The Plea That Changes The World

[Editor's Note: This message also uses Daniel 2:36-45 as a major text.]

Introduction

During the American Civil War a delegation from the Deep South called on President Lincoln and spread out before him on the table a map of the United States, across which a line had been drawn “South of that line,” the spokesman told him, “it will be right for people to have slaves, north of that line it will be illegal.” Abraham Lincoln had a big hand. Disregarding the arbitrary line, he laid his hand broadly on the map, covering it completely,

“I claim it all in the name of freedom,” he said. In the Millennial Reign of Christ, the nail pierced hand of the true Messiah will be placed on this planet. He will claim the whole world in the name of a freedom up to then unknown. For a thousand years our blessed Lord will reign on this earth, which once rejected Him. Only a few hundred yards from where He wore the crown of thorns, He will wear the crown of glory. Christ will return to fulfill the untold millions of times these three little words have wafted their way to heaven by believers. “Thy kingdom come.”

Now when we hear or see the word “kingdom,” we tend to think of kings, castles, forts and knights. Some folk might think of the Magic Kingdom of Disneyland, or of Sleeping Beauty. This word “kingdom,” conjures up for us thoughts of large estates, people riding horses, pomp, ceremony, maidens, moats and strict laws. But if we replace the word “kingdom,” with the word “reign,” we make the petition clearer. You see, we are to pray for Christ’s sovereign rule. To pray “thy kingdom come,” is to pray for Christ to reign. Now notice that the request

“Thy kingdom come,” is interpreted as to its nature and location by this phrase, “Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven.” My …. to pray “Thy kingdom come,” is to pray for Christ to reign. When we pray “thy kingdom come,” we are praying in accord with the will of God for (Ps 2:6-8) says “Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree: the Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee. Ask of me, and I shall give the nations for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.” My …. God wants to give the kingdoms of this world to His Son.

God is going to establish a visible kingdom on this earth but not until He has completed the church and finished His present work. The kingdom will be established after the rapture of the church, and not before. You see,

1. The PROMISE of this REIGN:

Is permeated throughout the Scripture. Isaiah speaks repeatedly on the subject of a future kingdom. He says, “And is shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills and all nations shall flow unto it.” (2:2) He says, “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon His kingdom to order it and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.” (9:6-7) Here is an earthly government, the child will be born on earth, the throne will be that of David, rule will be marked by justice and righteousness, and it will be accomplished by the power of God rather than the power of men. Now the birth has been fulfilled, but the establishment of His earthly government has not. Although God did not allow David to build a Temple for Him, He did give him a promise, “I will set up thy seed after thee …. and I will establish his kingdom, He shall build an house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.” (2 Sam 7:121-3) The Lord promised that one day a King, the eternal Son would come and rule on David’s throne forever. 1.

2. The PERSON of this REIGN:

For the Bible focuses on the One who will come again to reign as Kings of Kings and Lord of Lords. Someone has well said that history is His story. History is the unfolding of God’s redemptive plan in the person of Jesus Christ, and we are headed toward the time when Christ will rule. In Daniel (Ch 2) a statue or image representing the kingdoms of this world is smashed by a flying stone, which represents Christ. Then the stone fills the whole earth, which indicates Christ’s complete rule over it. My …. God does not have a program apart from a person. To pray “thy kingdom,” is to pray for Christ to reign.

3. The PRAYER for this REIGN:

Look at it in (6:10) “Thy,” Now whom does the word “Thy,” refer to. Well, look at (6:9) Whose kingdom are we praying for? God’s. The Greek word for “kingdom,” is a Greek word (basileia) which means “rule,” or “reign.” So by replacing the word “kingdom,” with the word “reign,” we would have “thy reign come.” The word “come,” in the Greek text (elthato) scholars tell us means “to suddenly come.” Christ’s kingdom won’t progressively ooze its way into the world. It won’t come gradually until one day we wake up and the kingdom is here like the postmillennialists would have us believe. No, the word “come,” indicates that His kingdom will come suddenly and completely.

Now Christ spoke frequently of His kingdom and He spoke of it in terms of the past, present, and future. He indicated that His kingdom already existed because it embodied Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. (Matt 8:11) He states the kingdom is already here for in Luke’s gospel Christ says, “Neither shall they say, Lo here ! or Lo there ! for, behold the kingdom of God is within you.”

(17:21) And the future aspect of the kingdom is spoken of in this pattern prayer by the words, “ Thy kingdom come.” You see, when we pray “Thy kingdom come,” we are praying for something in relation to ourselves, in relation to others, and in relation to God. When we pray,

“Thy kingdom come,”

I. WE COULD BE PRAYING DEVOTIONALLY

Care must be taken not to overlook the personal application in this prayer. I mean, is this not a personal prayer for growth in grace? You may say, “ I’m already a believer, I pray for Christ’s kingdom to come, I pray for unsaved friends to open their hearts to His rule.” You may have the same attitude as nineteenth century English missionary Henry Martyn, who once ran out of a temple in India and said, “I cannot endure existence if Jesus Christ is to be so dishonored.” How does the phrase

“Thy kingdom come,” apply to those of us who are already saved. You see, if you are a believer, Christ is or should be ruling in your heart, but is it not important for us to daily affirm that we bow our knee to that rule? This will mean at least two things:

A. SELF WILL BE DETHRONED:

S. D. Gordon used to say, “In every heart there is a throne and a cross. If self is on the throne, Christ is on the cross, if self is on the cross, Christ is on the throne.” Do you know our big problem? Self. You see, a believer needs come to the point where he says, “thy kingdom come,” instead of “my kingdom come.” We should be preoccupied with God’s plan as revealed in the person of the Lord Jesus. But that goes against our human nature. Have you ever noticed how much of your prayers focus on yourself? My …. we have a tendency to rush into the presence of God and tell Him about our needs, plans, and concerns. We have a bent toward self. Do you ever see a little baby? That’s all I seem to be seeing in these days. But babies know nothing of letting other people have their choice. They will scream the place down when they want something. You can’t say, “I’ll get to you later, I have some other things to do right now.” No, babies are preoccupied with their needs. Toddlers show a bent toward self when they say, “That’s mine. You can’t have it.” And as children grow up this bent toward self continues. Teenagers are told, “You are the king of your castle. You must determine your destiny. You are charting your own course and must govern your own life.” You see, the whole of society is self-centered and thinks little of words other than me, myself and I. And the command that we are to pray “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done,” goes against the grain of human nature. My …. are you battling with self? Are you resisting the Holy Spirit as He seeks to glorify Christ in you?

B. CHRIST WILL BE ENTHRONED:

I mean what do the subjects of a kingdom do? Its very simple. They do the will of the king. You see, a son obeys a father because he wants to, a servant obeys his master because he needs to, but a subject obeys a king because he has to. In a kingdom, the king is in control and his will is both sovereign and supreme. The happiest subjects of a kingdom are those surrendered to the control of the king. James Merritt tells the story of Josif Tson, one of the pastors of the Second Baptist Church of Oradea, Romania, the largest Baptist Church in all of Europe. He was speaking on one occasion about the difference between Christians in the West and believers in Romania. He said an interesting thing. He said, “You talk about commitment we talk about surrender. When you make a commitment to someone, you are in control, but when you surrender you put the other person in control, when you make a commitment, you decide what you are going to do, when you surrender, they decide what they are going to do.” My …. we sing it, “He is Lord,” but can you honestly say, “Christ is my Lord and King?” You see, some Christians treat God as a constitutional monarch. Indeed many years ago one man actually used this term He said, “I have been a Christian for some time and I have acknowledged Christ as my King, but I have to say that He was a sort of constitutional monarch. He was the head of state, but I was prime minister,” which meant that he made his own decisions and expected the Lord to rubber stamp them. Thankfully, he was brought to the place where Christ was the absolute sovereign of his life.

Have you got there yet? At the service of the coronation of our Queen, a close friend of the Royal Family sat close to the Queen Mother. She told how, that during the coronation service, when it came to the moment when that stripling of a girl was crowned Queen, she turned and looked at the face of the Queen Mother and saw the tears streaming down her cheeks. Most people watched it on television and the crown was placed upon the one who had the right to wear it, the only one. My …. have you crowned Him? Lord of all? Have you placed the crown upon His head? And has the action of a moment become the attitude of a lifetime? You see, when we pray, “Thy kingdom come,” we are saying, “Lord, bring me more and more under Thy gracious sway.”

II. WE COULD BE PRAYING EVANGELISTICALLY

For this is a prayer for salvation. For His kingdom comes to earth in the lives of those who receive Him as Savior and Lord. Christ reigns in my life and He should reign in yours. Did you notice that there is a logical order in this prayer? You see, we begin by praying “Hallowed by Thy name.” But the moment we pray that we are reminded of the fact that the name of God, the character of God is not hallowed. The name of God is ridiculed in society, the character of God is dishonored. Why? Because of sin, because there is another kingdom, the kingdom of Satan the kingdom of darkness. Paul says “who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son.” (Col 1:13) People need to be delivered before they will reverence His name. So when we say, “Thy kingdom come,” it’s a prayer for salvation. God’s rule can come now. How?

A. BY THE CONVERSION OF SINNERS:

You see, the phrase “the kingdom of God,” is an expression that relates especially to salvation. One becomes a citizen of an earthly kingdom through physical birth, and one becomes a citizen of God’s kingdom through spiritual birth. Do you recall the words of Christ?

“Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (Jn 3:3) And this new birth comes about through the Word of God (Jn 3:5) by the Spirit of God and in response to faith. (Jn 3:15)

For as soon as my all I ventured

On the atoning blood

The Holy Spirit entered

And I was born of God

1 Do you know what the Gospel Demands of you?

“Repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Acts 20:21) This is what the rich young ruler failed to grasp. He sought eternal life, but he was unwilling to enter the kingdom by personal repentance. He sought to have Christ as Savior but was unwilling to submit to His kingly rule. That is why, on hearing the Savior’s words “he went away sorrowful.”

(Matt 19:22) Is this your problem? You want Christ as Savior but not as Lord? You want an insurance policy from hell, while deliberately refusing His lordship over your life.

2 Do you know want the Gospel Deserves from you?

Wholehearted surrender. Christ says, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God ….,” (Matt 6:33) My …. have you been converted? Have you truly prayed “Thy kingdom

come?” Does Christ rule in your heart? Can you say,

“I can no longer have jurisdiction over where I am going, over what I am doing, over what I am saying, for Christ is not my Savior but my Lord.” (a)

B. BY THE CONSECRATION OF SAINTS:

You see when we pray “Thy kingdom come,” we are praying for the success of the gospel, its sway and power. We are praying that God will rule and reign in the lives of others. “Thy kingdom come,” is not just a prayer that souls will be saved, but an expression of personal consecration in which we offer ourselves to the Lord to be used in this great work. But it is even more than that. It is a burden that cannot be ignored. We must have a part in winning the lost for Christ. This is the fire that burns in the hearts of those who earnestly pray “thy kingdom come.” A Methodist minister who had a very prosperous church informed his congregation that he intended to resign. The people were amazed, especially when he gave them the reason for his decision. His reason was that the church was not seeing anybody saved. Members went to him to persuade him to change his mind They admitted that people were not being saved through their church’s labour’s but they said, “Your ministry here is edifying us.”

Their complacency grieved the preachers heart, and he challenged them with this question, “My ministry edifies you to do what?” That was a good question and it found its mark. From being self-absorbed and self-satisfied, that congregation began earnestly to pray for advance of the kingdom through the salvation of souls. One man spoke to his employees about the gospel, brought them to church to hear it preached, and saw them saved. The church began to see that it must see God’s kingdom advanced. It was no longer good enough for them to feel comfortable, they had to experience the saving grace of God in their midst. They took the petition “Thy kingdom come,” seriously and saw glorious answers to their prayers. My …. is this not we need to do? For we also can become self-absorbed and self-satisfied, but what about the lost? What about the cry of the perishing? What about the need to extend the kingdom? One Baptist pastor resigned his church in Northern Ireland, and moved to a new sphere of witness. He said “he was tired making fat Christians fatter.” So when we say “Thy kingdom come,”

III. WE COULD BE PRAYING PROPHETICALLY

For there is also a kingdom yet before us. A day is coming, perhaps very soon, when the trumpet will sound and the Lord will descend, and all who have put their trust in Him will be raptured into His presence. Immediately after that, there will be a period of unprecedented tribulation that will last for seven years. At its conclusion Jesus Christ will come back from heaven with His saints and set up His kingdom on earth for a thousand years.

(Rev 20:4) At that time, the prayer “Thy kingdom come,” will be answered. Christ will reign in righteousness, justice, truth and peace.

A. HIS GOVERANCE WILL BE REALIZED:

What will it be like when the King rules the earth? The Old Testament describes this way, “And they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spear into pruning hooks, nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.” (Is 2:4) People will abandon everything military and become agricultural once more. The lion and wolf will lie with down with the lamb, and children will play by the hole of the cobra.

(Is 11:8) This is what Christ meant when He said, “Thy kingdom come.” “O God let your kingdom come within me, let your kingdom come to unsaved folk around me. But most of all, Lord, hasten the day of Your coming, when everything is going to be made right.” Did you know that in the course of human history, the world has been ordered and controlled by almost every conceivable system of government.

Autocratic: that is, government by a dictator, or some powerful personality.

Aristocratic: that is, government by the best people.

Bureaucratic: that is, government by civil servants.

Plutocratic: that is, government by wealth

Democratic: that is, as Abraham Lincoln classically defined it, “government of the people, by the people, for the people.”

Now all of these systems have been tried and none has produced Utopia. Some are better than others, but all fail to build the ideal human society. Only will kind of government will do that.

Christocratic: that is, government by Jesus Christ.

Jesus shall reign where’re the sun

Doth His successive journeys run

His kingdom stretch from shore to shore

Till moons shall rise wax and wane no more

B. HIS GLORY WILL BE REVEALED:

Walter Scott says, “The Millennium will be necessary to witness God’s publicly expressed delight in Christ. God’s answer to the thirty three years of suffering and reproach borne by the Blessed One.” Did you know that all Biblical prophecy concerning the Lord Jesus is summarized in one tiny verse given by the apostle Peter. Peter talks about

“the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow.” (1 Pet 1:11) Here Peter connects Christ’s First Coming (the sufferings) with His Second Coming (the glory)

1. The Sufferings: A babe wrapped in swaddling clothes

(Lk 2:12) the Glory: a King clothed in majestic apparel.

(Ps 93:1)

2. The Sufferings: He was rejected by tiny Israel

(Jn 1:11) the Glory: He will be accepted by all nations.

(Is 9:6)

3. The Sufferings: wicked men took up stones to throw at Him (Jn 8:59) the Glory: wicked men will cry for stones to fall on them and hide them from Him. (Rev 6:16)

4. The Sufferings: He was clothed with a scarlet robe in mockery (Lk 23:11) The Glory: He will be clothed with a vesture dipped in the blood of His enemies (Rev 19:13)

5. The Sufferings: He was smitten with a reed

(Matt 27:30) the Glory: He will rule the nations with a rod of iron. (Rev 19:15)

6. The Sufferings: wicked soldiers bowed their knee and mocked Him (Mk 15:19) the Glory: every knee shall bow. (Phil 2:10)

7. The Sufferings: He wore a crown of thorns (Jn 19:5)

The Glory: He will wear a crown of glory. (Rev 14:14)

8. The Sufferings: His feet were pierced with nails

(Ps 22:16) the Glory: His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives (Zech 14:4)

9. The Sufferings: He delivered up His spirit (Jn 19:30) the Glory: He is alive forevermore. (Rev 1:18)

10. The Sufferings: He was laid in the tomb

(Matt 27:59) The Glory: He will sit on His throne

(Heb 8:1)

Here then is “the suffering, glory story of the Savior.”

And we also shall share in this destiny for Paul says,

“For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us.” (Rom 8:18 2 Tim 2:12) My …. Do you ever think of what eternity will be like with Christ? Do you pray with anticipation for the coming of Christ’s kingdom? Do you look forward to the coming reign of Jesus Christ? Do you feel like Frances Havergal?

Oh, the joy to see Thee reigning

Thee, my own beloved Lord

Every tongue Thy name confessing

Worship, honour, glory, blessing

Brought to Thee with glad accord

Thee, my Master and my Friend

Vindicated and enthroned

Unto earth’s remotest end

Glorified, adored and owned