“The kingdom of God has come upon you.”

— Matthew 12:28

When Christians pray the Lord’s Prayer, we say, “Your kingdom come.” In the long run, we’re asking for Jesus to come again and make everything new: heaven and earth, peoples and nations, each one of us. We’re asking God to put right everything that is wrong.

The Bible paints some lovely pictures of the kingdom of God in this ultimate sense: the wolf living with the lamb, weapons of war remade into tools of peace, no more death or mourning or crying or pain, justice at last.

But the kingdom of God is not just an ultimate reality in the future. The kingdom of God is also a present reality. It comes near through Jesus Christ, who announces the kingdom of God and makes it real. And it remains near through the Holy Spirit.

So when Christians pray, “Your kingdom come,” we’re not just asking God to change the world for good. We’re asking God to change us too—and to change us now. Because we want to see the kingdom that’s already here through Jesus. And we want to participate in that kingdom by the Holy Spirit.

Otherwise we remain captive to kingdoms of this world with their pride and their greed and their hatred and their violence. “Your kingdom come” is our plea that God will free us from all of that—so that we can begin to be new.

Heavenly Father, give us a new way to see the world and a new way to be in the world. Set us free to live as citizens of your kingdom. Amen.