[AI translation] This is the last request of the Lord's Prayer. It is also closely related to the one before it, "lead us not into temptation". There is, of course, a difference between temptation and falling into temptation. To be tempted means that the enemy, like a thief, prowls around the house of our hearts, searching and testing to see where he can break in. And temptation means that the enemy has succeeded in penetrating the house, the struggle has begun, and the question is, who will come out on top, who will be the victor? Can I drive him out, or will he take over my insides, bind me and gain dominion over me? That is why Jesus teaches us to pray in this way, "lead us not into temptation". But even if we have fallen into it, even if we are already struggling with it, we are not lost, even then there is still a refuge, a help, a great SOS, a cry for help: "Deliver us from the evil one!"What is the evil Jesus is talking about here? First of all, it is the evil power as a person that is behind temptations of every shape and kind. It is the secret centre of power from which ever-renewed attacks come to the man who would follow Christ. The personal power that controls temptation, the person of the Tempter. The Bible speaks of evil as an invisible army of hostile spirits, elemental forces. Evil, as a collective term, is a designation of the powers, the demonic forces, of which the apostle Paul speaks when he says: "We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the judges of the darkness of life, against the evil spirits which are in high places (that is, in the spiritual sphere around us). All these evil powers of many kinds lie in the invisible background of human life. They have a hand in all the evils of human existence. They have an empire, the levers of which converge in the hands of the ultimate evil, Satan.
Where the evil in the world comes from is a theoretical question, and the Bible never speculates on the problem, even here. It simply makes it known that evil is, exists, and is here, invading the world as an enemy. So the situation is serious. When serious danger threatens, man does not philosophize, but defends himself, acts. Just as in the case of an imminent bomb attack, one does not ponder where the bomb that is about to strike near me is made, what its weight, make and explosive power is, but one reckons with the danger and flees. This is how Jesus speaks of evil as a threatening power, and indeed, he does not speak of evil, but of the possibility of fleeing from it. He does not explain who the evil one is, but says: "Our Father, save us from evil!"
Yes: our human existence, especially our Christian existence, is under constant threat from the attacks of the evil one. But let us not think that evil threatens us only from without, as a power outside ourselves. No! On the contrary! The secret of the attack of the evil power lies precisely in the fact that we ourselves are vulnerable, susceptible, the enemy has his bridgeheads, his strongholds within us, in our hearts, in our blood, in our desires, in the depths of our souls. The voice of our so-called old man is within us and those evil powers then orient themselves towards that voice. This old man within us is the secret agent, the ally of those evil powers, who gives the enemy signs from within and reveals to him the weak points of the fortress of individuality. Therefore, if one wishes to know the demonic powers, he should never look outward, never seek them in the outer world, but inward: within himself, within his own self. We ourselves are the place that is invaded by the evil power, and where the reality of the evil power can be recognized in our own evil impulses, desires, thoughts, words and evil deeds, that is, in our own evil. The most diabolical thing is to seek and see the devil elsewhere, in others, and not in ourselves. Believing in the devil at work somewhere else, far away from us, is the result of the devils at work within us. Not to speak of evil as a reality within us is evil in itself! Only he who has recognized the evil that has taken possession of his own inner being, that has become a driving force in itself, that has become a burning fire, that has become a paralyzing burden, knows truly what it means to cry out, "Deliver me from evil!"
Let me illustrate what I have said with just one example. Sometimes it surprises us quite unjustifiably and unexpectedly, settles on us like a fog or like a heavy storm cloud and casts its shadow over the blue sky, even on our surroundings. Perhaps we ourselves do not know why we are in such a gloomy mood, why this evil moodiness has taken hold of us. Somehow it is as someone once said: the hollow depths of human nature open up and release their secrets. Let us not belittle this phenomenon and let us not try to explain it, to justify it, to justify it, because these bad moods come from the frightening, mysterious depths where these evil powers reign. The cover which the moral power can hold for a time over the opening of the abyss is suddenly thrown off by some little thing, and the dark powers are released, and they unleash themselves in that evil mood, that evil state of mind which is most often the precursor of evil thoughts and actions. Well, we can pull ourselves together, we can mobilise our willpower, we can call upon our reason, our common sense, which tells us that we should not behave in this way, that it is harmful and intolerable for our environment! But does it help? Well: this is just one example of how much evil can take hold of us, how much it can ensnare us, fascinate us, mesmerise us, torment us!
Yet we are not helplessly at its mercy. Were it not for the deliverance from the terrifying power of evil, our Lord's Prayer would not contain this petition: "Deliver us from evil!" The same Jesus who taught us to pray in this way, in whose crucifixion this petition was already fulfilled. There, on Calvary, that is what happened: deliverance, redemption from the power of evil. For it was there that the Father gave the being he loved best, the Son, the second person of the Trinity, in human flesh, as a prey to the evil one. And because the evil one could not corrupt him and make him his slave, he poured out his wrath on him. He wanted to destroy him in body and soul. All his wrath was poured out upon Him, and He bore it all humbly and obediently until He sighed on the cross: It is finished! He is finished, for He has corrupted the power of evil, delivered man from its bondage, and as the Prince of Life, He lives by the Holy Spirit of the risen and ascended Lord in all who turn to Him, who receive His satisfaction by faith. Thus the great battle is won, evil is conquered, and now all power is but the waning power of the retreating, defeated host over those who accept the Saviour and deliverance by faith.
It is to this deliverance that we cling, as the drowning man clasps with both hands the life-belt thrown to him, when we pray, Deliver us from evil. With this prayer we embrace the Cross, where we have real deliverance from evil! As the Word of God says, "If the Son sets you free, you shall be free indeed!" Not in the sense, of course, that we will also be free from the attacks of the evil power, and in fact, as long as we live, we will never be out of the sphere of influence of the evil power. The power of darkness is always attacking again, but we know that that power is already broken. We can enter the most serious battle with the certain belief that Jesus has already won. If you detect his approach in something, say to his eyes what he least likes to hear: "You are a defeated enemy, you are a defeated power!" Hold fast to your faith that you are redeemed, that Christ has redeemed you, that you are not forced to yield to evil! He who truly clings to God's saving grace with this fervent plea, "Deliver me from evil," will always find that there is indeed deliverance for him from evil!
This petition of the Lord's Prayer, like all the others, is in the plural first person. In this petition, then, Jesus includes the petition for the whole created world: for the world which, according to the words of the Word, has been brought into futility and which, in its Christless misery, is still groaning and groaning, even now, unconsciously waiting for deliverance from the bondage of corruption. "For the created world was brought into subjection to vanity, not willingly, but because of him who brought it into subjection. In the hope that the created world itself will be delivered from the bondage of corruption to the freedom of the glory of the sons of God. For we know that the whole created world groans and groans together until now." (Rom 8:20-22) And the very man who has already experienced deliverance from evil through Christ is unable to look with indifference on any misery or trouble in the world, as having nothing to do with it, but the sight of evil makes him plead, "Lord, deliver us, men, the world from evil!
Let us not complain and grieve at the sight of the misery of the world, but let us seek help against it from where there is deliverance! Whoever has come to know Jesus Christ can no longer bargain with any of the evils of the world - war, hostility, disease, poverty - can no longer accept that all this is fate and therefore unchangeable, but knows that he can do something in any case in the face of the misery of the world: he can cry out, he can beg: 'Save us from it, Lord, deliver us from evil!' Yes, whoever has once tasted the salvation of Christ in his own life can no longer escape from hungering and thirsting for what is better, what God has promised to the whole created world, the ultimate victory, what we read of in the writings of Peter and John the Apostle: "We look for a new heaven and a new earth according to His promise, in which dwells righteousness, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death, neither mourning, nor crying, nor pain, for the former things are passed away!" - It is for this ultimate consummation of salvation that Jesus teaches us in the last petition of the Lord's Prayer to cry out, to cry out - and behold, He Himself cries out and pleads with us, for this is our prayer: the Lord's prayer!
Let us bear witness, then, to the power of our Lord, who also delivers us from evil:
As the Lord lives, his promise stands:
The devil and all the wiles of the world
The devil and all the world's world shall be ashamed of us!
We believe in the Lord, we believe in him,
His power is infinite:
We shall have the victory...
(Canto 393, verse 2)
Amen
Date: 13 March 1955.
Lesson
Ef 6,11-18