Continuing this overview of the Lord’s Prayer, we’ll look briefly at the next phrase and what it might mean to pray ‘your Kingdom come’. The Kingdom of God is a vast subject – mainly because it’s a theme that runs right through the Bible – so we can only scratch the surface here, but hopefully uncover some useful thoughts about the Kingdom.

In the UK we’ve been used to having a Queen as head of state for some 70 years and are still getting used to having a King. Ours is a constitutional monarchy, with the King or Queen having limited powers. But in God’s Kingdom, God is an absolute monarch – what he says goes, there is no higher authority, and he is not subject to anyone or anything.

It started at Creation with God as absolute authority making everything by a word of command, granting men and women dominion over the earth and giving them commands to follow. 

Adam and Eve’s rebellion (the Fall) meant they were expelled from the Kingdom, meaning they no longer had direct access to God and were subject to decay and ultimately death. As their children (and subsequently the whole human race) were born after the Fall, we are all, from birth, outside the Kingdom.

The rest of the Bible is an account of how God’s Kingdom will be restored, principally bringing men and women back in (and because of humanity’s dominion mandate, the rest of creation also).

As this has yet to be fulfilled, the prayer ‘Your Kingdom come’, not only makes sense, but is in line with the whole story of redemption.

Not of this world

Jesus said that his kingdom was ‘not of this world’ (John 18:36), so it is not like other kingdoms. It is not bound by time or place because it is spiritual in nature, not physical. It is centred around its King – namely Jesus. When he started his earthly ministry, both Jesus and John the Baptist said that ‘the Kingdom of heaven is at hand’¹ (Matthew 3:2, 4:17). 

That is a remarkable thing. Human beings have been banished from the Kingdom, but Jesus’ appearing meant that God was providing a way back. The barrier to our entry – sin – was being dealt with by Jesus taking that punishment – death – on our behalf. It being a spiritual kingdom means that we cannot come back in on our own, it requires a spiritual action. Jesus called this being ’born again’, or ‘born from above’ (John 3:3).

To come back into the Kingdom means there must be a change in our hearts (as we cannot continue in rebellion) so that we may begin to reflect the values and character of the King. This is not an instant thing but is probably what Jesus meant in many of his parables which describe a process of growth in the Kingdom from a small start. (See Matthew 13).

Matthew’s Gospel has been called a ‘Kingdom Manifesto’, and in the Sermon on the Mount in particular, Jesus describes the character or the heart of those who belong. They are in stark contrast to the values of worldly ‘kingdoms’, with descriptions such as poor in spirit, mourn, meek, hunger after righteousness, merciful, pure in heart, peacemakers, persecuted and so on (Matthew 5).

The visible representation of God’s is the church, which grows through missionary work, church planting, evangelism and discipleship.

And of course, ultimately God will fully restore all things in a new heaven and new earth – meaning the Kingdom of God fully re-established with no more rebellion (Revelation 21:1-4ff).

So, when we pray ‘your Kingdom come’ we are dealing with several levels, from the grand overarching story of God bringing about a restored Kingdom, through the growth of the church, to a change in our hearts and behaviour.

We are asking God to bring about all of these things, indeed without him nothing would happen. But, interestingly, our part in this prayer is in reverse order. We may have little direct influence over world affairs; we can play a significant part in the growth of the church, whether that is in our own church or in church expansion; we have a major part to play in our own lives as we develop the fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22-23) and the characteristics of the Kingdom (Matt 5-7), seeking first the Kingdom (Matt 6:33).

It might be only three words – but ‘Your Kingdom Come’ is a powerful prayer!

1. The terms ‘Kingdom of God’ and ‘Kingdom of heaven’ mean the same thing [↩]