Thy Kingdom Come

What did this mean within the Lord's prayer?

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Permalink Reply by Colby Chase on February 2, 2012 at 2:56pm

"Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven," says Jesus in the Lord's Prayer (Matthew 6.10, KJV).

From that time on Jesus began to preach, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near" (Matthew 3.2 and 4.17, Mark 1.15).

The Apostle Paul said, "For the Kingdom of God is not just a lot of talk; it is living by God's power" (1 Corinthians 4.20, NLT).

I'm going to defer to Alain, our Kingdom expert, to elaborate further on this. :)

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Permalink Reply by Tammy_LIBAW on February 2, 2012 at 4:48pm

Funny Funny

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Permalink Reply by Colby Chase on February 2, 2012 at 7:23pm

Where's Alain? This discussion topic should be eye candy to him! :)

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Permalink Reply by Tammy_LIBAW on February 2, 2012 at 7:45pm

I know right?

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Permalink Reply by Colby Chase on February 5, 2012 at 1:01pm

What does the kingdom of God mean for us in the 21st century? What does it mean to you?

What does it mean for us to live in the kingdom of God? Does it mean that we should put into practice Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, observe his commandment to love God and each other, and to say the Lord’s Prayer, “Thy kingdom come, they will be done, on earth as it is heaven?”

Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent and believe the gospel" (Mark 1.14,15).

Announcing the Kingdom of God was at the center of Jesus' message.
But what did he mean?
What did Jesus mean when he went around telling people that God's kingdom was imminent?

In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus compares the coming of God’s kingdom to the growth of a mustard seed into a tree. Jesus says, “What is the kingdom of God like? And to what shall I compare it? It is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in the garden; it grew and became a tree” (Luke 13.18-19).

In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus says that “The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would spout and grow, and he does not know how. The earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then full grain in the head” (Mark 4.26-28).

Obviously, Jesus is referring to the seed as a metaphor. What did he intend by it?

Does it mean that the spirit of God is already at work in the world, like a seed that sprouts and grows?

The Pharisees, skeptical of Jesus, were puzzled. So, Jesus tells them, “The kingdom of God is not coming with things that can be observed; nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There it is!’ For, in fact, the kingdom of God is within you” ( Luke 17.20-21).

You and I--the body of Christ (Romans 7.4) or communion of believers (Romans 12.5)--are in the Kingdom of God of the present, which Jesus the Messiah established 2,000 years ago. We are new creations in Christ (2 Corinthians 5.17, Galatians 2.20), made alive in Christ (1 Corinthians 15.22), as sons and daughters of Christ (Galatians 3.26-27), and fill with grace-infused faith and love (1 Timothy 1.14).

At the same time, we await the final manifestation of God's Kingdom (Matthew 24.9-14), which will be ushered in by the promised second coming of Jesus Christ (2 Peter 3.1-13), the fulfillment and grand climax of the Gospel.