The Lord’s Prayer: Your Kingdom Come
Often in my prayers I find myself thanking God for the kind of king He is. I am fascinated with the contrast between the way He rules and the way the kingdoms of the earth are led. This could be due to the media I consume, or the fact that the Old Testament classes I took were on the Psalms and 1 and 2 Chronicles. Either way, all this did was heighten my appreciation for how blessed we are to serve in this kingdom versus any other.
God’s kingdom was one of Jesus’ favorite topics to preach. We see it all throughout the gospels and it is prevalent here in His Sermon on the Mount. Over and over again Jesus urges us to think differently about this kingdom. In Matthew 13:44-52, He describes to His followers the true nature of what He is ushering in. He describes its value as a treasure that when found, is worth more than any other possession. He speaks of it as a rare pearl that is worth more than all of the others combined. Jesus describes the kingdom as a net that reaches down deep into the lake catching any and every fish it can, leaving heavenly beings to sort them all out later. Finally, Jesus describes those who teach in this kingdom as if they are an owner of a house that goes into storage to give away treasures, new and old to give to the people of the world.
Jesus came to bring this treasure. He came to usher in a new kingdom unlike any other before or after its inauguration. A kingdom in which all are welcome, and all are served more than they can ever serve.
In Luke 12, Jesus reassures his followers saying, “Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” This has been God’s plan from the beginning of our story. To bring us into His kingdom in which He reigns as our benevolent king. In the well-known John 3:16 we often read it as, “for God so loved mankind, that he gave his only Son” which is not as far reaching as the Greek suggests. In fact, the word for ‘world’ is Kosmos. So, we can read it as “for God so loved the earth, that he gave his only Son” or maybe even, “for God so loved creation”. We see in the very beginning: God’s partnership with mankind starts with placing them in a confined garden and instructing them to multiply, fill the earth, subdue it and have dominion over it. His will is for them to expand His kingdom out into creation, and we also see this when God chooses the Israelite people to be His kingdom and light to all other nations throughout the earth. Which brings us to the kingdom we are in today.
We are multipliers of His kingdom, filling the earth with the Holy Spirit. Our partnership with God is the same as it always should have been. Spread his kingdom from place to place, from person to person until the whole earth is filled with His glory.
So, I pray alongside Jesus today, ‘Father your kingdom come. Bring your presence and your reign into our world. Help us multiply your servants and fill the earth with your glory. Amen.’