“The Lord’s Prayer, Part 6”

(Matthew 6:10)

What have we seen so far?

1. So far we have seen that prayer is a spiritual exercise. It is the new life that is within
us yearning for communion with the One who gave us birth. It is the pouring out of a
heart cleansed by grace to the Father, in the name of the Son and in the power of the
Spirit of God.

2. We have seen that prayer is important because the Lord calls us to pray, because it
brings His blessing, and because it furthers His redemptive kingdom.

3. We have seen that even though through the Spirit’s work we will desire to pray, and
even though the Lord commands us to pray, yet we still need to cultivate it in our lives
until our lives are characterized by prayer.

4. We have seen that there are certain rules we are to follow in prayer, since it is
worship. We are not to pray using words without meaning, or using the same words
until they become meaningless to us. We are not to pray so that others can see us, but
in secret. And we are to pray using the pattern Jesus gave His disciples.

5. From this pattern, we learned that we are to pray as members of God’s family. He is
our heavenly Father. We are to pray together as members of the same family. And we
are to remember at all times that even though He is our Father, yet we must reverence
Him as God.

6. From the first petition we learned that God wants us to pray that all men everywhere
would treat His name as holy, or would regard Him as sacred; that they would treat
Him as God.

7. And from the second petition we learned that we should be seeking that God’s
kingdom would come powerfully in our lives, so that we would grow in holiness; that
it would come powerfully in this world, through evangelism; and that it would come in
it’s final form as the eternal kingdom of God.

8. This morning, I would like for us to look at this last petition again from a slightly
different angle. I certainly agree whole-heartedly with what Greg said about this
petition last week. The thing I would like to emphasize this week is whether the Bible
gives us any indication as to the success of the kingdom in this world before the
kingdom comes in its final state. In other words, what does the Bible tell us to expect
before Christ comes again? When Jesus tells us to pray, “Hallowed be Your name,” or
“May Your name be treated reverently,” and when He tells us to pray, “Your kingdom
come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven,” is there any indication in the
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Bible that these petitions will be answered by Him? And if so, how will they be
answered?

I. First, let’s remind ourselves what we mean when we are speaking about the kingdom
of God, because the Bible uses it in different senses.
A. The kingdom of God can refer to realm over which God is King.
1. This would include the whole created realm, the kingdom that Adam was co-
ruler over next to God, the one that the enemy took away from him through his
deception, or at least the one that the Lord allowed the devil to gain temporary
control over, while still being fully under His control.
2. This is the kingdom that God has handed over the control of to Christ when He
completed His work of redemption. This is why Jesus said to the disciples on
that mountain in Galilee, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on
earth” (v. 18).
3. The reason Jesus has control over this kingdom is because He needs to have it,
in order to insure that He will be able to work all things together for the good of
His church (Rom. 8:28).
4. This isn’t what Jesus is speaking about here, because this kingdom has already
come in it’s fullness at Creation.

B. But the kingdom of God can also refer to God’s redemptive kingdom.
1. This is its meaning in the Lord’s Prayer. This is the kingdom that the Lord
intruded into the kingdom of the evil one, after he set up his camp on earth at the
Fall.
2. It began with Adam and Eve.
a. The Lord could have destroyed them in His wrath when they broke His
covenant, but He didn’t. He showed them mercy instead.
b. Instead of cursing them, He cursed the serpent, and in doing so gave the
promise of a coming Redeemer, “And I will put enmity between you and the
woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the
head, and you shall bruise him on the heel” (Gen. 3:15).
c. He instituted sacrifice by killing animals to cover their nakedness, showing
them again what the Deliverer would need to do to save them from their sins.
d. This was the beginning of God’s redemptive kingdom.

3. This kingdom was advanced even further with the call of Abraham.
a. God called him apart from all the other people of the earth.
b. He made a promise to Him that through his offspring all the nations of the
earth would be blessed.
c. And He allowed Sarah to conceive supernaturally as a picture of that One
who would be conceived in the womb of the Virgin yet many years in the
future.

4. He eventually established a typological kingdom through the seed of Abraham,

Isaac and Jacob, the kingdom of Israel.
a. It was a picture of the Redemptive kingdom of God.
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b. It also contained the real church. Like the church today, it was a visible
representation of the invisible church.

5. But the kingdom was finally brought in and established when Christ came into
the world.
a. When John the Baptist began his preaching ministry, the very first recorded
words out of his mouth were, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand”
(Matt. 2:2). He was the one who was preparing the way of the Lord.
b. When Jesus began to preach, these were also His first words, according to
Matthew, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (4:17). The
kingdom was at hand because the King had arrived.

C. Now we need to understand what kind of kingdom this is.

1. It is not a social kingdom. There is no one place on earth where you can go to
see the people who are members of it.
2. It is not an economic kingdom. It’s power is not in earthly wealth or finances.
3. It is also not an earthly political and military kingdom. There is no earthly king
who rules over this kingdom. It doesn’t have an army, at least in the way we
usually think of armies with airplanes, ships, tanks and guns.
4. Rather, it is a spiritual kingdom. Jesus said to Pilate, “My kingdom is not of this
world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting,
that I might not be delivered up to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of
this realm” (John 18:36).
5. Christ’s kingdom is a heavenly kingdom, but it affects the earth. He rules and
reigns over the whole earth from heaven. And it is a redemptive kingdom.
Those who are the citizens of it, and who are enlisted in her spiritual army, are
those who have been saved through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
6. But just because it is spiritual, heavenly and redemptive, is this to say that it
doesn’t have any influence over the social, economic or political aspects of a
nation or of the world? No. The stronger this kingdom becomes in any nation
in the world, the more it influences every aspect of that nation’s life. The more
powerfully it comes, the more that nation will conform to God’s righteous
standards in every area. And the more it does conform to those standards, the
more it will be blessed.
7. This is exactly what Jesus is telling us that we should be praying for.

II. He teaches us to pray, “Your kingdom come.” That is, we are to pray that the power
and influence of God’s kingdom, that kingdom which He has handed over to His Son
during the present time, would come in all its fullness.
A. I don’t believe that we have yet seen the full growth of Christ’s kingdom.
1. The Bible seems to indicate that it is yet to come in far greater power and
extensiveness than anything which we have yet seen. Now I realize that this is a
debated point in the church. There are many who hold this position, and yet
there are many who hold that the Bible really doesn’t indicate that things will
get much better. You will have to come to your own conclusion from the
evidence. But I thought it would be helpful, perhaps to give us a bit of
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encouragement in our prayers – that perhaps they will be answered in a way we

could never dream of – to look at some of the reasons why those who hold this
position believe it.
2. Consider first King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream in Daniel 2.
a. He dreamed of a great statue, made of different kinds of metal, from its head
to its feet, each metal representing a major world power, most of which were
yet to come.
b. In his dream, a stone cut without hands struck the feet of the statue, causing
the whole thing to collapse, and the wind blew it all away. After this, the
stone which crushed the statue, became a great mountain which filled the
whole earth.
c. What does this stone represent? Daniel said, “And in the days of those kings
the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed, and
that kingdom will not be left for another people; it will crush and put an end
to all these kingdoms, but it will itself endure forever” (Dan. 2:44).
d. This is the kingdom which Christ brought in His earthly ministry. It was set
up in the days of the last of those kingdoms (which represented the Roman
Empire), and has put an end to those world powers. Since that time it has
continued to grow. How far will it go? The dream indicates that it will
eventually fill the whole earth.

3. Are there any indications in the New Testament of this? Jesus tells us in two of
the parables of Matthew 13.
a. In the parable of the Mustard Seed, He says, “The kingdom of God is like a
mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field; and this is smaller
than all other seeds; but when it is full grown, it is larger than the garden
plants, and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its
branches” (vv. 31-32).
b. As in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, the kingdom begins small, but it becomes
large. It started with a handful of men in Israel, but even now it contains
multitudes of people from many nations.
c. But how far will this kingdom advance, and to what extent will it supplant
Satan’s kingdom? Jesus appears to tell us in the parable of the leaven that it
will completely supplant it. In His next parable, He says, “The kingdom of
heaven is like leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three pecks of meal,
until it was all leavened” (v. 33).
d. The kingdom starts small in its influence, as we have seen, but it eventually
influences the whole earth.

4. But how do we know that this isn’t simply referring to the fact that the Gospel
will be preached in all the world and that it will have some effect everywhere?
How can we know that this is referring to something bigger and more glorious?
a. This is where the disagreement lies. Some believe there are indications that it
will be very powerful, while others don’t. Here are some of the passages that
appear to indicate that it will come with great power.
b. First, the one we just considered tells us that the whole world is going to be
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leavened by the kingdom. The three measures of meal refer to the world into
which the kingdom was introduced. It works its way through the whole lump
until it is all affected by it.
c. Second, there are the three petitions which our Lord commands us to pray:
one that everyone would reverence the name of God, another that His
kingdom would come, and a third that everyone would do His will. Are we
to expect that God will answer these? I think yes. Jesus told us to pray that
these things would be answered on this side of glory, because He says, “On
earth as it is in heaven,” which supposes that the heaven and earth are still in
their present arrangement.
d. Third, there is the Great Commission, in which Jesus tells His disciples to go
and disciple the nations. He doesn’t actually say to make some disciples
from all the nations, but to disciple the nations. Is Christ going to fulfill this
commission in His church? I think we should assume that He is, while there
are still nations on earth.
e. Fourth, when Jesus began to rule at the right hand of God, the Father said to
Him, “Sit at My right hand until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your
feet” (Psalm 110:1), or in other words, until He subdues them all under His
feet. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 15:25-26, “For He must reign until He has
put all His enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be abolished is
death.” Now if His present reign will continue until all His enemies are
subdued, and the last enemy that will be subdued is death, which won’t be
subdued until the resurrection at the last day, then His present reign will not
end until every single one of His enemies on this side of glory are put under
His feet, which is before the final day, how long before, we have to conclude
from other verses.
f. This is what Isaiah appears to be talking about in chapter 2:2-4, where he
writes, “Now it will come about that in the last days the mountain of the
house of the Lord will be established as the chief of the mountains, and will
be raised above the hills; and all the nations will stream to it. And many
peoples will come and say, ‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
to the house of the God of Jacob; that He may teach us concerning His ways
and that we may walk in His paths.’ For the law will go forth from Zion and
the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And He will judge between the
nations, and will render decisions for many peoples; and they will hammer
their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will
not lift up sword against nation, and never again will they learn war.”
g. This is also what he appears to be talking about at the end of the book, where
he writes, “‘For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former
things will not be remembered or come to mind. But be glad and rejoice
forever in what I create; for behold, I create Jerusalem for rejoicing and her
people for gladness. I will also rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in My
people; and there will no longer be heard in her the voice of weeping and the
sound of crying. No longer will there be in it an infant who lives but a few
days, or an old man who does not live out his days; for the youth will die at
the age of one hundred and the one who does not reach the age of one
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hundred will be thought accursed. They will build houses and inhabit them;
they will also plant vineyards and eat their fruit. They will not build and
another inhabit, they will not plant and another eat; for as the lifetime of a
tree, so will be the days of My people, and My chosen ones will wear out the
work of their hands. They will not labor in vain, or bear children for
calamity; for they are the offspring of those blessed by the Lord, and their
descendants with them. It will also come to pass that before they call, I will
answer; and while they are still speaking, I will hear. The wolf and the lamb
will graze together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox; and dust will be the
serpent's food. They will do no evil or harm in all My holy mountain,’ says
the LORD” (65:17-25).

B. Have we seen the full extent of Christ’s kingdom yet to come on earth?
1. No, we haven’t.
a. Right now there are still many people to be reached. There are thousands of
people groups with their own special language who do not have a gospel
witness.
b. Satan’s kingdom is still very strong in the world. Just take a look outside.
Or go to Berkeley or San Francisco or Santa Cruz. Turn on your television
and see how full it is of Satan’s doctrines. Watch the news and see the evil
that is going on in our world.
c. And look at how weak and divided the church is. There is a great deal of
ignorance and compromise and sin. The church is broken into hundreds, if
not thousands of denominations. And of these, very few still hold forth a
gospel witness strong enough to be seen and felt.
d. Christ’s kingdom has not come to the extent or with the power which the
Lord Himself has told us that it would.

2. And so what must we do? We must pray. We must pray as Jesus taught us that
God’s kingdom would come.
1. We must pray that the Lord would raise up godly pastors to preach His Word,
godly men and women to witness to others of Christ, and godly missionaries
to bring the gospel to those thousands of unreached peoples, as well as those
which have been reached, but not completely. We must pray that the Lord
would make His Word powerful to their conversion.
2. We must pray that God would break the power of Satan’s kingdom, through
His truth.
a. The devil’s kingdom is built upon lies. Words and ideas are very
powerful. Satan knows this, and this is why he uses them to promote his
wicked schemes.
b. But we must learn the truth and begin to use it to break down the devil’s
strongholds. The apostle Paul wrote, “For though we walk in the flesh, we
do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not
of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We
are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the
knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the
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obedience of Christ” (2 Cor. 10:3-5).

c. God’s truth is powerful through the working of the Spirit. But it must be
used, or it will not have any effect at all.

3. We should also pray that the Lord would purify His church.
a. This is perhaps where things should begin. Unless the church is sanctified
and made clean and holy by her Lord, it is very doubtful whether it will
have any effect at all.
b. We need to pray that Christ would purify His ministers. We must pray
that they would read and study God’s Word, and that they would minister
that Word and do things in the church the Lord’s way, instead of their
own.
c. We need to pray that Christ would purify His people from their sin and
corruption. We will know that this prayer has been answered when His
people really do begin to seek after holiness.
d. And we need to pray that the Lord, by His Spirit, would confirm and build
up His saints in Christ.

4. But lastly, of course, and as saw last week, we should pray that the Lord
would bring His kingdom in all its final glory and fullness.
a. There is a day coming in which the Lord Jesus Christ will return.
b. Right now He is reigning in heaven, as we have seen. Paul says that He
will reign until His last enemy is defeated, which is death. But on the day
He returns, He will vanquish that enemy once and for all by raising all the
dead to the judgment.
c. It is for this day that the Lord said we are to wait, to hope, and to long.
Paul writes, “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly
wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; who will transform the body of
our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the
exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself”
(Phil. 3:20-21).
d. Do you long to see Christ glorified in this world? Do you long to see His
kingdom come in power? Are you eagerly watching and waiting for His
return? If so, are you praying for these things? Prayer is the means by
which the Lord will do all these things. Pray then that He would give you
and all His saints a heart of prayer. Pray that He would revive His church,
so that we would all begin seeking these things. Pray that His kingdom
would come! May the Lord grant us the strength to do so this morning by
His Spirit. Amen.