A few nights ago my 2 year old son Ephram was very sleepy and ready for bed. Though his bed is the bottom bunk he decided that he was going to climb up the latter to Sebastian’s top bunk. Normally he is very able to climb to the top but in his half awake state he got his foot tangled in the latter and began to fall. Of course, I grabbed him before he could fall but he was scared and started crying. I lifted him to the top where he wanted to go and held him under his little arms and I looked into his eyes and said, “Ephram, daddy won’t let you fall. Daddy is right here!” He smiled through his tears and sobs and said ‘o-tay.’”
In Mark 10:15 Jesus says, “I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” (NIV) The various theologies of the kingdom and the nuance of their interpretations seem a great deal more complicated than they need to be to me.
Jesus says that the kingdom is received with the heart of a child crying out “Daddy, Abba, don’t let me fall, Abba, be near!” The kingdom of God is found wherever God exercises perfect dominion. “Your Kingdom Come, your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.”
God’s reign in Heaven is perfect but in the earth there remains rebellion, hatred, injustice, and sin. While God is perfectly sovereign over His creation that creation has used the freedom granted to it to rebel against His grace, love, and will.
When we pray “your kingdom come” we are imploring God to transform us so that we might transform the world! When we pray “your kingdom come” we look forward to the time spoken of by in the Bible when Christ will return to wipe away every tear, tear down every earthly stronghold, deliver His people, and establish His physical literal reign on this earth that will usher in eternity.