Matt 6:10

Thy Kingdom Come, Thy Will Be Done

English Standard Version Chapter 6

Your kingdom come,

your will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven.

Nestle-Aland Greek New Testament, 28th Edition Chapter 6

10 ἐλθέτω ἡ βασιλεία σου·

γενηθήτω τὸ θέλημά σου,

°ὡς ἐν οὐρανῷ καὶ ἐπὶ ⸆ γῆς·

Your Kingdom Come...

Today we look at the second and third petitions of the Lord’s prayer. Whereas the first petition related to God, ‘Hallow your name”, these two petitions ‘your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as in heaven’ are directed outwardly to the world around us, before the final three petitions which relate to our personal needs. So the order runs; God, our neighbours, ourselves. Much as the order of priority runs in the greatest commandment;

Luke 10:27 - And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.”

What is it to pray ‘Your Kingdom come’?

Is it that God’s Kingdom isn’t here yet and we are praying for it’s arrival here and now?

Or is it that we are praying for that day when Christ returns to rule both heaven and earth with His people?

Heidelberg Lord’s Day 48/Q. 123

Q. What does the second petition mean?

A. “Your kingdom come” means: Rule us by your Word and Spirit in such a way that more and more we submit to you. Preserve your church and make it grow. Destroy the devil’s work; destroy every force which revolts against you and every conspiracy against your holy Word. Do this until your kingdom fully comes, when you will be all in all.

Jesus talked about the Kingdom as being both now and also not yet. When Jesus went out preaching and healing He would often use phrases like; The Kingdom of heaven has come near you, and The Kingdom of God is at hand. Also He preached to His followers that the Kingdom of God was ‘in their midst’ and that it was ‘within them’ rather than something entirely external.

However in His parables He also spoke of the Kingdom of God as something yet to come. That there would be a final consummation of His Kingdom.

We find this ‘end time’ fulfilment of the Kingdom of God in the apocalyptic books of Daniel and Revelation.

Daniel 7:13-14 - “I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.

Revelation 11:15 - Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.”

So, what is the Kingdom? Simply put, it is the rule of God over His creation as King.

Psalm 2

Psalm 2 (ESV)

1 Why do the nations rage

and the peoples plot in vain?

2 The kings of the earth set themselves,

and the rulers take counsel together,

against the Lord and against his Anointed, saying,

3 “Let us burst their bonds apart

and cast away their cords from us.”

4 He who sits in the heavens laughs;

the Lord holds them in derision.

5 Then he will speak to them in his wrath,

and terrify them in his fury, saying,

6 “As for me, I have set my King

on Zion, my holy hill.”

7 I will tell of the decree:

The Lord said to me, “You are my Son;

today I have begotten you.

8 Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage,

and the ends of the earth your possession.

9 You shall break them with a rod of iron

and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.”

10 Now therefore, O kings, be wise;

be warned, O rulers of the earth.

11 Serve the Lord with fear,

and rejoice with trembling.

12 Kiss the Son,

lest he be angry, and you perish in the way,

for his wrath is quickly kindled.

Blessed are all who take refuge in him.

To pray for His Kingdom to come we are praying for Him to rule as King. Not that by our prayers we make Him King, oh no, He needs no help with that one! But that the world might know Him as their King.

The LORD reigns, whether the world likes it or not, whether the world chooses to believe it or not.

I want you to note this. The scriptures speak unilaterally about the manner in which God governs. He reigns as King, He is the sovereign ruler over all of creation. There never have been any elections and there never will be!

Psalm 115:3 - Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases.

We are praying that firstly that The Reign of The King, would be established and increased on the earth. Specifically that Christ’s rule might increase in the hearts of men and women of every tribe, tongue and nation.

Isaiah 9:7 - Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.

In praying for God’s Kingdom to come Jesus commands us to pray for the salvation of the lost!

“If sinners be damned, at least let them leap to Hell over our dead bodies. And if they perish, let them perish with our arms wrapped about their knees, imploring them to stay. If Hell must be filled, let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions, and let not one go unwarned and unprayed for.” - Spurgeon

Whenever God has lit the fires of revival in His church He has always first set His people to pray for the lost. In the Hebredian revival of the 1950’s it was two old ladies who were used mightily in prayer well before anyone turned to Christ. In the early 1900’s the Lord got the young miner Evan Roberts praying for his generation to repent and turn to Jesus. Within the space of a year 100,000 souls were saved in South Wales.

JAMES E STEWART QUOTE - The World Aflame - p25

We are praying that God’s rule and reign extend both personally and corporately. What might it look like for the rule of Christ to be established in your heart? Or how about this church? Or in our nation today?

Romans 14:17 - For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

To be ruled by Christ is to be governed by righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Wow!

Secondly, we are to pray looking forward to the ultimate coming of the Kingdom when Christ returns

Rev 22:20 - He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!

As we see His rule and reign grow and manifest on earth there is a longing in us to see it fulfilled, to see Him return and reign in glory.

I’m reminded here of the excitement with which Mr and Mrs Beaver spoke about Aslan’s coming in C.S Lewis’s The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe

“Who is Aslan?” asked Susan. “Aslan?” said Mr. Beaver, “Why, don’t you know? He’s the King. He’s the Lord of the whole wood, but not often here, you understand. Never in my time or my father’s time. But the word has reached us that he has come back. He is in Narnia at this moment. He’ll settle the White Queen all right. It is he, not you, that will save Mr. Tumnus.” “She won’t turn him into stone too?” said Edmund. “Lord love you, Son of Adam, what a simple thing to say!” answered Mr. Beaver with a great laugh. “Turn him into stone? If she can stand on her two feet and look him in the face it’ll be the most she can do and more than I expect of her. No, no. He’ll put all to rights, as it says in an old rhyme in these parts: Wrong will be right, when Aslan comes in sight, At the sound of his roar, sorrows will be no more, When he bares his teeth, winter meets its death And when he shakes his mane, we shall have spring again.

This is the excitement we as believers ought to have in prayer when we look forward to the consummation of Our Lord’s Kingdom.

Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven...

The third petition is closely related to the second, they are like peas in the same pod. But what is meant by God’s will here?

There are actually at least 8 different ways that the Bible talks about the will of God. This isn’t to say that God has 8 different wills or that He is confused, He has one will, and one purpose. But since He’s God we shouldn’t be suprised that defining Him takes some doing! One pastor described it as like trying to wrap your arms around a giant redwood, you can’t ever fully grasp it but you can get a real and sufficient sense of what the try is like. The same is true of God.

Theologians talk about God’s will in a number of ways;

God’s decretive will. Meaning His decrees, that whatever He ordains should come to pass must necessarily come to pass. This side of God’s will is hidden from us. We only know it through the passing of time. For example Psalm 139:16 - “Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.”

God’s will of disposition. This speaks of what pleases Him or of what He prefers; Ezekiel 33:11 - Say to them, As I live, declares the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel?

God’s preceptive will. This being what God commands, what He prohibits, His law and His precepts to all of humanity. This side of God’s will is revealed to us by the scriptures and isn’t hidden in the sense that His decretive will is.

So which is it that we are praying might be done?

Are we praying for God’s decretive will to come about? That His plans might not be thwarted? Or perhaps we’re praying for His commands to be obeyed?

The line, ‘on earth as in heaven’ perhaps gives us some help in determining what is meant here.

We know that God already does all that He pleases both in heaven and on earth

Daniel 4:35 - all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, “What have you done?”

So in what sense is God’s will done fully in heaven but not on earth? In the preceptive sense. God’s commands are not fully obeyed on earth because of sin, in heaven where there is no sin His every command is obeyed without question. So we’re talking about obedience here.

The Sermon on the Mount 3. Thy Will Be Done

This is God’s preceptive will. God’s decretive will is what he purposed and ordained to occur from eternity past. The latter can neither be known in advance, unless revealed by God in Scripture or by prophetic insight, or thwarted. God’s preceptive will, on the other hand, consists of his precepts, commandments, prohibitions, etc. that we find in Scripture and are obligated to obey. It is to be our prayer, says Jesus, that what God has declared should happen, does happen.

SAM STORMS

Our prayer is that there would be greater obedience to God on earth; that as His Kingdom comes and His rule extends over the hearts of men and women that they might also be odebient to all that their Lord commands.

Heidelberg Catechism

Q & A 124

Q. What does the third petition mean? A. “Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” means:

Help us and all people to reject our own wills and to obey your will without any back talk. Your will alone is good. Help us one and all to carry out the work we are called to, as willingly and faithfully as the angels in heaven.

Who is able to obey the commands of God? Only those who have Him has their King! So the two petitions are inseparable. Our prayer is that as His Kingdom grows, so His subjects might become more and more faithful to Him in all their ways. On a personal level, we pray that our obedience to Him would grow even as His rule extends over all the territory of our hearts.

Pray