“The kingdom of God is a matter of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Romans 14:17). God’s kingdom exists where he is present in peace. In eternity, before the creation, this kingdom was the Persons of the Triune God himself dwelling in interpersonal harmony: God’s Being, in perfect accord with his true reality, in peace. His rule is characterized by divine love and mutual service. The kingdom exists where God rules through his Word and is present in his Spirit, where relationship with God in accordance with his reality has centrality in and supremacy over all things.
At the creation, on the seventh day, God was present in peace in all his creation, both in heaven and on earth. And humanity, created in his image, was invited to join him, to be present in peace with him, to rule with him in his kingdom with his own rule of love and service. But humanity came to doubt the goodness of God’s rule and rejected his presence. We corrupted the very nature of rule, grabbing for self-centered power and autonomy from God. We upset the peaceful kingdom of God in his creation, tearing heaven and earth apart. Now, heaven is the “place” in his creation where his kingdom is; earth is where his kingdom is coming.
In his coming to earth, Jesus taught that the kingdom had come near (Mark 1:15). He is the very Word through which God rules, become flesh through the Spirit. Jesus embodies the kingdom that has come from God and is returning to God (1 Corinthians 15:24). Jesus is where God is present in peace as a human, in one Person both restoring God’s rule in the world and fulfilling humanity’s calling to rule with God’s own rule. In Jesus we see the divine rule of love and service; he has authority to lay down his life and to take it up again on behalf of his people (John 10:18). Jesus reunites God and humanity in peace, and he has come to dwell in his people through the presence of the Spirit, increasing the rule of God’s kingdom on earth. One day his kingdom will come in fullness, and the heavens and earth will be made new, ruled by the power of his Word and restored to peace in his presence. Relationship with God in accordance with his reality will have centrality in and supremacy over all things, and his people will rule with him in his kingdom with his own rule, forever.
Jesus teaches us that we should want this kingdom to come, that it is good and desirable. He teaches us to ask it of the Father, which means that God wants to give us his kingdom and that there is no other way to have it than as an answer to Jesus’ prayer here. Our autonomy broke the world, so we cannot fix it through more autonomy. We must submit ourselves to the rule of God through his Word, through his Christ. Apart from Jesus, this prayer would not be answered, nor would we even pray it. The first thing we’re asking with this petition, then, is for our own submission to his rule. Thankfully, when we look at Jesus, we know that God is the kind of king who makes us want to pray, “Your kingdom come!”
Why is God’s kingdom better than our autonomy? Are you suspicious of God’s rule as your king? Why or why not? In what ways are you prone to project your fallen/earthly ideas of kingdom and authority on to God and his kingdom? Can you believe that God has invited you to rule with him over his own kingdom with his own rule? What do you think that is supposed to look like? When you pray, “Your kingdom come,” what do you imagine the answer to that prayer to be like in your life? What did Jesus mean by saying his kingdom was not of this world (John 18:36)? What does it mean that, at the end, Christ will deliver the kingdom to God the Father (1 Corinthians 15:24)?
