'Thy Kingdom Come'

Jesus Christ instructed His followers to pray, "Thy kingdom come" (King James Version). In its long-term effects this prayer is the most important request a person could make—asking God the Father that His Kingdom would become a reality. Three of Christ's disciples were given a special preview of the Kingdom of God commonly known as the transfiguration. What does it mean for true Christians today?

by John Ross Schroeder

Before and after Christ's death, His disciples expected the Kingdom to come during their lifetimes. Only the passage of time convinced them otherwise. He even gave them a parable to try to dissuade them from their expectations. "Now as they heard these things, He spoke another parable, because He was near Jerusalem and because they thought the kingdom of God would appear immediately" (Luke 19:11, emphasis added throughout).

Every generation of Christ's true followers has experienced the same expectations the apostles did. At least some in each generation thought that the Kingdom would come in their lifetimes. Certainly if you had lived in 14th century Europe when one third of the population died of the black death, you could have been forgiven for thinking that Christ would have returned to this earth at that time. There is nothing wrong with holding on to this hope. The last generation of Christians who live to see Christ's return will finally be right!

Previews of coming attractions

A longtime ingredient of going to the movies or cinema has been the showing of several brief previews of feature films to be shown at a later date. The transfiguration of Jesus Christ was, in a sense, a short preview of what is coming to this globe—the glorious Kingdom of God. Peter, James and John were the only disciples privileged to witness and to experience this unique preview.

These three didn't grasp the perils ahead of them in their ministry. James, the brother of John, would be martyred early and Peter would follow in his steps some 30 years later, after enduring many difficult trials of his faith. John would live to see the Church greatly shaken, as many brethren were taken in by forerunners of the insidious doctrines of Gnosticism and at least one prominent leader took over a congregation—putting out the true members. Some of these troubles continue even in our day.

Read the full article at www.ucg.org/doctrinal-beliefs/thy-kingdom-come

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Keywords: God, kingdom of Christ, return of Christ, transfiguration of eternal life

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