“Thy Kingdom Come”
*Lordj we would fain gome little palm branch lay
Upon thy way. If hut thefoldmge of thy garment 8 hem
Shall shadow them Theee worthless leaves which we have brought and strewed
Along thy road Shall be raised up and made divinely sweett
And fit to He beneath thy feet”
^’Clt IftingUottt Come”
ALREADY we have learned to
keep back the thought of our
own wants when we enter the
gate of prayer, and to pray
first for the hallowing of God’s
name. We are here checked
again in our expression of our own eager desires, and bidden to pray instead for the coming
of God’s kingdom. The things of God must
come before oiu* things.
“Thy kingdom come.“” What is the kingdom of God for whose coming we are here taught to pray? It is not the rule of God over the material imiverse. Already the divine sway in this realm is complete. No star ever rebels against the laws ordained for the heavenly bodies. There is nowhere in nature any resistance to the will of God, which is revealed in what we call na- [75]
ture’s laws. There is no need, therefore, to pray for the coming of our Father’s kingdom in the natural world.
Nor is this a prayer for the speedy coming of death to the child of God, that he may enter into the joys and felicities of heaven’*s blessedness, — the full glory of the kingdom of God. Our Lord’s own prayer for his disciples was not that they should be taken out of the world, for they have a work to do here, but that they should remain in the world and be kept from its evil.
“Thy kingdom come is a prayer for the coming of God’s moral and spiritual sway over the hearts and lives of men in this world. There is no need to prove that in this realm God’s kingdom does not now have unresisted sway. We know well how man is in rebellion against God. It is not necessary to recite here the sad facts of this story of rebellion. It began in Paradise. It is interesting, however, to notice that immediately after man had fallen, God set about [76] ‘’ Clb? IKingDom Come restoring his kingdom upon the earth. The protevangelium was spoken amid the very words which told of sin’s ruin. From that day to this, God has been seeking to reclaim his place as king in the hearts and lives of men. In the fulness of time, Jesus Christ came to declare God’s mercy and love, to reveal to man the possibilities of spiritual life, to die for the world, and to set up the kingdom of God in full power on the earth.
We have only to turn to oiu* Lord’s teachings to learn the character of this kingdom. It is spiritual; it seeks to rule over man’s conscience, his affections, his whole life. A kingdom is where a king rules; God would rule in our heart. The kingdom has come in any of us just in the measure in which God governs our thoughts, our will, our desires. The kingdom has failed fully to come in us in so far as we still resist God’s will and fail to obey him perfectly, whether it be in act, or word, or wish, or affection, or feeling.
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If we ask “What is the character of this kingdom of God? ‘” we find the first answer in the name of the King. He is our Father. lye need not be afraid of this King. The Bible in every chapter declares the goodness of God. The Old Testament shines with revealings of his mercy. Then in Jesus Christ we have the full revelation of the divine character. “He that hath seen me hath seen the Father,^ Jesus declared. Every word, act, and disposition of that life of marvellous beauty showed us some new revealing of God. Then on the cross we have the unveiling of the very heart of our Father when he gave his only begotten Son; when Christ, the Son of God, gave himself up to a death of shame for us.
This is our King. He was one of us in his earthly revealing. He was lowly and humble, moving among the people with infinite gentleness. Yet divine love filled his heart and wrought itself out in every touch of his hand, until at last that hand was nailed on the cross. [78] ‘’ Ci)? I£lln0Dom Come ^’His hand was roughs and his hand was heard, For he wrought in wood, in Nazareth town; With nought of worship, with no regard. In the village street he went up and down.
^’His hand was rough, but its touch was light. As it lay on the eyes of him horn blind; Or stroke sick folk in its healing might. And gave back joy to the hearts that pined,
His hand was hard, but they spiked it fast To the splintering wood of the cursed tree; And he hung in the sight of the world at last In his shame. And the blood trickled free,*’
The King desires to reign in us. His name is Love. No reign of the gentlest sovereign on earth was ever so beneficent, so gracious, as the sway of him who desires to be our King, and who craves of us that we submit ourself to him.
When we turn to our Lord’s teachings we find
many thoughts about this kingdom, revealing
to us its character. It” cometh not with obser- 0)t ^oinm (Safe of Ptaer
vation’’; that is, so that its progress can be noted by earthly signs. Earthly kingdoms advance with pomp and noise, in cruel war, crushing enemies before them, and in display of power which awes men. The kingdom of God advances silently. One of its symbols is light — the morning comes noiselessly. This kingdom is not an earthly organization. The church is not the kingdom of God — the church, with its ecclesiastical system, its ritual, simple or elaborate, its membership footed up in statistical tables, its sacraments, its ministrations. “The kingdom of God is within you,’’ said the Master. It sets up its throne in men’s hearts. It rules over men’s lives. It is not meat and drink, but righteousness and peace and joy. Every true Christian is in the kingdom of God, and this kingdom is also in him. But the kingdom of God and the visible church are not identical. There are many lowly friends of God in whom this kingdom has been set up, yet whose names are on no roll of any church; and [80] “CfipJKmgHomCome’
no doubt there are members of the visible church, perhaps some who are prominent and conspicuous in it, in whom the kingdom of God has not found a realm. Christ himself came and lived and taught and died to make men good, and to bring them into the heavenly kingdom. If we ask what the laws of this kingdom are, we find them plainly revealed in our Lords teachings. The sermon on the mount is Christs own exposition of the life of the kingdom of God. This sermon begins with the beatitudes which tell us who are the blessed or happy ones.
Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers: for they [81]
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shall be called sons of God. Blessed are they that have been persecuted for righteousness’* sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.“” At every point in these beatitudes we recognize the difference between earth’s ideals of happiness and of proper human pursuit and heaven’s. The whole sermon runs upon the same lofty lines. Think what the community would be in which these teachings should be fully realized, lived out, wrought into conduct and character. Yet that is the coming of the kingdom for which we pray in this petition. Love is the great central law of this kingdom. Christ taught his disciples that they must love each other as he had loved them. They must love not merely the good and the lovable, but the evil and the unlovely as well. The love must be like God’s, and he makes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust. St. John, who learned the lesson on the Master’s bosom, into whose life the kingdom came with marvellous [82] ‘’Clbp IKm0Dom Come’
power, transforming him into the very gentleness of Christ, taught that “if we love one another, Grod abideth in us, and his love is perfected in us. ... If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, cannot love God whom he hath not seen.*” We have come under the rule and sway of the kingdom of God only in so far as we have learned the lesson of love. The worst heresy is unlovingness. This love must not be a sentiment merely; it must rule the life, revealing itself in all graces of character, and leading to lowliest service — love always serves. When the disciples once were disputing among themselves as to who was greatest in the kingdom of God, Jesus took a little child and set him in the midst of them, and said to them that they must become like this little child if they would even enter the kingdom. He referred to the absence of ambition, the simplicity and guilelessness, humility and lowliness of heart, in a [88]
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child. True greatness is unconscious of itself. It is not puffed up with a sense of its own importance. It is lowly and simple-hearted. On another occasion, when a like question was being considered, and the disciples asked Jesus who was greatest in the kingdom, he said the greatest was he who served most deeply and unselfishly. The world’s idea of greatness is exemption from service; but he is the best Christian who serves others the most humbly and the most helpfiiUy. In Christ himself the kingdom of God had perfect development, and he said of himself, “The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister.*” The kingdom of God has come in us just in the measure in which we love and serve. “Meek Jesus! to my soul thy Spirit lending, Teach me to live like thee in lowly love; With humblest service all thy saints befriending Until I serve before thy throne above”