Your Kingdom Come, Your Will Be Done On Earth As It Is In Heaven
What does it mean for God’s Kingdom to come? What would that look like? It looks like the King, like Jesus! We must pause for a moment and ask ourselves what the King’s ministry on earth in the very early first century looked like. First, we see that the King’s character was irreproachable. We see that Jesus was both strong and gentle. He invited but did not coerce people to follow Him. When the “Rich Young Ruler” chose not to follow Him, Jesus did not force him. When the people of the region where Jesus had liberated the demoniac asked Him to leave, He complied. Jesus healed the suffering- those who suffered from physical and emotional ailments. He healed those who were tormented by demons. He even raised some dead people. He forgave sin. He fed the hungry and finally, He took on all of our sin, shame and suffering so that we could be liberated. All of this gives us a picture of what it’s like to see God’s Kingdom materialize “on earth as it is in heaven.”
This petition is in the imperative, which means we can pray it (in agreement with Heaven’s values) as a command prayer. It can be translated, “Come, Your Kingdom!” Jesus taught us to pray this and it’s companion petition, “Your will be done” (or, “be done, your will!”) because the Kingdom of God and the will of God, while inaugurated through the Person of Jesus, are not fully implemented (wisely stated by N.T. Wright). Our role then, is to participate with God in bringing this about.
It’s not hard for any of us to see where and how the Kingdom and will of God are not being implemented. Where and when we have seen hatred, unforgiveness, discrimination, chaos, rioting, looting, deception, a loss of objectivity, lawlessness, pride and self righteousness, we are seeing the kingdom and will of of darkness. This has become the default setting of this world? How do I know this? John the apostle said, “the whole world is under the control of the evil one” (1 John 5:19). As Christians, our role is to non violently retake the ground which the evil one has usurped. We do this by loving our enemies, praying against the forces of darkness and of course, by praying this petition of The Lord’s Prayer.