In an earlier entry, I offered some provisional thoughts regarding the Lord’s Prayer and its parallels with redemptive history. Now, I believe Jesus’ prayer is rich in references to the Lord’s work throughout history, but I was specifically intrigued by the somewhat chronological correlation of the first three clauses of the prayer. It went something like this:
Our Father: Israel called out of slavery and identified as God’s son (Exodus 4:22-23)
Kingdom Come: The tabernacle built according to the heavenly pattern that God should dwell among His people. Think too of John 1 in which Jesus is described as tabernacling among us. Whoever has seen the son has seen the Father. That sort of thing. Puts a heavy incarnational emphasis on this aspect of the prayer.
Daily Bread: The giving of manna and basic provision (i.e. their clothes did not wear out).
Here are some provisional thoughts on how this pattern might continue.
Forgive Us: I am more and more inclined to think Leviticus forms the parallel with its introduction of the sacrificial system and the associated atonement.
Deliver Us: Here I see a broad parallel with the book of Numbers and its repetitive cycle of testing, judgment, and deliverance.
Thine Is the Kingdom: The entrance into the land fits here, starting at the end of Numbers and carrying forward into Joshua. Of course, as we learn in Judges and I Samuel, the Israelites ultimately reject God as their king. But their very rejection implies the starting point was in fact the establishment of God’s as king in their midst.
Intriguing! Have you found any scholarly support for this? Jay, I think this would make a good topic for your first book.
I have found absolutely no scholarly support. However, I haven’t looked yet, either. I’ll keep my eyes open going forward.