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What is there in this prayer that demands such strange petitions as these two, the one
regarding "bread that cometh down", and the other regarding "temptation"? We answer,
if the prayer is related, not to the church but to the setting up of the kingdom, a solution
of the problem may be found, for it involves consideration of the state of affairs that will
usher in the Day of the Lord which precedes the setting up of the kingdom.
In the book of the Revelation the church at Philadelphia is given this promise:
"Because thou hast kept the word of My patience, I also will keep thee from the hour
of temptation (peirasmos), which shall come upon all the world, to try (peirazo) them that
dwell upon the earth" (Rev. 3: 10).
Those therefore who wait for the setting up of the kingdom upon earth; who live in
that day of fierce trial; could, with this promise before them, appropriately pray, "Lead
us not into temptation". During this same period, some of the people of Israel are to be
nourished by God in the wilderness "for a time, and times, and half a time" (a cryptic
reference to the three and half years of the tribulation mentioned elsewhere in the
Revelation) "from the face of the serpent" (Rev. 12: 14). In that period and in those
circumstances this company could pray with meaning, "Give us this day the bread that
cometh down upon us".
Further exposition of these themes is not called for in this series; it is sufficient if we
have "placed" the occurrence of temptation as it is found in Matt. 6: 11. Certainly it
does not mean "temptation to sin".
While we read at the end of the threefold temptation in the wilderness that "the devil
leaveth Him" (Matt. 4: 11), we gather from His words in Luke 22: 28 that His whole
life on earth could be considered as one long "temptation", "Ye are they which have
continued with Me in My temptations". There can be no doubt as to the character of
these, for "reward" is immediately connected with this "continuance": "And I appoint
unto you a kingdom, as My Father hath appointed unto Me" (Luke 22: 29). There are,
scattered throughout the Gospels, a number of passages which speak of men approaching
the Lord and "tempting" Him, as did the Pharisees and the Sadducees, who, "tempting,
desired Him that He would show them a sign from heaven" (Matt. 16: 1). With this
passage can be read Matt. 19: 3; 22: 18 and 35, and the parallels in the other Gospels.
There remain the references to temptation that relate to the agony in the garden:
"Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation; the spirit indeed is willing, but the
flesh is weak" (Matt. 26: 41).
"Weakness" there may be, and temptation is strong, but that presents a different aspect
from "temptation" by, and to, evil.
Three more occurrences complete the references in the N.T. "Thou hast tried them
which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars" (Rev. 2: 2).
"Temptation" cannot be substituted here. "The devil shall cast some of you into prison