Hello and welcome. Have you ever prayed the Lord’s Prayer? You probably have, as the Lord’s Prayer is an extremely well-known part of the Bible. You find references to it in many different places in our society, even in different religious organizations. People are almost as familiar with the Lord’s Prayer as they are with Psalm 23 or with John 3:16. You just never know where you might come across this part of the Bible in the world. Yet even though many people have read or recited the Lord’s Prayer, they may not be that familiar with what it is actually declaring; that is, they have not thought about what they are actually saying or praying to God.
So let us take a look at the Lord’s Prayer. We read in Matthew 6:9-13:
After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.
This is the Lord’s Prayer as it is found in Matthew 6. When we look at this prayer, after recognizing the glorious holy nature of God in verse 9 and that He is our Father in Heaven and that His name is Hallowed and Holy and set apart above all names, we find that the very first petition comes in verse 10:
Thy kingdom come…
“Thy kingdom come” is a prayer that is being offered up to God that He would come and establish His Kingdom, but not in the sense that some mistakenly think, which is that the Lord Jesus would come to this earth and establish an earthly kingdom for a thousand-year period.
No, that is not what the Bible has in mind by the coming Kingdom of the Lord Jesus. Instead, it is the Kingdom that God establishes as He recreates “a new heaven and a new earth,” an eternal Kingdom, extremely glorious and far-surpassing all the kingdoms of the earth as He is “King of kings, and Lord of lords” and reigns everlastingly in the presence of His people. This is the tremendous prayer that is being offered up each time we pray, “Thy kingdom come.”
This could also be, of course, an individual prayer, “Oh bring Thy Kingdom to me individually. Save me that I might become one of Thy subjects in this glorious Kingdom.”
Apparently, many professing Christians who have prayed this prayer did not understand or really mean it as they prayed, “Thy kingdom come.” We would have to conclude this because now God is opening up great news, wonderful news from the Bible that His Kingdom is coming, that it is almost here, and that May 21, 2011 is the day.
This will be a wonderful and glorious day for the people of God when they are taken into Heaven to be with their King forever and ever. Yes, there is sadness as it is also Judgment Day for those left behind. But both must come to pass. God has promised that these things must be fulfilled in order to close the book on this world and to open up that never-ending Kingdom of Heaven that He will create upon this world’s destruction.
Since this must come to pass, all of God’s people desire this to be because it is the will of God. Therefore, God helps us to pray the number one thing in the Lord’s Prayer, which is, “Thy Kingdom, Your Kingdom O God, come. Come O Lord.”
This is very similar to the first coming of Christ, that longing and desire that the Jews had for the Messiah to enter into the human race. Oh how they longed for Him! Yet sadly, when the Lord Jesus did come that first time, we read that “Herod…was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him” about His coming.
I do not think that this is a coincidence. This is history repeating itself because numerous people, professing Christians, are very troubled at this time with this information that God’s Kingdom is coming.
Why in the world would a Christian not want for God to establish His Kingdom, to fulfill His Word, to complete His promise, which is nothing but a blessing for a child of God?
It could be because they are too attached to the things of this world. It could be that they love this world far too much and that they do not want God to interfere with their plans and their ideas of happiness and what they have going on in this world.
May each one of us truly desire to see God’s salvation plan completed and His eternal Kingdom established into eternity. As we say the Lord’s Prayer with all of our heart and with full desire, may each one of us pray, “O Lord, O Father, Thy Kingdom come,” just as we find in Revelation 22:20:
He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.