If Jesus taught “the kingdom of God is near”
(Mark 1:14), “the kingdom of God has come upon you”
(Matt. 12:28), and even “the kingdom of God is within you”
(Luke 17:21), why did he also teach his disciples to pray “Thy
kingdom
come?”
We can find a clue in our last study, in which we learned that
the kingdom of God comprises both God’s reign and his
realm, his activity in governing and the area and individuals
over which he is sovereign. Similarly, in asking why Jesus
taught us to pray that God’s kingdom come, we again find
two complementary facets of God’s kingdom: It is already
here, but it is not yet fully present.
Already but not
yet
The Greek word order of this petition is “Let it come,
the kingdom of you.” In secular Greek, the word here
translated “let it come” often was used in a
theological sense, especially in prayers for a deity to come
and bring deliverance. According to Jan Lochman, the term also
is used in this way in the New Testament, where it “includes
the future but already impinges on the present.”
Such usage is consistent with the numerous New Testament
passages that help us see how God bridges time and eternity. A
notable example is Revelation 1:4, where God is called “him
who is, and who was, and who is to come.” Four verses
later, God declares, “‘I am the Alpha and the Omega,’
says the Lord God, ‘who is, and who was, and who is to
come, the Almighty.’”
In both verses, the final reference is not, as we might
expect, “who will be” but “who is to come.”
As David Chilton observes, this “is atrocious Greek but
excellent theology … God’s coming refers not simply
to the end of the world but to his unceasing rule over
history.”
God is not bound by human notions of time. Lochman notes that
in the Bible “time is not
chronos, a mechanically
measurable concept, but
kairos, the opportune hour, to
which we must react, not neutrally as waiting spectators, but
with involvement, making a decision either for or against. …
Hence we can and should make the most of the time (cf. Eph.
5:16; Col. 4:5), not letting it pass by idly but grasping it
and filling it with prayer and action.”
One way in which we make the most of our time is by praying
for God’s kingdom to come, all the while praising God
that his kingdom already is with and within us. Another
faithful response is to obey Jesus’ command to seek first
the kingdom that already is here, but not yet fully come.
Seeking what is
here
Donald Hagner translates Matthew 6:33, “So keep seeking
above all else the kingdom of God and the righteousness he
demands, and all of these things will also be yours.”
Capturing the sense of the Greek imperative, which also may be
translated “seek and keep on seeking,” Hagner adds: “The
kingdom, and the kingdom alone, is to be the sole priority of
the disciple and that toward which the disciple devotes his or
her energy.”
Imagine how our lives would look if we made seeking God’s
kingdom our sole priority; if, as individuals, families and
congregations, we unfailingly sought and practiced the beliefs
and behaviors God requires. What impact would such attitudes
and actions have on the ways we spent our time and money, on
the strength of our families, on the vitality of our churches?
Remember, the command to seek God’s kingdom above
all comes in the context of Jesus’ assuring his disciples
that they need not worry about material provisions, that God
is abundantly able to supply all their needs. In this
self-centered, anxiety-prone age, what could be more radical
or counter-cultural than constantly seeking God’s reign
and God’s realm, trusting him to honor his promise to
provide us with food, clothes and shelter?
Ours is a world in which our lives as individuals, families
and congregations seem increasingly unstable. Those who always
put God’s kingdom first and regularly pray for its coming
will find themselves blessed with the certainty and security
we all desire.
Thy kingdom come
To pray “Thy kingdom come” aids our recollection of
much that we already know, but tend to forget.
First, this petition reminds us that the kingdom of God is
not fully established on earth. God already reigns in the
hearts of those who have come to know him through his Son. But
his realm is not yet as extensive as it one day will be.
As Stanley Jaki pointedly observes, “The kingdom in which
all the poor and needy are saved, where all the weak will be
the object of kindness and all the lives of all the poor will
be saved is, of course, not of this world. Those who look
askance at the fearsome prophecy that the poor will always be
with us, may ponder the invariable failure of socialists to
equalize everything and of the inability of capitalists to
provide equity funds for everybody.”
Second, in making this request, we confess our ultimate
dependence on God. We admit that there are things we cannot
change by our own efforts. It is tempting to think that we can
usher in God’s kingdom with our own power of persuasion,
personality or program.
But Zechariah 4:6 reminds us that, “It is not by might,
nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of hosts.”
And praying “Thy kingdom come” keeps us mindful of
the fact that God alone controls the final coming of his
kingdom.
Third, to pray “Thy kingdom come” is to acknowledge
that while we do not cause God’s kingdom to arrive, God
has charged us to make his kingdom known in word and deed.
It is the vocation of every Christian and congregation to
show the world by how we now live what the kingdom of God will
look like when it comes in all its fullness. We also are
called to proclaim to a pluralistic world what God has
revealed – that he alone is ruler over all and that Jesus
Christ soon will make this reign and realm visible to all.
Fourth, we cannot with integrity pray for God’s kingdom
to come unless we renounce the powers that stand in opposition
to its coming. No one can serve two masters (Matt. 6:24), nor
can two rulers reign over one realm.
Jesus came with a message that the kingdom of God was near and
that the very presence of the kingdom demands a response from
every individual. Jesus called that response “repentance”
(Mark 1:14-15), a turning away from every other potential
object of allegiance to follow him alone.
The coming King
Finally, “Thy kingdom come” reminds us that the King
is coming.
Philip Yancey writes, “To the degree that the church
loses faith in Christ’s return and contents itself to be
a comfortable part of this world and not the advance guard of
a kingdom from another world, to that degree we risk losing
faith in a sovereign God. … The kingdom he set in motion
on earth was not the end, only the beginning of the end.”
Jesus’ earthly life and ministry brought God’s
kingdom near. His death and resurrection brought the fullness
of the kingdom nearer still. God in his sovereignty already
has set the time of Christ’s return. No human being knows
the day and hour.
But in fervent expectation of the fulfillment of God’s
reign and realm, we join our prayers with those of all God’s
people when we pray “Thy kingdom come.”
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Additional Resources
David Chilton, Days
of Vengeance: An Exposition of the Book of Revelation
(Fort Worth: Dominion Press, 1987); Donald Hagner, Matthew
1-13 (Dallas: Word, 1993); Stanley Jaki, Praying
the Psalms: A Commentary (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans,
2001); Jan Milic Lochman, The Lord’s Prayer
(Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1990); Philip Yancey, The
Jesus I Never Knew (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1995).
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