The Lord Jesus
has taught us to pray in the Second Petition of the Lord’s Prayer: “Thy kingdom
come.” When Christ says “Thy kingdom” he
is referring to the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God was a central feature of
Jesus’ ministry. We learn in Mark
1:14-15, “Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee,
proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled,
and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.’”
When Jesus spoke about the “kingdom of God,” he was not talking
about a place. Instead, coming out of its Old Testament background, the phrase
“the kingdom of God” refers to the reign or rule of God. As Psalm 97:1
declares, “The Lord reigns, let the earth rejoice; let the many islands be
glad.” The phrase describes God’s activity as He cares for His people and
opposes sin and evil in the world.
God’s reign, his kingdom, arrived in the person of Jesus Christ as
God began to turn back the forces of Satan and sin. Jesus described God’s reign
as being both present and future. During
his earthly ministry, Jesus was the presence of God’s reign as He forgave sins,
healed diseases and cast out demons. He
announced, “But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of
God has come upon you” (Matthew 12:28).
Jesus carried out the most important act of God’s reign when He
died on the cross and rose from the dead.
God’s reign continues in our day as the Holy Spirit works through the
Means of Grace to create and sustain faith in Jesus Christ. Through this work he frees us from Satan and
sin. At the same time, Jesus also spoke about God’s reign as being something
that would arrive in the future. God’s
reign will arrive in all its completeness on the Last Day when Jesus Christ
returns in glory.
Because of the nature of God’s reign, when we pray the Second
Petition, we are asking for two different things at the same time. The Large
Catechism says, “‘The coming of God’s kingdom to us’ takes place in two
ways: first, it comes here, in time, through the Word and faith, and second, in
eternity, it comes through the final revelation. Now, we ask for both of these
things: that it may come to those who are not yet in it and that, by daily
growth here and in eternal life hereafter, it may come to us who have attained
it” (III.53).
We recognize that God’s reign comes by itself without our
prayers. However, we pray in this
petition that God’s reign would come to
us. The Small Catechism explains, “God’s kingdom comes when our
heavenly Father gives us His Holy Spirit, so that by His grace we believe His
holy Word and lead godly lives her in time and there in eternity.” We pray that the Holy Spirit would continue
to use the Means of Grace to strengthen us in the faith, for by faith in Jesus
Christ we have been redeemed from the power of the devil and Jesus has become
our Lord.
Yet in this petition we are also praying that God’s reign will come
in all its completeness. When we pray
“Thy kingdom come,” we are praying for the return of Jesus Christ and the
arrival of the Last Day when God’s reign will do away with sin and death forever. Each time we speak this petition we are
saying, “Come Lord Jesus!” (Revelation 22:20).
We pray “Thy kingdom come,” just before the Words of
Institution and the reception of the Christ’s true body and blood because God’s
reign comes to us in the Lord’s Supper as we receive the forgiveness of sins
and as the Holy Spirit strengthens us in the faith. At the same time, we pray “Thy kingdom come”
because the coming of Christ in his body and blood in the Sacrament of the
Altar points us forward to the coming of Christ on the Last Day when He will
return in glory. As Paul wrote in 1
Corinthians 11:26 about the Lord’s Supper, “For as often as you eat this bread
and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.”
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