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5th December 2025
FridayReflection
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Pastor Brian Sauvé
has a passion for preaching the Bible
"On Earth as it is in Heaven"
Rethinking Matthew 6:10"
The world that God made is hierarchical
- meaning it is a world of sovereigns and subjects, of realms and rulers, of kings and kingdoms.
It is a world of up and down. It is a world of submission and headship.
Hierarchy is part of what God uttered his "very good" over in the beginning.
It is a part of what he looked down upon and blessed.
This is true before anything went wrong in the world - it's not as if hierarchy was a result of the Fall.
As we continue our time in the Lord's Prayer within Jesus' great sermon on the mount, we learn to pray along these lines - to take comfort that, though the world is manifestly under the rule of upstarts and fools, every name and title will be returned to its proper owner.
That the Father's Kingdom will come and his will is to be done again on earth as it is in heaven.
This part of the sermon on the mount, the Lord's Prayer, isn't a magical incantation, but rather a model for us.
We're not to treat it as a mantra, but a model.
That when we pray, we pray Our Father, that is, when we pray, we pray as sons.
When we pray, we pray to One who is for us like a good dad is for us.
But we also pray that the name of this Father would be hallowed, remembering that he is not to be trifled with.
So what would and will happen if and as the Father answers this prayer?
Because make no mistake: He will.
This prayer is not something that the Father will hear and say, "Yes, that would be nice, wouldn't it?
After the Second Coming I might get around to answering it."
No, this Father doesn't give stones to his sons when they ask him for bread.
And so we need to know what it will look like for this prayer to be answered as we pray it.
So let's begin with some definitions. When we pray, "Your Kingdom come," what are we talking about? What is the Kingdom of God?
Already in the gospel according to Matthew, we have seen that the arrival of the Kingdom of God with the arrival of Christ is central to his ministry - it is the central point of his preaching.
Nearly everything a king does is done through appointed emissaries, servants, representatives, and rulers.
Can you picture the King of England making his own French toast?
God made two great lights in the heavens, one to rule the day and one to rule the night.
In each of the first three days, he makes a realm, and then corresponding to each realm, he makes and appoints rulers of those realms in days 4, 5, and 6.
The man, Adam, is set apart as the high king over all the earth - as the image bearer of God. He's given domain over all the fish, the sea, the birds, the living things on the earth.
In an act of authority, he names these things.
Whatever he calls them, that is their name.
He even names his wife, Eve, who is 'taken from him'.
The serpent comes - a creeping thing which the man is supposed to have rule over - and the man submits to serpent rather than ruling over him.
But God makes a nation to demonstrate, and ultimately to restore, his rule over earth through man.
He starts with Abraham in Genesis 12, calls him out of Ur of the Chaldees.
So a royal, head-crushing ruler is on the way, from Judah, who will restore rule over God's enemies.
So God teaches his people that they need a King who is One who keeps the law on his heart, the Torah as his guard.
David, the shepherd-king, the psalmist, the man after God's own heart, represents - the coming Shepherd-King Jesus.
The realm wherein the King reigns, is everywhere, because Jesus has ascended and he has claimed everything.
The Kingdom of God is a people.
It is mankind, restored in the God-Man to her true purposes. It is mankind, washed of her sin in the blood of Christ, living forever with him.
It is the place where men are ruled - not by sin, the serpent, -.but by the King and his Law.
It is an end - the end towards which creation is aimed.
The kingdoms of the world will become the Kingdom of our God in Christ - completely and without exception.
So what?
What does it mean for the Kingdom to come and the will of the Father to be done on earth as it is in heaven?
Our prayer of petition that the earth would be a place where the will of God is done as it is in heaven tells us something:
It is not being done on earth as it is in heaven yet.
God is sovereign over all. Even the crucifixion of Christ was his good and perfect will. His will of decree is being carried out exactly.
But how is his will done in heaven?
Without sin. It is being done all the way, right away, with a good attitude, everyday.
Take heart and pray:
Father, your will be done here like it's being done there.
As we pray this prayer, we are asking that God would sanctify us.
We are asking that what has been won in principle - the removal of sin's enslaving power over us, his people - would be worked out in practice by his power.
God will be praised by every tongue everywhere. His Kingdom will come on earth as it is in heaven.
And don't forget: This is all central, to the Christian life.
This prayer Jesus teaches us to pray is not long.
It is therefore obvious that every single part of it is essential.
The Kingdom of God breaking in and invading and colonizing this world is no side-issue: It is central.
May we pray and live as if it were so.
This is an edited version.
The full article is avaiable on request
'Brian Sauvé'
Brian has a passion for preaching the Bible.
In his preaching, you will find a deep concern for the intersection of Exegetical and Biblical Theology,
the glory of God in all things, and the primacy of the Gospel in every text.
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