Is He not the King of Kings? So why do we pray, “Thy kingdom come”?

St. Augustine says, “Come it surely will, whether we ask or not. Indeed, God has an eternal kingdom. For when did He not reign? When did He begin to reign? For His kingdom has no beginning, neither shall it have any end. But that we may know that in this prayer also we pray for ourselves, and not for God (for we do not say, ‘Thy kingdom come,’ as though we were asking that God may reign); we shall be ourselves His kingdom, if believing in Him we make progress in this faith. All the faithful, redeemed by the Blood of His Only Son, will be His kingdom.¹⁸⁶ And this His kingdom will come when the resurrection of the dead shall have taken place; for then He will come Himself. And when the dead are risen, He will divide them, as He says, and He shall set some on the right hand, and some on the left (Matt. 25:33). To those who shall be on the right hand He will say, ‘Come, ye blessed of My Father, receive the kingdom.’ This is what we wish and pray for when we say, ‘Thy kingdom come’; that it may come to us. For if we shall be wrongdoers, that kingdom will come to others, but not to us. But if we shall be of that number, who belong to the members of His Only-begotten Son, His kingdom will come to us, and will not tarry. For are there as many ages yet remaining, as have already passed away? The Apostle John has said, ‘My little children, it is the last hour’ (1 John 2:18). But it is a long hour proportioned to this long day; and see how many years this last hour lasts. But nevertheless, you be as those who watch, and so sleep, and rise again, and reign. Let us watch now, let us sleep in death; at the end we shall rise again, and shall reign without end.”¹⁸⁷

“Therefore when we say, ‘Thy kingdom come,’ we pray that it may come to us. What is, ‘may come to us’? May find us good. This we pray for then, that He would make us good; for then to us will His kingdom come.”¹⁸⁸

“… let that come even to us, which is to come to Your saints and righteous ones.”¹⁸⁹

The scholar Origen says: “ Thy kingdom come. If the kingdom of God , according to the word of Our Lord and Saviour, comes not with observation ; and neither shall they say: Behold here, or behold there —but the kingdom of God is within us (Luke 17:20f) (for the word is very near unto us, in our mouth and in our heart ) (Deut. 30:14; cf. Rom. 10:8): then it is clear that he who prays for the coming of the kingdom of God rightly prays that the kingdom of God might be established, and bear fruit and be perfected in himself (cf. Matt. 13:23; Mark 4:20; Luke 8:15) … Let then what is corruptible in us put on holiness and incorruption in chastity and all purity and what is mortal , having conquered death, put on the

186 Author’s note: However, there are those who after being redeemed by His Blood revert and apostatize, and therefore lose the kingdom; this is clear from the rest of St. Augustine’s sermon.

187 St. Augustine of Hippo, Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament 7.5 (NPNF I/6:281) amended.

188 St. Augustine of Hippo, Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament 8.3 (NPNF I/6:285).

189 St. Augustine of Hippo, Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament 6.6 (NPNF I/6:276) amended.

immortality of the Father (cf. 1 Cor. 15:53). Thus God will be reigning in us, and we shall already enjoy the benefits of regeneration and resurrection.”¹⁹⁰

St. Cyprian says, “It is a repugnant thing for us to seek to live long in this world, as we ask that the kingdom of God should come quickly.”¹⁹¹ He also says, “We ask that the kingdom of God may be set forth to us, even as we also ask that His name may be sanctified in us … We pray that our kingdom, which has been promised us by God, may come, which was acquired by the blood and passion of Christ; that we who first are His subjects in the world, may hereafter reign with Christ when He reigns, as He Himself promises and says, ‘Come, ye blessed of my Father, receive the kingdom which has been prepared for you from the beginning of the world’ (Matt. 25:34). Christ Himself, dearest brethren, however, may be the kingdom of God, whom we day by day desire to come, whose advent we crave to be quickly manifested to us. For since He is Himself the Resurrection, since in Him we rise again, so also the kingdom of God may be understood to be Himself, since in Him we shall reign. But we do well in seeking the kingdom of God, that is, the heavenly kingdom, because there is also an earthly kingdom. But he who has already renounced the world, is moreover greater than its honours and its kingdom. And therefore he who dedicates himself to God and Christ, desires not earthly, but heavenly kingdoms. But there is need of continual prayer and supplication, that we fall not away from the heavenly kingdom, as the Jews, to whom this promise had first been given, fell away; even as the Lord sets forth and proves: ‘Many,’ says He, ‘shall come from the east and from the west, and shall recline with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth’ (Matt. 8:11). He shows that the Jews were previously children of the kingdom, so long as they continued also to be children of God; but after the name of Father ceased to be recognised among them, the kingdom also ceased; and therefore we Christians, who in our prayer begin to call God our Father, pray also that God’s kingdom may come to us.”¹⁹²

St. Cyril of Jerusalem says, “A pure soul can say with boldness, Thy kingdom come ; for he who has heard Paul saying, ‘Let not, therefore, sin reign in your mortal body’ (Rom. 6:12), and has cleansed himself indeed, and thought, and word, will say to God, Thy kingdom come .”[193 ]

St. Gregory of Nyssa says, “We again ask the Lord to save us from corruption and that death may be taken away or as it was said: ‘Your kingdom come,’ namely, that the Holy Spirit may dwell in us and purify us.”

190 Origen, On Prayer 25.1, 3 (ACW 19:84–85, 87).

191 St. Cyprian of Carthage, Treatise 4: On the Lord’s Prayer 19 (ANF 5:452).

192 St. Cyprian of Carthage, Treatise 4: On the Lord’s Prayer 13 (ANF 5:450–451).

193 St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures 23.13 (NPNF II/7:155).

Tertullian says, “Our wish is that our reign be hastened, not our servitude protracted [in this world].”¹⁹⁴