COME YOUR KINGDOM

¿Why is it so important that the Kingdom of God come? Why did Jesus Christ teach us to ask for his coming? 

Shortly after beginning his ministry, Jesus taught his disciples the right way to pray through the example that many know as the "Our Father." This prayer teaches us the specific topics that we should include in our prayers, not the exact words we should say every time we pray.  

After highlighting the need to address God the Father, Christ taught his disciples that they should ask “Your kingdom come. Your will be done, as in heaven, so also on earth” (Luke 11: 2, emphasis added). ¿But why should we ask God to "come your kingdom"?

The Kingdom of God was a subject on which Jesus Christ preached very often during his ministry on earth. In Matthew 24:14 he tells us that “this gospel [good news] of the kingdom will be preached in all the world for a witness to all nations; And then the end will come". And in Matthew 6:33 he urges us saying: " seek first the kingdom of God ." But why?  

In Matthew 24: 21-22, Christ also reveals that, before that "end" there will be a time of "great tribulation, which has not been since the beginning of the world until now, nor will there be. And if those days were not shortened, no one would be saved; but because of the elect, those days will be shortened. ” What does this have to do with us? And how is it that humanity will reach such a point?

Human beings are unable to solve their problems.

Six thousand years of human history have proven that men cannot solve their problems of living together without resorting to war. In fact, as Max Lucado explains, “According to the Canadian Journal of the Army, war has dominated documented history. Since 3600 BC, the world has known only 292 years of peace. During this period there have been 14,531 wars and it is estimated that 3,640 million lives have been lost in them. ”

This obvious tendency of human beings towards violence has unfortunately given rise to the theory that war is a normal and necessary phenomenon so that the few years of peace that the world has had can occur .. And as a consequence of this idea, humanity remains at war almost without truce; If we believe war is necessary, we will have war.

The problem of human reasoning.

But human reasoning without God's guidance can be very dangerous. As the prophet Jeremiah warns, "man is not lord of his way, nor of the man who walks is to order his steps" (Jeremiah 10:23).

In other words, Jeremiah is recognizing that man cannot properly govern himself or make good decisions on his own. Although popular psychology advises us to look for the answers to the problems of life inside us, the truth is that we don't always have the answers. As we read in Proverbs 14:12, “There is a path that seems right to man; but its end is the way of death ”.

What many ignore is that humanity's most serious problems are spiritual in nature. Unfortunately, our natural way of thinking and acting tends to be contrary to God's will.

In Romans 8: 6-7, the apostle Paul describes this human weakness by saying: “Because caring for the flesh [following our natural way of thinking] is death, but caring for the Spirit is life and peace. Because the designs of the flesh are enmity against God; because they are not subject to the law of God, nor can they”.

And, through the prophet Isaiah, God rebukes the people of Israel with the following words: “your iniquities have made division between you and your God… Because your hands are contaminated with blood, and your fingers of iniquity; Your lips pronounce lies, speak your tongue evil. There is no one who cries for justice, nor who judges for the truth; they trust vanity, and they speak vanities; they conceive evils, and give birth to iniquity” (Isaiah 59: 2-4).

Then, Isaiah continues to describe the consequences of rejecting God: “to prevail and lie against Jehovah, and to turn away from after our God; to speak slander and rebellion, conceive and utter words of lies from the heart. And the law was withdrawn, and justice was put away; because the truth stumbled in the square, and equity could not come. And the truth was stopped, and he who turned away from evil was put in prison; and Jehovah saw it, and displeased his eyes, because the law perished” (vv. 13-15).

"The lie"

As the end of this era approaches — just before the return of Jesus Christ — man's rejection of God's law and the misrepresented thought that inevitably derives from this, will lead many to fall into the deception of a false religious leader.

As we read in 2 Thessalonians 2, during the end times there will be a person who will sit in the temple of God and deceive many, to whom God "sends a deceptive power, so that they may create lies" (v. 11). 

This does not mean that God will deliberately deceive people; rather, it will allow them to do what they want and make their own decisions, which includes rejecting God and his teachings. But, when a human being chooses to follow his own path instead of God's path, he loses the ability to make sensible decisions. The rejection that countries have shown trying to remove God and the Bible from everyone's sight is a clear example of this. As human beings forget God and his commandments, they lose more and more the spiritual guidance they need so much.  

Rejecting God always has consequences.

The story of Adam and Eve reveals to us the reason why human beings have lost the ability to make good decisions. As we read in Genesis 2: 15-17, God was and continues to be in charge of everything; He shows himself as King and Creator. At first, it was he who had the authority over human life and that is why he delivered his commandments to regulate it. Unfortunately, Adam and Eve decided to reject this divine revelation and deny God's authority in their lives.

Adam and Eve believed the lie of Satan, who assured them that man was able to make his own decisions without God's guidance and still obtain good results (Genesis 3: 1-7; 9:11). That was "the lie" that fooled the first human beings. And it was Satan who initiated the false belief that man can decide what is right and wrong without God's help.

This thought is the basis of the modern relativization of truth , which has led many to take the teachings of the Bible as mere opinions. But, as Jesus Christ said, the Word of God "is true" (John 17:17). It is the misrepresented thought that results from the rejection of God's guidance that has led humanity to a life of sin and violence (see Romans 1 and Isaiah 59), which we also see illustrated in the first chapters of Genesis. Violence is nothing less than the fruit of a wrong decision. 

¿Why is it necessary for the kingdom of God to come?

Is there a cure for this wrong human thought that produces wars, violence, pain and suffering ? The answer is "come your kingdom." The Kingdom of God, ruled by Jesus Christ, is the only thing that can save human beings from themselves. 

Jesus Christ preached about a kingdom and a new world where "the Most High rules the kingdom of men, and whoever he wants gives it" (Daniel 4:17), a kingdom where the nature of men will be transformed as they decide to obey to its Creator.

Currently, the human being cannot govern himself because he has rejected God's revelation and authority; Instead of obeying God, which produces peace, he has taken the liberty of deciding what is right and wrong, harming himself. Jesus taught us to ask "your kingdom come" because he knew that man and his nature would take the world to that point that "if those days were not shortened, no one would be saved."

Our part

The most important decision we will ever make is to determine who will be the Lord of our life. If we submit to God's authority and obey his commandments, we will find the way to peace and eternal life.

When we ask God to “come your kingdom” in our daily prayers, we also remember our responsibility to God and reinforce the vision of the wonderful future that God has prepared for those who obey Him — a glorious future that he will surely not want to miss. Don't forget to ask God to "come your kingdom" and live for that hope!