The Message in the Lord's Prayer

Igor Ivan Sikorsky

• Publisher: Burtyrki Books
• Year: 2020
• eBook ISBN: 9781839742989
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Religion

Scientist, inventor, philosopher and multi-talented genius Igor Sikorsky illuminates the message in the Lord's Prayer with simplicity and insight.

“Thy Kingdom Come. Thy Will be Done on Earth as it is in Heaven.”

THE TWO remaining sentences of the first prayer are mentioned together because they are interrelated, referring to the same idea and supporting each other. Actually, one of the simplest yet most correct ways of explaining what a kingdom is would be to say that it is a place or a large body of people among whom the will of a King is being done.

These sentences may be understood as our prayer that the will of God, as explained by Christ, ultimately would be adopted by men, bringing peace and harmony on the earth. Such an explanation is true, but I believe it discloses only a secondary meaning, while the main and most important meaning is different and points to a definite event that would close for the individual, and eventually for the whole of mankind, the temporary, earthly era of compromise and suffering and would open a fundamentally different one that is called the Kingdom of Heaven.

Analyzing the true and full meaning of “Thy kingdom come,” we find two important messages. In order to “come” it is necessary that the object be,

Not yet in the place under discussion;

In existence in some other place from which it is expected to come.

These two conclusions are obligatory, logical consequences if the word “come” is used correctly, which no doubt is the case. If we were to assume that the kingdom in question is not yet in existence somewhere, then the correct phrase would be “Thy kingdom be created” or “established, “ but not “come.” If, on the other hand, a Kingdom of God of the kind that is referred to in the prayer were conceived as already existing on the earth, then it would be logical to ask for its continuance or victorious expansion, and the word “come” would not be thoroughly accurate. Therefore, the meaning attributed to the word “come” appears to be correct.

This idea is further confirmed and clarified by the next sentence, “Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven.” The first six words of this sentence taken alone could be understood as pointing to the best of mankind that will gradually learn to live and act on this earth in conformity with the will of God. But the remaining part of the sentence permits a wider and more encouraging interpretation. While good men living in accord with the will of God always did exist on the earth, yet they were and always will be in the minority. In general, the prevailing quality of life on earth was and will be a mixture of good and evil.

I believe that this conclusion is well in line with the message of the New Testament. Every single writer quoting Christ, as well as expressing his own beliefs, foresees wars, persecution, hatred, and chaos. I believe, therefore, that the sentence “as it is in heaven” was placed in the prayer in order to warn us from accepting these two fundamental verses as referring to anything that can be achieved in the heart of one or many people, while the present stage of the historical process is under way. Facing the truth as it is and recognizing basic facts about human nature and history, we must come to the somewhat gloomy conclusion that the highest achievements to be expected in the future under the most optimistic assumptions will always be a sort of temporary truce, a compromise between good and evil, right and wrong.

The last five words, “as it is in heaven,” are believed to determine the meaning of the sentences. The Kingdom of God may and does exist in the hearts of some pure human beings, but the Lord’s Prayer permits and encourages us to pray not only for this but also for an infinitely higher and happier objective.

When Christ was dying, His mother, His beloved disciple and a few distressed followers were standing near the Cross. They most certainly had faith in their loyal courageous hearts, but outwardly they were helpless, and the whole immense tragedy was also the symbol of the Kingdom of God as it is on the earth. The dark forces that incited a misguided mob to shout for the death of Christ are today just as evil, active and aggressive as they were two thousand years ago. Under the unreliable and powerless outer polish of civilization, there is the same vicious beast with lust for power and readiness to spill streams of innocent tears and blood in order to conquer or to retain domination over gold and over men.

There are also today human beings who are peacemakers, merciful and idealistic. And these, the best among mankind, are frequently stretching their hands to heaven and screaming in physical or mental agony, “O God, why hast thou forsaken us?” Their cries and prayers are addressed to the Heavenly Power, which, according to all tangible earthly evidence, remains indifferent to their suffering, just as it appeared indifferent to the few distressed men and women with the Kingdom of God in their broken hearts who watched the life of Christ slowly fade from a tormented body and who listened to the laughter and mockery of triumphant wickedness. Such is the Kingdom of God as it is on the earth, and the terrible moral downfall of mankind which we are witnessing forces the conclusion that the so called progress of humanity within the present level of life holds no hopes for any reliable and worthy achievements even in the future.

More than that, at critical periods the spark of the Kingdom of God in the heart is itself liable to become a source of suffering. Christ ordered His followers to carry their crosses. The meaning of this is more than carrying with patience the burden of life. A cross is not only a heavy load, but it is an instrument by which torture and death are to be inflicted on the one who carries it. Faithful bearing of a cross brings the realization that the little flame of divine light in the heart of an individual human being is unable to conquer the powerful, aggressive darkness roundabout. It only sharpens the understanding that truth and goodness are condemned in this world to mockery and persecution. It forces the realization that the voice of true idealism is barely noticeable in this world, while triumphant, wickedness is powerfully entrenched in places of influence; evil boldly stares from the headlines of newspapers, it thunders its propaganda of lies and hatred from all radio loudspeakers of the old world and the new. And the achievements of science and progress which raised immensely the material standards of living and furnished mankind with wonderful mechanical toys, electricity, the airplane, radio and so forth, have proved in the final analysis to be hopelessly powerless to lift mankind spiritually or morally.

Of the thousands of cases that illustrate this conclusion, let us take just one. Deliberate murder of a defenseless child who stretched its little arms and begged for mercy appeared to be revolting to men who had at least some human feeling left in their heart. Nineteen centuries ago Herod ordered the slaughter of a number of small children because he thought, and not without reason from his standpoint, that this was necessary in order to protect his political power. This act was generally considered as one of the greatest crimes in human history. Poets and artists, preachers and philosophers, condemned it with all the vigor and power at their command.

Yet in this twentieth century of enlightenment and civilization, our modern Herods, for the same objective of fighting for new or protecting the existing political domination, proved ready and willing to blast the lives of thousands upon thousands of innocent, defenseless children with bombs or to extinguish these lives by a torturing hunger blockade. They cover their acts by appropriate explanations; they are all being done invariably for the final blessing of humanity, the triumph of righteousness and whatnot. Because, after all, are not the means justified by the ends?

In the light of moral principles and certainly from the Christian standpoint, means are frequently more important than ends. Therefore, when such crimes against mankind take place, the divine flame, while remaining a source of comfort, becomes also a source of sorrow, because it sharpens the realization and understanding of the deep and hopeless inner tragedy of mankind. On the pages of the Gospel, we find a sentence of the devil who said that all the power and glory of the earthly kingdoms are delivered unto him and that he is giving them to whomsoever he wishes (Luke 4:6). In the face of the present moral bankruptcy of civilized humanity, this bold claim assumes a sinister reality.

Traditional religion explains such moral degradation by referring to original sin, freedom of will and the knowledge of good and evil, but a human soul that is in bewilderment and despair may not be satisfied with such explanation. Though we assume that all grown-ups are really sinners and deserve all the misery they suffer, there are still the thousands of innocent children whose anguish is unexplained. If this is the tuition fee for the understanding of good and evil, then the expenses may seem too high for the course, particularly because mankind after having studied for thousands of years and having paid this disastrously high price, appears yet to have progressed very little beyond the ideals of Cain. The watchword of a stern British admiral was: “Hit first, hit hard; keep on hitting.” Such rules may be inevitable in battle, but at the present time the ideas embodied in them become more and more the accepted normal principle of relation between peoples who are not at war. If Cain were to come back again he would probably exclaim, “O, my children, I could not have said it better.”

In what are considered normal peaceful times, when civilized politeness and traditional hypocrisies prevent us from seeing the evil beast, we become ready to deny its reality and to think that all inhumanity is a question of the remote past. It is easy then to have faith in the triumph of progress and idealism. But at a time of crisis, the divine flame in the heart may become a light that may guide towards a cross and a Calvary which may be quite real even if they are only mental. Thos...

Table of contents

• Title page
• TABLE OF CONTENTS
• Matthew 6:9 -13
• Preface.
• “The Lord’s Prayer.”
• “Our Father Which art in Heaven.”
• “Hallowed be Thy Name.”
• “Thy Kingdom Come. Thy Will be Done on 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 the Evil one.”
• “For Thine is the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory for Ever.”
• Conclusion.