The Gospel Kingdom of Jesus Christ

By Pastor Benjamin Glaser - Posted at Thoughts From Parson Farms:

Praying for godly Civil Rulers in the Millennial Age

Good Morning!

The second petition of the Lord’s Prayer is an interesting part of Jesus’ message to His covenant people in regard to their responsibility to the world in which they live. We often hear people say or write that it is wrong to wish for Christ to reign as king over the nations during the time between His first and second advent. That it is trying to “build the kingdom of heaven on earth” to ask for our rulers and presidents to be godly men and our nations to reflect the wisdom and beauty of God’s truth. However, what we read today in the catechism is in fact the Prince of Peace imploring us to pray for this very thing, that the Kingdom Might Come.

For today’s catechism lesson we are going to be looking at some of the things we see as part and parcel of the role of prayer in enabling these blessings to come to pass, even in our own lifetime as the gospel goes forth and does its mighty work in the Great Commission. Here’s the Q/A:

Q. 191. What do we pray for in the second petition?

A. In the second petition, (which is, Thy kingdom come) acknowledging ourselves and all mankind to be by nature under the dominion of sin and Satan, we pray, that the kingdom of sin and Satan may be destroyed, the gospel propagated throughout the world, the Jews called, the fulness of the Gentiles brought in; the church furnished with all gospel-officers and ordinances, purged from corruption, countenanced and maintained by the civil magistrate: that the ordinances of Christ may be purely dispensed, and made effectual to the converting of those that are yet in their sins, and the confirming, comforting, and building up of those that are already converted: that Christ would rule in our hearts here, and hasten the time of his second coming, and our reigning with him forever: and that he would be pleased so to exercise the kingdom of his power in all the world, as may best conduce to these ends.

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