Your Kingdom Come on Earth

[Read Matthew 6:9-13]

I’ve had a few interactions with professors over the years that have been remembered by people in the class. One of them happened during my undergraduate degree. I was in a class with a professor I appreciated and enjoyed. During one of the class periods, he was talking a lot about the Kingdom of God. It was a topic I hadn’t thought about much and it was intriguing to me. So, I was engaged in what he had to say. However, eventually, I noticed he kept saying things like, “The kingdom is not…The kingdom is not….The kingdom is not…” That’s fine because it’s helpful in some ways, but I wanted to know what the kingdom of God IS—not just what it’s not. So, I asked him. He answered by saying more things about what the kingdom is not. I don’t like it when I feel like my question is being dodged. So, I asked again but tried to be more clear: “I don’t want to hear what the Kingdom is not. I want to know what you think the kingdom IS.” He responded by saying, “Well Jesus said the kingdom is…” That wasn’t the answer to my question either, so I asked again, but I was starting to get a little frustrated: “I know what Jesus said about the kingdom. I want to know what you think the kingdom of God IS and not what it’s not.” I’m sure I didn’t ask it well, but he never answered me and changed the subject. 

However, that interaction, and my frustrations from that interaction, caused me to go on a long journey of studying the Kingdom of God. I read and studied every passage from the NT about the Kingdom of God. I read and studied as many books and commentaries and systematic theologies as I could find about the Kingdom of God. I realized that I had to understand this aspect of Jesus’ teaching because it was CENTRAL to his teaching. Some of the first words out of Jesus’ mouth were about the kingdom and it’s a word that is used a LOT throughout the New Testament—about 160 times. It’s also a word that we don’t use much today. I don’t hear many people talk about the Kingdom of God much today and, to be honest, whenever I reference the Kingdom of God, I notice people starting to get a little nervous. Some people start thinking I’m some form of Christian Nationalist or some type of Social Justice Warrior because some only think about the Kingdom of God in political terms. On the other hand, some people have completely ignored the concept of the Kingdom of God because they believe it’s only a heavenly reality that doesn’t affect our daily lives. Neither of those options is completely correct. In many ways, it’s much more complicated than that AND much simpler than that. 

When we come to the Lord’s Prayer, we’re told to pray daily, “Your kingdom come…on earth as it is in heaven.” (Matthew 6:10, ESV). If we’re told to pray this daily, it’s important that we know what we’re supposed to be praying for. 

The first aspect of this is to recognize the first word, “Your.” We’re praying for God’s kingdom to come. That means we want His kingdom to come over any other kingdom. Yes, that includes all of the kingdoms of this world, but it is primarily a reference to the two kingdoms of this world—the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Satan. This has been a theme from the beginning of the Bible. After the Fall, we read this line from God: “I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” (Genesis 3:15, ESV). There is going to be enmity—strive, conflict—between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent. Another way of describing this conflict is that there will be a continued conflict between the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Satan in this world and throughout the earth. That’s the main point of the Book of Revelation. It’s showing this conflict between the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Satan in this world. 

Think about this interaction between Jesus and Satan in the desert: “And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, and said to him, “To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.” And Jesus answered him, “It is written, “ ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.’ ”” (Luke 4:5–8, ESV). Satan says that he has a kingdom here on earth and he is trying to get Jesus to join that kingdom and benefit from its power and authority and glory. 

However, we also read this about Jesus at the announcement of his birth, “And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”” (Luke 1:30–33, ESV). Satan has a kingdom, but so does Jesus. But Jesus’ kingdom will continue to grow and will continue to come and will never end.

So, when we’re praying “Your kingdom come…” we’re praying that Satan’s kingdom would be defeated and overthrown and that God’s Kingdom—Jesus’ Kingdom—would continue to expand and grow. That’s why the Heidelberg Catechism says we should daily pray, "Destroy the devil’s work; destroy every force which revolts against you and every conspiracy against your holy Word. Do this until your kingdom fully comes, when you will be all in all." (HC 123). 

So, what is the Kingdom of God? What does it look like? Where is it? How does it grow? How does it overthrow the Kingdom of Satan? How does it come? How does it come on earth? 

When answering those questions, the first thing we need to recognize is that the Kingdom of God is different from the kingdoms of this world. Jesus says, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Matthew 3:2, ESV). So, this is a kingdom that requires repentance. Jesus says to Nicodemus, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3, ESV). You can’t even see this kingdom unless you’ve been born again by the power of the Holy Spirit—which is also connected to the concept of it being a kingdom of repentance. In Revelation we hear this sung in a song, “…you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.” (Revelation 5:10, ESV). So, it’s a kingdom of people and it’s a kingdom of priests—people who are mediators between God and man. Also, we read this powerful statement in Hebrews that sets the Kingdom of God apart from the kingdoms of the world: “…let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken… (Hebrews 12:28–29, ESV). Unlike the kingdoms of the world, the Kingdom of God cannot be shaken and cannot be destroyed and cannot be overthrown. I could spend a LOT more time on this, but I’ll leave it at that. 

So, what is the Kingdom of God? What does it look like? Where is it? How does it come? How does it grow? How does it overthrow the Kingdom of Satan? I think the Heidelberg Catechism is very helpful in understanding this. It says that when we pray, “Your kingdom come…” we’re praying, "Rule us by your Word and Spirit in such a way that more and more we submit to you." (HC 123). This makes sense because a kingdom has a king and that king rules over his people and requires some level of obedience. So, King Jesus, rules over his people by His Word and by His Spirit and he does that by increasingly working in us so that we submit to him as our King. That’s why the kingdom requires repentance. That’s why the kingdom requires that we’re born again. That’s why we’re a kingdom of priests and why the kingdom cannot be shaken. 

Based on this understanding, I’ve come up with a line that has helped me better understand what the Kingdom IS and where it IS, and how it grows: The Kingdom of God is present wherever there is submission to Jesus Christ. As I said at the beginning of this sermon, it’s a very simple concept in many ways, but it’s also complicated in some ways. When we understand the Kingdom of God in this way, we realize that the kingdom of God comes as our hearts are brought into submission to Christ, but it also comes as our lives are brought into submission to Christ, and as our families and churches and businesses are brought into submission to Christ. 

Let me give you one real-life example of the Kingdom of God coming in this way, and it’s a very personal example. It’s the story of my dad. He walked away from the faith after high school and lived however he wanted to live—NOT in submission to Jesus Christ. However, one evening in the barn he heard the gospel, he repented, believed, and was born again by the power of the Holy Spirit and submitted his life to Jesus Christ. He entered the kingdom at that moment, but that’s not the end of the story because it’s a process, isn’t it? He had to start living his life differently now because he had submitted his life to Jesus Christ—he had to start bringing every aspect of his life into submission to Jesus Christ. That means that even though he was in the kingdom, the kingdom still had to come more in his life. We moved so that he could cut ties with his old life and live into his new life. As he submitted more of his life to Christ, that changed the way he cared for his wife and parented his children. Not only did all of us eventually submit our lives to Jesus, BUT the way our family operated was slowly brought into submission to Jesus Christ—the kingdom came more and more. But it didn’t end there. It changed the way he worked and eventually, the way he farmed. All of those things were also eventually brought into submission to Jesus Christ. Now he worked the land, raised cattle, and ran the farm like a Christian, which means that all of those things slowly came into submission to Jesus Christ—and the kingdom came on the farm. Then he was offered a spot on the township board, and he served in that position as a Christian—as someone who has submitted their life to Jesus Christ—which meant that decisions and policies were made and people were treated in ways that were in submission to Jesus Christ—and the kingdom came in our township. Then his kids grow up and go into the world having submitted their lives to Jesus Christ and begin to work in the world of Technology/Gaming and in the world of the Church—working in those areas as Christians who have submitted their lives to Christ—speaking, acting, thinking, making decisions and policies like a Christian—and the kingdom of God comes in those places as well. This is POWERFUL stuff. 

This is how the Kingdom of God comes into the world. This is what Jesus meant when he gave these parables, “The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches…The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened.” (Matthew 13:31–33, ESV). The Kingdom of God begins small—like a tiny mustard seed, like some random farmer giving his life to Christ—then slowly, but steadily spreads beyond his heart, into the people around him, into his family, into his workplace, into his community, and throughout the world. It spreads like leaven until it is ALL leavened. 

I also want to make sure you didn’t miss one important part of this story. The Kingdom of God spreads as the gospel spreads throughout the earth and people believe in Jesus and submit their lives to Jesus—YES and AMEN—but it’s more than that. The Kingdom also spreads as their lives slowly come further into submission to Jesus Christ—as they become more like Jesus—and then bring the things around them further into submission to Jesus Christ. That’s how the Kingdom of God comes in families and churches and communities and even in countries. The Kingdom of God has to begin with hearts being changed by the faith in the Gospel—it has to come through repentance and being born again by the Holy Spirit—but it NEVER ends there. It has to spread beyond our hearts onto the world around us.

That’s why Jesus tells us to pray, “Your kingdom come…on earth as it is in heaven.” (Matthew 6:10, ESV). I think that throws people for a loop a little bit—especially these days. We’re told to pray that the Kingdom of God would not just come in our hearts, but that the Kingdom of God would come on earth. Now, I’m sure some of you are instantly thinking about a well-known statement by Jesus, where he said, “My kingdom is not of this world.” (John 18:36, ESV). Many people have taken that statement and used it in ways that make it seem like the Kingdom of God is not to come on earth because it’s not of this world, but that’s not what Jesus was saying. He’s saying that his kingdom is not a worldly kingdom. It’s very different. It’s not a kingdom that comes through violence and power. It’s a kingdom that comes through hearts that have been changed through the gospel and the power of the Holy Spirit. That’s the kind of kingdom he was bringing to the earth. That’s also why we see this beautiful statement in Revelation about the end. It says, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.” (Revelation 11:15, ESV). One day, when Christ returns, the kingdoms of this world will have been overtaken and overthrown by the Kingdom of God. This prayer will be finally and fully answered. The Kingdom of God will be on earth as it is in heaven. That’s the end goal. That’s what we’re supposed to be praying for every single day. 

The most powerful part of this kingdom is that it comes through the powerful work of Jesus Christ—through his life, death, resurrection, and ascension—changing the hearts and lives of His people. You see, worldly kingdoms can only threaten and command and try to influence our external lives. This kingdom is different. Jesus’ kingdom says, “I want your heart. Not only do I want your heart, but I have the power to cleanse your heart and the power to change and transform your heart, which will slowly and eventually change and transform everything around you.” That’s a kingdom that cannot be shaken. That’s a kingdom that will spread like leaven through a batch of dough, throughout the entire earth until it is all leavened. 

It’s also important to remember it all begins with YOU. So many people talk about the Kingdom of God like it applies to everyone else. They want to see the kingdom of God come as everyone else’s lives are brought into submission to Jesus Christ. That’s not necessarily wrong or bad, however, it’s important that we would be most concerned about the Kingdom of God coming in our own hearts and lives. Before we go out into the world trying to bring it and everyone else into submission to Christ, make sure we’re heavily focused on bringing our own hearts and lives into submission to Jesus Christ—seeing the kingdom come in our own lives, seeing our own thoughts, words, and deeds come into submission to Jesus Christ. When that happens in our lives, the kingdom not only comes in our own lives, but it begins to spread beyond us into the world like leaven, and the Kingdom of God will eventually come on earth as it is in heaven.