Biblical Prayer: Thy Kingdom Come

Okay, we're continuing our topic of biblical prayer, and this is Part 7, Thy Kingdom Come is the Name of the Lesson. Little review, we've examined the purpose of prayer, we've looked at false teaching on prayer, then we answered two questions, if God is sovereign, why pray?

And the second, does prayer really change things? We've answered all of those. We've examined what prayer should not be, and then we've begun to examine the model prayer in Matthew 6, 5 -13, also called the Lord's Prayer, but we prefer to call it the model prayer.

And in this text, Jesus gives us an inspired pattern for how we should pray. Two weeks ago, we examined the preface in verse 9, pray then in this way, and in the last session we introduced the first petition, hallowed be thy name.

And that brings us up to our current lesson, Thy Kingdom Come. Now we come to the second petition, Thy Kingdom Come. Now some obvious questions are raised by this petition, and I'll give you just a few of those questions.

What is meant by the kingdom of God? Where is the kingdom of God? What part do I have in the kingdom of God? What does Jesus mean by praying that His kingdom would come? I think these are all rather obvious questions.

If we pray Thy Kingdom Come, what exactly does that mean? I think far too often, even when we recite or sing the Lord's Prayer, we go right past that, and we don't give it much thought, and I think it needs a lot of thought.

So the first session is going to be, the first part is what kingdom? What are we talking about? And so that's what we're going to begin with. Firstly, it's not an earthly or a political kingdom, as most kingdoms are.

And we're not the only ones in modern evangelicalism that miss the point. The Jews miss the meaning of the symbolic language of the old covenant, especially in Isaiah and Ezekiel, as to what the kingdom of God really was.

They prayed for the Messiah to come and to set up His throne in Jerusalem, David's throne, literal David's throne, that's what they were looking for. They missed the big picture. If you remember, the nation of Israel was a type, a shadow, or a physical demonstration of what the kingdom of God is in this world.

Jeremiah 31, verses 31 to 34, if you're a Reformed Baptist and you don't know these verses, get out right now. No, shame on you. Everybody, these verses should be ingrained in us. We should all be able to, if not recite them completely, we should be able to at least relate what the essence of these verses are.

Behold, days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant which they broke.

Notice, that's a very important phrase in there, my covenant which they broke. Although I was a husband to them, declares the Lord. Then verse 33, but this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord.

I will put my law within them, and on their hearts I will write it, and I will be their God and they shall be my people. Now, notice, I will be their God and they shall be my people. What do we call, what is that phrase?

What is the significance of this phrase, I will be their God and they will be my people? What's the significance of that? What's that? I didn't hear if somebody had an answer. I didn't hear it. Is it my ears, or is it just not coming out?

Yeah, go ahead, Jake. Yeah, well that's definitely part of the new covenant. This phrase is the essence of a covenant. What is the covenant that God makes with us? That I will be your God and you will be my people.

That's the relationship, that's the covenant relationship, so this is really what we could call the essence of a covenant, and especially the biblical covenant. And why is that important? Well, and they shall not teach again each man his neighbor, and each man his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for they shall all know me.

They shall all know me. Does that have any significance? No, I'm not going to go there. You know what I was going to say. From the least of them to the greatest of them declares the Lord, for I will forgive their iniquity and their sin I will remember no more.

That's the promise of the new covenant. They shall all know me, and I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin will be remembered no more. It will be erased, moved as far as the east is from the west.

Now notice, the old covenant was conditional, and it was conditional upon obedience. The nation of Israel had lost its right to represent the kingdom of God because of their unfaithfulness, and those are not my words.

Listen to the words of Jesus in Matthew 21, 43, speaking to the Jews, specifically to the Pharisees. He says, Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a nation producing the fruit of it.

That's the difference between the old and the new covenant. The old covenant was taken, the old covenant people were no longer going to represent the kingdom of God, but it was given to a nation producing the fruit of it, and what is that nation?

The church. The apostle Paul picks up the same theme in Romans 9, 8. That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but the children of the promise are regarded as descendants. Do you see the theme picking up as to who is who and what is what?

Also, the seat of power is not Jerusalem. In the old covenant, the seat of power was the throne of God in Jerusalem, but now it's in heaven. Listen to the words of Peter on the day of Pentecost. Acts 2, verse 32 -36.

This is the apostle Peter preaching on the day of Pentecost. This Jesus God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses. Therefore, having been exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured forth this which you both see and hear.

Notice, he is exalted to the right hand of God. There's the throne. Not Jerusalem, but the heavenly one. Continuing with Peter's sermon, for it was not David who ascended into heaven, but he said, he himself says, the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand.

You see anything that we've studied recently there? Anybody?

Bueller? Bueller?

Types of names of God.

Yes.

The Lord said to my Lord. That's Yahweh said to Adonai. Okay? We went through that last week when we were looking at the names of God. Until I make thine enemies a footstool for thy feet, therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ.

There's Jesus, whom you crucified. So the new covenant church represents the kingdom of God on earth. So all of those prayers that we see, pray for the peace of Jerusalem. It's not praying for peace of real estate, it's praying for the peace in the church.

And we need to recognize that this is, that you are members of the kingdom of God as members of the new covenant church. First Peter 2 verses 9 and 10. But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood. Notice it's a royal priesthood.

Remember in the old covenant, those offices were definitively separate. And a holy nation. We are called a nation. A people for God's own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

For you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God. You had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Getting back to what Dan says, we now that the Gentiles are included in the covenant.

This is all part of the mystery, but that's what makes up the new covenant and the kingdom of God today. So the kingdom of God is not a limited earthly kingdom. Have we made that point biblically? So essentially, what is the nature of the kingdom?

Essentially, it is a spiritual or heavenly kingdom. Now what do we mean by that? Because that can be taken the wrong way, and many people take it the wrong way. John 18 verse 33 to 37. This is Jesus before Pilate.

Pilate therefore entered again into the praetorium and summoned Jesus and said to him, Are you king of the Jews? Jesus answered, Are you saying this on your own initiative, or did others tell you about me?

Pilate answered, I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests have lived you up to me. What have you done? This is Jesus responding, My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, then my servants would be fighting that I might not be delivered up to the Jews.

But as it is, my kingdom is not of this realm. There is the key difference between the kingdom of God and every other kingdom. His kingdom is not of this world. Pilate therefore said to him, So you are a king.

Jesus answered, You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice. Jesus makes it abundantly clear what the nature of his kingdom is in his defense before Pilate.

So the kingdom is a spiritual kingdom for one reason, because it derives its power from heaven, not from anything here on earth. That's one of the reasons we call it a spiritual or a heavenly kingdom.

The authority of the kingdom of God is not vested in political earthly kingdoms. There is no institution on earth that gives authority to the kingdom of God. Its authority comes from heaven. It's a spiritual kingdom because it needs no nation on earth to exist.

Luke 17, 20. Now having been questioned by the Pharisees as to when the kingdom of God was coming, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed, nor will they say, Look, here it is or there it is, for behold, the kingdom of God is in your midst.

What does he mean by that in this case when he's talking to the Pharisees? What does he mean by the kingdom of God is in your midst?

That he had come, because again, understanding that at the outset that Jesus came to bring his kingdom.

Yeah.

That he had come to follow through with what was predestined for the foundation of the world that he would be the substitution.

Mm-hmm.

A little more specific.

Absolutely, that's all true.

Well, the kingdom of God is a spiritual kingdom, but it's tangible here on earth. So he brought the kingdom. As a church, we are the kingdom of God.

Yeah.

So it's like...

Okay, as a church and establishment.

Yes.

No.

Wait, what?

No, this is happening before the ascension.

So what's the kingdom of God that he's brought? Yes. It's Jesus himself. He says the kingdom of God is in your midst. He says you're looking at it. I'm bringing the kingdom. It's a spiritual kingdom because entrance into it is by spiritual birth.

No, I'm not going to say it. Boy, I am fighting this one. This is really why we're Reformed Baptists, what we're looking at here. Look at John 3. Three, Jesus answered and said to him, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

Being born again is a prerequisite to seeing the kingdom of God being a part of the kingdom of God. It is the Holy Spirit that grants new birth and entrance into the kingdom of God. Now, there are some, this is fringe, who teach that this is now the gospel age and they're looking for a future kingdom age and they separate the gospel age from the kingdom age.

So let's see what Jesus has to say about that. In Matthew 4 .23, and Jesus going about in Old Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness among the people.

You can't separate gospel and kingdom. It's one and the same. The good news is that the kingdom of God came. Matthew 9 .35, and Jesus going about in all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming, again, the gospel of the kingdom, healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness.

However, that being said, the nature of the kingdom being spiritual, the kingdom of God manifests itself in this physical world. It's not completely separate. It just doesn't take its power from this world.

Our citizenship is in heaven. However, we are called to live in this physical world. And the way we live in this world is a demonstration of the reality of the kingdom of God. Living according to kingdom principles in this world doesn't grant salvation.

It's evidence of the new birth. All right, you're following? There's the relationship between the present reality of living in flesh and blood in the kingdom. It's a spiritual kingdom. Our citizenship is in heaven, but the way we live here reveals the fact of the reality of the kingdom of God.

Remember what Jesus said. They, the unbelieving world, will know you by your fruit. They'll know you are disciples.

How?

By your love for one another. They'll know you're his disciples because they know that you love him by keeping his commandments. They'll know you by your obedience to his word. That's all evidence that you are part of the kingdom of God.

No fruit, no kingdom. First John 2 .5, the one who says, I have come to know him and does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But there is more than just a personal application.

As individuals in a nation come to Christ, that nation changes for good. Anybody know who Bill Bright is? Am I that old? Campus Crusade, founder of Campus Crusade. We would have some disagreements with his theology, but he came up with a saying that I thought was perfect because obviously they were a big evangelistic organization, and he said that talking about people who said that you can't make an impression, that you can be part of the kingdom of God and yet it not affect the world around, Bill Bright said every time a sinner is saved, the world becomes better by one person.

Think about that. I think that's profound and true. Can it be profound without being true? Okay. Psalm 33 .12, blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people whom he has chosen for his own inheritance.

Now, we're looking at the nature of the kingdom of God, and one of the things that we have to understand about its nature is that it's progressive, and it's progressive in that there's three basic phases, and these are just somewhat arbitrary, but I think you'll see what I mean.

The first is that the coming of the kingdom of God is definitive. Jesus definitively brought the kingdom of God to earth in his first advent, and we see proof of that. John the Baptist preached in Matthew 3 .2, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand, and that at hand means like it's here.

It's right around the corner. That's the intent of the Greek construction. Jesus preached in Matthew 4 .17, not too long after that, exactly the same thing. Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

In other words, it's near. You can reach out and touch it. That's the implication. So it's definitive, but it gets more definitive than that. Matthew 12 .28, Jesus said, but if I cast out demons by the spirit of God, then the kingdom has come upon you.

In other words, it's here. So the question is, did Jesus cast out demons by the spirit of God? Yes. Then what? Simple logical statement, an if-then statement. If this is true, if A is true, then B is true.

Is A true? Did he cast out demons by the spirit of God? Yes. Then the kingdom of God has come upon you. Matthew 28 .18, Jesus came up and spoke to them saying, all authority has been given to me in heaven and earth.

Is there any more authority than that? Is there some authority someplace else other than heaven and earth?

No.

He has all authority. That is the authority of the kingdom of God. It supersedes every other kingdom. Second part of this three basic phases is first it's definitive, second is it's progressive. What do we mean by that?

The Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make thine enemies a footstool for thy feet. Notice that one little word that I just underlined, until. You know what, even before I say that, do you notice anything about Psalm 110 .1?

What do you notice about it?

Go ahead.

It has the two names of God in it. You always say it's Adam and Eve.

Yeah.

Notice anything else about it? Have you seen this before?

It's Jesus' favorite Old Testament passage. Yeah, it's the most often quoted Old Testament passage in the New Testament. Maria? Yes, it certainly does that. It's what Peter just quoted in the sermon that we just looked at.

He quoted the same one. All right. The Lord said to my Lord that Yahweh said to Adonai, sit at my right hand. But what about the until? What does that tell you? It will happen progressively. In other words, he's sitting at the right hand until.

In other words, he's there. Hebrews 10, verses 12 and 13. But he having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time on until his enemies made a footstool for his feet.

Wow, here we come now. This is about the third or fourth time that we've quoted this same Old Testament quotation. What is waiting from that time onward? What does that indicate to you? What's that? Progression.

In other words, he's there. What is Christ doing right at this minute that we're here in this room? What is he doing right now? Waiting for what? Okay. Now we're getting somewhere.

All right.

That's what he's doing. He's waiting for the church to accomplish the mission that he sent it on. And what is the mission that he sent the church on? Making disciples of all the nations. Baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and Holy Spirit.

Teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.

All right.

So he's waiting. And what is he doing while he's waiting? This isn't part of the lesson. This is just ruling and reigning. What's part of that ruling and reigning? What else is he doing?

Yeah.

Making intercession for us. He's praying for us to the Father that we would accomplish the Great Commission. What's the odds that the Great Commission is going to be accomplished if Jesus is praying to his Father that it is accomplished?

Okay. Is there a possibility that Jesus' prayer is going to go unanswered? I hope the answer to that is no from everybody. All right. Let's continue here. So it's progressive. Matthew 13, verse 31, 32.

He presented another parable to them saying, the kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed which a man took and sowed in his.

Field.

And this is smaller than all the other seeds. But when it is full grown, it is larger than the garden plants and becomes a tree so that birds of the air come and nest in its branches. Is it progressive?

It has to grow. Plant it as a seed. And it grows. When it's full grown, what is it? The largest tree in the garden.

Wow.

I wonder what that means. It means when Christ returns, there's only going to be a couple of Christians that he finds. He's going to find a large tree. Getting back to trees, notice this. Where have we seen the tree just recently?

Book of Daniel. Nebuchadnezzar, a tree.

Right?

Trees have a lot of meaning in Scripture. Still progressive. Another parable, kingdom of heaven is like leaven. What does leaven do? It leavens the whole lump. Ever work with leaven? Yeast. If you put yeast into a thing and you mix it all up and you knead the thing, will everything rise except, you know, one corner or three corners or just one corner is going to rise?

No.

No, it's going to leaven the whole lump. The whole loaf is going to rise. This is telling us about the nature of the kingdom of heaven. Due to its very nature, the kingdom of God must advance. But the kingdom has advanced how?

By the spread of the gospel. This, too, is where people very often go astray. Zechariah 4, 6, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord of hosts. Jeremiah 32, 17, Our Lord God, behold, thou hast made the heavens and the earth by thy great power and by thine outstretched arm.

Nothing is too difficult for thee. Obviously, I think if you didn't know ahead of time, by now I think you know what my eschatological position would be. I'm often told or asked by people when they find out what my eschatology is, they say, if you look at this world, do you really believe that the gospel can affect the whole world?

My answer is no, if I look at the world. Because if I put my eyes on the world and I see all the sin, the corruption, the evilness, I say no, there's no way. But when I take my eyes off the world and look at the scripture and I see that our Lord God, nothing is too difficult for thee and he has told us that the gates of hell will not prevail against the church.

There is no limit to what the kingdom of God can do. Was there a question over there?

I was just also thinking of the verse in terms of like Zechariah 4, 6, in the garden of Gethsemane when Christ rebukes Peter.

Yeah.

And it's interesting though because historically the church has made this mistake like when you think of the crusades where by trying to circumvent dominion by warfare, you're actually stealing glory from God.

Yes.

Because you're taking it from the spiritual realm into the physical.

We make a mistake thinking that our physical weapons can accomplish more than our spiritual weapons. What is more deadly to the nonbeliever, a gun or the prayers of the saints?

Yeah.

And so we need to be careful and keep our minds focused. That's why we have to be in the word. If you're not in the word, you start to adopt the philosophy of this world, and that is I have to do this, I have to try hard.

Look at how different the whole philosophy of the kingdom of God is. Do you want to be the first? So you've got to write a good resume and exalt yourself, right? Isn't that the way to become first? Well, that's what the world tells us.

What does the scripture tell us? Become last. You want the best seat at the table? Do what? Take the last seat. Do you want to have enough money to meet all of your needs? Make sure you're giving a lot of it away.

The philosophy is completely different. So nothing is too difficult for thee when it's done his way. Then the third phase is one day it will be complete. 1 Corinthians 15,. But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who are asleep.

For since by man came death, by man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all shall be made alive. But each in his own order, Christ the firstfruits, after that those who are Christ's at his coming.

Then comes the end. There is a day when he delivers up the kingdom to the God and Father, when he has abolished all rule, all authority, and all power. There is a day coming when things will end. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.

The last enemy that will be abolished is death. So there is one day when it will all be complete. So then that brings us to the main point of the... That was a long introduction, wasn't it? What are we praying for in the second petition then, based upon everything we've seen about the nature of the kingdom?

Well, the petition, it's a prophetic prayer. There's an eschatological meaning in it. We are praying for God to complete his glorious plan on earth. We are praying for that glorious day to come when we will be with him forever.

We are praying for the final defeat of Satan. We're praying for the complete victory of the church in this world. That's all wrapped up in this petition, Thy Kingdom Come. The petition affects political institutions of this world.

We made a point of saying that it's not a political or an earthly kingdom, but it affects the political institutions of this world. For in this petition, we're praying for peace on earth. We're praying for the righteous rule of Christ to come to all nations.

And this is a very difficult one for a lot of people. We're praying for kingdom principles to become the standard for all nations. We're praying for rulers and governors, but also the petitions and evangelistic prayer.

This is the greatest missionary prayer of all time, Thy Kingdom Come. We're praying for the salvation of all the elect. We're praying that disciples would be made of all the nations. We're praying for rulers and governors of nations and municipalities, but it's also a personal prayer.

We're praying that his kingdom would rule in our hearts. We're praying that we would be faithful to our calling. We're praying for our own sanctification. All of that is wrapped up in that little second petition, Thy Kingdom Come.

Questions?