Fifty-Seven Words That Change The World: A Journey Through The Lord's Prayer

by Darrell W. Johnson

The heavens are the atmosphere in which we live. We live in a multi-dimensional universe. Heaven is one of those dimensions, very close at hand. Jesus is praying “Father in the heavens”; “Father all around us”; and “Father very close at hand.” The clause “in heaven” would also conjure up in the minds of first-century Jews the idea of God on his throne. Earlier in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, we read these words, “But I tell you, do not swear an oath at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; or by the earth, for it is his footstool” (Matt 5:34-35). “In heaven” means “on the throne.” If this is not so, then we are wasting our breath praying the Lord’s Prayer. Sure, it may be therapeutic to pray, but if the one to whom we pray is not on the throne, then we have no real hope that he can do what we ask him to do. At best he can say, “I am doing my best.” Jesus is telling us that there is a throne—all around us—and someone is sitting on it. We can, therefore, dare to hope that when we pray something happens.