Citizenship “Your Kingdom Come”
Citizenship
“Your kingdom come”
It was a sad day in the history of Israel when the elders fired the godly prophet and prayer warrior Samuel and asked God to give them “a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have” (1 Sam. 8:5).
It should have been the other way around. Israel was appointed to be “a people who live apart” (Num. 23:9), and the Gentile nations should have been begging Israel to share with them the truth about their great God, Jehovah. The neighboring nations had sanctuaries, but only Israel had the glorious presence of God dwelling in their tabernacle. The nations had laws, but Israel’s law had been handed down from heaven. Israel’s neighbors prayed to man-made gods who were powerless to help, but the God of Israel is the living God who heard his people’s prayers and answered them.
According to Judges 1–2, Israel was a bad example and a poor witness to its neighbors, so we shouldn’t be surprised to see Israel imitating the pagan nations and begging for a king. Since the days of Abraham, the true and living God had been their king, and now the elders wanted to replace Jehovah with a weak, fallible human being. “Listen to all that the people are saying to you,” the Lord said to Samuel; “it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king” (1 Sam. 8:7). This was the first of three rejections in Israel’s history that ultimately brought about their worldwide dispersion and the destruction of their temple; but more about that later.
The Lord wanted Israel to be “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Exod. 19:6), but they disobeyed him and became more and more like the nations around them. Today, the church has the calling of being “a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession” (1 Peter 2:9), but are we living up to this privilege? It seems to me that the church is more and more conforming to the world instead of converting the world. Like ancient Israel, we want our leaders to do what we want and not what God wants.
When we pray “your kingdom come,” we affirm that God is King. “For the LORD Most High is awesome, the great King over all the earth” (Ps. 47:2). “The LORD reigns, let the earth be glad; let the distant shores rejoice” (Ps. 97:1). “The LORD reigns, let the nations tremble; he sits enthroned between the cherubim, let the earth shake” (Ps. 99:1). “I will exalt you, my God the King; I will praise your name for ever and ever” (Ps. 145:1). Jesus Christ is “the ruler of the kings of the earth” (Rev. 1:5) and “Lord of lords and King of kings” (Rev. 17:14; see 1 Tim. 6:15 and Rev. 19:16).
We who have trusted Jesus Christ are not only citizens of God’s kingdom but also children of the King. “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. . . . Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God” (Matt. 5:3, 9). When I was confirmed, our confirmation hymn was “A Child of the King,” and the song has come to my mind often during these many years of ministry. The third verse reads:
I once was an outcast stranger on earth,
A sinner by choice and an alien by birth;
But I’ve been adopted, my name’s written down,
An heir to a mansion, a robe, and a crown.
I’m a child of the King, a child of the King:
With Jesus my Savior, I’m a child of the King.
Harriet E. Buell
That may not be great poetry, but it certainly is encouraging theology. Our prayers are not in vain, for God’s kingdom is going to come. “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of the Lord and of his Messiah, and he will reign for ever and ever” (Rev. 11:15). Jesus said to his disciples, “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom” (Luke 12:32). The Father doesn’t just give us a kingdom ID card or a kingdom address. He gives us the kingdom!
What kind of kingdom is it?
“My kingdom is not of this world,” Jesus told the Roman governor Pilate. “If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place” (John 18:36). Pilate was a Roman official, and when he heard the word kingdom he thought in terms of authority, force, armies, and battles. But our Lord’s kingdom doesn’t follow the Roman pattern. Our example is Jesus Christ, not Julius Caesar.
“You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them,” Jesus taught the Twelve, “and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:42–45).
Jesus told a confused Nicodemus that the only way to enter this kingdom of heaven was by believing on him and being born again (John 3:1–18). Because sin is reigning (Rom. 5:21), death is reigning (Rom. 5:14, 17); but because Christ is reigning in heaven, grace is reigning (Rom. 5:21) and spiritually dead sinners can be born again with new life!
Jesus was born a king (Matt. 2:2). The angels praised him and a royal star guided the magi who came from afar to pay homage to the King of the Jews (Matt. 2:1–12).
Jesus lived like a true king, not in pomp and splendor but in humility and poverty, for “the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Rom. 14:17). “He seemed to be doing nothing,” wrote G. Campbell Morgan. “He was gathering no army. He was making no proclamations. He was calling together no parliament of men. He was simply walking about, healing a few, speaking to individuals and companies of men.”14 How unlike the kingdom makers today!
Jesus displayed his kingship over wind and waves, schools of fish, physical diseases and deformities, and even demons. When he called men to follow him and serve God, they obeyed, even though they must have felt frightened and inadequate. The kingdom laws that he enunciated focused on love, humility, sacrifice, and forgiveness. His message was filled with paradoxes: the way to rise higher is to go lower; the way to lead is to serve; the way to receive is to give; the way to succeed is to seem to fail. Unlike many leaders, he practiced what he preached and brought glory to the Father.
He died a king, in full control of the situation. The soldiers crowned him with thorns and decked him in a mock coronation robe, bowing before him, anointing him with their spittle, and saying, “Hail, king of the Jews!” (Matt. 27:27–31). The indictment displayed over his head on the cross was “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews” (Matt. 27:37). Death did not take him; he willed his own death and in that death defeated death forever. By the grace of God, Jesus tasted death for everyone (Heb. 2:9).
Jesus proved his kingly victory by his resurrection from the dead, “because it was impossible for death to keep its hold upon him” (Acts 2:24). He ascended to heaven, the victorious King, and today is enthroned at the right hand of the Father (Acts 2:33–35). Today he is a priest “in the order of Melchizedek.” Melchizedek means “king of righteousness,” so Jesus is ministering to his church today as both King and Priest (Ps. 110:4; Heb. 6:20–7:10).
Lifted up was He to die,
“It is finished,” was His cry;
Now in heaven exalted high,
Hallelujah! What a Savior!
P. P. Bliss
One day Christ will return as King of Kings and Lord of Lords (Rev. 19:11–21). He will defeat the enemies of truth and righteousness and usher in “a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells” (2 Peter 3:13). In that wonderful new world, “his servants will serve him” and “they will reign for ever and ever” (Rev. 22:3, 5).
If Jesus is the victorious King, why is this world so fragmented and fearful? And why is the church in such disarray and seeming defeat? For the same reason that ancient Israel was divided and defeated: they rejected their heavenly King and asked for an earthly king so they could imitate the godless nations. Instead of rejoicing that they were God’s unique and special people, they imitated the pagan nations and sacrificed their distinctive witness.
One mistake often leads to another. Israel rejected God the Father when they fired Samuel. Then Jesus came to earth and Israel rejected God the Son, demanding that he be crucified. “We have no king but Caesar,” the chief priests answered Pilate (John 19:15). The Holy Spirit came upon the church at Pentecost (Acts 2) and through the apostles and other believers brought salvation to thousands of people. But Israel’s religious leaders rejected the witness of the Holy Spirit, culminating in the stoning of Stephen (Acts 7:54–60). Stephen said as he concluded his message, “You are just like your ancestors: You always resist the Holy Spirit” (Acts 7:51).
Israel’s rejections meant the loss of their God, for the leaders had rejected the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit! The Lord did not reject his people (Rom. 10:21), but he turned from Israel to the Gentiles (Acts 10), fulfilling the words of Jesus, “Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit” (Matt. 21:43). That “people” is the church, “a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light” (1 Peter 2:9).
Christians are a special people called to accomplish the special task of making Christ known throughout this dark and doomed world. The word translated “declare” in 1 Peter 2:9 means “to proclaim, to advertise.” Our task as a chosen people is to advertise by our words and deeds the glorious virtues of Jesus Christ. We are to live and serve in such a way that others will want what we have in Jesus Christ.
But how can the church advertise the virtues of Christ if the church is imitating the world? We have been called to shine as lights, not to reflect as mirrors. We don’t belong to this world system (John 17:14–19) but to a heavenly counterculture that is hated by the same world system that hated Jesus and crucified him. This spiritual kingdom did not originate from the world nor is it sustained by the world (John 18:36–37). If we pray “your kingdom come” while at the same time compromising with the world, we are hypocrites and our prayers will not be answered.
If we sincerely pray “your kingdom come,” there are some conditions to meet. Our lives must be different from the lives of the lost people and the careless Christians around us. People who really want Jesus to come and who look forward to his glorious kingdom will be guided by Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonian church. Each chapter in this letter ends with a reference to the coming of Jesus Christ and tells us how we should live if we are sincerely looking for his coming.
The Thessalonian believers “turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath” (1 Thess. 1:9–10). We are worshiping and serving either the true and living God in heaven or the idols of this world. When these people turned to God, they also turned away from the useless idols they had worshiped, because they knew that no one can serve two masters (Matt. 6:24). How subtle is “Christian idol-worship” as we boast of our buildings, our finances, our accomplishments, and our statistics, instead of boasting in the Lord.
First Thessalonians chapter 2 ends with a description of the joy Paul anticipated when he would see his friends in heaven. “For what is our hope, our joy, or the crown in which we will glory in the presence of the Lord Jesus when he comes? Is it not you? Indeed, you are our glory and joy” (2:19–20). Christians who want Jesus to come back are faithful witnesses who seek to reach others with the gospel. What a tragedy it would be to go to heaven and have no one to greet you!
At the end of chapter 3, the emphasis is on love and holiness (vv. 11–13). If we don’t love others and live godly lives, why would we want Jesus to come back and find us in a state of disobedience? Our Lord’s parable of the unfaithful servant (Matt. 24:45–51) tells us what happens to believers who mentally postpone Christ’s coming and begin to abuse people and neglect their ministries. How can we long for his appearing (2 Tim. 4:8) if we don’t walk in the light and walk in love?
Encouragement is the theme of the closing verses of 1 Thessalonians 4. The believers in Thessalonica were not having an easy time of it: the church was being persecuted and some of the believers had died. Paul assured them that when Jesus returned, their suffering would be turned to glorious joy and they would be reunited with their loved ones. This is the greatest comfort we have in the midst of suffering and sorrow. We must not see our Lord’s return as an escape from burdens and battles but as an encouragement to keep on working and warring because it is worth it!
Paul’s closing words in chapter 5 admonish us to live sanctified lives that are separated from sin and surrendered to the Lord (5:23–24). “All who have this hope in him [Christ] purify themselves, just as he is pure” (1 John 3:3). A man and woman engaged to be married will keep themselves pure, and the church that anticipates being married to Jesus the Bridegroom will stay pure in preparation for that heavenly wedding (Rev. 19:6–9).
Praying “your kingdom come” involves more than simply uttering three words. It demands the devotion and dedication of our entire being to Jesus as we eagerly anticipate seeing him! Heaven is not simply a destination; it is a motivation. Because of the cross, all born-again Christians are ready to go to heaven (John 14:1–6), but not all are prepared for the judgment seat of Christ where “we will all give an account of ourselves to God” (Rom. 14:12). “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that everyone may receive what is due them for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad” (2 Cor. 5:10).
The next time we pray “your kingdom come” we need to review our own lives and ask whether we would really be happy if Jesus came back today, or if we want him to come only to end our problems.
Near the end of Fiddler on the Roof is a brief but poignant conversation that may help us better understand the use and abuse of a future hope.
The Russian authorities gave the residents of the Jewish village of Anatevka three days to clear out and find other places to live. Mendel, son of the rabbi, says to his father, “Rabbi, we’ve been waiting for the Messiah all our lives. Wouldn’t this be a good time for him to come?”
His father replies, “We’ll have to wait for him someplace else. Meanwhile, let’s start packing.”
Like some people today, Mendel saw the coming of Messiah only as the perfect solution to the painful problems of life. Let Messiah come! In an instant, the enemy will be defeated and the village will be rescued! But the beloved rabbi had the correct approach. To paraphrase his reply: “The promise doesn’t change, only our location changes, and we can take the promise with us. The promise must not be an excuse for indolence. Now, get to work!”
During the three years of our Lord’s ministry on earth, many people expected him to break the Roman yoke and establish the kingdom for Israel. When Jesus rode into Jerusalem on what we call Palm Sunday, some of the people shouted, “Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David” (Mark 11:10). He told the crowd the parable of the pounds [minas] “because he was near Jerusalem and the people thought that the kingdom of God was going to appear at once” (Luke 19:11). After his resurrection, even the apostles asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6). Jesus didn’t deny the fact of the future kingdom; he merely told them they had other things to do first.
Yes, Jesus will one day reign in his glorious kingdom (Matt. 20:20–28; Rev. 20:4–6), but until then he reigns in and through “those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness [who] reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ” (Rom. 5:17). The kingdom of God on earth is wherever the Son of God is loved and worshiped and God the Father is glorified through obedience to his will. The gospel is “the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ” (Acts 8:12). The second and third requests in the Lord’s Prayer go together: “your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”
Church history records the embarrassment of religious people who were sure they knew exactly when the Lord would return, only to be proven wrong. This kind of prophetic presumption started back in Paul’s day, as recorded in 2 Thessalonians. Somebody brought a forged letter to the assembly in Thessalonica, claiming it was from Paul. It asserted that the day of the Lord had come and that the return of Jesus would shortly occur. Some of the saints believed this lie and quit their jobs to get ready to meet their soon-coming Savior. But this meant they had to be fed by the believers who were still faithfully working for a living.
In his letter, Paul untangled their theological confusion and then admonished the idle believers to get back to work. Jesus made it clear that his followers should be working while they are watching and waiting, for this is the best preparation for meeting the Lord at his return (see Matt. 24:42–25:30; Mark 13:32–37; Luke 12:35–48). “What I say to you, I say to everyone: ‘Watch!’ ” (Mark 13:37). This is balanced by, “Anyone who is unwilling to work shall not eat” (2 Thess. 3:10). No matter where we live on this earth, we have the promise of the Lord’s coming. But we also have the responsibility of obeying God’s will and “making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil” (Eph. 5:16).
Assuming that our character, conduct, and motives are pleasing to the Lord, does the Lord’s Prayer give us the right to ask the Father to send Jesus sooner? Is it possible that our humble prayers will help to determine when the Lord will return? Such an idea sounds preposterous, yet Jesus tells us to pray that his kingdom will come.
In 1 Corinthians 16:22, Paul prayed that Jesus might return. “If anyone does not love the Lord, let that person be cursed [anathema]! Come, Lord [marana tha]!” The Aramaic phrase marana tha can mean “our Lord, come” or “our Lord comes.” Some students think that marana tha was used by the early church at the close of the Lord’s Supper to express their confidence in the coming of the Lord, and perhaps both meanings were intended. “Our Lord is coming! Our Lord, come!”
In Revelation 22:20, the apostle John responded to Christ’s statement “Yes, I am coming soon” by saying, “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.” Once again, this can be a confession of faith or an expression of loving desire, a prayer for Jesus to return.
But the key text is 2 Peter 3:9–12.
The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare. Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming.
That last phrase, “speed its coming,” is variously translated as “earnestly desiring” (ASV), “expecting and helping to hasten the coming” (Weymouth), “looking for and hastening the coming” (NASB), and “awaiting and hastening the coming” (Williams).
Peter seems to be telling the believers (“you” in 3:1, 9, 11) that the Lord is patient with them, for they ought to be sharing the gospel and winning the lost. The Lord will one day judge the world and usher in “the day of God” (v. 12). By living godly lives and winning the lost, Christians will “help to hasten” the coming of the new heaven and new earth. God isn’t slow in keeping his promises. It’s the church that is slow in praying and in getting the message out to a lost world. Revelation 5:8 and 8:3–4 indicate that the prayers of God’s people are not lost or forgotten but are preserved in heaven, eventually to be answered. Why couldn’t this include “your kingdom come”?
When we trusted Jesus as Savior and Lord, the Father “rescued us from the dominion [authority] of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves” (Col. 1:13). The Greek word translated “brought into” pictures prisoners of war being liberated and transferred to the place where they belong. We are citizens of the kingdom of God (Phil. 3:20) and have all the rights and privileges of that citizenship, including life, liberty, and love. We have also been rescued “from the present evil age” (Gal. 1:4) and will be rescued “from the coming wrath” at the return of Jesus Christ (1 Thess. 1:10). “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:36).
Since we are privileged to be citizens in God’s kingdom right now, we must abandon our own “kingdoms” and make God’s kingdom the only one we honor and serve. To limp between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of this world is to miss the best of both, according to Matthew 6:33. Years ago, we used to sing a chorus that expressed it perfectly. I think Al Smith wrote it.
With eternity’s values in view, Lord,
With eternity’s values in view,
Let me do each day’s work for Jesus,
With eternity’s values in view.
This means, of course, living in the future tense and not being shackled by the past or pressured by the present. It means living in obedience to the wisdom of God and not depending on the wisdom of this world (1 Cor. 1:18–31). God’s wisdom is like gold, silver, and costly stones, materials that will endure the fire of God’s judgment; but the cleverness of this world system is like wood, hay, or straw, materials that will burn to ashes (1 Cor. 3:10–23).
G. Campbell Morgan wrote, “Therefore a man must be prepared to do violence to all his own wit and wisdom and cleverness, and be assured that the method of preaching the Gospel to the poor, and healing the sick, and opening blind eyes, and refusing to gather an army, and failing to call together a parliament, are the real methods of the kingdom.”15 Imagine his disappointment if he could see the way some churches are promoted today and how many “parliaments” pastors call in hopes of discovering some clever new idea.
“Your kingdom come” implies that God rules first of all in our lives and then through us in the lives of others as we pray for them and minister to them. We want God’s kingdom to rule in homes and families, in places of employment and ministry, in various government offices and agencies, and in places of authority and ministry around the world. Until Jesus comes again and establishes the kingdom of glory, we can pray that his kingdom of grace will have great influence through his church.
Someone has said, “The secret of happiness is to have someone to love, something to do, and something to look forward to.” Certainly we who have trusted Jesus have someone to love, and he asks us as he asked Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” (see John 21:15–19). Jesus didn’t ask Peter about his doctrine or his progress in preaching. He asked Peter if he loved him most of all. That’s the foundation for ministry and the first step toward happiness.
As for the “something to do,” I can’t conceive of a Christian believer with nothing to do! Once you discover your spiritual giftedness, you want to use those abilities for the glory of God and the building of the church. The joy of serving Jesus cannot be duplicated by the world.
We have something to look forward to, because Jesus is coming again. “Your kingdom come” is a prayer that he will answer; and as we wait and watch, praying that prayer will keep us awake and alert.
Someone to love means worshiping.
Something to do means working and witnessing.
Something to look forward to means waiting and watching.
“But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Phil. 3:20).
“Your kingdom come.”