What to pray: Thy kingdom come
Imagine that we are sitting at the feet of Jesus as we consider the question of what to pray, for He is teaching how to pray.
We interpret scripture with scripture and not with tradition or our background. We learn from many theologians and Bible scholars, but we look to them with the Berean spirit.
Whenever we pray we pray to the honour and glory of God and to the Father. Our chief end even in prayer is to glorify Him. The second petition is “Your Kingdom come.”
All over the world, people pray because they have the common God conciousness, but they are not all praying to the God of heaven.
KINGDOM OF GOD THAT HAS ALWAYS EXISTED In the beginning GOD . . . Gen 1:1
When kingdoms and empires are no more, His Kingdom will still stand. *Ps 90:1&2 ‘From everlasting to everlasting You are God.’ *Ps 93:1&2 ‘Your throne is established from of old’ *Ps 103:15 ‘The steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting . . . ‘ *Ps 145:10-13 ‘Everlasting kingdom’ *Dan 4:34ff ‘His dominion is an everlasting dominion’
So when we pray, we are obviously not praying for this kingdom that has always established.
KINGDOM OF GOD THAT IS BEING ESTABLISHED See what Jesus said to Nicodemus in John 3:3-5. ‘You cannot see the kingdom of God . . . you cannot enter the kingdom of God.’ So the only way to be a part of this kingdom is to be born again.
There is a heavenly kingdom. The problem with Nicodemus was, as it is with every son and daughter of Adam, that he was outside of the kingdom of God. The only way of entry was through the new birth. When we say that the kingdom of God is BEING established, we are saying that people are being added to the God’s eternal kingdom. You are not far from the kingdom of God, Jesus told the man who understood the essence of the law. He was not in the kingdom yet but he was not far. Matt 19:23 speaks of the difficulty for the rich to enter the kingdom of God. We need to proclaim the GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM just as we see Jesus doing in Matt 4:23. We must pray that Gospel be proclaimed far and wide
Matt 24:14. We must tell people that they are outside the kingdom of God and that they must believe in Jesus to be forgiven of their sins and be reconciled with the King. When we pray Thy Kingdom come, we do not pray selfishly, that He come and take us into His heavenly kingdom. Instead we pray realising that we have to pray for souls and that we have a responsibility for the proclamation of the gospel.
KINGDOM OF GOD THAT IS EAGERLY EXPECTED AND WHICH IS ETERNAL Acts 1:6ff When the disciples ask Him about the timing of the kingdom, Jesus explains that the Holy Spirit would come upon them and they would take the gospel to the ends of the earth. 1Cor 15:20 The believer looks beyond the kingdom that is being established now to the time when God’s children will live with Him for ever. Rev 19:11ff gives us a beautiful picture of the coming of the heavenly Kingdom. Rev 11:15ff “The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign for ever and ever!”
Even so, come Lord Jesus
Do we understand now what we are praying for when we say Thy Kingdom come? Are you longing for His kingdom to come, the kingdom into which countless millions have been added . And we pray for GOD’S kingdom, not for ‘MY kingdom’, as people are unwittingly led by prosperity preachers to long for. We have turned our backs to to this sinful world and long to dwell in His presence and dwell with Him forever. Thy Kingdom come.