For Thine Is the Kingdom (Doxology)
October 17, 2021Today's message was the 6th in a 6-part series about the Lord's Prayer. Today's section of the Lord's Prayer was "For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen." This is often refered to as a doxology, a brief often musical or poetic phrase added to a prayer or message at the end by the speaker and/or attendees to affirm what was said. Pastor Patrick's message is here.
As Patrick has been doing recently, he started with another topic, fasting, which we'll be doing as a church family October 18-22. As regards the Torah and fasting... The first clear reference to fasting in the Old Testament is Moses' miraculous 40-day fast on Sinai. Depending on how far you stretch the meaning of fasting, some have suggested that the first reference is in the Garden of Eden and the prohibition for eating of one particular tree. Fasting is first commanded as part of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 23:27). The Yom Kippur fasting was not called fasting per se, rather "afflicting one's soul" in order to draw nearer to God. Fasting occured in the Old Testament for all kinds of reasons: sickness, war, forgiveness, impending danger, loved one's death, etc. Fasting was almost always accompanied by prayer and often repentance.
Now to the Lord's Prayer; let's start with Amen, as Patrick did. Amen (אמן) of the Old Testament means, as Patrick noted, so be it, truth, or certainty. It doesn't occur as often as you might think in the Torah (13 times) nor even throughout the Old Testament (about 30 times including the 13 in the Torah). Meanings of other Hebrew words from the same root include: what comes from something is the same, a portion, something that grabs hold or supports, stand firm, surety, likeness, right (as in right hand), and strength of will. Amen originated with the Hebrew language. Interestingly, amen has been ported to numerous other languages without much adjustment to spelling or pronunciation. Equally interesting is that Old Testament uses of amen are never to accept a blessing nor to end a prayer.
Turns out my notes from Patrick's message today actually created a chart which I've reproduced here. It's all summed up in Romans 11:36.
| Kingdom | Power | Glory |
|---|---|---|
| About God | Through God | For God |
| God's, not ours | Holy Spirit | For the Father's Glory |
| Of | Through | To |
| Acts 1:3,6 | Acts 1:8 | Matthew 5:16 |
It's interesting to note that these doxologies were generally well known by the people and often offered up by the people spontaneously or by rote at the end of a prayer or message that moved them. It is entirely possible that the disciples joined Jesus spontaneously in speaking these final words.
While the phrases "Kingdom of God" or "God's Kingdom" are not used in the Torah, terms like reign and rule are used with reference to God throughout. And it starts right at Creation where not only God's sovereignty is made clear at the outset, but Man's being made in God's image clearly makes Man a part of that Kingdom, too.
As for power... God is most obviously portrayed as powerful in the Torah at least as much as anywhere else in scripture - from Creating the Universe and everything in it to miracle after miracle from floods to plagues to parting seas. The Torah's God also reveals aspects of what we call the Holy Spirit or God's spirit, at work in the Torah. For example, Deuteronomy 30:6 speaks of this Spirit in "circumcision of the heart." Also in Genesis 6:3, "My Spirit shall not abide in Man forever." This power or spirit of restraint is portrayed as temporal whereas in the New Testament it's more "always present." See also Exodus 31:2-5 regarding an artistic gift of the Spirit.
And to complete the picture, the Glory, kavod (כּבּוד), of the Lord is throughout the Torah (e.g. Ex. 24:15-17, Ex. 40:34-35) and on into the Old Testament (2 Chron. 7:1, Psalm 29:1-11, Isaiah 6:1-13; 10:16-18, Ezekiel 10:1-22). These cover the notions of abundance, wealth, honor, glory, splendor, brightness, majesty, infinite perfections, bliss, praise, admiration, exulted, weighty, etc. Glory has many facets! "Glory" (kavod) was also used to name the substance found in the cloud at Sinai (Exodus 16:7, 10). Another Torah word from the same root (KBD, כּבּד) is kabed, to honor, as in the 5th Commandment to honor your father and mother. Key to understanding the meaning here is the notion of make heavy or important, dignify. See Kavod — The Most Peculiar Word in Biblical Hebrew.
Immediately following today's message, Pastor Patrick led the congregation in Communion. In explaining what Communion was all about, he mentioned that this was celebrating the New Covenant that was now taking over for the Old Covenant. "The New Covenant is based on the perfection of Christ for salvation and the Old Covenant was based on our own perfection (following the law, etc.)." From purely a Torah point of view, I think that notion of the Old Covenant may be a bit off the mark. The Torah clearly sees humans, all humans, as imperfect. There would be no salvation for anyone if human perfection was a requirement. Rather, it is faith and trust in God that leads to Old Testament "salvation." Salvation is in quotes because the Torah does not use that word as we Christians think of it. In the Torah, it is almost always used with respect to salvation from something earthly like an enemy or one's own evil inclination. Also, the Torah is so preoccupied with how one lives life that an afterlife is never mentioned directly, only a few references that imply an afterlife.
There are several covenants in the Torah, including: God's promise to Noah, God's covenant with Abraham (father of a great nation, Canaan, be a blessing, etc.) and the covenant at Sinai (Israel will be My people if you are a Priesthood to the world). Another covenant in the Old Testament was between God and David. In noting that God keeps his side of the deal no matter how far Man strays, God's side of the deal can be considered unconditional and continual while Man's side is subject to blessings or curses, but not retraction, depending on Man's behaviour "during" the covenant.