God’s Kingdom On Earth – Wouldn’t That Be Great?

Richard Baxter once prayed, “Lord, what thou wilt, when thou wilt, where thou wilt.” And he meant it. But where on earth can we go to find a place where God’s will is done perfectly? Nowhere – only in God’s “kingdom” is His will carried out with perfection.

Jesus taught us to pray to God, “thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Scholars argue about the definition and nature of the word “kingdom” as it is used in the New Testament. Some dispensationalists reserve the usage of the word entirely for Israel. Some also make a clear distinction between the “kingdom of heaven” and the “kingdom of God” (i.e. – C. I. Scofield). For me, it’s rather simple – a “kingdom” is the realm of the rule of a sovereign.

If my definition is true, then God certainly rules of the kingdom of Israel, all new Testament believers, and certainly the millennial kingdom to come and even our heavenly eternity. So I interpret Jesus’ instruction to us as “pray for God’s will to be done in your life the way it is done in the realms in which God has total rule.”

Here are some applications…

• God, may your Kingdom (reign, rule) be established in the hearts of those who do not know You yet.
• God, may your reign and rule be received by the leaders of this earth (but that’s not our primary realm of focus).
• God, may your will be done perfectly in my life, in every decision I make each day.

So it’s really a prayer of commitment to obedience, not for the second coming to occur (that kind of praying is also encouraged, but not here).

Some tough and legitimate questions are raised… should we do anything to bring God’s kingdom about in a sinful, dark, decaying world? Well, we are salt and light aren’t we? And this is where we live isn’t it? So yes, but our attachments should be reserved for God’s kingdom as the kingdom of this world is going to be burned up someday and totally renovated into the place God wants it to be.

Does God rule you?