The Coming of the Kingdom of God

3016 Words13 Pages
“This is how you are to pray: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven” (Matt 6:9-10). What do you ask God when you pray as a faithful Christian? You will be an advocate of the health and wealth gospel, when you just ask for security, fortune, and mundane success in your life. What kind of prayer and hope does the Lord truly asks us? In the verse 6 of the Gospel according to Matthew, Jesus pointed out the wrong and showy practice of prayer, alms, and fast of the Pharisees, and then He explained the correct method of prayer and its important context. In the Lord’s Prayer, the first three petitions have their significance: hallowing God’s name; the coming of God’s Kingdom; realization of God’s will on earth as it is in heaven. Special attention must be given to the prayer for the coming of the Kingdom of God in this world. First of all, we can ponder upon the concept of fulfillment in the pericope of David and Nathan up to the eschatology in the New Testament. In the Old Testament, we can identify the Kingdom of God which the Lord personally has planted. Malkuth Shamayim (Kingdom of God in Hebrew) means the sole sovereignty in Heaven. In the Book of Exodus 19:6 it is written that “‘you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.” Here God is the king, Israel is the nation and the Israelites belong to the people of God. In this context, the concrete nation of the Messiah, the real model of the Kingdom of God has its origin in the Davidic dynasty. We can witness “the Oracle of Nathan” in 2 Samuel 7:14-16 as well as in 2 Chronicles 17:12-14: “I will be his father, and he will be my son …… our house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever.” This words indicate the
Open Document