Thy Kingdom Come

Jesus taught his disciples how to pray, using the so-called ‘Lord’s Prayer’ as a model. Many have noted that the six petitions in the Lord’s Prayer serve as an excellent outline of how God’s people ought to seek him earnestly in prayer.¹ When Jesus taught us to pray, ‘Thy kingdom come,’ what does he mean?

The Larger Catechism of the Westminster Confession of Faith is a remarkable and in-depth exposition of what it means. Consider the following, a slight paraphrase:

Believers are acknowledging ourselves and all mankind to be by nature under the dominion of sin and Satan; therefore we pray, asking God to destroy the kingdom of sin and Satan; that the gospel may be propagated or advanced throughout the world; that the Jews, who for so long have rejected Jesus be called to him in saving faith; that the fulness of the Gentiles will come (that those from every tongue, tribe, people, and nation will worship the Lamb before his throne); that the church be furnished with gospel preachers and other church officers to lead in this glorious kingdom work; that the church be purged of all her corruptions, heresies, and divisions; that the civil magistrates (national governments) would give the church freedom to fulfil her task of the Great Commission; that the church honourably and accurately carry out the preaching of the gospel and the administration of the sacraments; that this work of the gospel would be effectual; that it would work mightily in conversion of the lost, comforting the believer, and building up in holiness those already converted; that Christ would rule in our hearts; and that all this would hasten the time of Christ’s second coming where we will reign with him forever; and finally that the Lord Jesus would exercise the kingdom of his power in all the world in such a way as to carry out all his holy will.

This means that every time you pray, you ought to have in the forefront of your mind the desire to see Jesus and his glorious person and work propagated to all the world. You should earnestly pray with the intolerable burden, of which I so often speak, with a desire to see the Holy Spirit come down in mighty convicting, converting, and sanctifying power, drawing the lost from all the nations to a true and saving knowledge of Jesus; and to build up the saints with joy inexpressible and full of glory. We should read the news events of our day with ‘Great Commission eyes’, looking behind the veil of geo-political machinations, and attempt to see what God is doing to draw the nations to himself. The social and political unrest in America in the 1960’s, the Iranian revolution of 1979, and the fall of Communism in Romania in 1989 on the surface all seem to be serendipitous events that ‘just happened,’ but God always is at work to make his name a praise in all the earth. The anti-Vietnam War movement and Woodstock, and the quest for purpose for people of my generation both revealed a hunger for something more.

The institution of a fundamentalist, Islamic regime in Iran has driven millions of Iranians from that false religion of slavery to true freedom in Christ. The church of Jesus in the Iranian world (within Iran it is still largely underground, but in other places it is flourishing in public) is indeed a mighty movement of God.

While the Westminster Larger Catechism certainly offers a wonderful definition of ‘Thy kingdom come,’ I respectfully suggest it does not go far enough. The continued persecution of Christians all around the world, especially in Islamic nations; the burning of churches, the imprisonment and murder of our fellow brothers and sisters,² ought to cause us to think more deeply about praying ‘Thy kingdom come.’ To pray, ‘Thy kingdom come,’ also means that we pray for the consummation of the ages, that we pray not only for the other sheep to be brought into the sheepfold (John 10:16), but also for the nations to be separated from one another, like a shepherd who separates the sheep from the goats (Matt. 25:32). We are longing for the day when the devil, the false prophet, and the harlot will be cast into the lake of fire; when the kings of the earth and their armies who are assembled to make war against him who sits upon a white horse, will be slain with the sword which comes from his mouth, when he will cast them eternally into the lake of fire, when all the birds will be filled with the flesh of those armies which fought for the devil and the false prophet (Rev. 19:17-21). Numerous times in the Psalms we find David and the other writers beseeching God in what we call imprecatory prayer.

Do I not hate those who hate Thee, O Lord. Do I not loathe those who rise up against Thee. I hate them with the utmost hatred. They have become my enemies (Psa. 139:21-22).

The plowers plowed upon my back; They lengthened their furrows. The Lord is righteous; He has cut in two the cords of the wicked. May all who hate Zion be put to shame and turned backward. Let them be like grass upon the housetops, which withers before it grows up (Psa. 129:3-6).

Let those who are adversaries of my soul be ashamed and consumed. Let them be covered with reproach and dishonor, who seek to injure me (Psa. 71:13).

And in looking back at the persecutions of his people by the Babylonians, the Psalmist prays,

Remember, O Lord, against the sons of Edom the day of Jerusalem, who said, ‘Raze it, raze it to its very foundation.’ O daughter of Babylon, you devastated one, how blessed will be the one who repays you with the recompense with which you have repaid us. How blessed will be the one who dashes your little ones against the rock (Psa. 137:7-9).

Some believers are horrified by such prayers, perhaps even embarrassed by them, wondering how we apply that in the so-called age of grace, when Jesus is portrayed only as a friend of sinners. So most believers ignore the imprecatory psalms. Others perhaps use them incorrectly, trusting God to prove their cause just against a former spouse who hurt them deeply, against a former company which cheated them out of money, against a former friend who has abandoned them.

Neither of these responses are correct. To pray down the judgment of God on evil people who seek to thwart the progress of the gospel in the world is part and parcel with praying ‘Thy kingdom come.’ You are longing for the day when God will deal out retribution to those who do not know him, who do not obey the gospel of the Lord Jesus (2 Thess. 1:8-9); when tribulation and distress will come upon all who do not obey the gospel of the Lord Jesus (Rom. 2:8-9); when

those who were slain because of the word of God, and because of the testimony which they had maintained; who cried out with a loud voice, saying, ‘How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth? (Rev. 6:10)

will finally have their prayers answered. You are longing for the day when those who impugn the Lord Jesus, who persecute and murder the blood-bought people of God, will finally receive their due, when God’s persecuted people will receive the vindication of their righteous cause; when God himself will vindicate his great name which false professors have profaned for centuries (Ezek. 36:22-23). Thy kingdom come.