Have you pondered lately the role Jesus had as Lawgiver? The New Testament speaks often of the law of Christ, and James 4:12 verifies that there is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who saves us.
The Sermon on the Mount contained many of the Ten Commandments, as Christ tried to live and preach the love that is contained in the Law. The Lord’s Prayer was even a tool to help us understand the requirements of God’s Law. Its structure is very similar to the Ten Commandments, containing both our focus on God and ending with obligations to each other.
The Ten Commandments were written on two tablets, one with four commandments about loving God, and the second tablet with six commandments about loving others. They encompass seven themes also found in the Lord’s Prayer.
Focus on God–the first tablet
- Recognizing the supremacy of God (“Our Father in heaven”)
- Honoring God’s name (“Hallowed be Your name”)
- Doing God’s will (“Thy will be done”)
- Trusting God to provide our basic needs, including the need for physical and spiritual rest on the Sabbath (“Give us our daily bread”)
Focus on man–the second tablet
- Forgiving us and enabling us to forgive others (“Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us”)
- Keeping us from being tempted (“Lead us not into temptation”)
- Delivering us from evil (“Deliver us from the evil one”)
These seven, beautiful prayer requests mirror the beauty and love found in God’s holy Law. We mustn’t forget that Jesus not only perfectly kept the Law, all ten of the Commandments, but He was the One who gave them to us in the first place. The Lord’s Prayer should remind us of God’s Law every time we read or recite it.
We know that God’s saints in the last days will have made this vital connection between Jesus and His Commandments. See Revelation 14:12. May we each be found with His patient saints, waiting for His soon Coming.
