p. 2 | 3884-Thy Kingdom Come by Editor

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Oct 15, 1912

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 39, No. 40.

3884—Thy Kingdom Come

By Editor

Will you please offer me an explanation of "Thy kingdom come," in the Lord's Prayer? Is not the kingdom here referred to the same kingdom as that illustrated in Christ's parable of the mustard-seed? And is not this kingdom already established on earth, tho not completely? And was it not to grow as the mustard-seed, until the second coming of Christ, when the kingdom of God was to be completely and forever established?

"Thy kingdom come" has a far broader meaning than any manifestation of God's grace in the world. God's kingdom includes the King, the law of the kingdom, the subjects of the kingdom, and the territory of the kingdom. These will not be seen in this world until after Christ shall come the second time. Then His kingdom will be set up, and not until then. See Matt. 25:31; 2 Tim. 4:1. The prayer, then, "Thy kingdom come," is the prayer that the Lord shall reign universally, everywhere. It involves the great thought that sin shall be no more, but that righteousness shall reign forever. But the expression, "Thy kingdom come," ought to come closer home to the one who prays than that. It ought to mean that God's kingdom shall come first of all in our own hearts, that we ourselves should yield to the law of that kingdom, that we ourselves should welcome the entrance and absolute control of the King, that in our own hearts He would establish the law through faith (Rom. 3:31), and that in our own hearts He would dwell (Isa. 57:15). "Thy kingdom come" is parallel with Rev. 22:20, "Come, Lord Jesus." There is a sense in which it is said that God's kingdom of grace exists, and will exist, until the grace is lost in the overwhelming glory of Christ's second coming,—the kingdom of grace in one's heart which may grow even as the mustard-seed. That will not be true, however, of God's church in this world; it will not grow, and grow, until it includes all the world. The prophecy of His Word is that that church will meet with trials and tribulations which will seem almost at times to blot it from the earth, but out of it all God will deliver His people. The kingdom of the prayer is the second coming of Christ, when God's will shall be done in earth as it is in heaven.