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The Lord’s Prayer | How Did Jesus Pray? Line-By-Line Meaning Explained

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Jesus taught His disciples ‘the Lord’s Prayer,’ but what does each element of the prayer really means? How did Jesus pray the Lord’s Prayer?

For more than 50 years I confess that I mechanically prayed the Lord’s Prayer without really understanding it. Then, in early 2019 the Spirit of God led me to dig into the details of the Lord’s Prayer and uncover its deeper meaning. So, after hundreds of hours of Biblical research, prayer, and revelation from the Holy Spirit, here are the original 5 topical sections of the Lord’s Prayer. The remainder of this article will dig deeper into their meaning.

  1. Father, Yahovah, hallowed be Your name.
  2. Your kingdom come, Your will be done on the earth as it is in heaven.
  3. Give us this day our daily bread.
  4. Forgive us our debts as we forgive all our debtors.
  5. And bring us not into trials, but rescue us from an evil heart of unbelief.

For reference purposes, the Lord’s Prayer is found in two places: Matthew 6:9-13 and Luke 11:2-4.

The Lord’s Prayer, Line 1 | “Father, Yahovah, Hallowed Be Your Name”

Father

If you are a believer in Jesus, then Yahovah (YHWH) became your Father when you repented of sin and believed in Jesus. Following your sincere repentance and faith, YHWH miraculously birthed new spiritual life in your heart and you literally became His child, a new creation, a different person.

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Messiah is begotten of God.

1 John 5:1

Begotten of God

What does ‘begotten of God’ mean?

If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.

(2 Corinthians 5:17)

We don’t use the words beget, begat, or begotten very much today. As you can see below, the Greek word translated ‘begotten’ literally means to procreate a descendant and produce an offspring.

Biblehub reference

So, YHWH literally becomes every true Christian’s Father. We become members of His personal family; we share His spiritual DNA. Therefore, when we pray to the Father we’re confessing two things:

  1. He is my Father and I am His child; I have His DNA in the new spirit He quickened within me.
    • I’m no longer a mere man (1 Cor 3:3).
    • Christians are a different species from unregenerate people; they’re members of a new creation (2 Cor 5:17, Gal 6:15).
  2. My sibling believers are those who also have God’s spiritual DNA; those who’ve had their spirits quickened within them. Therefore, God is ‘our Father.’

In Heaven

Our Father is in heaven. What does this mean? Is God’s abode a physical place, far beyond the constellations? Or is it in another dimension that exists invisibly alongside the physical space-time dimension we live in? A good argument can be made for both of these views.

But years ago, God revealed this to me—God isn’t far away (across the universe) in heaven. Just the opposite! He is closer to us than we are to ourselves. He is closer to you than the breath in your lungs.

God is constructing an eternal temple, built with ‘living stones.’ This spiritual temple is God’s dwelling place forever.

As you come to Him, the living stone, rejected by men but chosen and precious in God’s sight, you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

1 Peter 2:4-5

So, when I pray to the Father I don’t add the words ‘in heaven,’ which makes it seem like He is somewhere far away. He is not far away. Instead, I’m prompted to intentionally quiet my natural thoughts and focus my attention toward the Holy Spirit of God who dwells in my spirit, my innermost heart.

Yahovah

Scripture tells God’s people to call on His name, extol His name, make His name known, etc.  It’s respectful and worshipful to address YHWH by His name, so when I pray I begin by personally addressing Him, saying “Father, Yahovah.”

The next line of the Lord’s Prayer is “hallowed be Thy name.” How can I pray this if I haven’t said His name?

The Father’s Name

What is the Father’s name? There are two reasons why most people don’t know it.

  1. Unfortunately, for thousands of years God’s people avoided saying the name of God, supposedly out of respect. Because of this, Bible translators even changed ‘YHWH’ to ‘LORD’ in most English Bible translations.
  2. In addition, Satan’s world system actively pressures people not to acknowledge the true God, or to pronounce God’s name. 
Call Upon His Name

But YHWH tells us to call on His name, extol His name, make His name known, etc.  For a few examples, see: Joel 2:32, 1 Chronicles 16:8, Isaiah 12:4, Psalm 105:1, Romans 10:13, and Acts 2:21.

But Don’t Speak the Names of False gods

In contrast, YHWH explicitly commands us not to speak the names of false gods…

You must not invoke the names of other gods; they must not be heard on your lips.

(Exodus 23:13)

God commands us not to say the names of false gods because that would legitimize them. But over the centuries Satan has deceived God’s people by preventing them from speaking God’s name, even though YHWH encourages us to call on His name.

Pronunciation

Many people avoid pronouncing God’s name for fear of mispronouncing it, but if your heart is sincere and reverent it’s not important to pronounce God’s exactly correctly. God looks at your heart; He is not judging your pronunciation.

That said, based on compelling evidence from Jewish Hebrew scholar Nehemiah Gordon I believe the most-likely pronunciation for YHWH is “Yahovah.” Here are URLs to three videos for anyone who’d like to investigate this further, or to hear how a Hebrew scholar pronounces Yahovah.

Yahweh vs. YHVH: The Name of God – Q&A with Michael Rood & Nehemia Gordon

The Origins of Yahweh

God’s name is not Yahweh – Proof from Jewish Rabbis

Hallowed Be Your Name

To ‘hallow’ something means to treat it as holy and pure, separate from common things.

After I address YHWH saying, “Father, Yahovah,” I pray “Hallowed be Your name” to reinforce my recognition that I am entering the presence of Almighty God, the creator and sustainer of all things, and the holy Judge over every creature eternally.

In 1973 the Holy Spirit gave me a glimpse of God’s love. I experienced God’s love as so deep and powerful that I felt like I was drowning in an ocean of love. It was overwhelming. I had to ask the Spirit to reduce the experience because I felt like I the glory was too much for my flesh and it would have killed me. In the Spirit I ‘saw’ the Son in the bosom of the Father (John 1:18), surrounded by the Father’s infinite love, and I realized that that’s where I was too, since my life is now ‘in Christ.’ I flashback to this experience when I pray “hallowed be Thy name.” He is infinitely holy and pure and loving. I’ve experienced that even a glimpse of His glory is too much for us fleshly creatures.

The Lord’s Prayer, Line 2 | Your Kingdom Come; Your Will Be Done. As In Heaven, So On The Earth

The Lord’s Prayer is first and foremost a kingdom prayer. In this part of the Lord’s Prayer, we’re first praying for YHWH to perfect His kingdom in heaven by throwing the Devil and his angels out, and then to extend the Messiah’s authority over all the earth, until all of heaven and every nation on earth submits to God’s throne and willingly aligns with His will.

When we pray ‘Your kingdom come Your will be done, as in heaven so on the earth” we’re engaging in spiritual warfare. We’re using our Adamic authority to exercise dominion over the earth. The goal is for all the earth to conform to God’s will, in peace, righteousness, and prosperity.

For more information about this spiritual warfare, read Thy Kingdom Come, Thy Will Be Done On Earth As It Is In Heaven and Spiritual Warfare for God’s End-Time Overcomers.

From the Book of Revelation we know that we won’t see God’s kingdom come onto the earth until after Armageddon. Then, Jesus will oversee YHWH’s kingdom on the earth for 1000 years. Here’s my Prediction of Life in the Next Millennium.

The Lord’s Prayer, Line 3 | Give Us Today Our Daily Bread

Sometimes we forget that Jesus didn’t emerge from His mother’s womb as a fully-developed and mature man. Just like us, He grew from infancy, to childhood, adolescence, and finally manhood.

About this developing and maturing process the Bible says,

Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.

Luke 2:52

Our Daily Bread is Living Bread

The Bible is the logos, the written word of God. It is static and permanent, a constant reference for anyone to read.

In contrast, the rhema is God’s spoken word. It is the voice of the living God speaking to us today, to teach us, direct us, or command us about a specific topic in our life right now.

Biblehub reference

As He grew and matured Jesus learned the logos perfectly, and He also demonstrated His total dependence on YHWH’s rhema.

See and Hear God’s Rhema

In the Gospel of John (chapter 5) Jesus revealed that He both saw and heard YHWH’s rhema in His daily life. Without this rhema, Jesus said He could do nothing.

Truly, truly, I tell you, the Son can do nothing by Himself, unless He sees the Father doing it. For whatever the Father does, the Son also does. The Father loves the Son and shows Him all He does. And to your amazement, He will show Him even greater works than these. For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom He wishes.

John 5:19-21

I can do nothing by Myself; I judge only as I hear. And My judgment is just, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.

John 5:30

If Jesus could do nothing without the rhema direction from His Father, how much more do we need to seek the Father’s rhema in everything we do.

God wants us to ask for and depend on Him to provide whatever physical, mental, and spiritual ‘bread’ we need to accomplish His will through our lives today. 

The Bread of Life

Physical and mental bread are important, but spiritual bread gives us eternal life. The rhema of YHWH is this daily bread.

Bread of Empowerment

Our daily bread is not only to keep us alive and well, but it’s our empowerment to complete our mission of advancing God’s kingdom.

Just as we depend on God for life itself, He depends on us to bear His fruit on the earth.

For more information about ‘our daily bread’ read Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread and Christian Passover.

The Lord’s Prayer, Line 4 | Forgive Us Our Debts As We Forgive All Our Debtors

True Christianity requires a supernatural transformation of our human spirit. Otherwise, it’s impossible for us to forgive our debtors as much as God requires us to.

The Lord’s Prayer (and many other Bible verses) teach that if you don’t forgive everyone of everything, then God won’t forgive you. 

According to Why “Forgive Us Our Debts As We Forgive Our Debtors?” there are three reasons why our ability to forgive is so important to God:

  1. Our ability to forgive others is evidence to God of our true repentance
  2. Our ability to forgive others is evidence to mankind of a transformed life with supernatural quality
  3. Our ability to forgive others is evidence to celestial principalities and powers of God’s victory through Christ in us.

The Lord’s Prayer, Line 5 | Bring Us Not Into Trials, But Rescue Us From An Evil Heart of Unbelief

If you’re like me you’ve prayed ‘Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil’ for a long time without understanding what Jesus meant in this part of the Lord’s Prayer. For example, the traditional words ‘Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil’ often brought these questions into my mind:

  • It always sounded to me like I needed to ask God not to lead me into circumstances where He knows I’d be weak and tempted to sin.
    • But, as a loving heavenly Father, wouldn’t it be against His nature to lead me into sinful temptation?
  • What evil was I asking God to deliver me from?
  • Some translations (NASB, KJV, YLT) say, ‘deliver us from evil’ and other translations (NIV, NLT, BSB) say, ‘deliver us from the evil one.’ What is the correct translation of this phrase?

After detailed study of this verse I believe Jesus’ original teaching conveyed this meaning: “Bring us not into trials, but rescue us from an evil heart of unbelief.” The reasons for this wording, as well as the answers to the questions above, are all explained in detail in Lead Us Not Into Temptation But Deliver Us From Evil.

Amen

Finally, when we say “amen” in the Lord’s Prayer it’s in the same context as the ancient Hebrews, who meant two things by the word ‘amen:’

  1. Whatever has been said is true and in alignment with God’s will.
  2. God made man the ruler over all the earth in Genesis 1:28. Therefore, just as God spoke the heavens and the earth into existence, may God manifest my words into reality. Let them be done on the earth.

“Amen,” replied Benaiah son of Jehoiada. “May the LORD, the God of my lord the king, so declare it.

(1 Kings 1:36)

In Conclusion

The Lord’s Prayer is a kingdom prayer. Now that you understand how Jesus taught His disciples to pray–with the goal of advancing God’s kingdom on the earth–you can pray the Lord’s Prayer as (I believe) it’s meant to be prayed.

What Do You Think?

Did this article answer all your questions on this topic? Please leave a comment below and tell me:

  • Were you satisfied by the information in this article?
  • Or, did it leave you wanting more?

Related Questions and Answers

Q: What about the traditional end of the Lord’s Prayer in the Gospel of Matthew, “For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever?”

A: Most authoritative ancient manuscripts don’t include the traditional end of the Lord’s Prayer, which is why modern translations omit it from Matthew’s gospel, except perhaps to mention it in a footnote. In Luke’s gospel there isn’t even a footnote.

Watch and Pray

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APOCALYPSE FATIGUE

Watch and Pray… if you’re like me, you sometimes suffer from ‘apocalypse fatigue.’  I’ve sincerely expected the end of the age to start (resulting in the great tribulation, the Antichrist’s defeat, and the return of Jesus) many times since 1981, but obviously it hasn’t happened yet. Ugh! How much longer?

Signs of the Apocalypse

Here’s a short list of apocalyptic signs I have followed (or am still tracking) with interest:

  • 1981 – the planets of the solar system were supposed to align, triggering great earthquakes, etc. (Signs in the heavens and on earth)
  • 1988 – 40 years after Israel became a nation (The olive tree parable…this generation will not pass away until the end comes)
  • The Bush presidents, 9/11, and their promotion of the ‘new world order’
  • 2008-2016 – Is Obama the Antichrist?
  • 2013 – The last pope takes office according to the prophecy of St Malachy. Is Pope Francis the false prophet of Revelation 13?
  • 2015 – four consecutive ‘blood moons’ coinciding with Jewish Passover and Tabernacles festivals. Did the 7-year tribulation covenant period start on Yom Kippur, 9/22/15?
  • 2017 – Is Trump, Jared Kushner, Obama, or Prince Charles the Antichrist?
  • Possible Second Coming dates: Yom Kippur of 2022, 2024, or 2036?

I’ve made life-changing decisions based on some of these. Some of them resulted in life-long consequences and lost career opportunities.

Watch and Pray

After so many false leads over decades, it’s tempting to simply stop looking for end-time clues and just join the rest of the world—asleep in their blissful ignorance.

But, as I was meditating on my apocalypse fatigue, the scripture to “watch and pray” came to me. Regarding the end of this age, Jesus warned:

Watch yourselves, or your hearts will be weighed down by dissipation, drunkenness, and the worries of life—and that day will spring upon you suddenly like a snare. For it will come upon all who dwell on the face of the whole earth. So, keep watch always, and pray that you may have the strength to escape all that is about to happen and to stand before the Son of Man.” (Luke 21:34-36)

WATCH and pray

What does it mean to keep watch? According to BibleHub.com, the original Greek word literally means “to be sleepless, intent upon a thing, Ephesians 6:18; or, to exercise constant vigilance over something (an image drawn from shepherds).”

art by Gods411.org

Examples of watching:

  1. Defensive:
    1. Shepherds keep watch over their sheep, making sure they’re safe from predators and other dangers.
    2. Soldiers are routinely assigned to guard duty. They keep watch over (guard) a specific place or thing during a specified period of time.
  2. Offensive: Hunters watch intently for their prey. They constantly search for clues and signs that will lead them to succeed in their hunt. They focus all their senses on the hunt; looking for animal tracks, listening for twigs snapping, and smelling their upwind quarry.

What should we ‘keep watch’ for?

Watch so that no one deceives you.

In all three synoptic gospels, this is the first warning Jesus gave His disciples regarding the end time.

  1. Matthew 24:4 See to it that no one deceives you.
  2. Mark 13:5 See to it that no one deceives you.
  3. Luke 21:8-9 See to it that you are not deceived. For many will come in My name, claiming, ‘I am He,’ and, ‘The time is near.’ Do not follow them. When you hear of wars and rebellions, do not be alarmed. These things must happen first, but the end is not imminent.”

Watch to be able to withstand persecution.

  1. Mark 13:9-13 So be on your guard. You will be handed over to the councils and beaten in the synagogues. On My account, you will stand before governors and kings as witnesses to them… Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child. Children will rise against their parents and have them put to death. You will be hated by everyone on account of My name, but the one who perseveres to the end will be saved.
  2. Matthew 24:9-12 Then they will hand you over to be persecuted and killed, and you will be hated by all nations on account of My name. At that time many will fall away and will betray and hate one another, and many false prophets will arise and mislead many. Because of the multiplication of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold. But the one who perseveres to the end will be saved.
  3. Luke 21:12-19 But before all this, they will seize you and persecute you. On account of My name, they will deliver you to the synagogues and prisons, and they will bring you before kings and governors. This will be your opportunity to serve as witnesses. So make up your mind not to worry beforehand how to defend yourselves. For I will give you speech and wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to resist or contradict. You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and some of you will be put to death. And you will be hated by everyone because of My name. Yet not even a hair of your head will perish. By your patient endurance, you will gain your souls.
Learn from Peter’s failure to watch

The night before Jesus’ crucifixion, Peter said: “I will die with you.” But Jesus warned Peter that he would deny Jesus three times before sunrise. Jesus encouraged Peter to watch and pray. Later, in the Garden of Gethsemane, Peter was sleepy and didn’t ‘watch’ with the Lord. As a result, when the trial came for Peter early the next morning, he wasn’t spiritually prepared, and so he denied the Lord to preserve himself from pain.

Like Peter, we will all have trials, during which our faith and commitment will be tested. If you haven’t strengthened yourself through watching and prayer, you’ll naturally choose the path of self-protection and, like Peter, you’ll deny the truth.

Watch to anticipate the Messiah’s return.

  1. Matthew 24:32-51, especially verse 42, Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day on which your Lord will come.
  2. Mark 13:32-33 But as for that day or hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Be on your guard and stay alert! For you do not know when the appointed time will come.
  3. Luke 21:34-36 But watch yourselves, or your hearts will be weighed down by dissipation, drunkenness, and the worries of life—and that day will spring upon you suddenly like a snare. For it will come upon all who dwell on the face of the whole earth. So keep watch at all times, and pray that you may have the strength to escape all that is about to happen and to stand before the Son of Man.”

Why is it important for us to watch for the Lord’s return?

  1. Those who don’t watch will be ensnared when that day comes upon the world.
  2. Watching and prayer are required to build the strength required to overcome what will happen and to stand before the Son of Man.
  3. Rev 12:11, “They conquered him (the dragon) by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives so as to shy away from death.”

watch and PRAY

Like Watching, prayer has both defensive and offensive components.

Defensive:

  1. Pray that you’ll have the strength to prevail against all that is about to happen on the earth, and to stand righteous and victorious before the Son of Man. “Lead us not into trials, but deliver us from evil.”
  2. Pray that when you stand before Him that He will be able to say to you, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.”

Offensive:

  1. In general, pray “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as in heaven.”
  2. Specifically, pray for the kingdom of God to be manifested in your family, community, and nation.
  3. The prayers of the saints fill the golden altar before God’s throne in heaven. (Rev 8:3, 8:5, 9:13, 16:7)
  4. Jesus said, “My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations…” (Mark 11:17, Luke 19:46). Many believe that since God delegated authority to Adam to rule the earth, God can do nothing on the earth unless it’s in response to human prayer.

Watch and Pray

So, what does it mean to ‘watch and pray?’

  1. Before the Lord Jesus returns, scripture teaches there’ll be a great delusion upon everyone who doesn’t love and follow the truth. Watch and pray to follow God’s truth and not to be deceived and deluded with the masses.
  2. Persecution against Christians is already exploding around the world. Watch and pray that you’ll remain faithful, even at personal cost.
  3. Watch and pray that you’ll be strengthened to overcome the evil that’s coming to this world.

Bottom Line—like Peter, it’s understandable if we get tired. But let’s learn from his example and overcome apocalypse fatigue.  We have two choices; (1) watch and pray to become an overcomer, or (2) follow the world system into delusion and judgment.

A Christian Concept of War

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A Christian Perspective on War

I’m writing this essay as a favor to someone who’s discussing this topic soon on TV in Canada. They’re comparing the Christian view about war with Muslim, Jewish, and Buddhist perspectives.

My credentials for writing this article:

  • Vietnam combat veteran
  • Retired US military field-grade officer; graduate of the USAF Air Command and Staff College
  • Doctor of Ministry, Christian Leadership University
  • 45+ years of Christian discipleship

Over time my perspective on war has changed drastically. I’ve held views ranging all the way from flag-waving hawk (like John Bolton) to being a vegetarian pacifist (Gandhi). Now, I hold both extremes at the same time, as you’ll see below.

For a Christian, I think there are two kinds of war:

  1. Fighting for one’s home and country
  2. Fighting for one’s God.

1.  Fighting for One’s Home and Country

The Bible says people (including Christians) may use necessary force to defend their home from invasion. I’m defining ‘home’ at both a personal and a national level.  Basically, the use of force in self-defense is justified, according to the threat level.

If the thief is caught while breaking in and is struck so that he dies, there will be no bloodguiltiness on his account. But if the sun has risen on him, there will be bloodguiltiness on his account. (Ex 22:2)

I’m an ex-Marine, I hunt, and I have guns in my home. I’m also licensed by my state to carry a concealed weapon. If threatened, I’ve pre-decided to only use my weapons as a last resort, and only to prevent life-threatening violence from being inflicted against myself, my family, or an innocent victim. I won’t take a life to protect property.

Everyone Must Give Account to God

Everyone, including soldiers, will have to give an account to God for the blood they spill. God said:

“I will certainly demand an accounting regarding bloodshed, from every animal and from every human being. I’ll demand an accounting from every human being for the life of another human being.”

Genesis 9:5

Proper Uses of Military Force

For this reason, I don’t believe any army should have to fight simply to advance their political leader’s ‘national interests’ over another nation’s. If my country isn’t being invaded, my country’s military shouldn’t be involved.

I don’t care if our foreign oil supply is threatened. Oil is not a good-enough reason to kill another human being. Instead of pouring trillions of dollars into the military-industrial complex, the right thing to do would be to put that money into becoming energy self-sufficient.

All nations’ militaries should be patterned after the Swiss, Japanese, or Israeli models—all of which have capable defensive forces, but very limited offensive capability.

So, when fighting for one’s home and country, we should seek peace and only use force defensively; and then, only use the amount of force needed to neutralize the threat. We will all give an account to God for the harm we cause others.

2.  Fighting for One’s God

War in the Old Testament

In the Old Testament, God told Israel to kill everything (in cities where the nephilim dwelt) of the promise land, including men, women, children, and even the animals. Here are a couple examples:

Before they entered the land:

“When the LORD your God brings you into the land where you are entering to possess it, and clears away many nations before you, the Hittites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Canaanites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and stronger than you, and when the LORD your God delivers them before you and you defeat them, then you shall utterly destroy them. You shall make no covenant with them and show no favor to them. (Deut 7:1-2)

At Jericho:

So the people shouted, and priests blew the trumpets; and when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, the people shouted with a great shout and the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight ahead, and they took the city. They utterly destroyed everything in the city, both man and woman, young and old, and ox and sheep and donkey, with the edge of the sword. (Joshua 6:20-21)

Christian War in the New Testament

Then Jesus, the Lamb of God, came onto the scene. He taught us to love our enemies, and gave us a living example of non-violent martyrdom for the benefit of others.

Is God Schizophrenic?

The Bible teaches that ‘God is one’ (Deut 6:4) and that He is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Heb 13:8).

So, is the God of the Old Testament the same God as Jesus in the New Testament? How can we reconcile the pitiless, warring God of the Old Testament with the non-violent, suffering Savior of the gospels?

Where is Your Kingdom?

There’s a big clue toward solving this dilemma in the Gospel of John:

Pilate entered again into the Praetorium, and summoned Jesus and said to Him, “Are You the King of the Jews?” Jesus answered, “Are you saying this on your own initiative, or did others tell you about Me?” Pilate answered, “I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests delivered You to me; what have You done?”

Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm.” Therefore Pilate said to Him, “So You are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.” Pilate said to Him, “What is truth?” (John 18:33-38)

Notice that Jesus didn’t think it would be wrong for His followers to fight if it would’ve done any good. But since His kingdom was in another realm of existence, earthly violence would’ve been ineffective, so that’s why they weren’t fighting.

Jesus Isn’t a Pacifist

In our near future, the Book of Revelation teaches that when Jesus returns He will be coming with a sword, to claim His right to rule all the nations of the earth as the King of kings and Lord of lords. He won’t be the non-violent, suffering Savior of the gospels. He’ll be a warrior, and the armies of heaven will follow Him to win the battle of Armageddon. Multitudes will be slain, so that the blood will be up to the horses’ bridle.

Armageddon — a Christian War

And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war. His eyes are a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems; and He has a name written on Him which no one knows except Himself. He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses. 

From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.”

      Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and he cried out with a loud voice, saying to all the birds which fly in mid-heaven, “Come, assemble for the great supper of God, so that you may eat the flesh of kings and the flesh of commanders and the flesh of mighty men and the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them and the flesh of all men, both free men and slaves, and small and great.”

The Battle of Armageddon at the End of the Age

      And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies assembled to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army.

      And the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image; these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone. And the rest were killed with the sword which came from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse, and all the birds were filled with their flesh.

Different Kinds of Christian War

So, the God of the Old Testament and the returning King of kings both wage bloody war against the rebellious, immoral nations of mankind.

God isn’t schizophrenic. In the gospels, Jesus was waging another kind of war—a spiritual war against the principalities and powers in heaven. He won that war on the cross. (See my book The Overcomers’ Treasure Map for a complete description of this spiritual battle.)

At the second coming of Christ, He’ll be a warrior, forcibly subjugating all earthly nations, and then He’ll be earth’s sovereign King of kings for the next thousand years.

In contrast to what Jesus told Pilate, when He returns at the end of this age Jesus’ kingdom will then be ‘of this world’ and He will commission His servants to fight.

Conclusion – Fighting for One’s God

During the Age of Grace

Until the Antichrist makes a 7-year covenant with Israel, we’re still  in the ‘times of the gentiles.’ So, the rules of the ‘age of grace’ still apply. Therefore, until the end of the ‘age of grace,’ we’re to love our enemies and bless those who persecute us.

By loving our enemies, even unto our own death, we complete Christ’s spiritual war against the principalities and powers of heaven, resulting in ‘the powers of the heavens being shaken’ and them being cast down to earth.

Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Messiah. For the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down. “They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.

Revelation 12:10-11

Transition During the Great Tribulation

During the 7-year Great Tribulation, the Two Witnesses of Revelation chapter 11 will prophesy and pronounce judgments against the nations. The Antichrist will persecute and martyr faithful disciples of Christ on earth, and many professing believers will fall into apostasy—accepting the mark of the beast. This 7-year period is a transition period between the ‘age of grace’ and Christ’s ‘rod of iron’ rule of the coming Millennium.

At the end of Daniel’s 7 year period, Christ will return, resurrecting and transforming His disciple’s bodies with immortality. They’ll meet Him in the sky, becoming the armies of heaven, who then follow Him to the Battle of Armageddon.

Christian War:

  • Until Christ returns, Christians are to wage spiritual war against the celestial principalities and powers as Jesus did in His first coming—through faith, love, and sacrificial suffering.
  • At Christ’s second coming, Christians will follow Christ’s lead in physically subjugating the rebellious nations of the earth.

What’s Worth Dying For? One Veteran’s Opinion

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Dying for the Mission, or Glory?

World War II is the last time an enemy threatened to invade American territory. Since 1945, Americans have fought and died in Korea, Vietnam, Grenada, Panama, Bosnia, Iraq, Afghanistan, and many other places, in support of politically-directed, propaganda-driven, “national interest” conflicts. What’s worth dying for?

AH-1G Cobra Gunship of F Troop, 4th Air Cavalry

I was 20 years old when I arrived in Vietnam on December 4, 1971. I was a Cobra copilot/gunner, flying combat missions over Cambodia.

After two almost-catastrophic experiences due to in-flight mechanical failures during combat, I volunteered to fly light observation helicopters (LOH, or Loach), scouting enemy positions at low (treetop) level.

Scout Pilot

OH-6 LOH light observation helicopter, or ‘Loach’

People called them ‘bush-bait’ and their mission was known as ‘recon by sacrifice’.

The Crash

Loaches were famous for their crashworthiness.

In early March, I was piloting a low-level scouting mission when my inexperienced back-seat gunner caused a tear gas grenade to explode in my cockpit, causing our loach to crash upside-down into a hillside.

My two gunners survived and escaped with hardly a scratch. But I was pinned against the ground, unconscious, with the chopper’s turbine engine still running erratically,  in death throes. Te stubby main rotor blade remnants throw continuous geysers of dirt into the air. When I didn’t respond to their shouts and tugs, they assumed I was dead. Expecting the dying loach to explode at any second, they ran away from the throbbing wreckage, leaving me in it.

Dazed, Trapped, Disoriented
My bloodstained seat

I awoke, dazed, sometime after they left. My face was lying against dirt and leaves. The wreckage vibrated as the rotors dug into the hillside.  As you can see in the photo, my seat got twisted rearward, and I couldn’t unlatch my shoulder harness and seat belt. I was trapped. The bloodstains were from minor shrapnel cuts.

After repeatedly trying to unlatch my seat belt, I remember realizing that my death was imminent—if the tear gas didn’t kill me, the struggling turbine engine was sure to start a fire at any moment.

I was tempted to lose hope and give up, but I kept trying. Blinded by the tear gas, and gasping desperately for air, I was finally able to free myself from the seat belt. Then, still blinded and completely disoriented, I escaped through the missing front windscreen and crawled away from the noise, hoping not to get hit by the spinning rotor.

Rescue

As soon as I escaped the tear gas I started regaining my sight and my bearings. I gathered my crew, who were surprised to see me, and a Huey helicopter crew picked us up a few minutes later.

The Huey crew took us straight to the hospital at Long Binh, where doctors and nurses treated and released us that evening. I spent the next few weeks recuperating from a concussion, a few stitches, and some very severe bruises before the flight surgeon medically cleared me to fly again.

This experience taught me that I wasn’t ‘bulletproof,’ or immortal. It made me think… what is worth dying for?

 What’s worth dying for? Dying for Others

UH-1H Huey

After crashing my loach in March ‘72, my new unit assigned me to copilot duties in the Huey platoon. Although this was a demotion of responsibility, I welcomed it. Crashing my loach had shaken my confidence; I needed some time to get my ‘edge’ back.

During the entire month of April ‘72, the North Vietnamese invaded South Vietnam with tanks and tens of thousands of troops. The last American infantry left Vietnam before 1972, so our South Vietnamese Army ground troop allies were forced to retreat, losing a lot of territory to the communists.

Remember, times were much different in 1972 than now. The rebellion and cynicism of that generation are exemplified in movies such as: “Born on the 4th of July, Easy Rider, Platoon, Full Metal Jacket, Rambo, The Deer Hunter, and Apocalypse Now.

  • In the US, hippies and peace-niks taunted soldiers as ‘baby killers,’ spitting on them when they walked through airports.  As a result, few wanted to wear their uniform in public, and some soldiers even bought wigs to conceal their military haircut.
  • Politicians in Washington and Hanoi were in ‘peace talks’ so that America could disengage itself totally from Southeast Asia. Nixon called it “Peace with honor.” Nixon had already withdrawn all American ground troops, leaving aviation units to keep the pressure on Hanoi until Kissinger could negotiate our complete exit from Vietnam and the return of our POWs.
  • Knowing we were fighting an unpopular, lost cause didn’t help morale. Drug use, especially heroin and marijuana, was rampant in American units at the time.  Nobody wanted to be ‘the last one to die.’
USAF F4 Phantom Jet

Losing Friends

On May 2, 1972 my flight school classmate Dan Miller and I were flying a Huey on a routine resupply mission when we heard a frantic emergency radio call from Air Force F-4 jet fighter crew. They’d been hit by a missile and were ejecting near the coastline—just a few miles East from our position.

We immediately turned our Huey to rescue them, but then we heard another classmate, John Joseph “JJ” Petrilla, who was copiloting another Huey.  JJ said he had the chutes in sight, so we returned to our planned route, but continued to monitor the rescue on our radio. We heard JJ say they saw where the F-4 pilots’ chutes landed…then, that they’d picked them up… They were ‘climbing out’ with the rescued pilots aboard.

Then, one of our Cobra pilot’s shouted, “Break Right! Break Right! SAM!!” Then…stunned silence.  A shoulder-fired SA-7 heat-seeking missile hit JJ’s Huey, exploding them in mid-air at 700 feet.

JJ’s fellow crew members, CW2 Jesse Clifton, SP4 Morgan Vernon, and SP4 Porterfield Kyette also died that day. After machine gun fire shot down another Huey nearby (the crew was rescued) commanders decided the area was too hot to extract the bodies. (We recovered their bodily remains two months later after allied ground forces recaptured the territory.)

Fear and Desperation

That night, back at our small island base, I felt like my life’s potential was being wasted for nothing, and I was sorry that I’d never live to see my grandchildren.

I remember consciously and seriously considering shooting myself in the foot, in order to escape the war alive. But the risk of dying couldn’t overcome the certain shame of being a coward.

Prayer

I walked out onto the beach and prayed. “God, I don’t know you, and I know I’m not worthy, but if you get me out of this I’ll serve you.”

 What’s Really Worth Dying For?

If I had died when I crashed my LOH, would my death have been worth it? What good would I have achieved? I’d say “None.” At the time, I was trying to find and kill ‘enemy’ human beings, whom I didn’t know or dislike, because some US government policy bureaucrats (had previously) wanted to make a point about stopping communist expansion in Southeast Asia. I emphasized “had previously” because by 1972 they knew their point wasn’t going to be made, but they were having trouble extricating themselves from the quagmire they’d created.  In the meantime, good people were dying on both sides. So, dying ‘for the cause’ was meaningless.

Or, do you think God would give me credit for patriotically supporting my country’s national interests at the expense of my fellow man? No, I don’t think so. When I stand before Almighty God at the final judgment, I would’ve been speechless.

In contrast, JJ and his crew risked their lives to save others. Even though the dice rolled against them and they were killed, they died in the selfless act of trying to save strangers.

In Conclusion – What’s worth dying for?

You have only one life to give, and nobody knows when circumstances will call upon you to risk your life. So, I suggest you pre-decide what you are willing to sacrifice your life for.

Ask yourself–what’s worth dying for?

  1. Will you risk your life following orders to achieve the current ‘interests’ of incumbent politicians?
  • Isn’t that what Hitler’s henchmen did? Wasn’t “I was just following orders” their excuse?
  • The realization that I could no longer support “national interest” as justification for the government’s use of military force caused me to exit my military career.
  • Every nation’s propaganda machine paints a patriotic picture, waves the flag, and calls its troops heroes, but the Bible says God will destroy all earthly nations because of their evil practices when the Messiah returns. There are no moral nations on the earth; all are corrupt in varying degrees.
  1. Will you risk your life to save others? I suggest that this is the only valid reason to risk your physical life.
  • Policemen and firemen (and everyone else) should risk themselves only to preserve life; not to preserve or protect property. No property is worth your life.
  • Soldiers should only risk their lives (or use force against others) to defend their nation’s territory against invasion, or to save lives. At the final judgment before God, every soldier must account for what they’ve done.

Overcoming PTSD

Like many combat veterans, I did things that I’m now ashamed of. But, full forgiveness is available now through repentance and the blood of Jesus. I’m not a psychiatrist. but from experience and observation I believe PTSD is caused by a combination of (1) guilt and (2) fear.

  • There’s no reason to suffer with guilt tormenting you. Repent of your sins and receive forgiveness by the blood of Jesus.
  • After you receive God’s forgiveness, and start walking in His Spirit, there’s nothing to fear. If you’re injured or die while walking in God’s will, God will reward you. So there’s nothing left to fear, from God or man.
  1. Will you give your life as a disciple of the Messiah, Jesus?

Jesus doesn’t just call us to risk our lives; He calls Christian disciples to give themselves as living sacrifices, as He did for us.

  • Soldiers, policemen, and firemen risk their lives to help others, but they hope to survive through each dangerous situation.
  • Disciples of Jesus are to be like the ancient samurai, reckoning themselves already dead in this world. We are to “reckon yourselves dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus” so that the Spirit of Christ can be revealed through us. (Romans 6:8-11)

I think of it this way…I believe I died in 1972 in that loach crash, but then God brought me back to this world. My life since then is a gift, and I owe it to the Lord Jesus Christ—who loves us and gave Himself for us. He is the perfect human model to emulate in my life, and (I hope) yours.

Jesus gave His life, His soul, and His blood for me; He is the only one worthy to give my life to.

T