Thy kingdom come –
Matthew 6:10a
Every once in awhile we get a glimpse
of Bill Peterson's past. On Saturday as he was celebrating his
anniversary he told a story from the first winter he and Martha had
been married and how it was almost their last, for besides wanting
his beloved Martha to be his bride, he wanted something else,
something white, something called snow.
Growing up where snow was only seen in
the movies, Bill said that when he got married he was going to move
to a quaint little cottage in the mountains where he would be able to
have all the snow he could dream of. Once he and his new bride were
all settled into their home in the mountains, he could hardly wait
for the snow to come and finally it arrived.
“As the first snow flakes drifted
through the air,” Bill told his listeners, “I felt like life
couldn't get any better. Martha and I sat quietly together sipping
hot coco for what seemed like hours. It was so romantic, well, at
least it was until morning came and I had to shovel the driveway.”
By the end of the first week of snow,
Bill said he had shoveled his driveway five times and each time the
snowplow came by just after he had finished and filled in the end of
the driveway. “And if that wasn't enough,” Bill went on to say,
“I forgot that with the snow comes cold. I didn't realize people
could still live when the temperatures got down to twenty below
zero.”
“I soon traded in my little sports
car for a four wheel drive pickup.” Bill said as he continued his
story. “And by the end of the second week there was nearly two feet
of the whit stuff on the ground. I tried to get a snow blower or
higher someone to shovel for me but I couldn't get any takers.
Martha thought I should have put in a wood stove also in case the
power went out but I laughed at her. I shouldn't have, I almost froze
when the power went out.”
“I thought being snowed in with my
wife would have been fun.” Bill laughed as he continued his story,
“It wasn't! We got on each others nerves, mostly because I was
getting tired of shoveling snow and every muscle in my body was in
pain. If that wasn't enough our neighbor stopped in to say hi and
told me I need to shovel my roof or it would collapse.”
“Shovel my roof? That guy must think
I'm an idiot I thought but two days latter we got twenty more inches
of snow and it landed in our living room when the roof caved in. If
the airports had been open Martha would have left me right then but
she hit me with the shovel instead and called me an idiot.”
Bill would have probably talked all
night about that first winter but when Martha got wind of what he was
talking about she quickly side tracked him with a bunch of big
kisses. I guess she didn't want him to tell about how she, well,
we'll save that for another time.
When Jesus was teaching us how to pray
in Matthew 6:10 He taught us to pray “Thy kingdom come.” Over
the years conflicting interpretations have been given to what Jesus
may have meant in praying such for in someways the kingdom has come.
Even before Jesus taught this prayer
He had been saying “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.”
(Matthew 4:17) Later he is quoted as saying “The kingdom of God
is not coming with signs to be observed, nor will they say, 'Look,
here it is!' or 'There!' for behold, the kingdom of God is in the
midst of you.” Luke 17:20-21
(ESV) So in some respects, the kingdom of God (heaven) has already
come.
I
believe however that regardless of what Jesus may have originally
meant, many people believe this to be praying for Jesus' second
coming, something the Bible has much to say about. I found this
interesting tidbit in my Encyclopedia of 15,000 Illustrations - There
are 1,845 references to it in the Old Testament, and a total of
seventeen Old Testament books give it prominence. Of the 260 chapters
in the entire New Testament, there are 318 references to the Second
Coming, or one out of 30 verses. Twenty-three of the 27 New Testament
books refer to this great event. For every prophecy on the First
Coming of Jesus, there are 8 on Jesus' Second Coming. - There's no
doubt about it, the second coming is important.
When we think about Jesus' second
coming and heaven we often think of verses like Revelation 21:3-5 And
I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Behold, the
dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they
will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.
He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no
more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore,
for the former things have passed away." And he who was seated
on the throne said, "Behold, I am making all things new."
Also he said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy
and true." (ESV) Heaven is something to be desired, Jesus
second coming may not.
When it comes to the second coming we
are told....
- That Jesus will return – John 14:3 if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. (ESV)
- No one knows when - Matthew 24:36 concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. (ESV)
- It will be a day of sorting - Matthew 25:32 and He will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. (ESV)
- It will be a day of judgment - Revelation 20:12b And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. (ESV)
That last verse may be one of the
scariest. We want Jesus to come yet when He comes we will be judged.
We want it but when it comes we're not going to like it because we
failed to prepare which means we're not ready to pray “Thy kingdom
come.”
Here's Something To Ponder
- Do you look forward to Jesus' second coming?
- Are you ready to stand before the throne to be judged?
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