Thy Kingdom Come

“Come O Thou King of Kings, we’ve waited long for thee”[i] This beautiful hymn captures the wishful longing imagination of millions of worshippers worldwide. In fact, all three of the major faith traditions from Abraham’s lineage expect a Messiah, a King Moshiach[ii], a Mashiach[iii], a Christos[iv], a Christ, or as they say in Islam, Masih, Isa Ibn MaMaryam. This long-awaited King and Messiah is supposed to defeat the anti-Christ, Masih ad-Daj-jal, the false messiah and heal the nations.[v] Mahish, Isa Ibn MaMaryam, will appear alongside a totally Muslim messiah named Mahdi to rid the world of evil.[vi]

In the Old Testament, Isaiah said, “And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the LORD; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.”[vii]

And so, we not so patiently wait, watching the insanity, the strife, the earth in commotion, family members hating each other, men cursing God because they cannot have pleasure in hurting other people despite the false promises of a mesmerizing media.

In vain we build human enterprises with vast wealth and political capital only to see them not only fail our fickle hope but tear down the very few things we still like about the world.

Pontius Pilate felt somewhat challenged by the conflict of the Jew’s popular vote against Christ and his own wife’s fearful pleading for Jesus as if he were a King. In this time of indecision, Jesus floored the unflappable cruel Roman ruler with the truth above all others:

“My Kingdom is not an earthly kingdom. If it were, my followers would fight to keep me from being handed over to the Jewish leaders. But my Kingdom is not of this world.”[viii]

This is not what the Jewish leaders wanted in a Messiah. Wanting a warrior King to conquer and punish all their adversaries of every nation that harmed and was lording over them, they were sorely disappointed in all the would-be messiahs and revolutionaries of Jesus day.[ix] They even hated Jesus for having miraculous power but promoting subservience to Rome, their bitter enemy.

This Kingdom of Priests who ruled like Kings, was envisioned by Moses’ God in Exodus who said, “you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.”[x] Centuries later Peter echoed this hope in a royal kingly priesthood to rule the kingdom of God on the earth:

“But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”[xi]

Unfortunately, the Kingdom visualized by prophets such as Ezekiel and John the Revelator was a heavenly kingdom with a throne on which were seated God, the Father, and His Son, Jesus Christ.

However, there is the hope implied by Daniel’s interpretation of King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, of a heavenly kingdom not made by man, but cut out of a mountain by God Himself that would roll down the cosmic mountain and get so large as to break apart all the kingdoms of man and crush them and go on to fill the whole earth.

Why would one want a king over a kingdom rather than a parliament? The laws and rules of men are fickle, powerless and less than enlightened. Wicked kings are hard to depose since they have so much power and friends in their wickedness who wipe out those who oppose them. Parliaments have to make too many compromises and the lofty goals get watered down and are not effective enough to fix the problems of the kingdom.

If we could always have righteous kings, whose only interest was the welfare of the people they served day and night, we would have the best of all worlds. Righteous kings would have the power to implement every good change and get rid of bad people and laws that hurt people. They would be just, and money could not buy their favor nor their pardons from awful crimes when at the same tme poor people are jailed for trivial things.

So what is this kingdom of priests whose religious kingdom is not of this world, but nevertheless fills the whole world and breaks down all the kingdoms of men? How does this usher in the heavenly kingdom that is an integral part of the Lord’s prayer, “Thy kingdom come”? These priests would have to be pure and holy “qadash” similar but not the same as the Old Testament priests and symbolically set apart “consecrated” from the world. They would have to be motivated not by money or fame or power, but by love and humility and serve those around them like Jesus did, as if those they served were greater in importance than they themselves. The laws of the kingdom would not be based on money but on Christ-like service.

God has set up just such a kingdom by restoring all the foundation of the early Church of Jesus Christ, namely apostles and prophets with Jesus Christ as the chief cornerstone. This church now fills the world as prophesied by Daniel and was set up in the last days without human thinking or reasoning. [xii] It is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and has a legal presence in nearly all the countries of the world. The High Priests who administer this kingdom of God on the earth receive no recompense for their labors but have their own jobs and support their families out of regular work outside the Church just like Paul supported his ministry by sail making, his family’s profession.[xiii]

In the early days of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, the Lord told the small group of members at that time:

“Hearken, O ye people of my church, to who the kingdom has been given;”[xiv]

Later He gave the requirements of receiving the kingdom

“And by giving heed and doing these things which ye have received, and which ye shall hereafter receive—and the kingdom is given you of the Father, and power to overcome all things which are no ordained of Him—”[xv]

Here, “received” means all the commandments to build Zion, the kingdom of God on the earth after the pattern shown by Enoch and his people.[xvi]

[i] https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/music/library/hymns/come-o-thou-king-of-kings?lang=eng&_r=1

[ii] https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/1121893/jewish/Who-Is-Moshiach-the-Jewish-Messiah.htm

[iii] https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/101679/jewish/The-Personality-of-Mashiach.htm

[iv] https://biblehub.com/greek/5547.htm

[v] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus_in_Islam

[vi] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahdi

[vii] Isaiah 25:9 King James Version

[viii] John 18:36 New Living Translation https://biblehub.com/john/18-36.htm

[ix] https://www.livius.org/articles/religion/messiah/messiah-2-military-leader/

[x] Exodus 19:6 New International Version

[xi] 1 Peter 2:9 King James Version