April 11 Daily Devotional

Prayer for the Kingdom

["Thy Kingdom come"—the second petition of our Lord's Prayer]: ... there is a logical order in these petitions. They follow one another by a kind of inevitable, divine necessity. We began by asking that the name of God may be hallowed amongst men. But ... we are reminded of the fact that His name is not hallowed thus. At once the question arises, "Why do not all men bow before the sacred name?" ... because of sin, because there is another kingdom ... the kingdom of darkness.

And there, at once, we are reminded of the ... human predicament. Our desire as Christian people is that God's name shall be glorified. But the moment we start with that, we realize that there is this opposition.... There is another who is "the god of this world"; there is a kingdom of darkness ... and it is opposed to God and His glory and honor.

But God ... is yet going to establish His kingdom in this world of time.... He is again going to assert Himself and turn this world and all its kingdoms into His own glorious kingdom; ... running right through the Old Testament, there are the promises and the prophecies concerning the coming of the kingdom of God.... And, of course, ... when our Lord Himself was here on earth, this matter was very much in the forefront of men's minds. John the Baptist had been preaching his message, "Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." He called the people to be ready for it. And when our Lord began preaching, He said exactly the same thing....

At that immediate historical point He was teaching His disciples to pray that this kingdom of God should come increasingly and come quickly, but the prayer is equally true and equally right for us as Christian people in all ages until the end shall come.

Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, ii, pp. 62-3

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“Text reproduced from ‘A First Book of Daily Readings’ by Martyn Lloyd-Jones, published by Epworth Press 1970 & 1977 © Trustees for Methodist Church Purposes. Used with permission.”

Comments on D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, A First Book of Daily Readings

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