“Your kingdom come…on earth as it is in heaven” (Matt. 6:10, ESV).
“What does this mean? The kingdom of God certainly comes by itself without our prayer, but we pray in this petition that it may come to us also.
“How does God’s kingdom come? God’s kingdom comes when our heavenly Father gives us His Holy Spirit, so that by His grace we believe His holy Word and lead godly lives here in time and there in eternity” (SC, 2nd Petition of the Lord’s Prayer).
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. Tonight we pray for God’s kingdom to come to us, here on earth as it is heaven. It seems like a strange thing to pray for, mostly because we imagine that the so-called “kingdom of God” or “kingdom of heaven” means either the Church or heaven itself. But the kingdom of God is not a place that you can visit or point to on a map. The kingdom of God is not a place at all. Rather, a better translation of the Greek would be the reign of God, because the word underlying our translation (basileia) actually has the idea of the activity of the king, rather than his dominion. In other words, the reign of God is God doing God’s job. So we pray for God to reign and rule among us.
Jesus seems to have talked more about the kingdom of God than anything else. In his preaching, he declared, “The reign of heaven is at hand!” (Matt. 4:17, CSM). It comes near. In the Beatitudes, he pronounces the poor in spirit to be blessed because “theirs is the reign of the heaven” (Matt. 5:3; cp. v. 10). “Unless your righteousness abounds more than the scribes and the Pharisees, you will most certainly never by any means whatsoever enter into the reign of heaven” (Matt. 5:20). The reign of heaven is like a man sowing seed or treasure hidden in a field (Matt. 13:24, 44). It’s like a merchant in search of fine pearls or a catch of fish (Matt. 13:45, 47). And “Except you turn and become like the children, you will most certainly never by any means whatsoever enter into the reign of heaven” (Matt. 18:3). I could go on and on, but we don’t have time for that tonight.
Many religious groups (notably, the Mormons) have misunderstood the kingdom of God to mean that they themselves must do something to bring about God’s rule and reign on earth. They imagine that it is their job to create a perfect world. For example, there is a teaching called Post-Millennialism, which is the idea that the Church will gradually convert enough people to create a perfect society here on earth. Then after a literal thousand-year theocratic rule, Christ will come again.
But the trouble with all of this is that we do not bring about the reign of God. We do not effect Christ’s coming. We can only pray for it, as Jesus tells us to do in the Lord’s prayer.
In fact, Jesus says that already, “Behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you” (Luke 17:21, ESV), or “within you” (NIV). In other words, the kingdom of God is already here! God’s gracious rule and reign is already happening! For, as Helmut Thielicke writes, “The kingdom of God is where Jesus Christ is.”
That is why Luther writes, “The kingdom of God certainly comes by itself without our prayer, but we pray in this petition that it may come to us also” (SC, 2nd Petition of the Lord’s Prayer). In other words, the reign of God is coming, whether you like it or not. The question is whether or not you will benefit by its coming.
The idea of God’s reign on earth has always caused concern for the powers that be. From its earliest history, the Christian Church came into conflict with the Roman Empire and its officials. Many early Christians were arrested or executed because they refused to worship statues of the emperor or to serve in the army (pacifism was a popular tenet of early Christianity). Governments still persecute Christians around the world today—increasingly so here in America. Indeed, Christian faith seems destined to conflict with earthly rulers. If truly Jesus is Lord, as the New Testament attests, then he is in charge. He’s the one really running the show. If Jesus is Lord, then Caesar is not! This is cause for concern.
When Pilate interrogated Jesus, he asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?” (John 18:33). Pilate was concerned with the question of whether or not Jesus was an upstart king, another wannabe messiah from Galilee to lead a rebellion against Rome. Pilate had already crucified hundreds of failed messiahs. Was Jesus destined to be the next?
But Jesus replied, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from this world” (John 18:36).
Pilate pressed: “So you are a king?” (v. 37).
Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice” (v. 37).
Ultimately, Pilate declared Jesus innocent of all charges—“I find no guilt in him” (v. 38). Yet Jesus still died for the supposed “crime” of sedition and rebellion in order to appease the Jewish mob that cried, “Crucify him, crucify him!” (John 19:6). The charge against Jesus, written on a placard and nailed above his head, read “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews” (John 19:19).
Ironically, Jesus was crucified for rebellion, even though he never once spoke against the Roman Emperor. (Quite the opposite, in fact: “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s” [Matt. 22:21]). Jesus declared that his kingdom, his gracious rule and reign, is not of this world. But it comes by the Holy Spirit to give us faith through his Word and trust to receive his grace.
All the kingdoms of the world will eventually crumble and fall just like the statue in Daniel’s vision that was smashed to pieces by a tiny stone that eventually grew into a mighty mountain that filled the earth (Dan. 2:31ff). But the reign of God will last forever. The reign of God comes not to subjugate men, but to set them free from sin and death! And the reign of God comes in the most unlikely ways: through prayer, through the Word, and through the death of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. His kingdom is not of this world, but it is for this world, because God loves the world. In fact, “God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, so that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
On the Day of Christ’s return, we shall behold him in all his glory as “King of kings and Lord of lords” (Rev. 19:16). Until that time, please remember: the reign of God comes by itself without our prayer… but keep on praying that it may come even to us. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of + the Holy Spirit. Amen.