Part of the reason why we don’t see revival in our day is that for too many Christians it just seems far fetched to believe that it can happen. We don’t have it because we don’t pray for it. This petition of the Lord’s Prayer is a reminder that not only can it happen, but it has and will happen in the future. If our earnest desire is to see men and women come to repentance and faith, and we do what we need to do, namely pray and preach the gospel with power then the assurance is given in the words Thy Kingdom Come that we will be the partakers of it. 

The second petition of the Lord’s Prayer is an interesting part of Jesus’ message to His covenant people in regard to their responsibility to the world in which they live. We often hear people say or write that it is wrong to wish for Christ to reign as king over the nations during the time between His first and second advent. That it is trying to “build the kingdom of heaven on earth” to ask for our rulers and presidents to be godly men and our nations to reflect the wisdom and beauty of God’s truth. However, what we read today in the catechism is in fact the Prince of Peace imploring us to pray for this very thing, that the Kingdom Might Come.

For today’s catechism lesson we are going to be looking at some of the things we see as part and parcel of the role of prayer in enabling these blessings to come to pass, even in our own lifetime as the gospel goes forth and does its mighty work in the Great Commission. Here’s the Q/A:

Q. 191. What do we pray for in the second petition?

A. In the second petition, (which is, Thy kingdom come) acknowledging ourselves and all mankind to be by nature under the dominion of sin and Satan, we pray, that the kingdom of sin and Satan may be destroyed, the gospel propagated throughout the world, the Jews called, the fulness of the Gentiles brought in; the church furnished with all gospel-officers and ordinances, purged from corruption, countenanced and maintained by the civil magistrate: that the ordinances of Christ may be purely dispensed, and made effectual to the converting of those that are yet in their sins, and the confirming, comforting, and building up of those that are already converted: that Christ would rule in our hearts here, and hasten the time of his second coming, and our reigning with him forever: and that he would be pleased so to exercise the kingdom of his power in all the world, as may best conduce to these ends.

In the New Testament the devil is sometimes describes as the “prince of the power of the air” (Eph. 2:2), the “god of this age” (2 Cor. 4:4), and “the ruler of this world” (John 12:31). Part of the good news of Jesus Christ is the promise found in Revelation 11:15 that, “And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!” When we Christians speak this truth in our repetition of the Lord’s Prayer in the morning worship service we are seeking this reality to be true now.

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