Thy Kingdom Come
In the Lord’s prayer, one of the things Jesus asks for is that God’s kingdom would come, and his will would be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Jesus is asking for God’s kingdom to reign on earth. As this prayer is a model prayer that we should base our prayers on, then we too should be asking for God’s kingdom to come to reign on earth. I think it is Jesus’ intention that as we pray this prayer, implied in this request is that WE be the agents through whom the kingdom comes on earth.
One way this is to happen is through us being ambassadors. Paul uses this term in 2 Corinthians 5:20 – “Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.” The role of an ambassador is an interesting one. The ambassador from the United States to France is a citizen of the United States, but he lives in France. While in France, he represents the interests of the United States to France. In our role of ambassadors, we perform similar tasks. When we become Christians, we become citizens of heaven. Paul states that in Philippians 3:20 when that verse starts out “our citizenship is in heaven.” We are citizens of heaven, but we are obviously dwelling on earth. In our roles as ambassadors, we represent the interests of heaven to those around us. We love our neighbors and try to do good to those around us.
Another way God’s kingdom comes to earth is to imagine us as the leading edge of an invasion force. I used to play a video game called Ghost Recon. In the game, you operated a squad of elite soldiers who were considered the “tip of the spear.” That is, they were the first enemy you would run into. Jesus in his great commission tells his disciples that “all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” Then he tells his disciples to go make more disciples from all the nations. Jesus wants world conquest, and we are to be the “tip of the spear” in that conquest. (And Jesus desiring world conquest is nothing new, as Jesus is repeating God’s original directive to man in Genesis 1:28 to “be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it.”) But Jesus’ conquest is not to be had through the means we traditionally identify with world conquest. Back to 2 Corinthians, this time in chapter 10, Paul says “For though we live in the flesh, we do not wage war according to the flesh. The weapons of our warfare are not the weapons of the flesh.” How do the “soldiers of Christ” wage their battles? The same way Christ waged them – through loving the world he came to save. Through suffering love. Through turning the other cheek. By healing those who came to harm him. By qualities and attributes as found in the Beatitudes. By trusting in God his Father even to the point of death on the cross. By giving up his life for the sins of the world. By loving those in the world. This is how Jesus conquered. Colossians 2:15 – “And having disarmed the powers and authorities, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.” Christ is ambitious - as his death was for the whole world, he wants his followers to conquer the whole world in his name.
If you can imagine, wherever the Church is, there you have a little pocket of heavenly conquest. A spot on a map where the kingdom of heaven has taken over a small bit of earth. Wherever you have Christians interacting with the world, you have Christ’s kingdom coming to bear on the world, in a battle to win over that little spot of the world. The conquest of earth is not going to be by an external invasion of heavenly warriors coming down to earth from above. (Jesus even says that when he says he’s not going to call down legions of angels). It’s going to be more like a virus that spreads from the inside out. But unlike a virus of bad or harm, it’s a virus of love spreading out and overtaking the world.
I think this is what Jesus is praying for when he asks that God’s kingdom come to earth as it is in heaven. I think when we show love to our neighbors, when we have acts of kindness and good towards others in this world, these are acts of conquest where we are doing our part to bring about the kingdom of God here on earth. The bringing about of the kingdom of God on earth is not something we need to hope for, or await for in expectation. It is something we can participate in right now. The words of Matthew 24:46 are true – “Blessed is that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns.
-Mike Hendricks