How can we come to a better understanding of God’s kingdom? One of the best ways is by learning how to pray, “Your kingdom come.” These three simple words from the Lord’s Prayer explain the plan, the purpose, and the progress of God’s kingdom.

This petition first helps us understand God’s plan for ushering in his kingdom. The very fact that we are to pray for the kingdom proves that it is not the kind of thing we establish through our own efforts. It is something we must ask God to do because only he can do it.

God’s plan was to establish his kingdom through his Son. Jesus Christ lived the perfect life we ought to have lived. He died the painful death we deserved to die. And when he had fully paid for all our sins, God raised him from the dead and exalted him to his kingly throne. Now that Christ is King, God does not tell us to go out and establish his kingdom, he invites us to enter it. This is why God’s kingdom comes through the announcement that Christ, who was crucified, is now King. The kingdom comes mainly through proclamation.

Philip Graham Ryken, When You Pray: Making the Lord’s Prayer Your Own