Kingdom, Power & Glory

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Thine is the Kingdom, Power & Glory
by Reverend Murray Spackman
Sunday 9th March, 2008

Today, as we come to the end of the Lord’s Prayer – which we have been considering on Sunday mornings during these past few weeks in Lent - we consider the phrase “For Yours is the Kingdom, the Power and the Glory, forever and ever, Amen.”

It’s a phrase which easily trips off the lips. You may be surprised, challenged, perhaps shocked to know that these words which we are so familiar with as we pray the Lord’s Prayer, do not, in fact, appear in the earliest manuscripts of either St. Luke or St. Matthew’s Gospels. They ARE there in the Authorised Version – Matthew 6: 13b.

It appears, from early church worship manuscripts, that as the Church gathered for worship, and as they prayed the Lord’s Prayer together, that the slightly longer version as found in Matthew’s gospel was more suited for public worship, but the ending still seemed too abrupt, so there was added, somewhere in the first two centuries, a doxology, or ending of praise and worship which became a more fitting ending to this special prayer, and it also reflected the nature of the prayer. This doxology, or ending to the Lord’s Prayer is very closely based on the words of King David as he worships God at the time of the dedication of the temple. It was then that David, attempting to bring together all the aspirations of his people in worship to God exclaims – “Yours, O Lord, are the greatness, the power, the glory, the victory, and the majesty; for all that is in the heavens and on the earth is yours; yours is the kingdom O Lord, and you are exalted as Head above all. And now O God we give thanks to you and praise your glorious name.” (1Chron.29:11,13.)

So this ending of the Lord’s Prayer is both a climactic conclusion of praise – and it’s also a reminder and summary of all that has come before in the Lords Prayer. Hence, it rounds it off most suitably for use in public worship.

So lets look briefly at each of the concluding phrases

1. Firstly - “Yours is the Kingdom” This is a reminder that in the light of the Kingdom of God, our own little plans and ambitions, our self-indulgence, - in the grand scheme of things – are really nothing by comparison with the greater Kingdom or Rule and Reign of God.

Disciples of Jesus who pray this prayer – ‘Yours is the Kingdom’ – are acknowledging a far greater Vision , a more magnificent Purpose, a more worthy goal and objective for their lives than those who sweat and toil to build their own kingdoms, which one day, like castles in the sand, will crumble to nothing. Those who proclaim – ‘Yours is the Kingdom’ are reminding themselves, and affirming to God, that all of Creation is made for this purpose – to serve and extol the rule and reign of God. ‘Yours is the Kingdom’ is a reminder to each one of us of the words of Jesus when he said “Seek first the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness”.

2. The second word in this doxology is the word “Power”. Yours is the Kingdom – and the Power! This reminds us that the God whom we worship today is the One to whom all Power belongs, from before time and into eternity. On Friday I watched part of a programme on the Discovery channel on Future Weapons. One of the weapons being developed and demonstrated was the high energy laser beam. It showed how from a modified 747 aircraft a high-energy laser beam could detect, locate and destroy, in a matter of seconds an enemy missile from more than 10 miles away. A highly concentrated beam of light was powerful enough to destroy a missile! And we know that that is not the limit by any means, of such powerful weapons. But this word at the end of the Lord’s prayer, reminds us that in the end , all power, and the greatest of power, belongs to God alone. Jesus acknowledged the Power and the Spirit of God at work when he stood up in the synagogue in Nazareth and proclaimed – “the Spirit of the Lord is upon me”, and then began to demonstrate that throughout his entire ministry. Regardless of our needs this day, lets just be reminded this morning that God’s Power and His Grace is sufficient for our needs.

3. And thirdly, we have the word ‘Glory’. “Yours is the Kingdom, the Power and the Glory”

I cant adequately describe what I think Glory means. Peter, James and John remarked that they had seen something of the glory of God when they experienced the Transfiguration of Jesus on the mountaintop. Isaiah experienced something of the glory of God when he went into the temple to offer worship – and in both instances their immediately reaction was to prostrate themselves – to fall on their faces declaring their own unworthiness before the awesome Glory of God. John the Apostle who has a vision of God, which is written for us there in the Book of Revelation, does the same when he affirms– “to Him, be glory and dominion forever and ever.” To give glory is to give honour, reverence, respect, praise and worship. So this is the note on which we conclude our prayer; a prayer in which acknowledge (1) our needs and necessities for Bread in the Present, (2) Forgiveness for the Past and (3) Help for the Future; the prayer in which we see the fullness of God made known to us as Creator, Redeemer and Strengthener – a prayer which fittingly ends on a note of Praise and worship – a prayer, which, for many, is the first prayer they learn, and for many the last words in this life they whisper.

The story is told of a Florence Chadwick, who, in the early morning of the 4^th July 1952 entered the cold fog-shrouded waters off Santa Catalina Island and began swimming toward the coast of California, determined to be the first woman ever to swim the 21 mile strait. She had already been the first woman to swim the English Channel in both directions. The water was numbing cold that morning, and the fog was so thick that Chadwick could hardly even see the escort boats in her own party. As the hours ticked off, she swam on. Fatigue had never been a serious problem; it was only the bone chilling cold of the water that was threatening. After more than fifteen hours swimming she asked to be taken out of the water. She couldn’t go on any longer. Her mother and her trainer in a boat alongside, urged her to go on as they realized they were getting close to the shore. Yet all she could see was dense fog. A few minutes later, the swimmer was taken out of the water, and later realizing that she had been within just half a mile of shore, she blurted out -“ I’m not excusing myself, but if I could have seen the shore, I might have made it.”

Florence Chadwick had been licked not by the cold, or even by the fatigue, but by the fog! The fog had obscured her goal. This last phrase in the Lord’s Prayer reminds us again, brings back into clear focus, the upward call, the prize, the goal of our life’s journey, which is – when our work is done - to come with indescribable joy before the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and, to worship Him who’s “Kingdom, Power and Glory will reign for ever and ever. Amen.”

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