| The Golden Gate of Prayer |
Chapter 6 |
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“Thy kingdom come” is a prayer for the coming of God’s moral and spiritual sway over the hearts and lives of men in this world. There is no need to prove that in this realm God’s kingdom does not now have unresisted sway. We know well how man is in rebellion against God. It is not necessary to recite here the sad facts of this story of rebellion. It began in Paradise. It is interesting, however, to notice that immediately after man had fallen, God set about restoring his kingdom upon the earth. The protevangelium was spoken amid the very words which told of sin’s ruin. From that day to this, God has been seeking to reclaim his place as king in the hearts and lives of men. In the fullness of time, Jesus Christ came to declare God’s mercy and love, to reveal to man the possibilities of spiritual life, to die for the world, and to set up the kingdom of God in full power on the earth.
We have only to turn to our Lord’s teachings to learn the character of this kingdom. It is spiritual; it seeks to rule over man’s conscience, his affections, his whole life. A kingdom is where a king rules; God would rule in our heart. The kingdom has come in any of us just in the measure in which God governs our thoughts, our will, our desires. The kingdom has failed fully to come in us in so far as we still resist God’s will and fail to obey him perfectly, whether, it be in act, or word, or wish, or affection, or feeling.
If we ask “What is the character of this kingdom of God? We find the first answer in the name of the King. He is our Father. We need not be afraid of this King. The Bible in every chapter declares the goodness of God. The Old Testament shines with revealings of his mercy. Then in Jesus Christ we have the full revelation of the divine character. “He that hath seen me hath seen the Father,” Jesus declared. Every word, act, and disposition of that life of marvellous beauty showed us some new revealing of God. Then on the cross we have the unveiling of the very heart of our Father when he gave his only begotten Son; when Christ the Son of God, gave himself up to a death of shame for us.
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