer reads or speaks the prayer given by Jesus in Matthew 6. The glory which is born out of this wonderful work showers us in grace and lifts us up unto the Heavens themselves, which gets us to the forever part.
I’ve spoken before in sermons that the real thing which breaks our sinful hearts to forsake sin is thinking in eternal ways rather than temporal ones. If the goal of the life that we live is to get to tomorrow then we will make excuses to take shortcuts with the law of God. However, when Jesus speaks of obedience He often does so with all kinds of agricultural metaphors. Planting trees takes time, and an understanding that to reach its full potential may take longer than you have to live on this earth. Why do we do it? Because we see that future generations have need of shade and the beauty of the oak. There is a similar thing happening when we remember that, as Philippians 1:21 says, “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”. In other words as we think more of eternal realities the less the banalities of earthly life will cause our soul and mind to fail under the trials and tribulations of yesterday and today.
This eternal blessing in the power and authority of God is what, as the answer says, emboldens, us to speak to the Lord in prayer. We can speak with assurance and grace precisely for the reason that God has established all things for His glory and if that is the case then we have no worry or anxiousness as we come before Him in supplication. We come to our Father who art in heaven and we do so through His Son and the encouragement of the Counselor, daily reminding us of all the things He has done for us. The more we get out of the way, tell the old man within us to hush and listen to the voice of our Master the simpler and easier it will be to bring all things to God in hope. These series of expectant and exultant words is a way of the Lord to lift our heart above.
The rapturous testimony by which we close this prayer is similar to how Paul ends out his conversation about the Jews and the promises of God. As he works from election in Romans 9, to the nature of gospel preaching in Romans 10, and the confident assurance of the future blessing of the covenant people in Romans 11 there is this in v. 36:
For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.
In closing, as we take time every day to contemplate the goodness of God, His love to us, and the way He blesses us in providence we cannot but respond in the way Jesus closes the Lord’s Prayer, Paul brings to an end his discourse, and the way our Westminster Larger Catechism finishes its 196 question tour-de-force. May this benediction be yours as well.
One more word:
https://www.monergism.com/be-filled-spirit-eph-518
Blessings in Christ,
Rev. Benjamin Glaser
Pastor, Bethany ARP Church
Amen! Seems like this was written for me this morning. I needed this. Thank you, Ben.