The Presbyterian Layman Foundations of the Faith
Thy kingdom come
Robert P. Mills, Posted Friday, Jul 6, 2001
Suggested Scripture Readings: Psalm 72; Matthew 6:10, 24-33; Rev. 1:4-8 |
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?
“The kingdom [Jesus] set in motion on earth was not the end, only the beginning of the end.” – Philip Yancey |
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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