Our Father Which Art in Heaven
Let us meditate deeply upon these words: “Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven” (Mat 6:9,10). “Thy Kingdom come.” Whose Kingdom is it? It is “our Father’s” Kingdom. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son…” “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God.” “Who hath delivered us from the rule of darkness, and hath transferred us into the Kingdom of the Son of His love.”
The Father’s Kingdom is a Kingdom of love. God wants to be King not because of a desire to rule, but because He is Father. He wants men to be obedient to Him, not because He’s the creator with omnipotent power but because He is Father who wants men to obey Him under the sweet constraint of love.
God has been King by His position as Creator and by His omnipotence; but now He will become King by His love as the Father. It is for this Kingdom that we are instructed by the Lord to pray, “Our Father Who is in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name, Thy Kingdom come..”
The prayer, “Thy Kingdom come,” points to the Kingdom as something still to be realized. How can that which is already fully realized be requested to come? And yet, in other places in scriptures it is spoken of as a present reality.
The truth is, both premises are true. The Kingdom is both present and future. There are many indications from what the Lord Jesus said that the Kingdom of God was not only future but present. The Kingdom is not only coming but has already come.
According to Mark, Jesus came into Galilee proclaiming good news from God. In the first chapter of his Gospel, Mark writes:
Now after that John was put in prison, 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 ye, and believe the gospel”(Mar 1:15, 14KJV)
“He said, “The time has come, and the kingdom of God is near. Change the way you think and act, and believe the Good News” (Mar 1:15 GW).
“Fulfilled hath been the time, and the reign of God hath come nigh, reform ye, and believe in the good news” (Mar 1:15 YLT).
Some Greek scholars believe that this passage in Mark should have been translated from Greek as, “The Kingdom of God has come.” This compares with some other statements from our Lord Jesus in the twelfth chapter of Matthew. For example, in Matthew 12:28, the Lord said :
“But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you.” “If I by the Spirit of God cast out demons, then is the Kingdom of God come upon you,” or “has overtaken you” (Goodspeed), or the Kingdom of God “has reached you already” (Moffatt).
How glibly we, in the church, pray this prayer. It is repeated by rote by hundreds of millions weekly, without any real expectation of it happening. People pray this prayer without the foggiest idea of what the words mean.
The Lord Jesus taught His disciples to pray, “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven” (Mat. 6:10).
So then, the Kingdom of God, which originates from heaven, must first begin in the hearts of men. It is set up in the believer’s heart. It then begins exercising dominion over the soul, conquering and conquering, until all things are put under the feet of Christ.
- Our Father, we pray for the time when every unbeliever in the universe will turn to Jesus Christ as Savior.
- We pray for the day when the uttermost parts of the earth will come under the dominion of the Son.
- We pray for the day when all kingdoms will bow before Him and all nations serve Him.
- We pray for the day when “the mountain of the house of the Lord, His government of kings and priests after the order of Melchizedek, shall be established on the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it” (Micah 4:1).
“Lord, Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done in this earth which I am.
Set up Thy throne, O God, in me and reign supreme in my heart.
Rule my flesh. Rule my spirit. Rule my mind.
Conquer the enemies within me, and the corruption of the old man.
Rule here within me and grant me the mind that was in Christ Jesus
So I may become a son in whom You’re well pleased, O’ God my Father.
Let His attitude be my attitude, His power my power, His grace my grace, Thy Kingdom come O’ Lord; Thy will be done in me”
