“Our Father in Heaven, your Kingdom Come…” -Matt 6:10

This second petition of the Lord’s prayer began to explode in me in our recent gathering in Hong Kong, July 22-27^th. Several thousand Chinese came to pray in unity together as family from Taiwan, Macau, Hong Kong, and mainland China.

We joined with these precious saints to seek First God’s kingdom in the midst of a swirl of political chaos, turmoil, and increasing violence. Many protests have been launched against the Chinese government asking for democracy, religious freedom, and autonomy in the city.  Several times during our gatherings, we cried out, “Father Your Kingdom Come, Your Will be done, on earth as it is in heaven,” with a great sense of urgency. To pray this second petition of the Lord’s prayer is one of the most radical things we can pray as human beings. It turns out that in this petition we are asking God to bring about the most massive revolution imaginable. 

In using the term Kingdom of God or Kingdom of Heaven the Hebrew writers were not just thinking of a place over which God would rule, but rather it was a way of expressing, “God is acting as King.” The Hebrew prophets longed for the day when God would impose his kingly rule over all of creation, ushered in by God’s Messiah, ‘the anointed one.’  On the final day, the ‘Day of the Lord,’ God would judge human wickedness, and wipe away all evil, forever reversing the effects of the fall of man! He would vindicate those who trusted in him and fill them with his Holy Spirit, bringing about the restoration of all things according to God’s original design! 

Jesus asks to pray this way “Your Kingdom Come.”  We are given the amazing privilege of inviting God’s glorious future, heaven invading and occupying earth! Not only is God’s kingdom coming, but Jesus declared in Mark 1:15, “the time is fulfilled, the kingdom of God is at hand.” The term at hand literally means, ‘come near.’ Jesus means that the reign of God, God acting as King has come near!

Does Jesus mean it is about to arrive and therefore we should get ready?  Or does Jesus mean it has arrived and we should grab hold of it and enter in?! I believe he means both!  It is here right now -already- and it is yet to come!  Jesus is announcing that in him and because of him the future reign of God has now broken into the present! 

When Jesus healed the sick, cast out devils, raised the dead, calmed the winds and the waves, multiplied bread and fish to feed the hungry, championed the poor and the needy, filled ordinary people in and with the Holy Spirit- that is the Kingdom – the blessing of the future breaking into the present! And yet Jesus also says several times that the Kingdom was still to come, sharing with his disciples several parables to be waiting and watching – ready for his return! Therefore, in Jesus, this glorious, redeeming, restoring ‘reign of God’ is already -not yet!

In another sense it might be compared to ‘veiled’ versus ‘visible.’  The already – not yet is a matter of ‘hidden’ versus ‘manifest.’ The really good news is that in Jesus, the Kingdom is already among us but often in a veiled and hidden form. When the King is present, so is the Kingdom! Indeed, the Kingdom is present only where Jesus Christ is King! Certainly, the King is here- right where you and I are – in our everyday lives, in our homes, at our workplaces, in our hospitals- and yet just behind that thin veil of hiddenness. At any point God could pull back the curtain and we would all fall on our faces and worship!

One of the interesting keys to understanding this prayer is to see how Jesus uses the verbs, ‘hallow, come, be done, give, forgive, deliver.’  Surprisingly the verbs are in the imperative. They are commands not requests. To pray the Lord’s prayer is to command not to request, “Be done - your will, Hallowed – be your name, Come - Your Kingdom” This may seem a bit audacious, but this is how Jesus taught us to pray. These verbs are also in the passive voice, which means only God can hallow his name, bring his kingdom, do his will!

The prayer is not what many believers have thought it to be, ‘let us hallow your name.’ ‘let us bring your kingdom,’ ‘let us do your will.,’ important as those things may be. Rather the prayer is, ‘Father you do it! You hallow your name on earth as it is in heaven. You bring your kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. You do your will on earth as it is in heaven!

Professor Stendahl of Harvard university reminds us that the prayer, “asks for the establishment of the kingdom of God, by God for us, not by us for God.” We are asking God to do what only he can do!

So then how ought we to pray, “Your Kingdom Come?” Of course, with each of these simple phrases you can include the who, when, where, of places, circumstance, situations and peoples as the Spirit leads! It might sound something like this:

“Father before the coming Day of the Lord, Revealwhat is invisible, Manifest what is hidden!”

“Father Unveil your Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.”

“Father let your Kingdom come in me, so it can come through me!” 

“Father act as King!  Extend your sceptre, reign and rule on earth as you do in heaven! May your Kingdom be established, be expanded, and be embraced!”

“King of Kings manifest your splendor, power and glory on the earth! Break through any darkness King Jesus! Make wrong things right! Heal the sick, bind principalities and powers, raise the dead, free the captives, reconcile enemies, reverse the effects of sin, restore broken humanity, Come and Reign without Rival on the earth!”

And at the end of each of these prayers as you add specific places, situations, peoples as the target of your prayers, you can also add, “So that’ your name might be hallowed! ‘So that’ your name might be honoredand treasured!  ‘So that,’ your name might be treated as infinitely valuable here on earth (in your home, school, church, city, nation, etc.)  as it is in heaven!

Come Thy Kingdom!

Dr. Jason Hubbard – IPC Executive Coordinator