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The petition, "Thy will be done", expresses the highest form of prayer that can be
offered, since it suggests that the desire of the supplicator is in line with the desire of the
Father Himself. In the case of the Lord's Prayer the expression is qualified by the words,
"as in heaven, so upon earth", limiting it to the earthly kingdom, but prayed in the context
of any calling of God, it is a call for the strong desires of God to become reality.
The "epiousion" bread.
"Our bread the epiousion give us today" (Matt. 6: 11).
"Our bread the epiousion give us according to the day" (Luke 11: 3).
Before considering the meaning of the word epiousion (`daily' A.V.), consider the
expression "according to the day" (in the Luke account) in the light of Exod. 16: 16, 18:
"Gather of it (i.e. the manna) every man according to his eating, an omer for every
man, according to the number of your persons . . . . . he that gathered much had nothing
over, and he that gathered little had no lack."
The prevailing thought in these words is of need supplied. The gathering was
according to the need of each person and the number in each tent. There was neither lack
nor excess; the need of every man was met. Inasmuch as they "gathered twice as much"
(verse 22) on the sixth day, the supply was also "according to the day". The day by day
need of a people who were unable to obtain food in the wilderness, was miraculously met
with bread from heaven, bread which came down upon them.
Consider now the Great Tribulation, a period into which it has already been suggested
the Lord's Prayer fits:
"Let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains: let him which is on the
housetop not come down to take anything out of his house: neither let him which is in
the field return back to take his clothes . . . . . for then shall be great tribulation . . . . ."
(Matt. 24: 16-21).
Such will be the swiftness of flight, that there will not be time to take even the very
necessities of life into the mountains. This people will therefore be in very real need,
wanting even the bread of the day. How will such survive? Will God ask such to flee for
their lives into the mountains only to let them die of hunger when there? Emphatically
no! The One Who once fed this people miraculously in the desert will feed them again
with the epiousion bread for which they pray. This is more than suggested in at least two
passages in Revelation:
"And the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to
devour her child as soon as it was born. And she brought forth a man child, who was to
rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to His
throne. And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God,
that they should feed here there a thousand two hundred and threescore day."
"And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman
which brought forth the man child. And to the woman were given two wings of a great
eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a
time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent" (Rev. 12: 4-6, 13, 14).