Thy Kingdom Come!

The subject of the Lord’s return is often thought to be a geriatric hope, enjoyed only by those whose life work is complete. It is assumed that such senior saints have nothing left to live for down here; they’ve seen it all. Heaven is next on the agenda. Those who still have a spring in their step, with plans for marriage, family, career, ministry—in short, the exciting adventures that await us on the pre-Rapture planet—find the words, “O Lord, how long?” to be somewhat premature.

And it surely isn’t wrong for us to have a desire to “finish the work” given to us on earth, as our Saviour did (Jn. 17:4). To the inquiry, “Wouldn’t you like to go to heaven right now?” one believer responded, “Not at the moment. I’ll be there forever; I have things to do for the Lord before I leave.”

This ambivalence is seen in Paul’s honest confession to the Philippian saints: “For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better: nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you” (1:23-24).

And it isn’t just the work to be done among Christians that holds us here. We see the same tension in the response to the “burden of Dumah”: “Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night? The watchman said, The morning cometh, and also the night…” (Isa. 21:11-12). If the eternal morning, the Day without a sunset, were the certain hope of every earthly resident, the Rapture would be unmingled joy. But who of us does not have loved ones who still linger in the shadows? For them a night approaches whose “blackness of darkness” (Jude 1:13) will be eternally unbroken by a single shaft of light. We long for them to have one more day, one more opportunity.

If you feel this way, your Father feels the same (though infinitely more!). The trumpet remains unsounded; the archangel withholds his command; the Son waits seated as the Day of Grace continues. Why? Because “The Lord is…not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Pet. 3:9).

And yet our longsuffering Lord would teach us to pray, “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven” (Mt. 6:10). We well might ask the plaintive query posed in David’s day: “Why speak ye not a word of bringing the king back?” (2 Sam. 19:10). For surely everything is out of place, and will be, until He sets it right.

The devil is out of place; stalking about, seeking whom he may devour, he ought to be bound and cast out. Israel is out of place; the tail of the nations, they ought to be the head. The Church is out of place; a heavenly people, they ought to be with their Bride—no longer tempted, persecuted and scattered on earth. And what of Christ Himself? The “desire of all nations” is a curse word among men. This earth is His inheritance; He ought to be reigning over it, with “the earth…filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea” (Hab. 2:14).

He shall reign here on earth, make no mistake about it. Though the wait has been long, He will not be late. We who have been “…delivered…from the power of darkness, and…translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son” (Col. 1:13) in that day shall see our presently-maligned Redeemer vindicated before the whole universe.

And thus we continue to pray: “Thy kingdom come!”