Your Kingdom Come (Luke 11:2-4)

In answering the hungering plea of a disciple, Jesus teaches us to pray. This is called the Lord’s Prayer. But rather it shall be called the pattern of our prayers. It holds the whole sweep of the mysteries of life in this short list of prayer.

He said to them, “When you pray, say:

“‘Father,

hallowed be your name,

your kingdom come.

Give us each day our daily bread.

Forgive us our sins,

      for we also forgive everyone who sins against us.

And lead us not into temptation.’” (Luke 11:2-4)

There are three elements in the heavenly realms in this prayer, “Father,” “Hallowed be your name,” and “Your kingdom come.” And there are three elements regarding our wellbeing in this prayer, “Give us each day our daily bread,” “Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us,” and “And lead us not into temptation.” The first three prayers are to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The second three prayers are the work of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit.

Jesus calls God “Father” which is the most appropriate name for God, representing the intimate relationship with His children. In the Eastern culture as well as in our culture, father is pictured as the one who is responsible for paying the bills. Our God is like Father who takes care of all of His creation with compassion and mercy. He shines light and sends rain for the crop to ripe for harvest to feed more than seven billion people on this planet every day.

God not only feeds all people on the earth physically but also provides absolute security and protection from the deadly heat and bitter coldness centuries over centuries. The sun, moon, stars run their course according to the Father’s hand without fail. Billions of billions of galaxies and unnumbered black holes have been running and functioning according the Father’s hand without fail. 

Furthermore, God controls all the principalities, dominions, authorities in the heavenly realms, especially the fallen angel called Satan. The devil is not an independent agent apart from God. He is under the command and control of the hand of the Father. There is nothing outside of the Father’s Sovereign Hand, even a breath of air. The whole universe is in the full control of the Father bodily, psychologically, and spiritually.

So, we have that kind of God like the Father in heaven. We safely and securely can rest in the bosom of the Father. Psalmist says so pertinently about the fatherly care of God unto His people.

The Lord is my shepherd;

I shall not want.

He makes me to lie down in green pastures;

He leads me beside the still waters.

He restores my soul;

He leads me in the paths of righteousness

For His name’s sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil;

For You are with me;

Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;

You anoint my head with oil;

My cup runs over.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me

All the days of my life;

And I will dwell in the house of the Lord Forever. (Psalm 23)

So, Jesus teaches us to pray to the Father to give us each day our daily bread. Of course, it is not at all the reminder for God who may forget our need. Then, why does Jesus teach us to say this prayer although God knows what we need even before we come to Him? It is for us to remember that the Father in heaven is the generous Giver of food and clothing and shelter for the bodily need. This is a reminder for ourselves that we cannot live without the provision of the Father.

Why do we need to pray each day? It’s because we need to remind of the fact that God feeds us every day. Humans are still under the influence and access of the enemy, the devil even though we have been regenerated and freed in Christ Jesus. The potent weapon of the enemy is feeding the human pride, a stubborn and dogged self-righteousness. God knows us better than we know ourselves. We need to remind of the fact that we are the mere humans whom God made such a way.

Why do we need pray our daily bread? It’s because no one is able to live alone and fulfill life. We need others to fulfill our lives. All shares one life, the life of Jesus Christ. There is only one life, the true life found in Jesus Christ. The Baptists need it. The Presbyterians need it. The Lutherans need it. All needs this life.

And Jesus teaches us to pray, saying “Hallowed be your name.” Why shall the name of God be hallowed? It’s because He is holy. What’s meaning of holiness? It means wholeness. God is holy, so in Him, there is nothing unbalanced, uneven, crooked, or patchy. He is complete, perfect, even, straight, full, and whole.

“Hallowed be your name” means that God may be glorified just as He is holy. God is glorified when His holiness is manifested and revealed in our midst just as He is holy. Our God shall forever be glorified and hallowed because He is such a being forever.

How can His holy name be hallowed? Jesus teaches us to pray, saying “Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us.” God was glorified by the Son who obeyed to die on the cross in Calvary in the place of all sinners. In the Upper Room Discourse, Jesus prayed to the Father, saying “Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you.” (John 17:1)

When Jesus prayed to the Father to glorify His name and the heaven thundered in giving the answer to His prayer. “Father, glorify your name!” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and will glorify it again.” (John 12:28)

Through the death of the Son, God has been even more glorified because the blood of the Son can cleanse the sin of the world. The blood of Christ is the perfect atoning sacrifice to stop the death penalty imposed by the Holy God. And now God can forgive anyone who believe in Christ Jesus by revoking the holy judgment for the blood of the Son forever mediates for the believer before the Holy God. When the Son died for our sins, God forgave the sin of the world. Likewise, when we forgive everyone who sins against us, God forgives us our sins. That’s the new commandment of God. Forgive others first, then God forgives us our sins.

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” (John 13:35)

Then, Jesus teaches us to pray, saying “Your kingdom come.” There is one prayer yet unfulfilled, “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” (Matthew 6:10) This is our cry and yearning in our midst. The world seems go worse and worse. It is true that instead of getting better and better this world heads toward rather speedily the worst moment in history. It becomes more and more like Sodom and Gomorrah which had been destroyed by the burning sulfur and no more. What Apostle John prophesied in the Book of Revelation is true.

“Let the one who does wrong continue to do wrong; let the vile person continue to be vile; let the one who does right continue to do right; and let the holy person continue to be holy.” (Revelation 22:11)

But the wickedness and lawlessness of man cannot stop coming of the true kingdom on earth. Here is the record of the coming of the kingdom in the Revelation.

Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life. Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children. But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.” (Revelation 21:1-8)

In Verse 6 of Revelation Chapter 21, it says “It is done.” His kingdom shall come and His will be done in due course for sure. So, Jesus teaches us to pray, saying “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.” (Matthew 6:13) Until the time for our bodily redemption, the devil still has access to our mind and thought and tempts us. The mastermind of lie and illusion searches for a prey like a roaring lion and mercilessly and relentlessly attacks and ransacks us.

That’s why we shall pray as Jesus teaches us to pray, “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.” God has imprinted a mark in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, the indwelling God within us. How much are we helpless and powerless at times before this vicious and malevolent devil unwittingly and ignorantly?

But the Holy Spirit who indwells within us intercedes for us in our weakness through wordless groans even when we do not know what to pray. “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.” (Romans 8:26-27)

The Prophet Malachi prophesied that God will make His people as the sun of righteousness with healing in its rays and they will go out and frolic like well-fed calves.

“Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and the day that is coming will set them on fire,” says the Lord Almighty. “Not a root or a branch will be left to them. But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its rays. And you will go out and frolic like well-fed calves. Then you will trample on the wicked; they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day when I act,” says the Lord Almighty. “Remember the law of my servant Moses, the decrees and laws I gave him at Horeb for all Israel. “See, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes. He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents; or else I will come and strike the land with total destruction.” (Malachi 4:1-6)

Here is the word of Apostle Jude.

“To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy—to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.” (Jude 1:24-25)