The Lord's Prayer.
The Second Petition.
Which is the Second Petition?
_Our Father who art in heaven. Thy kingdom come._
What does this mean?
_The kingdom of God comes indeed without our prayer, of itself; but we
pray in this petition that it may come unto us also._
How is this done?
_When our heavenly Father gives us His Holy Spirit, so that by His grace
we believe His holy Word and lead a godly life, here in time and
hereafter in eternity._
1. _"Thy kingdom come,"_ that is the Second Petition. We pray for the
kingdom of our heavenly Father. In the Second Article of our faith we
already heard of a kingdom, the _kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ._
There we learned that our Lord has redeemed us from all sins, from
death, and from the power of the devil, in order that we may be His
own, and in His _kingdom_ live under Him in everlasting innocence,
righteousness, and blessedness. _Christ's kingdom and our Father's
kingdom is the same thing._ Christ established this kingdom by His
sufferings and death. All that believe in Christ belong to this kingdom.
Christ is their Lord and King; He governs them, bestowing upon them in
His kingdom all His gifts: forgiveness of sins, the grace of God, true
righteousness, peace with God, etc. He protects them against all their
enemies, against sin, Satan, and death. We also call this kingdom of our
Father the _Kingdom of Grace,_ or the _true Christian Church._ It has
its beginning here on earth; but when our Lord and King will come again
at the Last Day, He will lead it to His glory in heaven. Then we shall
call this kingdom the _Kingdom of Glory._
2. Our Lord teaches us to pray for the _coming_ of this kingdom. True,
_"the kingdom of God comes indeed without our prayer, of itself."_
Christ lives and reigns, and He gathers His congregation through the
Gospel from all nations, and He will lead it to its heavenly glory even
if we do not pray for it. But still the Lord teaches us to pray for the
coming of His kingdom. We pray _"that it may come to us also."_ It is
God's will to give _us_ His kingdom. Our Lord says: _"Fear not, little
flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom."_
Luke 12,32. But God wants us to _pray_ for His good gifts. We pray in
this petition that our Father's kingdom may come to us also, that we,
too, may belong to His kingdom and remain in it, _"here in time and
hereafter in eternity."_
3. _"How is this done?"_ How does the kingdom of God come to us? The
kingdom of God comes to us only through faith in Christ. Only those who
believe in Him can enter the kingdom. But _"I cannot by my own reason or
strength believe in Christ, or come to Him."_ (In what part of your
Catechism did you learn this?) To bring us to Christ is _the work of the
Holy Ghost._ He has called me to Christ and His grace by the Gospel.
_"Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into
the kingdom of God."_ John 3,5. The kingdom of God, therefore, comes to
us _"when our heavenly Father gives us His Holy Spirit, so that by His
grace we believe His holy Word and lead a godly life."_ The Holy Ghost
can and will graciously, by the Gospel, work within our hearts, so that
we believe God's holy Word, believe in Jesus Christ, our Savior; and in
this way the kingdom of God will come to us.
4. The Holy Spirit does not only bring us to Christ, so that we, through
faith, enter the kingdom of God, but He also _preserves us in the true
faith;_ by means of the Gospel He gives us strength to prove our faith
_by a godly life_ and thus remain in the kingdom to the end. He will
lead us to the glory of our Lord, to the kingdom of glory in heaven.
_"The Lord shall deliver me from every evil work and will preserve me
unto His heavenly kingdom."_ 2 Tim. 4,18. By the Holy Spirit the kingdom
of God comes to me _"here in time"_ (the Kingdom of Grace) _"and
hereafter in eternity"_ (the Kingdom of Glory). In this petition we
especially pray our heavenly Father to grant us _the most precious gift
--His Holy Ghost._
5. But we do not only pray that the kingdom of God would come to _us_
and remain with us, we also pray that it may come to _all men_ who as
yet are not members of this kingdom. We pray that all men may become
true believers in Christ through the preaching of the Gospel. This work,
preaching the Gospel to all nations, we call _mission-work. The Second
Petition is the great mission-prayer of the Church._ The Lord admonishes
us: _"Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest that He will send forth
laborers into His harvest."_ Matt. 9,38.