Thy Kingdom Come
Taken from The Lord and His Prayer
Description
Thy Kingdom Come
CHAPTER TWO
What are we praying for when we pray for God’s kingdom to come?
The second main petition in the Lord’s Prayer – ‘Thy Kingdom Come’ – rules out any idea that the kingdom of God is a purely heavenly (that is, ‘otherworldly’) reality. Thy kingdom come, we pray, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Sort out the familiar, but technical, terms. ‘Heaven’ and ‘earth’ are the two interlocking arenas of God’s good world. Heaven is God’s space, where God’s writ runs and God’s future purposes are waiting in the wings. Earth is our world, our space. Think of the vision at the end of Revelation. It isn’t about humans being snatched up from earth to heaven. The holy city, new Jerusalem, comes down from heaven to earth. God’s space and ours are finally married, integrated at last. That is what we pray for when we pray ‘Thy kingdom come’...
Taken from The Lord and His Prayer by Tom Wright