Your Kingdom Come Matthew 6:10a

Transcription

1 1 Your Kingdom Come Matthew 6:10a As we have started our studies in the Lord s Prayer, we have seen that prayer is first and foremost about God and not about us. Our first three priorities in prayer are to seek the glory and honor of God s name, the coming of God s kingdom and the accomplishment of God s will. These three first petitions are all related, by necessity. How is God s name to be hallowed? Only as His kingdom comes. How is His kingdom to come? Only when His will is done. And binding all three of these petitions together is the final phrase of the first half of the prayer, which we ll look at next week on earth as it is in heaven. We want God s name to be hallowed on earth as it is in heaven. That will happen only as God s kingdom comes on earth as it is in heaven. His kingdom comes as His will is done on earth as it is in heaven. I. The Nature of God s Kingdom But before we go any farther, we have to ask, What is God s kingdom? What does Jesus mean when He teaches us to pray Your kingdom come? A. God as King We begin with the truth that God is the King. He reigns absolutely over heaven and earth. Psalm 103:19 says, The LORD has established his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom rules over all. When King Nebuchadnezzar raised his voice in arrogant boasting in Daniel 4, God humbled him and made him insane for seven years. Finally, God restored Nebuchadnezzar s senses and he praised God in Daniel 4:34-35 I blessed the Most High, and praised and honored him who lives forever, for his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom endures from generation to generation; 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?

2 2 So God is the king absolutely, without rival, without equal, without any challenge to His authority. He is the absolute sovereign monarch of the universe, of all things seen and unseen, in heaven and on earth. So why would we pray for God s kingdom to come, if He s already the absolute king and ruler of all? Well, there is another sense in which we can read the Bible and look around us and know that all is not as it should be. God is absolute king, but He is not honored everywhere as King. He rules with sovereignty over all and does whatever He pleases and no one can resist His will, and yet not everything that is done is pleasing in His sight. Not everything is done according to His revealed will and His moral character. God reigns as King, and yet is name is not hallowed and His will is not done on earth as it is in heaven, is it? B. Man as God s Image Bearer To understand this, we have to go back to the fact that God created man in His image. In Genesis 1:26-28, we are told that God made man in His image, after His likeness and gave him dominion over the earth. By making man in His image and giving him dominion over the earth, God was establishing the principle that He would reign over His world through man as His vice-regent, His representative. That s what it means to be made in God s image. It is to represent Him, to rule under Him over His world. Of course, to rule well, man has to be like God, to be righteous as God is righteous, so that God s moral character would be represented faithfully by man and God s righteous will would be carried out in the world. Of course, we all know what happened, Adam and Eve rebelled and rejected God s rule over them. Instead, they placed themselves under the authority of Satan, a mere creature of God, and lost their righteousness as they fell into the corruption of sin. So, praying for the coming of God s kingdom is praying for God to reign over the hearts and lives of people on earth, so that God s original purposes would be

3 3 fulfilled, that God would reign over the earth through man, who would faithfully reflect His image. II. The Coming of God s Kingdom The story of the coming of the Kingdom of God is really the main story of the whole Bible. As soon as Adam fell into sin, God promised a coming seed of the woman who would crush the head of the serpent, in Genesis 3:15. A. Promised in the OT Beginning in Genesis 3:15 and continuing throughout the Old Testament, the coming kingdom of God was in its promissory phase, a time of anticipation, of waiting for God s King to come. The coming of the One who would redeem God s people from the curse of sin and the fall and usher in God s kingdom in its fullness is something God promised to His people again and again, at various times and in various ways. One of the earliest books in the Bible is Job. Job probably lived at the same time as Abraham and Isaac, though we don t know for sure. He was a righteous man, and in the midst of his distress over his affliction, he testified of his confidence in God s coming redeemer. In Job 19:25, he says, For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth. Later, in the days of the Exodus, as Israel was preparing to enter the Promised Land, we are told in Deuteronomy 18:15 that the One to come would be a great prophet, like Moses. David was promised, in 2 Samuel 7, that he would have a descendent who would sit on his throne as King forever. Psalm 110 tells us that the One to come would be a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek, who was both king and priest. This anticipated, coming prophet, priest and king eventually came to be called The Messiah, which is Hebrew for the Anointed One. He was also called the Son of David, though Jews anticipated that he would be greater than David. One of the most powerful and clear pictures we get of the coming Messiah comes in Isaiah 9:6-7, where the Messiah s Throne Names, or Royal Titles, are given For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

4 4 Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 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. Here we are told that this coming king would reign forever; His kingdom would know no end. That s the same thing Nebuchadnezzar said about God s Kingdom in Daniel 4. The Royal Titles are so powerful and clear: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Clearly, this coming Messiah would be a ruler unlike any other! B. Realized in Christ The age of anticipation and waiting and promise finally came to an end when God gave the final promise of the coming of Messiah to a young woman in Nazareth, Mary. She was a virgin and she was told very clearly by the angel Gabriel that the son born to her would be the holy Son of God. When Jesus stepped into His public ministry at the age of 30, He did not say, The kingdom is coming. Messiah is coming. No, He said, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. And so the kingdom of God arrived in Christ, as He made clear in His own earthly ministry again and again. This is true because Jesus is the restored image of God in man. As the only person who has ever been fully God and fully man, and the only One who had the perfect and completely righteous character of God, He is the perfect image of God. Colossians 1:15 says of Jesus, He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. Hebrews 1:3 says, He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature. Christ is the restored image of God. He also known as the Second Adam or the second man because in His coming, He becomes head of a new humanity, the redeemed image-bearers who belong to the kingdom of God.

5 5 So, in a key sense, the coming of the kingdom of God is all about the restoration of the image of God in people. Another way the Bible talks about the restoration of the image of God to its rightful function is in the word righteousness. Remember in Matthew 5:20, Jesus said, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. And then at the end of Matthew 5, Jesus said, You, therefore, must be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect. To be in the kingdom of God, we must be a righteous image-bearer because God s kingdom is all about His will being carried out on earth by those who bear His image and reflect His righteous character. Jesus brings the kingdom because he brings perfect righteousness, the restoration of the image of God in man in Himself, in His own life and person. He then dies to take our sins upon Himself on the cross and give us His righteousness in exchange and rises again to conquer death and bring in an eternal kingdom, an everlasting kingdom, which is rooted in His inextinguishable life. So, Jesus is God s King because Jesus perfectly bears God s image in His perfect righteousness and full obedience. Jesus brings the kingdom because He fulfills all righteousness and then gives that righteousness to all who trust in Him. C. Enacted through the Proclamation of the Gospel This is why theologians have called this kingdom of God which has come in Christ the kingdom of grace. It is only by grace that we enter this kingdom as we trust in Christ and receive His righteousness as a gift. If we try to earn our way in, like the Pharisees, we will find that all of our attempts at righteousness are filthy rags in God s eyes and we will by no means enter the kingdom of God. It is only by grace that we may enter and come, by the blood and righteousness of Jesus. If we have entered God s kingdom by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, we then will pray Your kingdom come, which means two things: we want to see more and more people enter the kingdom of grace by trusting in Jesus and also that we want to see the kingdom of glory come. The kingdom of grace is a temporary period of time, when the Gospel is being preached and people can enter God s kingdom by trusting in Jesus. One day, the kingdom of glory will come when Jesus comes in His full glory. And the kingdom of glory will be forever. Meanwhile, we are called to pray Your kingdom come, which means we are called to long for the kingdom of grace to expand and grow.

6 6 The Westminster Shorter Catechism, Question 102: What do we pray for in the second petition? Answer: ln the second petition, which is, Thy kingdom come, we pray that Satan's kingdom may be destroyed; and that the kingdom of grace may be advanced, ourselves and others brought into it, and kept in it; and that the kingdom of glory may be hastened. This very helpful question and answer shows us a few things: 1. The kingdom of grace is opposed by Satan s kingdom. Of course, we know this. The church on earth is called the church militant because we fight a battle against an enemy kingdom, Satan s kingdom. But as we fight, we have the promise of Jesus from Matthew 16:18, I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. 2. The kingdom of grace is an advancing kingdom. The gates of hell are Satan s defense against the advancement of God s kingdom of grace, but they will not stand. The gospel will go forth and bear fruit and advance throughout the whole earth. 3. We ought to be seeking to see others brought in and kept in God s kingdom of grace. 4. We are also praying urgently for the coming of the kingdom of glory. We need to not miss the obvious truth and its implications: The kingdom of God comes through the proclamation of the Gospel by the church and as the church carries the Gospel into the world. Jesus said of His kingdom agenda that He would build His church. What does this mean? Habitat for Humanity is building a house here in Cheraw. They had the official groundbreaking yesterday morning, although work began a couple of weeks ago. Habitat has a sweat equity policy, where the homeowners contribute to the building of the house. They work for the house they will inhabit. God calls us in the church to not only pray for the coming of the kingdom but to work for it, too. If we are serious about praying for God s kingdom to come, it means we must be passionately committed to the church and to the mission of the Gospel. There is no such thing as a commitment to God s kingdom without a commitment to the church. The stronger and deeper our commitment to God s kingdom, the stronger and deeper our commitment will be to the church. And how does the church advance the kingdom of grace in the world, but through evangelism and missions! If we are serious when we pray Your kingdom come, we must be passionate about evangelism and missions, about

7 7 the Gospel going out to our neighbors and our community and to the ends of the earth. Listen, I ll be blunt: If you re lukewarm in your commitment to the church, coming when it s convenient, doing what s easy, looking to be served rather than to serve, then maybe you should stop praying Your kingdom come because you don t really mean it. If you re not passionate about evangelism and missions, about the advancement of the kingdom of grace in the world, then maybe you should stop praying Your kingdom come because you don t really mean it. Instead, you might need to start praying like this: Lord, let Your kingdom come to my heart. Let me love Your kingdom and long to see You reign in this world through Your church taking the Gospel to the nations. I need to love You, to love Your kingdom, to love Your church and Your Gospel, and to love Your mission in the world more than I do. Bring Your kingdom more and more to my heart, Lord. Also, if you ve prayed this prayer thinking mostly, Come, Lord Jesus, Get me outta here, then you have not prayed this prayer as Jesus intended. His kingdom comes here and now through His church as we preach the Gospel, share the Gospel and take the Gospel to the nations. D. Consummated in the Second Coming We are to long for and pray for the coming of the kingdom of glory, but we need to see the connection between the coming of the kingdom of grace now and the kingdom of glory to come. What is the connection? Thomas Watson: These two kingdoms of grace and glory, differ not specifically, but gradually; they differ not in nature, but in degree only. The kingdom of grace is nothing but the beginning of the kingdom of glory. The kingdom of grace is glory in the seed, and the kingdom of glory is grace in the flower. The kingdom of grace is glory in the daybreak, and the kingdom of glory is grace in the full meridian. The kingdom of grace is glory militant, and the kingdom of glory is grace triumphant. There is such an inseparable connection between these two kingdoms, grace and glory, that there is no passing into the one but by the other. The families who receive Habitat for Humanity homes long to be in their new home, but they realize the home must be built first, and so they work hard to help build the home they will live in.

8 8 And Jesus said, in Matthew 24:14, And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. So only when the gospel of the kingdom of grace has been taken throughout the whole earth, and all have received the testimony of Jesus, will Jesus come again. And He will come again! He will return in glory and bring in the full righteousness of God. On that day, when Jesus comes again, then the kingdom will come on earth as it is in heaven. God s name will be hallowed and we will reign with Christ over God s creation forever, free from sin and full of glory! And so we pray, Come, Lord Jesus, even as we passionately work to build up His church and take the gospel of grace to the nations.