Episode 157 - Bringing Heaven Here (featuring Brad Gray & Brad Nelson)
Helping Christians make sense of their roots. Helping the Jewish community make sense of Jesus. Together, we are restoring the Jewishness of the gospel.
Most of us learned the Lord’s Prayer before we understood what it was doing. It became a ritual, something recited rather than lived.
But when Jesus’ words are returned to their original world - the Jewish people under Roman rule, the long ache for redemption, the hope of a coming kingdom - the prayer opens up in ways most modern readers have never seen. It becomes less a mantra and more a mission.
In this conversation with Brad Gray and Brad Nelson of Walking the Text, we explore why context is not a luxury but a lifeline.
Jesus wasn’t offering a poetic devotional. He was giving His disciples a framework for partnering with God, joining the story that began in the Exodus, and learning to embody the kingdom He announced.
Every line reaches back to Israel’s history and forward to God’s future, shaping a people who would carry His reign into the world.
From the clash of kingdoms under Rome, to the Jewish practice of communal prayer, to the way the early disciples finally recognized the kingdom at Shavuot, this episode invites us to see the prayer not as ancient words but as a daily blueprint.
This is what it means to bring heaven here - to live as a people formed by the Father, trusting His provision, forgiving like He forgives, and resisting the powers that distort His world.
Key Takeaways
Context is not extra; it’s everything. Jesus assumed His listeners knew the Jewish, historical, and literary world behind His words.
The Lord’s Prayer sits at the “center of the center” of the Sermon on the Mount - Matthew’s way of spotlighting Jesus’ mission.
Every phrase echoes the Exodus story and frames Jesus as the new Moses leading a new Exodus.
“Daily bread” held layers: Israel’s wilderness manna, Rome’s grain system, and the hope of Messiah’s provision.
Ancient Jewish prayer was communal, formational, and participatory - not merely expressive.
Jesus’ kingdom message is not about escaping earth but joining God’s work of renewing it.
Salvation isn’t the finish line; it’s the starting point for disciples who bring God’s reign into the world.
Chapter Markers
00:00 — Why Context Changes Everything
01:20 — What the Biblical Writers Assumed We Knew
04:20 — Discovering the Bible in “Technicolor”
06:15 — When the Lord’s Prayer Becomes Personal
09:00 — The Prayer’s Literary Center and the New Exodus
10:20 — Rome, Herod, and the Clash of Kingdoms
14:45 — Why the Disciples Needed to Be Taught to Pray
18:40 — What Jesus Is Really Forming Through This Prayer
21:00 — Kingdom, Salvation, and the Mission of Disciples
26:30 — The Phrase That Transformed Everything
29:00 — Why “For Thine Is the Kingdom…” Isn’t Original
31:50 — The Film, the Book, and the Global Project
38:00 — The Vision Behind Bringing Heaven Here
Explore more resources, teachings, and Israel study opportunities at https://thejewishroad.com.
To connect with Brad Gray and Brad Nelson, and to find the film The Lord’s Prayer and the book Bringing Heaven Here, visit https://thelordsprayer.com - your one-stop hub for the film, book, and upcoming series.
Thank you to Joshua Royal, for writing our closer song now running seven seasons straight. Listen to him at Joshua Royal Music.
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