Congregation of Our Lord Jesus Christ, in October 2015, we began our series Through the Gospel According to Mark. We've taken a number of breaks since then, but right now we're on track to finish that series on Easter Sunday of this year. It's very exciting. And if you can throw back your memory that far, or maybe if you just take a glance at Mark 1 in your Bible, then you'll remember that Mark just kinda jumps into the story. Don't feel bad if you don't remember the first sermon of that series. I'm looking at my Bible too, so I'm not expecting you to remember a year-and-a-half old sermon. But Mark 1, verse 1 says, very simply, the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. And by the time we get to verse 9, Jesus is being baptized and starting his ministry. Mark just kinda jumps right into the action. The other Gospels, when they describe Jesus' baptism, they just say something like, the heavens opened, and then there was the dove, there was the voice of God, and then Jesus came up from the water and began his ministry. But Mark, in this verse, or in verse 10, uses a very violent word. Some translations say the heavens were ripped open, or the heavens were torn open. The Gospel of Mark wants you to know that something huge is happening here. If you, like a Hebrew in those days, thought of the heavens or the sky as a barrier between the place of man and the place of God, then this image of having them torn open makes it sound like something is breaking through, like there's an invasion going on. And that's the image that Mark uses at the start of Jesus' ministry, this violent image of heaven breaking through to earth. And then in verse 15, Jesus speaks. And the first words out of his mouth set the tone for the rest of his ministry for the rest of this book of Mark. He says, the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel. And that idea of the kingdom that Jesus talks about there shapes and flavors the rest of Mark's gospel as it does most of the New Testament. So at the beginning of that series through Mark, we spent a lot of time defining the idea of the Kingdom of God. So here's what I want us to do tonight. Tonight we're going to be looking at that part of the Lord's Prayer, Your Kingdom Come. And as we look at that, I want to do three things in this sermon. First, I want to do a quick review about the Kingdom of God, the things that we've said in our series through Mark. We are rapidly approaching the end of that series and our morning service, so we're going to take this opportunity to look at some things that maybe we put on the back shelf for a while and put them in the forefront again. Secondly, we want to tie our working definition of the kingdom of God back into its Old Testament context. And to do that, we're going to be using some passages from Zechariah. And then third, we want to use that passage we read in Colossians to show just how Jesus Christ and what he did on the cross fulfilled that Old Testament promise of the kingdom and how that shapes the way that we pray. So first, we're going to revisit the definition of the kingdom we've been using in our series through Mark. Because it's very important for us to have a working definition of the kingdom. It's a phrase that we hear all the time, the kingdom of God. You know how when you're driving, especially maybe on a route that you know really well, and you just kind of kick into autopilot and suddenly you're home and it's like, How did I get here? It's called highway blindness, where you just kind of go with the flow of traffic and do everything by instinct. I think for some of us who are brought up with these Gospels, brought up with the Christian way of speaking, maybe we have kingdom blindness. You're reading, the kingdom of God is at hand, or Jesus is telling a parable and he's saying the kingdom of God is like this or that, and you just kind of glance over it, oh yeah, the kingdom, I know what that is. But what if one of your friends was reading the Bible for the very first time and he asked you, hey, I'm reading about Jesus and he keeps talking about this kingdom stuff. Well, you're a Christian. What is the kingdom of God? When you pray, your kingdom come, what are you praying for? Well, how would you answer that question? Well, there are a number of Christians who over the years have answered, well, the kingdom of God is heaven. That when Jesus says the kingdom of God is at hand in Mark 1 verse 15, he's just saying, well now that Jesus has come, the way to heaven is open. And when Jesus tells parables about the kingdom of God is like this or that, he's talking about heaven and the way that we get there. But that doesn't hold up when you start reading the Gospels very closely. That doesn't fit with Mark's imagery of Jesus leading a kingdom invasion to earth. When we pray the Lord's Prayer, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven, that phrase, on earth as it is in heaven, refers not just to the will be done part, it's connected to the kingdom part too. God's kingdom is not all of the Christians running away from this earth to get to heaven. God's kingdom has invaded earth. God has a purpose and a mission for this world and it is a kingdom purpose. So how can we define the kingdom? Well, back at the very beginning of our Mark series in 2015, we came up with a very simple working definition. We said a kingdom has three parts, and they all begin with R. We said, first of all, a kingdom has a ruler. That's the first R. I mean, you might think of the United Kingdom, probably the kingdom that we all think of the most if we're thinking of a modern-day kingdom, the British Isles. The ruler in that kingdom is Queen Elizabeth. In the kingdom of God, as the name suggests, the ruler is God. God is the one who created the universe, created this world, and so by right, he is our ruler and our king. Well, the second R is realm. R-E-A-L-M. The realm is the place that the ruler rules over. For the United Kingdom, that's the British Isles, part of Ireland and all of Britain. And within the Isle of Britain, there's England, Scotland, and Wales. And they are united together under one ruler. In the Kingdom of God, the realm, that which God rules over, is all of creation. That which God rules over by right of being its creator. Then the third R is the result. We have the ruler, the realm, and the result. Having a ruler and living in a realm creates a result. In the United Kingdom, under Queen Elizabeth's rule, the result is things like protection. There are just laws. There's a thriving culture. All things that come from an organized government under a good ruler. And there are many results of living under God's rule, too, in His kingdom. Things like true freedom, blessings of beauty and goodness, justice and peace. These are all the results of living in God's kingdom. It's something we've talked about before under the category of righteousness, that is living in sync with God, in the relationship with Him that we were made for. So our basic definition falls into those three categories, the kingdom as God's rule over his creation, which results in freedom, justice, and righteousness. Now all that sounds good, but by now we have a few questions. Why did the kingdom have to come? Why did it have to invade the way that Mark describes it? I mean, hasn't God always been the king, the creator, the one in control? Why is Jesus acting like this is something new? And if his kingdom spreads from shore to shore, as we sang a few moments ago in Psalm 72, if it encompasses this whole creation, then why are there still such dark parts of this creation? Where are those results that we were talking about? Well, to answer those questions, we have to dive into the Old Testament. God is the Creator and King. of this whole universe. But we have to realize that many false claims have been made on this world. When the first human beings committed that original sin, a foothold was given to our enemy. The enemy who used that foothold to make his false claim over this whole world. That's why Satan is given titles like the Prince of the Powers of the Air, or even in 2 Corinthians chapter 4, Paul calls him the God of this world. He has not undone God's claim on this world, but he has made a counterclaim. And it's a counterclaim that's been answered with the sin in human hearts. When human beings fell into sin, a curse entered this world. Sorrow, pain, darkness, death affects every part of this creation, every part of our human hearts. The beauty and the glory of God's creation still shines through, but it's often marred and twisted by sin. And our enemy uses our sin to make his claim on this earth and its inhabitants stronger. Our enemy promises an escape from the terrors of a cursed world. He promises fulfillment to hearts that seem empty and dull. He promises belonging and intimacy to hearts that feel alone and afraid. These are the same things that our enemy offered Jesus when he was tempted in the wilderness. And when we give in to those temptations, we are willingly submitting to the false claims of Satan, willingly giving him the glory that he wants so much as this world's ruler. And this always ends in slavery. His false kingdom with its empty claims lead us into bondage, lead us into greater darkness, lead us into deeper despair, Satan may cover over the emptiness for a while, giving reputation and wealth and pleasure as temporary rewards to cover up the vacuous emptiness that lies beneath. But living in sin and following Satan's false claims is always bondage. We deceive ourselves into thinking that to give in to temptation is real freedom, but instead we end up trapped in this false kingdom. We need a way out. We need a rescue. Well, the Old Testament people of Israel dealt with these concepts in very tangible, real ways. Their struggles with idolatry took on very real dimensions because it was a struggle with actual people living around them in the land. Their bondage to sin was very real to them because it took the form of a series of exiles and oppressions by foreign countries like Assyria, Babylon, Greece, and in Jesus' day, Rome. So the Old Testament people longed for deliverance. They understood that something was very wrong with this world. They realized that they needed to be set free from the curse we all live under. And in the Old Testament prophets, that hope began to take shape. And that hope was known as the kingdom of God coming on earth as it is in heaven. Because of course, God is still king over all things. Of course, he still reigns as creator. The saints weren't waiting for anything new in that regard. What they were waiting for was for that reality, that heavenly reality, to take shape on this earth in new ways that conquered the false claims that held them in bondage. And that prophetic hope picked up on those three R's, the hope of a ruler, a realm, and a result. And you can find those strands in all of the prophets. It's very easy to find in Isaiah, so I'll let you look at that next time you read through Isaiah. You can especially see it in chapters 40 through 60. But tonight we'll use a few verses from Zechariah. So first there's this hope for a ruler. The prophets foretold that a figure would rise up and bring about this kingdom hope, this defeat of the false claims of Satan. The funny thing is, no one really knew, no one could tell from the prophets who this ruler would be. Because sometimes in the prophets it sounds like this ruler is going to be a human being, a descendant of David, a new king that would lead God's people to freedom. Other times it sounds like God himself was going to appear on earth to rule his people. that they would be done with human kings and live under God's direct rule as king. Zechariah chapter 9 shows this tension. Zechariah 9 is very familiar. It's the passage that we read on Palm Sunday. It talks about the coming king. Zechariah 9 verse 9 says, Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you, righteous and having salvation as he, humble and mounted on a donkey. This is the one we've been waiting for. And it goes on to describe in the next few verses that this king is going to go to war in order to bring about the peace that we need. But then a few verses later, Zechariah also promises that the Lord will appear over them. The Lord will sound the trumpet and march forth. The Lord of hosts will protect them. And then in verse 18, or verse 16, it says on that day the Lord their God will save them as the flock of his people. So we have in verse 9 this human king who rides on the donkey and we also have in later verses the Lord himself doing this kingly work of protecting and saving and ruling his people. Well this sort of confusion appears all over the prophets. I mean, people would ask, are we waiting for a human king or are we waiting for God himself to appear? And if you read documents, especially from the time of Jesus, you'll see that many Jews had many debates and disagreements about what exactly it was they were waiting for. But then there's the question of realm. The prophets speak about the restoration of Israel, but they also speak of blessing flowing out of Israel to the whole world. Again, there was this great debate about this. Would this be Israel by itself conquering and subjugating the nations, or would this be a worldwide kingdom? They didn't know. And we see talk of this realm in Zechariah 14. There's a lot of talk about Jerusalem, how God is going to restore Jerusalem, how all people and all things will be holy and dedicated to the Lord. But there's also these fascinating words in Zechariah 14, verses 8 and 9. On that day, living waters will flow out from Jerusalem and the Lord will be king over all the earth. So that's the promise of realm. And then there's the promise of result. The result that we're waiting for is freedom. The restoration of the way that God made this world to be. And that, of course, is all over the prophets. The prophets love to discuss justice. That idea of setting everything that's wrong back to rights. There's talk of restoration and forgiveness. There's talk of being brought back into covenant relationship with God. Listen to these words of forgiveness from Zechariah 10 verse 6. I will bring them back because I have compassion on them, and they shall be as though I had not rejected them. For I am the Lord their God, and I will answer them." Or Zechariah 12, verse 8, which addresses the idea of justice. The Lord will protect the inhabitants of Jerusalem so that even the feeblest among them on that day will be strong like David. That was the Old Testament hope of the kingdom. That longing for a king, either a human king or maybe God himself, who would make things the way they were meant to be by ending the false claim of Satan, by ending the devastating effects of sin. And that's where we come to that passage we read in Colossians chapter 2. Because there, the Apostle Paul shows us conclusively that on the cross, Jesus fulfilled this kingdom hope. What do we need? The prophets told us we need a ruler. And in Jesus Christ, that prophecy of a human king who comes to deliver his people is connected also with the promise that God himself will come to rule his people. The Jews in Jesus' day couldn't understand how both could come true at once. But in Jesus Christ, the Son of God took on human flesh. In Colossians 2 verse 9, we're told that in Him, the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily. Jesus, as God and man, brings the kingdom. When He came, the heavens tore open as He brought God's kingdom to earth as it is in heaven. And He brings that kingdom to the realm of the entire world. He came first to the Jews to fulfill all God's promises to Israel, but because of His sacrifice, that kingdom blessing flows like living water from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth, as Zechariah foresaw. Paul, in Colossians chapter 2, is addressing a group of Gentiles, those who were called uncircumcised in the flesh, in verse 13. But Paul promises them that they are now part of Jesus' kingdom. Those who were once on the outside are now inside, for they are in Christ, not marked with circumcision, but by baptism into His name. So that's the realm. It's a message for all people. But what about the result? Well, listen to this glorious word of hope from verses 13 and 14. God made us alive with Him, having forgiven us all our trespasses by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This He set aside, nailing it to the cross. Because of Jesus' death, our sins are forgiven. We've been set free. We've been restored to that relationship with God. Our debt, it says, has been laid aside. Whatever sin has been weighing you down, cutting at your heart, seeking to control you, you've been forgiven. And as wonderful as that news is, Jesus did even more on the cross. Verse 15 says, He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame by triumphing over them in Him, in Jesus Christ. This is talking about that enemy we have and his false claim on the world. His claim and the claim of the idols that we foolishly run after, that claim has been contested and undermined. The slavery that we were under has been ended. God's kingdom has come on earth as it is in heaven. This good news has all come true. And that should affect the way we pray. Are you struggling with an idol in your life? Well, you can pray about it, knowing that the power it holds over you is defeated in Christ. You're not facing this idol on your own. Are you upset about the injustice and hatred that still seems to control so much of life in this world? while injustice and hatred have been defeated and put to shame in Jesus Christ. You can pray about it knowing that He has the victory. Jesus has won that victory on the cross. He is the ruler that our hearts need. His realm indeed spreads from shore to shore. This world is His by right and He won it on the cross. We as his church, his people on this earth, we are the ones who know and have tasted the result of his rule. We've tasted the freedom, the forgiveness, the transformation that the kingdom brings. And now it's our mission to invite others in. to say, this kingdom that you have been longing for, whether you know it or not, this kingdom has come. So why are you clinging to the false claims of the defeated powers? Because there's a new reality now. Heaven has been torn open and the world has changed. So join us in working for this kingdom. Join us in fighting for justice, in declaring freedom to captives, in proclaiming the good news of the gospel. And join us in waiting for the day when the skies will be torn open once again, when our king will return to finish his work and bring completeness and wholeness as far as the curse is found. Amen. Let us pray.