"The Lord's Prayer: Thy Kingdom Come, Thy Will Be Done"
1 Samuel 2
Psalm 72
Matthew 6
"Thy Kingdom Come"
What does it mean?
First, we must ask, "what is the kingdom of God?"
And what does it mean for God's kingdom to "come"?
The Kingdom of God, or the Kingdom of heaven, is not primarily a territorial designation
-as in the Roman Empire-
Rather, it refers to the reign and rule of God.
When John the Baptist declares, "repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand"
he is announcing that everything promised to Israel in the OT is about to happen.
The universal reign of Yahweh is at hand.
And the coming of the kingdom is seen in its full light as "the coming of God himself as king."
1. The Coming of the Kingdom in Jesus
Hannah's prayer as the expectation of Israel
1) the holy name of Yahweh (1-2)
2) the rule of our God (3-8)
In justice vs. the arrogant
For the poor
Vs. his enemies
For his people
3) the rule of his anointed (9-10)
Mary's prayer in Lk 1 echoes aspects of this prayer (as we'll see in a couple weeks)
She understands that all that was promised in Hannah's day
is coming to pass in her own day.
The LORD will indeed judge the ends of the earth;
He will give strength to his king
and exalt the power of his anointed.
And now that king has come.
Matthew's gospel begins with the "book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David,
the son of Abraham.
And he gives the royal line from Abraham to David in 14 generations,
from David to the exile in 14 generations,
and from the exile to the Christ in 14 generations.
This traces the royal line to show that Jesus is the true heir of David,
a rightful claimant to the throne.
When the angel announces to the blessed Virgin Mary that she will bear the savior,
Matthew explains that this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet,
and then quotes from Isaiah 7:14,
a passage which is speaking of the sign of "Immanuel"
a child who would signify the coming of God to dwell with his people-
which, after all, is the same thing as the coming of his kingdom!
In Matthew 2,
Jesus is born in Bethlehem-the royal city of David,
from which Micah had said "a ruler shall come
who will shepherd my people Israel." (Micah 5:2; Mt 2:6)
And so even as the wise men from the east seek to worship this king,
Herod the Great seeks to destroy him.
In Matthew 3,
John the Baptist comes preaching in the wilderness,
and what is his message?
"Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!"
And here Matthew cites Isaiah 40:3,
"The voice of one crying in the wilderness:
Prepare the way of the LORD; make his paths straight."
Isaiah 40 spoke of the coming of the LORD to restore Jerusalem,
the coming of the LORD to re-establish his kingdom.
In other words,
this is the end of the exile.
If, as Matthew has reminded us,
the kingdom fell in the days of Jechoniah and his brothers,
then the fourteen generations since have been living in exile.
Yes, the Jews were living in the land,
but there was no king.
And without the Son of David sitting on the throne,
The exile was not yet really over.
But now John comes, proclaiming that the kingdom of God is at hand.
The Lord is coming to restore his rule,
and this time it will not merely be a localized kingdom,
this time he will come bringing the Holy Spirit and fire.
John says "I baptize you with water for repentance,
but he who is coming after me is mightier than I,
whose sandals I am not worthy to carry.
He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire."
When the kingdom comes, the Holy Spirit will come.
This was the great promise of Joel 2
"In the last days, I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh,"
and Ezekiel 36
"I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes."
This was the day that Moses longed for:
"O that all of the LORD's people were prophets,
that the LORD would put his Spirit on them!" (Num 11:29)
And so our Lord, Jesus Christ, himself first receives the Spirit at his baptism at the Jordan.
And the Father speaks from heaven,
"This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased."
Jesus is here revealed as the anointed one,
the king, in whom the kingdom comes.
And Jesus does the work of the kingdom.
Mt 4:22-25 (read)
This is what Hannah had prayed for.
This is what happens when the kingdom comes.
But now Jesus tells us to pray,
"Thy kingdom come."
What does this mean?
Hasn't the kingdom already come in Jesus?
2. The Coming of the Kingdom in Us
The Sermon on the Mount is all about the coming of the kingdom.
Jesus is talking about how to live in the kingdom of God.
Matthew 5:17-20.
In Jesus, the kingdom of God is establish.
In Jesus, the kingdom has already come.
The king is sitting on the throne at the right hand of God.
Do you submit to his rule?
The fact that the king has come and established his kingdom
does not mean that everyone acknowledges his rule!
Therefore the statement that the kingdom has come
does not mean that the story is over!
No, indeed!
Instead, the kingdom has come-
therefore you must bow your knee and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord!
And you must live in a manner that is pleasing to your king!
And so we pray, "thy kingdom come!"
Q. 102. What do we pray for in the second petition?
A. In the second petition, which is, Thy kingdom come, we pray that Satan's kingdom may be
destroyed; and that the kingdom of grace may be advanced, ourselves and others brought into it,
and kept in it; and that the kingdom of glory may be hastened.
When Jesus came, he healed disease and cast out demons.
By this he demonstrated his power over the kingdom of Satan.
And in his death he cast out the Devil himself.
"Now is the prince of this world cast out" Jesus declared in John 12:31.
Now we pray "Thy kingdom come"
May your kingdom continue to advance.
May your victory over Satan continue to bear fruit throughout the world.
May we and others be brought into your kingdom.
May we and others be kept in your kingdom.
May we live as citizens of this kingdom-
as those who are no longer our own,
but who belong to you, O Christ.
And notice the distinction the catechism makes:
may the kingdom of grace be advanced;
and may the kingdom of glory be hastened.
These are not two separate kingdoms.
Nor is it the case that the kingdom of grace has no glory,
nor that the kingdom of glory has no grace!
Rather, this refers to a simple distinction between the two stages of the kingdom:
Now we live in the kingdom of grace-
the era where the kingdom advances to the ends of the earth by grace.
But we eagerly await the day when the kingdom will come in all its glory.
By the grace of the kingdom we come to glory of the kingdom.
How often do you pray,
"Thy kingdom come"?
When you are in the middle of a hectic week,
or when you are focused on a major project,
do you pray, "Your kingdom come"?
It would change your focus if you did.
(My painting)
To pray for the coming of the kingdom of God
is to pray that his will would be done-not mine.
3. The Coming of the Kingdom and the Will of God
Q. 103. What do we pray for in the third petition?
A. In the third petition, which is, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven, we pray that God,
by his grace, would make us able and willing to know, obey, and submit to his will in all things,
as the angels do in heaven.
After all,
if we are praying to "our Father in heaven"
then we are claiming to be children of God.
And children are to obey their Father.
Indeed, we are to reflect our heavenly Father
by looking like him.
"The proclamation of the salvation of the kingdom of heaven,
the remission of sins,
and God's fatherhood are indissolubly bound up with the duty of doing the Father's will"
Think back over the sermon on the Mount:
The beatitudes are followed by the commandments.
Jesus declares the blessedness of the kingdom,
and then declares the commandments of the kingdom.
Jesus goes so far as to say in Matthew 5:20 that
"unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and the Pharisees,
you will never enter the kingdom of heaven."
But what is the motivation of this righteousness?
Why do we do the will of God?
Look at Matthew 5:45.
Why do you love your enemies?
Why do you pray for those who persecute you?
So that you might be sons of your Father who is in heaven.
Good works are the manifestation of the sonship of believers.
We do God's will because we are his children.
So as you pray this week,
pray that the kingdom of God might come.
Pray that the rule of Christ would be made manifest in your life.
Pray that God's will would be done in you,
and in those around you.
And pray this for the church.
Pray this for Michiana Covenant Presbyterian Church.
Pray that the kingdom of God advance in our midst.
Pray that we, as a body, would do his will.
And pray this for me.
God has called me to be your shepherd,
a herald of the kingdom in your midst.
Pray that I might proclaim the Kingdom of Christ with boldness.
Pray that I might be a faithful example to you,
and to my family.
And pray this for the nations.
Pray that the gospel of the kingdom would go forth to the ends of the earth,
and that those who live yet under the yoke of the kingdom of darkness,
would believe in Christ,
and be transferred into the kingdom of light by the grace of God.