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THE LORD'S PRAYER AND
THE CREATION WEEK
By The Rev. Erik Sandström, Sr.
(the first in a series of ten sermons)
I. The Lord's Prayer
Introduction
The Lord's Prayer is composed of six distinct and complete petitions. They are distinguished as follows: Our Father who art in the heavens, hallowed be Thy name—Thy kingdom come—Thy will he done, as in heaven so upon the earth—Give us this day our daily bread—And forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors—And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Then follows the ascription, concerning which there has been some dispute among scholars: For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.
In regard to this ascription, we observe that it is omitted in one of the two Gospels (Luke 11) in which the prayer occurs, and retained in the other (Matthew 6); and that there are those who believe it was not contained in the original manuscripts. Two things, however, are to be noted. First, being true and full of meaning and power, it could scarcely have been admitted
into the body of the Word except as an act of Providence. Second, the Writings have adopted it as an integral part of the prayer (see AE 48: 3 et al.). Therefore there can be no doubt that it is of the Lord's will that the prayer in its entirety, such as we are accustomed to saying it, should be for use in the New Church. And that it looks to the New Church, and will come
into its own there, is taught as follows: "The whole of the Lord's Prayer, from beginning to end, has respect to this time; that is, to the time when God the Father will be worshipped in the human form. This appears when this prayer is rightly explained" (Inv. 37). Nor is there any doubt that the angels use it in the form adopted by the Writings, for we are told that "the
Lord's Prayer is daily read in heaven, as it is by men on earth" (AR 839).
On examination a striking parallel is discovered between the prayer and the creation week. The conclusion seems quite pressing: that the Lord's Prayer is designed as a spiritually creative prayer; thus, that the truths contained in it in their order are in a summary the truths that will create "the new heaven and the new earth," that is to say, the Lord's kingdom in His
second advent. We read that "at this day the Lord is establishing a New Church . . . and that thus will be fulfilled all that is contained in the Lord's Prayer from beginning to end." (AR 839).
In the following articles an endeavor will be made to show how the six petitions answer to the six days of creation, and how the closing ascription as it were described the new sabbath day.
"After this Manner therefore Pray Ye"
The Lord's Prayer was taught from the Lord's own mouth in His Sermon on the Mount. It has been called the "Perfect Prayer"; and we know that it contains all truths concerning man's relation to the Lord and concerning his relation to his neighbor, thus that it is a summary of the entire Word. As such it communicates with heaven in a peculiar way. It ought, therefore to be
said daily; but not as a vain repetition, but in a holy manner and with deep reflection.
In order to assist in such reflection we shall deal with this prayer seriatim in some detail in the course of the next few months; for the more our thoughts are opened up toward heaven, the more will they be able to receive of the power of truth and good stored up in the prayer, and the closer will be the conjunction with heaven. Not that knowledges alone open up our
thoughts to heaven, for knowledges, however sublime, may be sterile. But thoughts that strive towards heaven must be based on knowledges from the Word; and the more full and accurate the knowledges, the freer the thoughts. In this article we enter the forecourt of this holy prayer by considering its general nature, and also the general nature and use of any prayer that is
derived from the Perfect Prayer. In this it ought to be kept in mind that there is no true prayer that is not so derived; for if we pray in a spirit or from ideas that are extraneous to the Lord's Prayer, then our prayer is not true, nor does it reach the ear of the Lord or communicate with heaven.
There is, of course, the kind of prayer that springs from the love of self and the love of the world. It is denounced in the words of Isaiah: "When ye spread forth your hands, I will hide Mine eyes from you: yea, when ye multiply prayer, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood'' (1:15); and the Lord Himself gives warning against it in introducing His own prayer,
saying: "When thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites . . . nor use vain repetitions, as the heathen do" (Matthew 6: 5, 7). Such a prayer, arising as it does from the proprium, can have nothing spiritual or celestial in it, no matter what the words are like: for it is not the words as such that are heard in heaven, but the ideas and affections which the man
adjoins to his words. This obviously applies also to the words of the Lord's Prayer itself, for false ideas and selfish motives may he read into these words as into any other words. On the other hand, all the truths of Revelation stand guard against such abuse; and they sustain man in his endeavor to pray in the spirit of the Word, that is, in the name of the Lord.
The way the Lord's Prayer, spoken in its own spirit, communicates with heaven, also the immensity of its contents, is illustrated through Swedenborg's experience when saying that prayer morning and evening, as related in the Arcana Coelestia: "The ideas of my thought were then constantly opened towards heaven, and innumerable things flowed in, so that clearly
observed that the ideas of thought received from the contents of the prayer were made full from heaven. And such things were poured in, too, as cannot be uttered, and such also as I cannot comprehend; I was sensible only of the general affection thence resulting. And it is wonderful that the things that flowed in were varied every day. From this it was given me to know
that there are more things in the contents of that prayer than the universal heaven has capacity to comprehend; and that to man there are more things in it in proportion as his thought is more opened towards heaven; and on the other hand, that there are fewer things in it in proportion as his thought is more closed" (AC 6619).
Such being the case, it is clear that the Lord's Prayer is enriched with man in proportion as the spiritual sense of the Word is known to him and understood, for it is the ideas and affections from the spiritual sense of the entire Word that flow into the words of the Lord's Prayer and are there contained as in a summary. Therefore, in like manner, it is further clear
that that prayer is particularly for the Lord's New Christian Church, to which the spiritual sense has been revealed. Hence we read: "The Whole of the Lord's Prayer, from beginning to end, has respect to this time; that is, to the time when God the Father will he worshipped in the human form. This appears when this prayer is rightly explained" (Inv. 37). To worship the
Father in the human form is to see and adore the Lord in the spiritual sense of His Word, for that sense treats of nothing but the Lord and His kingdom, and the Divine Human is the all in all in that sense. Thus the Divine Human is also the all in all in the Lord's Prayer, and it is absolutely essential to turn to the Lord alone in His Human when saying that prayer. The
angels, too, say it daily (AR 839), and they know of no other Father than the Lord in His Human. Such was their own testimony when speaking to certain spirits, as we read: ''We in heaven use that prayer daily, as men upon earth do, and we do not then think of God the Father, because He is invisible, but we think of Him in His Divine Human, because in this He is visible;
and in this He is called Christ by you but Lord by us, and thus the Lord is our Father in heaven"(ibid.). This is the universal idea that must govern all our thoughts when we say the Lord's Prayer, for, as we are also taught: "Those things which precede must govern in those that follow, and so in a series. This is evident from everything that the Lord spoke; and
especially from His prayer, which is called the Lord's Prayer. In this prayer all things follow in such a series that they constitute as it were a column increasing from the highest part to the lowest, in the interiors of which are the things which precede in the series. What is first therein is inmost, and what succeeds in order adds itself successively to the inmost,
and thus it increases. What is inmost governs universally in those things which are round about it, that is, in each and all things; for from this is that which is essential to the existence of all things'' (AC 8864: 4).
So understood and prayed, that most holy prayer will constantly unfold new spiritual riches, and this day by day and for ever; for it will never from one time to another awaken identical affections or reflections, but will be constantly varied and yet ever true; for out of its spiritual content, which is infinite, things agreeing with our shifting states will ever flow as
a stream of living waters from the throne of our God.
But if not, that is, if the Divine Human, the Lord as He stands forth revealed, is not in the very center of our thought when praying, then the Lord's Prayer will simply cease to be the Lord's Prayer to us; for every petition contained therein, and every facet of a petition that may be discernible to us, will then yield extraneous ideas, such as are not from the Lord and
not in the stream of His Providence, and thus have nothing to do with man's co-operation with His Lord and his conjunction with Him. Take, for instance, the words, "deliver us from evil”. If they are addressed to an invisible God, a God concerning whom we have no distinct ideas, and whose ways are all mysterious to us, then we cannot but think that evil may be removed
from us without our doing, by the mere touch of the magic Divine wand. Probably the notion is that evil is all outside of us, and is that which may cause us harm or disturb our peace. Perhaps the truth concerning ourselves is felt to be the most evil of all, and we hope to persuade the omnipotent God to keep it away from us. And if, perchance, we know from religion that
we have evil within us, then, still turning to an invisible God, we cannot but think that our evil will be removed from us in an invisible way, as for instance by the immediate grace of the Father because of the merit, of the Son. But very different is the petition if the Lord Himself is our Father, to whom we pray; deliver us from evil. For we will then remember what the
Lord taught concerning repentance, and pray that He will give us strength and courage to obey what He has commanded.
All this involves a universal principle of truth relating to prayer. Prayer must be not only to the Lord but also from the Lord.
This is at first sight astonishing, for it appears as if we had no real part in our prayer, but that it is merely poured into us, and then drawn out of us in unchanged form as it returns to its source. Yet that is not so. For our prayer takes on a form according to our state; that is, the ideas and affections which enter into our prayer form it. We take from the
storehouse of truths and goods in the spiritual sense of the Word—and thus our prayer is from the Lord; but the truths and goods do not enter in of their own volition or from their own dictate—we would be suffocated if they did—but they are taken into our minds only according to our own selection and reception. Nevertheless, the truth stands, that unless our prayer is
formed from the truths and goods in the Word, thus unless it is from the Lord, it cannot be a true prayer. Also, it is obvious that there are only two theoretical sources of prayer; the Lord, or hell; for we know that we have no life in ourselves, but can only respond, each in his own individual way, to what flows in. And our prayer must not be from hell.
If, then, true prayer is from the Lord, another truth is manifest, namely that "prayer, regarded in itself, is talking with God" (AC 2535). This follows from the consideration that the Lord flows in, and that the man reacts by his selection and reception. There is, therefore, real reciprocity in prayer. Talking with someone is a two-sided thing. There are thoughts with
the man and responses from the Lord; true ideas and blessings from the Lord and responses with the man. It is in prayer that the words in the prophecy of Isaiah have their most immediate fulfillment: "Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord" (1: 18). Hence, in true prayer the Divine answer is not delayed to some future day, nor is the hope of fulfillment
veiled in mystery, but the response from the Lord is instantaneous. True, the Divine reply is also and in a sense "delayed," for the good effects of what is received from the Lord continue, and are constantly renewed as they combine with new blessings which flow in as man's state changes and develops. It is true, likewise, that the full content of the Lord's answer is
veiled in the secrets of the Divine wisdom, and that more of the saving operations of Providence are done beyond our reach than within it. Yet the fact stands that the hearing of prayer has nothing to do with time; also, that there is no Divine operation, however deeply hidden away in the inmost recesses of the human mind that is carried out independently of man's
co-operation and choice.
Therefore we are taught that "to pray in the internal sense, signifies to be revealed" (AC 2535). It signifies this, because true prayer is revelation—is reception and selection of truths and goods from the Lord. In true prayer there is "some internal view of the matters of the prayer, to which there corresponds something like an influx into the perception or
thought of the mind, so that there is a certain opening of the man's interiors towards God; but this with a difference according to the man's state and according to the essence of the subjects of the prayer. If it is from love and faith, and if it is only celestial and spiritual things, concerning which and for which he prays, there then comes forth in the prayer a
something like revelation, which is manifested in the affection of him who is praying, as to hope, comfort, or a certain internal joy" (ibid.). [Italics added]
These things are true of all prayers that are from the Lord, whether spoken in words of our choice or in the words of the Perfect Prayer. The latter prayer contains within it all celestial and spiritual things that may ever be received by man or angel. That is not so when our own finite and impure thoughts select the words. Nevertheless, if we pray from the Word, then
some of the celestial and spiritual things contained in the Lord's Prayer will be present also within the words of our own choice; for what inmostly matters is only whether our thoughts and affections do spring from the Word or not.
This, then, is what is meant by praying in "the name of the Lord." This also is asking in prayer, "believing: and it is further what is meant by the Lord in His farewell words to His disciples: “If ye abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you" (John 15: 7).
THE AS-OF-SELF
“Who cannot see that every man has freedom to think about God, or not to think about Him, consequently that every man has the same freedom in spiritual things as he has in civil and moral things. The Lord gives this freedom continually to all; wherefore man becomes guilty or not guilty as he thinks. Man is man lay virtue of this power, whereas a beast is a beast in
consequence of its not possessing such a power; so that man is capable of reforming and regenerating himself as of himself, provided he only acknowledge in his heart that his ability is from the Lord. Every man who does the work of repentance is reformed and regenerated. Both must be done by man as of himself, but this as of himself is also from the Lord, because the Lord
gives both the power to will and do and never takes it away from anyone. It is true that man cannot contribute anything thereto; nevertheless he is not created a statue, but a man, to do the work of repentance from the Lord as if of himself. In this alone consist the
reciprocally of love and faith, and of conjunction thereby which the Lord wills to be done by man” (BE
69).
TO CONTINUE :
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