Chapter 1 – The Address – “Our Father which art in heaven”

“Our Father which are in Heaven” (Matthew 6:9). This opening clause presents to us the Object to whom we pray, teaches us the covenant—office which He sustains, and denotes the obligation imposed upon us, namely, that of a filial spirit, with all that entails. All real prayer ought to begin with a devout contemplation and express acknowledgment of the name of God and His blessed perfections. We should draw near unto the Throne of Grace with suitable apprehensions of God’s sovereign majesty and power, yet with a holy confidence in His fatherly goodness. In these opening words we are plainly instructed to preface our petitions by expressing the sense we have of the essential and relative glories of the One we address. The Psalms abound in examples of this: see 8:1 as a case in point.

“Our Father which are in Heaven.” Let us first endeavor to ascertain the general principle which is embodied in this introductory clause. It informs us in the simplest possible manner that the great God is most graciously ready to grant us an audience. By directing us to address Him as “our Father,” we are definitely assured of His love and power. This precious title is designed to raise our affections, excite to reverent attention, and confirm our confidence in the efficacy of prayer. Three things are essential unto acceptable and effectual prayer: fervency, reverence, and confidence—and these this opening clause is designed to inspire in us. Fervency is the effect of our affections being called into exercise; reverence will be promoted by the apprehension that we are addressing the Heavenly Throne; confidence will be deepened by viewing the Object of prayer as our Father.

Coming to God in acts of worship, we must “believe that He is, and that He is a Rewarder of them that diligently seek Him” (Hebrews 11:6). And what is more calculated to deepen our confidence and draw forth the strongest love and earnest hopes of our heart toward God, than by Christ’s here presenting Him to us in His most tender aspect and endearing relation?! How we are here encouraged to use holy boldness and to pour out our souls before Him! We could not suitably invoke an impersonal “First Cause,” still less could we adore or supplicate a great abstraction. No, it is unto a person, a Divine Person, One who has our best interests at heart we are invited to draw near—to our Father. “Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God” (1 John 3:1).

First, God is the “Father” of all men naturally, being their Creator. “Have we not all one Father? has not one God created us?” (Malachi 2:10); “But now, O LORD, You are our Father; we are the clay, and You our potter; and we all are the work of Your hand” (Isaiah 64:8). The fact that such verses have been grossly perverted by some holding erroneous views on “the universal fatherhood of God and brotherhood of man,” must not cause us to utterly repudiate them. It is our privilege to assure the most ungodly and abandoned that, if they will but throw down their weapons of their warfare and do as the Prodigal did, there is a loving Father ready to welcome them. If He hears the cries of ravens, will He turn a deaf ear to the requests of a rational creature? Simon Magus, while still “in the gall of bitterness and the bond of iniquity” was directed by an Apostle to repent of his wickedness and pray to God (Acts 8:22).

But the depth and full import of this invocation can only be entered into by the believing Christian, for there is a higher relation between him and God than that which is merely of nature. God is his “Father” spiritually. Second, God is the Father of His elect because He is the Father of their Lord Jesus Christ (Ephesians 1:3), and therefore did He expressly announce, “I ascend unto My Father, and your Father; and to My God, and your God” (John 20:17). Third, God is the Father of His elect by eternal decree. “Having predestined us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will” (Ephesians 1:5). Fourth, He is the Father of His elect by regeneration, wherein they are born again and become “partakers of the Divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4); as it is written, “Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father” (Galatians 4:6).

These words, “Our Father,” not only signify the office which God sustains to us by virtue of the Everlasting Covenant, but they clearly imply our obligations: they teach us both how we ought to dispose of ourselves toward God when we pray unto Him, and the conduct which becomes us by virtue of this relationship. As His children we must “honor” Him, be in subjection to Him, delight in Him, strive in all things to please Him. Again, it not only teaches us our personal interest in God Himself—by grace, our Father—but it also instructs us of our interest in our fellow-Christians—in Christ, they are our brethren. It is not merely “my Father,” but “our Father.” We must express our love to them by praying for them—we are to be as much concerned about their needs as we are over our own. How much is included in these two words!

“Which are in Heaven.” What a blessed balance this gives to the previous clause. If that tells us of God’s goodness and grace, this speaks of His greatness and majesty; if that teaches us of the nearness and dearness of His relationship to us, this announces His infinite elevation above us. If “our Father” inspires confidence and love, “which are in Heaven” should fill us with humility and awe. These are the two things which should ever occupy our minds and engage our hearts: the first without the second tends to unholy familiarity. The second without the first produces coldness and dread. Combine them together and we are preserved from either evil, and a suitable poise is wrought in the soul as we duly contemplate both the mercy and might of God, His unfathomable love and His immeasurable loftiness. Note how the same blessed balance was preserved by the Apostle in “the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory” (Ephesians 1:17).

“Which are in Heaven”: not because He is confined there, for “will God indeed dwell on the earth? behold, the Heaven and Heaven of heavens cannot contain You” (1 Kings 8:27)—He is infinite and omnipresent. There is a particular sense, though, in which the Father is “in Heaven”: because His majesty and glory are most eminently manifested there. “Thus says the LORD, The Heaven is My throne, and the earth is My footstool” (Isaiah 66:1), and the realization of this should fill us with the deepest reverence and awe. “Which are in Heaven” calls attention to His providence, as directing all things from on High. It announces His ability to undertake for us. Our Father is the Almighty—”Our God is in the heavens: He has done whatever He has pleased” (Psalm 115:3). Yet though the Almighty, He is “our Father,” and “Like as a father pities his children, so the LORD pities them that fear Him” (Psalm 103:13), and “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?” (Luke 11:13). Finally, it reminds us that we are journeying there: for Heaven is our “Home.”