Smoodock's Blog

As we continue in Jesus’ model prayer (Matthew 6:9-13), we come to the second request, namely, “thy Kingdom come!” (Matthew 6:10). The first request was for God to sanctify (or hallow) his name through the lives of his children, or Jesus’ disciples (Matthew 6:9). In the second request, Jesus’ disciples are instructed to ask God to work through them, vis-à-vis through their efforts in preaching the Gospel, and enlarge his Kingdom. In other words, they request to be empowered by God’s Spirit to spread the Gospel throughout the world, bringing nations into submission to the Lord, as prophesied (Daniel 2:44-45). These things began in the days of these kings (verse-44), vis-à-vis the days of those who ruled Babylon, Persia, Greece and Rome. In other words, the Kingdom of Heaven had to have been set up in the first century AD, when Rome ruled the west and the Persians ruled the east. It wasn’t delayed, because the Jews rejected their Messiah, as some scholars would have us believe, saying it won’t be set up until sometime in the future of modern Christianity.

Biblical scholars aren’t the enemies of Christianity, but they aren’t the authors of it either. In other words, despite their knowledge of ancient history and languages, they are often wrong when they draw conclusions about the Christian faith. An example of this is that they conclude that the Kingdom of Heaven (God) was both a present reality (Matthew 4:17; 12:28; Luke 17:21), and a future consummation (Matthew 6:10; Luke 11:2; John 18:36). However, this interpretation is contrived. When Jesus said his Kingdom wasn’t of this world, he wasn’t saying it wasn’t of this age or time; he was saying it wasn’t of this arrangement (G2889 – kosmos or world). He said as much, when he told his disciples they were to be servants rather than governors or princes (Matthew 20:25-28). Things don’t operate in the Kingdom of Heaven (God) like they do in the kingdoms of this world, so John 18:36 is not proof that the Kingdom of God has been delayed to sometime in our future.

Moreover, the phrase, “thy Kingdom come…” (Matthew 6:10; Luke 11:2) is by no means proof of a future Kingdom that must come or be established, any more than the Allied Normandy Invasions was just another battle in World War II. The Normandy Invasion established a beachhead on the European continent and this signaled the end of the war. Preaching the Gospel establishes a beachhead in one country and another, and each beachhead spreads the Kingdom of God and signals the end of the kosmos (G2889) or man’s arrangement or the status quo, which is in rebellion against God. Thy Kingdom come is a request that God would grant success for the preaching of the Gospel in this land and all others.

Preaching/praying “Thy Kingdom come…” all over the world is Jesus’ disciples’ request of God to empower them to pull down all strongholds of the mind that exalt themselves above the knowledge of God, thus, bringing every thought into obedience to Christ (2Corinthians 10:4-5). In other words, “Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10). Therefore, “Thy Kingdom come…” isn’t a request for God to establish his nation upon earth, but to establish his throne in the hearts of men, because the Kingdom of God is within us (Luke 17:21). If it is within man, then it cannot come with observation (Luke 17:20), and men cannot say: it is here or there (Luke 17:21), and maps are just as useless to find God’s Kingdom, as they are to show the thoughts of the human heart.