Thy name and thy kingdom

This week's questions

What do we pray for in the first petition? In the first petition, which is, Hallowed be thy name, we pray, that God would enable us, and others, to glorify him in all that whereby he maketh himself known; and that he would dispose all things to his own glory.

Question 101

What do we pray for in the second petition? In the second petition, which is, Thy kingdom come, we pray, that Satan's kingdom may be destroyed; and that the kingdom of grace may be advanced, ourselves and others brought into it, and kept in it; and that the kingdom of glory may be hastened.

Question 102

After the preface last week, the petitions begin. The first three ask for God's name, God's kingdom and God's will; our bread, our forgiveness and our protection come after. What is God's comes before what is ours.

Hallowed be thy name

God's name is all by which he makes himself known. In the week of the third commandment, Question 55 forbade "all profaning or abusing of anything whereby God maketh himself known" Question 55. The first petition asks the opposite: that his name be honoured. The chief end of man we learned in the first week now becomes a prayer. It is not a request to add holiness God lacks. Lutherans learn from Martin Luther's Small Catechism: "God's name is indeed holy in itself; but we pray in this petition that it may become holy among us also" Small Catechism, the first petition.

That "us" widens to the whole earth. A proof text of Question 101 prays that God will bless his people:

that Your ways may be known on earth, Your salvation among all nations. Let the peoples praise You, O God; let all the peoples praise You.

Psalm 67:2-3

The next, Psalm 83, is prayed with enemies on every side, yet it ends by asking that they may seek God's name and know that he alone, the LORD, is Most High over all the earth (Psalm 83:16-18). The answer's last clause, that God would dispose all things to his own glory, rests on the confession that all things are "to Him" (Romans 11:36). The Heidelberg Catechism brings the petition home: that we may so order our whole life, in thought, word and work, "that thy name may not be blasphemed, but honored and praised on our account" Heidelberg Catechism, Q. 122.

Thy kingdom come

Question 102 names three kingdoms. First, that Satan's kingdom may be destroyed. God has already rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of his beloved Son (Colossians 1:13), and John hears a voice in heaven announce that the accuser has been thrown down, conquered by the blood of the Lamb (Revelation 12:10-11). On the powers of evil, see Angels and spiritual beings and Are angels and demons real?

Second, that the kingdom of grace may be advanced. Paul asks the church to pray "that the word of the Lord may spread quickly and be held in honor" (2 Thessalonians 3:1), and prays for Israel's salvation with all his heart (Romans 10:1). Jesus prayed for those the Father had given him and for all who would believe through their message (John 17:9, 17:20), and told us to ask the Lord of the harvest for workers (Matthew 9:38). The Heidelberg Catechism prays: "So govern us by thy Word and Spirit that we may submit ourselves unto thee always more and more; preserve and increase thy Church" Q. 123.

Third, that the kingdom of glory may be hastened. The Bible ends on this cry:

He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!

Revelation 22:20

The kingdom does not wait on our prayers. Augustine, bishop of Hippo in North Africa, wrote: "For the kingdom of God will come whether we desire it or not. But herein we kindle our desires towards that kingdom, that it may come to us" Augustine. More than a thousand years later Luther taught the same: the kingdom "comes indeed without our prayer, of itself; but we pray in this petition that it may come unto us also" Small Catechism. The Larger Catechism prays for "the Jews called, the fulness of the Gentiles brought in", citing Romans 11:25-26 Larger Catechism, Q. 191, and many Puritans are said to have prayed in hope that Israel and the nations would turn to Christ before the end.

Christians read the order of the last things differently, as premillennial, amillennial or postmillennial; Christ's return and the millennium and What are the rapture and the millennium? set the views side by side. Whatever their view, all Christians pray this petition. On our part in the kingdom of God, see Sharing the gospel.

To ponder this week

Where can your words and work make God's name known this week, and whom will you pray for by name to be brought into his kingdom? Think of one place, at work or at home, and ask that God's name be honoured there. Then choose one person who does not yet know Christ, and pray "Thy kingdom come" for them by name each day.

Practice