I’ve been preaching through the Lord’s Prayer at church, and in my studies, I keep hearing echoes of Eden through these petitions.

Our Father which art in heaven,

We address our Father in heaven, because in Gen 1:1 God created all things, including us. He is not part of creation, but over creation, in heaven.

Hallowed be thy name.

We pray for God’s name to be hallowed because that was the original purpose of creation—to glorify God. Adam was made to rule over creation (Gen 1:26, 28), to have dominion over it, and to tend the Garden and to keep it (Gen 2:15), to bring glory to God’s name.

Thy kingdom come,

We pray for the kingdom to come because the original Eden was lost (Genesis 3). We now pray for a future kingdom to come, which in many ways will be the restoration of Eden—a new heaven and a new earth (Rev 21:1)—complete with a tree of life in the midst of it (Rev 22:2).

Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

We pray for God’s will to be done on earth because since Adam and Eve fell, His will has not been done—not perfectly. Adam and Eve sinned. Their children sinned. You and I sin. Planet earth has been rebelling against God for a long time. So we pray for a day when God’s will shall be perfectly done on earth, just as it was meant to be.

Give us this day our daily bread.

We pray for our daily bread because the ground was cursed at the fall (Gen 3:17). Getting bread takes hard work with scarce resources. So we learn to depend upon the Creator to give us what we need day-by-day, in this cursed world.

And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

We pray for forgiveness, because like Adam, we have all sinned before God, and need His forgiveness. When Adam and Eve sinned, God covered them with animal skins, foreshadowing the blood propitiation that Christ would make for them and for us.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil:

We pray not to be led into temptation the way the serpent tempted our first parents in the Garden. We want to live a life pleasing to the Lord and need all the help we can. We pray for deliverance from all the evil around us, and in us.

For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.

We pray to God because He is the Almighty. We pray to Him, and to no one else because He has the power. We pray to God for His kingdom to come, because as believers in Christ, we look forward to being with Him forever and ever, just as God originally intended. Amen!