The Lord’s Prayer (3) Your Kingdom Come

“This, then, is how you should pray: “‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Mt 6:9-10)

​Review
We’ve been talking about the Lord’s prayer. In the first sermon, we talked about to whom we lift up this prayer. It’s always important to remind ourselves of to whom we’re praying.
 
We’re praying to our Father who is in heaven, who sacrificed His most precious one to adopt us as His children, who never fails to love and guide us, who knows all our situations and needs even better than we do, and with whom nothing is impossible.
 
Remembering to whom we’re praying decides the kind of prayer we pray. If we’re really praying to this God who revealed who He is in the Bible, we won’t pray for things that others who don’t know Him pray for. We won’t ask what they ask. We won’t seek what they seek.
 
So, after reminding us of to whom we’re praying, our Father in heaven, Jesus began to teach what we should pray for as His people and His children.
 
First of all, Jesus taught that we should pray, “Hallowed be your name.” I said this prayer is not a proclamation but rather a petition. Through this prayer, we not only remember and proclaim how holy our heavenly Father is, but also ask Him to see to it that His name be honored, glorified, and treated holy just as He is holy.
 
God is holy because of who He is. All of His characteristics such as eternity, omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence, and more distinguish Him from all other created beings.
 
And the holy God wants His people to be holy just as He is holy, which means that He wants us to be distinguished from others who don’t know Him. So God gave His word to His people. When we follow His word, not the ways of the world, we’ll become holy and reflect God’s holiness. For that specific purpose, God has set us apart and made us holy through Jesus’ blood and the Holy Spirit.
 
But God’s purpose in making us holy isn’t only for us but for all people on earth. God wants us to be holy so that those who don’t know Him can see how holy He is through His people and come to Him.
 
This purpose is well described in Ezk 36:23. God said, “The nations will know that I am the Lord… when I am proved holy through you before their eyes.” (Ezk 36:23)
 
What God wants us to do is prove His holiness through our lives so that all people on earth can know who He truly is. And God will never stop working for His holy name. He will never stop cleansing us through Jesus’ blood and sanctifying us through the work of the Holy Spirit.
 
So, by praying, “Hallowed be Your name,” we constantly check if we’re living out this holy calling from God. And by praying this, we ask God to sanctify us and other Christians around the world through His word, Jesus’s redemption, and the power of the Holy Spirit so that God’s name would be treated holy among all nations as He deserves.
 
Your Kingdom Come
All right. That’s what we talked about last Sunday. Today I want us to move on to the next part of the prayer. Jesus taught us to pray,
 
“Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Mt 6:10)
 
I think this part is so important that I believe all Christians must be devoted to praying it.
 
While living on earth, we all hope for or dream about something. We all have different kinds of goals in our lives and go after them. And what we hope for shows what kind of values we have. Some people seek wealth, fame, or power. Others chase after happiness, self-actualization, or recognition. These motivations make us act and move forward.
 
And, there are things that we’re seeking as Christians. There are things that we’re hoping for and dreaming about as Christians.
 
It can be said that the ultimate goal of every Christian life is to enter the kingdom of God. This will happen when Jesus comes back and brings God’s kingdom with Him.
 
That’s what essentially makes Christians different and distinguished from non-believers. Christians are those who put their hope not in the world they’re living in now, but the eternal world to come, the kingdom of God. Even though they live in this world temporarily, they know that their true citizenship belongs to the kingdom of God, so they just live like travelers on earth.
 
As Hebrews 11 says,
“All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth… they were longing for a better country - a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.” (Heb 11:13, 16)
 
Here, “all these people” refers to the great people of faith listed in Hebrews 11. One of the common characteristics found in their lives is that they lived on earth as foreigners and strangers as if they had their own country to which they would return. While they were in the world, they lived by faith, longing for a better country that God prepares and promises to give them, which is in heaven.
 
That was the reason they were able to stand strong and keep their faith despite all kinds of difficulties and hardships right in front of them. Because they knew that the life they had on earth was not the end and that a much better life was waiting for them in the kingdom of God, they could endure suffering and even rejoice in it. I think that’s the kingdom perspective we all need to have if we really want to follow Christ in this world.
 
Unless we have this, unless we’re able to see what’s unseen and eternal, we’ll be easily swayed by temporary things in the world. So, to truly live out our faith and follow Jesus’ way in the world, we must have this kingdom perspective.
 
So, it’s important for us to be devoted to praying, “Your Kingdom come.” This prayer helps us fix our eyes on what’s unseen and eternal, not what’s seen and temporary. It helps us value the things that we’re to value as Christians. And it helps us continue to be interested in what God’s interested in and live for it.
 
Jesus said, “Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness” (Mt 6:33). I think this is one of the best ways to describe who Christians are. Christians are those who seek the Kingdom of God above everything else and are devoted to following the ways, principles, and rules of the kingdom, not their own interests or the ways of the world.
 
Then, what does it mean for us to seek His kingdom? What does it mean for the kingdom of God to come? How can it happen and what must we as Christians do for it? These are what I want us to think about as we’re digging deeper into the prayer, “Your Kingdom come.”
 
What Is the Kingdom of God?
But before talking about what it means for the Kingdom to come, it may be beneficial to know what the kingdom of God refers to first.
 
Let’s begin with what’s not the kingdom of God. It seems that there are some misunderstandings about the concept of the kingdom of God. 
 
The kingdom of God is also called the kingdom of heaven in the Bible. There’s no difference between the two terms. But, the term ‘kingdom of God’ is used much more frequently throughout the New Testament than the expression ‘the kingdom of heaven,’ which is only used in the gospel of Matthew.
 
So, I think the term ‘the kingdom of God’ is more appropriate to use than the kingdom of heaven. That’s not only because ‘the kingdom of God’ is more widely used in the Bible, but also because I think the term conveys what the kingdom refers to more than ‘the kingdom of heaven.’
 
Many theologians guess that the reason Matthew used ‘the kingdom of heaven’ rather than ‘the kingdom of God’ was because the original readers of his gospel were Jews, and it was a common practice among the Jews to use the word ‘heaven’ instead of ‘God’ because they didn’t want to directly refer to God.
 
It's like how they prefer to call God ‘Adonai,’ which means “master” or “Lord,” rather than YHWH, which is one of the names of God written in the Scriptures. Even though we pronounce it Yahweh, no one actually knows how to pronounce it.
 
That’s because the Jews considered this name of God so holy, they would not pronounce it aloud. Because they were afraid of taking God’s name in vain, they would replace the word YHWH with Adonai when reading Scripture aloud. And theologians think that that may be the reason Matthew changed the term ‘the kingdom of God’ to ‘the kingdom of heaven.’
 
Thus, Matthew probably didn’t use the term to reveal where the kingdom is located. To Matthew, ‘heaven’ was simply an alternative word for God. The Jews at that time would’ve thought that way too.
 
So, whenever you find the expression ‘kingdom of heaven’ in Matthew, you can always read it as ‘kingdom of God.’ You might say that the kingdom of God is a more accurate way of referring to it. I also personally prefer to use ‘the kingdom of God.’
 
There’s nothing wrong with using the term ‘the kingdom of heaven’. It’s written in the Bible. Nevertheless, the reason I’m explaining this is because using the word ‘heaven’ can cause misunderstandings about the kingdom of God.
 
Even though the expression ‘kingdom of heaven’ only appears in the book of Matthew and the rest of the Bible uses the expression ‘kingdom of God,’ it seems that many Christians tend to use the term ‘the kingdom of heaven’ more frequently than ‘the kingdom of God’.
 
Again, it’s not wrong to use ‘the kingdom of heaven’. But the problem is that their understanding of the word ‘heaven’ is likely different from the meaning Matthew intended. Matthew didn’t use the word to reveal what the kingdom is.
 
But it seems that many Christians understand ‘heaven’ as the place where the kingdom of God is located. So they think of the kingdom of God only as a spiritual realm that Christians’ souls go to after death.
 
That’s not what Jesus taught about the kingdom of God. If we carefully read what Jesus said about the kingdom of God in the four gospels, we’ll understand how it is different from what we might think it is.
 
This is what Jesus first proclaimed as He started His ministry in earnest.
 
“The time has come. The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!” (Mk 1:15)
 
Jesus didn’t say “believe the good news” to go to the kingdom of God. We should repent and believe the gospel because the kingdom has come with Jesus Christ.
 
When Jesus healed a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute, the people around Him were astonished and said, “Could this be the Son of David?” The Pharisees definitely didn’t like it. So, out of jealousy, they said that Jesus could drive out demons by Beelzebul, the prince of demons.
 
And this is what Jesus said to them,
“If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand?…  But if it is by the Spirit of God that I drive out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you” (Mt 12:26, 28).
 
Here, Jesus again used the verb ‘come’ rather than ‘go’ regarding the kingdom of God.
 
In Luke 17, some Pharisees came to Jesus and asked when the kingdom of God would come. And Jesus answered,
 
“The coming of the kingdom of God is not something that can be observed, nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is in your midst.” (Lk 17:20-21)
 
These are some important verses that show what the kingdom of God is. The Bible doesn’t depict the kingdom of God only as a spiritual place somewhere in heaven which only our souls enter after death like some people think.
 
The biblical kingdom of God started to be built here on earth in earnest with the coming of Jesus. It’s being expanded by those who believe in Him, repent, and accept the gospel of Jesus Christ as truth, and it will finally and perfectly come true here on earth when Jesus comes back.
 
We also see this in the Lord’s prayer. Jesus didn’t teach His disciples to pray to ‘go’ to heaven, but pray, “Your kingdom come” (Mt 6:10)
 
So, the kingdom of God is not where we’re ‘going’, but what we’re waiting for, because it’s actually ‘coming’ to the world.
 
Again, the kingdom of God started to come with the first coming of Jesus Christ. It has already started but isn’t complete yet. But it will perfectly come true on earth when He returns.
 
On that day, we’ll see the kingdom coming in its glory with our own eyes. And, not only our souls but also our bodies, which will be resurrected like Jesus, will enter the kingdom of God. That’s the hope we have as Christians. That’s the day we’re waiting for.
 
That’s what John foresaw in the book of Revelation. He wrote, “I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.” (Rv 21:2)
 
I think It’s very important how we think of the kingdom of God because the way we perceive the kingdom has a massive impact on our lives.
 
If we think it is only a spiritual world in heaven, where only our souls will go after we die, we wouldn’t consider the things we’re doing here on earth as important.
 
But, if we really believe that the kingdom of God came to the earth with Jesus, is coming and being expanded now, and will be complete someday, we’ll realize that everything we do here on earth is actually related to the Kingdom of God and we’ll be more devoted to being used as kingdom makers while living in this world by proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ, helping the poor, healing the sick, consoling the wounded, and more.
 
I believe that’s what really makes the kingdom of God come through our lives. And I believe that’s what Jesus wants us to pray for as we pray, “Your kingdom come.”
 
We’ll explore the meaning of the kingdom of God in more depth next Sunday, but the essence of it is God’s sovereignty. Wherever we are, if we obey God’s will and act under His sovereignty, the kingdom of God will come, which means that we can actually experience the presence of the kingdom of God in every place, whether at home, in our workplaces, in market places, with our friends, and more.
 
On the other hand, even though we’re in church, if we’re not surrendered to God’s will and don’t acknowledge God’s sovereignty over our lives, we won’t experience the coming of God in our midst.
 
Again, the kingdom of God is not a spiritual place we’ll go after death. It’s something that we should be devoted to making ‘come’ here on earth wherever we are. And it starts with our prayer.
 
The more we’re devoted to praying the prayer Jesus taught us, ‘Your kingdom come,’ and the more we try to make it happen by surrendering our lives to God’s will, the more we’ll experience the presence of the kingdom of God in our lives. I hope that all of us here in this room know what it really means to pray “Your kingdom come” so that we can live blessed lives under God’s will for us.
 
Let’s pray.
 
[Closing prayer]
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come.
 
Dear Lord, thank you for teaching us how to pray and what we should really pray for as Your people.
 
We pray that Your kingdom would come on earth and fill every place. We want to see the whole world being filled with Your will. We want to see many people turning back to You, having knowledge of Your truth and being saved through Jesus Christ.
 
Oh Lord, please help us know the power of this prayer and how important it is in Christian life so that we will never neglect it but be more devoted to praying for Your kingdom and Your will.
 
We want to be Your kingdom makers. Please give us the desire to seek Your kingdom and Your will more and the willingness to follow it so that we can experience Your kingdom coming and Your will being achieved through our lives wherever we are.
 
We thank You for giving us this great chance to participate in Your mission for the world to make Your kingdom come and expand it.
 
Please open our eyes, minds, and hearts and let us see the true value of Your kingdom so that we can be more devoted to seeking it.
 
We pray that Your kingdom come and Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven through our lives.
 
In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.
 
[Reflection Questions]
1. What are some misunderstandings about the kingdom of God? Where do you think they come from? Why do you think it is important for Christians to know what the kingdom of God really is?
 
2. Jesus said, “The kingdom of God is in your midst” (Lk 17:21). What do you think this means? Have you experienced the presence of the kingdom of God in your life?
 
3. All Christians are called to make the kingdom of God come on earth wherever they are. What are some practical things you can do to make this happen?