The Lord’s Prayer Matthew 6 :

The Kingdom of God: Part 2 “Your Kingdom Come”

Your Kingdom Come The request of “Your kingdom come” has a dual meaning: 1. May your kingdom come in my life and your purposes be established on this earth. 2. May your kingdom literally be established on this earth as You reign forever on earth and in heaven—a real, physical reign here on earth!

Your Kingdom Come …or another way of saying this… 1. God’s kingdom is presently here Col. 1:13 – “transferred into the kingdom of His beloved Son” Luke 17:21 – “in the midst of you” 2. God’s kingdom will come in its fullness in the future Rom 8:23 – “wait eagerly” Daniel 7

Your Kingdom Come Staying on this “both/and” definition… The arrival of God’s kingdom both now and in the future destroys other kingdoms. When you pray this prayer, you are saying: “I’m okay with you destroying kingdoms—literal earthly kingdoms AND my own personal kingdom.”

Your Kingdom Come Rev 18:3 and on  Babylon and her immorality and wealth 2 responses 1. I’m out! 2. Mourn the loss! I wanted (insert desire), but Your kingdom come… “Do you see the radical alteration this is to our prayers?” – Daniel Bennett

Your Kingdom Come You might say… “I understand why we would study the first aspect of kingdom, but why study the second? I don’t really care that much about the ‘end times’. All I know is that I am a Christian, and that God will take care of me.” What are reasons why a believer shouldn’t think this way? What will the “last days” look like?

Your Kingdom Come Three basic views are (and I am making generalizations here): 1. There is no prosperous time of Christianity on earth. 2. There is a prosperous time of Christianity on earth BEFORE Christ comes back. 3. There is a prosperous time of Christianity on earth AFTER Christ comes back. --All three views see Christ coming back..

Your Kingdom Come 1. There is no prosperous time of Christianity on earth--amillenialism. Revelation 20:1-6  The literal millenial reign or a figurative time period? Amillenialism says that when Christ came during the first advent (or His first coming over 2,000 years ago) this reign began. “A” means “no”  no millenium

Your Kingdom Come This graph and the following graphs from:

Your Kingdom Come 2. There is a prosperous time of Christianity on earth BEFORE Christ comes back. Christ’s second advent will follow the millenium  His return is postmillenial or after the millenium. BUT this millenium is not generally seen as a literal 1,000 year reign. Postmillenialists are optimistic amillenialists. “In reality, an amillennialist who is optimistic about the end times is a postmillennialist.”

Your Kingdom Come “In reality, an amillennialist who is optimistic about the end times is a postmillennialist.”

Your Kingdom Come 3. There is a prosperous time of Christianity on earth AFTER Christ comes back—premillenialism. There is a historic premillenialism and then a dispensational premillenialism. Let’s talk about the latter… The millenium follows the return of Christ, thus the return of Christ is pre-millenium. This next slide will look more complicated but I believe it is more biblical.

Your Kingdom Come

Why do I believe in premillenialism from a dispensational mindset? Dispensationalism vs. Covenantalism (again I am generalizing here…) Dispensationalism starts in the Old Testament and interprets the Scripture literally—including the OT prophecies about Israel. Covenantalism starts in the New Testament and interprets the OT prophecies in light of what the NT says about the church—seeing the church as the “new version” of Israel and the benefactor of the promises. One of the reasons I believe in dispensationalism is because of literal interpretations of OT prophecies about Israel are still left unfulfilled. Another reason is the dependability of a literal hermenuetic.

Your Kingdom Come The nation of Israel will finally recognize that Jesus was their Messiah, whom they crucified! Zech 12:9-10 On that day I will set out to destroy all the nations that attack Jerusalem. And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son. God will judge the nations depending upon their treatment of the Jewish people. Joel 1:1-2 In those days and at that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, I will gather all nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. There I will enter into judgment against them concerning my inheritance, my people Israel, for they scattered my people among the nations and divided up my land.

Your Kingdom Come There is another aspect to this that we don’t have time to discuss today. It is called progressive dispensationalism. This stance states that there are some promises to Israel that are for the church today, but still allows for an ethnic Israel.

Your Kingdom Come How does this brief look affect one’s daily walk with God?

Your Kingdom Come