Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever, Amen.

Matthew 6:13

Come to think of it, I probably prayed this prayer more than any other in my life.   Further, did I ever really try to understand what the Lord Jesus taught us to pray, as clearly expressed in this prayer?  The prayer opens with the plea, “Thy kingdom come,”  and closes with “Thine is the kingdom.” We might say, “God’s kingdom is here!”  It has come.

As I grow older, I think more often of the difference between the kingdom of God and the kingdoms of this world.  I am now 88 years old and I have read and pondered Biblical teaching quite often, especially now as the nation in which I live, this “kingdom,” so to speak, is going through an election. The air is full of it.

Now, I believe it is important for all of the followers of the Lamb in this nation to pray again the Lord’s prayer and to actualize it in life.  The prayer opens with the request, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”  “In heaven.”  As my mind goes to the heavenlies, I see no nations there.  Only one King over all.  Only one language. One song of praise.  One blessed salvation.  And so forth.   Where are the earthly powers, our earthly “kingdoms?”  They are not there, not at all.  Saved people are there from all nations and languages.

Jesus’ prayer begins with, Thy kingdom come and ends with the words Thine is the kingdom.  The entire prayer is based on this reality.  As people who are born again of the Spirit of God, our loyalties have shifted to Jesus Christ, to the kingdom he is building.  We live in the passing kingdoms of this world but our citizenship is in the kingdom that will be there when all kingdoms of this world perish.

If we keep this in mind, always, we find ourselves pulled more and more to Jesus and his kingdom while acknowledging that temporary kingdoms do serve a purpose, but quite limited, in the long run.

The kingdom in which we live is forever.  Heaven gives us a little insight into that.

Lord, may we know how to live in our frail earthly kingdoms while we know that only your powerful kingdom is forever, and ever.  Amen.