APRIL 3 2016
THE LORD’S PRAYER…..(2)
Last week I wrote that the word OUR in OUR FATHER, the very first word of THE LORD’S PRAYER points to ‘the communion of saints’. A bit later I indicated that the redemption of creation and personal redemption go hand in hand, are two sides of the same coin, and are so intricately intertwined that the one cannot take place without the other. That is confirmed in the phrase HALLOWED BE THY NAME which forms the center of the prayer, pointing to the holiness of creation.
This brings me to the second subjunctive form of grammar, also used here to stress the importance and urgency of this matter, in this case THY KINGDOM COME, a plea, a shout, a heart-rending cry for the speedy arrival of the NEW CREATION.
There is an awful lot of confusion about what constitutes THE KINGDOM. People in the Reformed tradition, of which I am part, have long argued that the family, the church, all its Christian institutions, from elementary school through college and university, comprise the Kingdom. Well, J. H. Bavinck begs to differ. He devotes an entire chapter to THE KINGDOM in his book BETWEEN THE BEGINNING AND THE END: A RADICAL KINGDON VISION. Here’s how this chapter starts:
The Kingdom concept
The concept of the Kingdom of God resounds like a majestic chorale through the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation. The Psalms especially tremble sometimes with ecstasy when they extol this Kingdom:
A mighty God is the Lord,
A Great King above all gods.
In his hands are the depths of the earth;
The heights of the mountains are his.
To him belongs the sea, for he made it,
And the dry land shaped by his hands.
(The Grail Psalms: Ps. 95:3–5)
Often the prophets too cannot find enough words to express their true kingdom feelings:
Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
Has it not been told you from the beginning?
Have you not understood since the earth was founded?
He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers.
He stretches out the heavens like a canopy, and spreads them out like a tent to live in.
(Isaiah:40:21–22)
This Kingdom concept can already be found in the very first chapter of the Bible. In very simple terms mention is made there of the majesty of God who by his Word called the heavens and the earth into being. Psalm 33:9 simply says, “He spoke and it came to be, He commanded and it sprang into being.”
The concept of the Kingdom contains a number of elements that are of the highest significance for our inquiry.
In the first place we must realize that God’s Kingdom has a cosmic character, which means that it comprises the entire world as we have come to know it. Not only are we humans part of that Kingdom, but it also includes the worlds of animals and plants. Yes, even the angels are part of this wider context: they too have a place in the harmonious totality of God’s Kingdom.
This implies that all parts of the world are attuned to each other. Nowhere is there a false note, a dis¬so¬nant that disturbs the unity, as everything fits harmoniously into the greater scheme of the totality. This applies both to each individual specimen but equally to the various circles or spheres found in creation. The celestial bodies follow their orderly trajectories and do so according to God’s royal will, obeying his voice. And so the stars in their courses sound a melodious note in the great concert in which all creatures participate. The mountains rise up high above the water-saturated earth, their proud summits piercing the clouds; yet even these mountains are nothing but servants of Him who has planted and secured them by his power. On every page the Bible makes plain that the meaning of creation resides only in the one overarching motif: the motif of God’s Kingdom.
End of quote.
That very same kingdom is now in the grip of the Evil One. 1 John 5: 19 makes more than clear that “the whole world is under the control of the evil one.” Today it is all too evident that not God but his great Adversary rules the world, and is all out to destroy God’s great creation. Hence the prayer: THY KINGDOM, God’s new creation, COME!
Bavinck is not alone in seeing the Kingdom as the arrival of the New Creation. Dr. Herman Ridderbos, another Dutch theologian, in his classic book THE COMING OF THE KINGDOM affirms this: “The central theme of Jesus’ message is the coming of the Kingdom of God”. In its introduction he writes: “The kingdom of God is a purely future and eschatological event, presupposing the end of this world; and therefore, cannot possibly reveal itself already in this world…. It is nothing but the commencement of the new world, after the catastrophic upheaval of the present era.”
In connection with the Lord’s Prayer he writes that
“THE LORD’S PRAYER HAS BEEN ENTIRELY INSPIRED BY THE COMING OF THE KINGDOM.” An appeal to all believers to please keep this in mind when we recite this prayer!
The truth is that the church is reluctant to deal with the kingdom. I have a feeling that the church wants her members to be comfortable and at ease. It frightens people that the “coming of the kingdom” is preceded by catastrophic upheaval, of which today there are plenty of signs. I also believe that ignoring to pursue “the coming of the Kingdom” is the real reason why today’s church is in rapid decline: when the church misses her true calling then people sense that and leave. Jesus himself told the church (Matt.24:14): “To preach the Gospel of the Kingdom.”
If there ever were a statement that should indicate the ultimate MISSION of the church, then it is these three simple words: “THY KINGDOM COME,” yet by and large the church avoids this concept like the plague, afraid that it will upset the people who, almost fanatically, cling to the HEAVEN HERESY, the most all-pervading theological misconception that has conquered almost all ecclesiastical thinking, resulting in a near universal disdain for the earth of which, sorry to say, the church is indirectly the leading element.
It fills me with anguish that, by and large, what it is generally seen as the Christian church, including Roman Catholicism and the so popular Pentecostal preaching totally fails to see THY KINGDOM COME in its proper perspective.
As THE DAY approaches, so evident lately in the almost universal unrest, Jesus’ lament (Luke 18: 8): “When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” is now already a stated fact. Even though more and more people see The Kingdom concept in its proper light, the church, by and large, does not see it as her holy duty to combat the HEAVEN HERESY.
Enough about these three simple words: THY KINGDOM COME. Have I really changed anybody’s mind on this score? It reminds me of a saying by the church father Augustine, “We cannot do anything without God and God won’t do anything without us.” So, yes, I have to keep on repeating what I have learned from Bavinck and Ridderbos and Bonhoeffer, and apply this to today’s circumstances.
The next phrase is YOUR WILL BE DONE ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN.
Here we have to imagine how life is lived in heaven, the seat of God’s throne. Here the angels serve God and carry out his commands. Here also are the guardian angels, going back and forth in their task to protect the saints as they go about their daily activities and try to the best of their abilities to follow God’s laws. Here these same guardian angels report back to God about the lives of their charges, and how they help them along in their struggle to fight evil and to do good.
These same millions of angels were singing God’s praises when Jesus was born in Bethlehem. They assisted him when he struggled in the Garden of Gethsemane, and were at the graveside when Jesus arose. One thing we know of heaven: there matters are perfect; there God’s will is carried out promptly and obediently and eagerly.
In the light of the ultimate aim of this plea, that is to prepare us for the KINGDOM TO COME, and make us ready for the realization of the NEW EARTH UNDER A NEW HEAVEN (after all the space junk has been wiped away) it is God’s will that we follow the example of the angels and conduct our lives so that God is honored in the way we live.
Think about that: God asks us to obey him as the angels do: no mean task. As a matter of fact, it’s impossible to do this on our own. That’s why Jesus, as recorded in John 17, specifically asks for protection for his people as they – we – dwell in a world dominated by The Evil One. We now are on our own. May the Spirit guide us because the road we are on today, our Way of Life, is so energy-rich and so highly polluting that we sin all the time. Matthew 7: 13-14 points to more than Sunday worship and Bible studies: points to an alternative to the way we now live. “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. (Does that point to us causing Climate Change?) But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life and only a few find it”.
That is disturbing language. All signs show that our current lifestyle by and large resembles ‘the wide gate and the broad road’.
It is God’s will that we take the narrow road. Jesus said that “My yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matthew 11: 30), and that is true, of course, but it seems to me that almost all the time we are on easy street, the road that leads to destruction, as we observe daily how our abundant use of Carbon fuels comes from us traveling on the smooth, four lane highways in comfortable temperatures no matter how cold or hot it is outside. Is that what is meant when Jesus mentions ‘the broad road?’
Isn’t it time that the Christian community start discussing this sort of thing?
God wants us to obey the laws of creation, evident in loving all people of whatever color and religion, and being in awe of his greatness as evident in the works of his hand. In other words God wants us to obey the COVENANT he made with us as outlined in Genesis 9, a covenant sealed in Jesus’ blood.
To live according to God’s will, is not a passive matter: it is an active fulfilling of what God wants us to do every day and every minute.
When we ask that God’s will be done, then our request in essence says: “Lord, I will do my level best to follow your commands by living so that when you return I have no trouble fitting into life in the New Creation, an adjustment that must begin here and now.
Does that mean swearing off automobile use?
Does that mean refraining from using air crafts for transportation?
Does that mean using electricity only sparingly and that from renewable sources?
THY WILL BE DONE ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN. In heaven all is done perfectly, making heaven eternal as God is eternal.
Questions multiply. Jesus said that his yoke is easy and his burden light, but that was the case 2000 years ago when all food was organic, all transportation simple. Over the centuries, especially in the last 100 years we have fashioned our existence, totally depending on polluting- meaning sinful – sources, fashioning the broad way that is now leading to our downfall at an accelerated pace.
Can we still live according to the Laws of Heaven?
That is the vexing question that should occupy our minds.
More next week.