Old Testament Reading Job 23

Then Job answered and said:

“Today also my complaint is bitter;
my hand is heavy on account of my groaning.
Oh, that I knew where I might find him,
that I might come even to his seat!
I would lay my case before him
and fill my mouth with arguments.
I would know what he would answer me
and understand what he would say to me.
Would he contend with me in the greatness of his power?
No; he would pay attention to me.
There an upright man could argue with him,
and I would be acquitted forever by my judge.
“Behold, I go forward, but he is not there,
and backward, but I do not perceive him;
on the left hand when he is working, I do not behold him;
he turns to the right hand, but I do not see him.
But he knows the way that I take;
when he has tried me, I shall come out as gold.
My foot has held fast to his steps;
I have kept his way and have not turned aside.
I have not departed from the commandment of his lips;
I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my portion of food.
But he is unchangeable, and who can turn him back?
What he desires, that he does.
For he will complete what he appoints for me,
and many such things are in his mind.
Therefore I am terrified at his presence;
when I consider, I am in dread of him.
God has made my heart faint;
the Almighty has terrified me;
yet I am not silenced because of the darkness,
nor because thick darkness covers my face.

Epistle 1 Peter 5:5–11

Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Holy Gospel John 6:22–68

On the next day the crowd that remained on the other side of the sea saw that there had been only one boat there, and that Jesus had not entered the boat with his disciples, but that his disciples had gone away alone. Other boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. So when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor his disciples, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum, seeking Jesus.

When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not labor for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.” Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” So they said to him, “Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform? Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.”

Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

So the Jews grumbled about him, because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” They said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” Jesus answered them, “Do not grumble among yourselves. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me— not that anyone has seen the Father except he who is from God; he has seen the Father. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not as the fathers ate and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” Jesus said these things in the synagogue, as he taught at Capernaum.

When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?” But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, “Do you take offense at this? Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is of no avail. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But there are some of you who do not believe.” (For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.) And he said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.”

After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. So Jesus said to the Twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life,

Grace to you and peace in Jesus’ name. Amen.

In Luther’s Small Catechism the Second Petition of the Lord’s Prayer and the explanation are as follows:

Thy kingdom come.

What does this mean?
The kingdom of God certainly comes by itself without our prayer, but we pray in this petition that it may come to us also.

How does God’s kingdom come?
God’s kingdom comes when our heavenly Father gives us His Holy Spirit, so that by His grace we believe His holy Word and lead godly lives here in time and there in eternity.

After the fall into sin Adam and Eve hid from God’s arrival in the garden of Eden. In the perfection of the garden Adam and Eve sinned. Knowing God would be angry they camouflaged themselves with leaves and tried to get away from God. That day Adam and Eve were kicked out, not only of the Garden of Eden, but also out of God’s kingdom permanently and forever. They were dead to Him.¹

What has happened between then and now? Well this might be important because we are the children of Adam and Eve. We have inherited their sin. We, like them, have been kicked out of God’s kingdom. We are dead to God.² We are born into the same predicament Adam and Eve found themselves. We are soiled. We keep sinning. We’re going to die physically and there is nothing any of us can do about it. We have failed. God has judged. We are all going to Hell. That’s what “dead to God” means.

Yet in spite of all of that we dare to pray, “Thy³ kingdom come.” What are we doing when we turn to God and pray like this? What right do we have to address God like this, telling Him what He should do with His kingdom?

Adam and Eve, our first parents, were hoping in fear God would just go away, and here we are begging God to come back and deal with us. Our words say to God, ‘We want to see You again. We want to hear Your voice. We want to walk with You again. We want back into the garden with You.’ “Thy kingdom come” is a brazen thing for a condemned sinner to pray.

God demands perfection. If you are not perfect when God’s kingdom comes the penalty is death, eternal death, Hell. The Bible says, “We are dead in sin.⁴” “Thy kingdom come” is a dangerous thing for a sinner to pray. Yet it is because we are condemned sinners that we must in faith pray, “Thy kingdom come.”

What changed between then and now is this: Through Adam we are dead in sin, but we are alive to God through Jesus Christ our Lord.⁵ The first Adam (the son of God⁶) gave us fear of God. The Second Adam, Jesus (the Son of God⁷), gave us peace with God. Jesus took all our sin, our fear and our shame, and exchanged them with His resurrection life. In faith we are now eager to have God find us, eager to have God come to talk to us. That is what we are praying when we say, “Thy kingdom come.” We are saying God come and deal with us, please!

You see this really is a brave thing to pray, but in faith such requests can be made to our Sovereign Lord of Armies. Martin Luther said, “Faith is what makes us bold to approach God’s throne.” Faith holds God to His promises, because in faith we know God cannot lie,⁸ and God never changes.⁹ So in that context we ask God to come down, to deal with us personally. Just like Job did.¹⁰ Remember this is the very same God who walked and talked with Adam and Eve, who found them when they were hiding, who judged them and condemned them, but who also provided a way of salvation.¹¹

That is what happened between then and now. Understand there is no room for doubt here. This is what Jesus taught us to pray, and to pray in faith. He has promised God’s kingdom will come and we should expect it to. So what will happen between now and then?

Our life now is a paradox. It is an existence in which two things are always true, but both cannot be true at the same time. That’s called a paradox. In the Church we have a Latin phrase to explain this. It is “Simul Iustus et Peccator.” In English: “Simultaneously just and corrupt” or, “Simultaneously good in God’s eyes and evil in God’s eyes.”

So we live between Christ’s empty tomb, and eternity in Heaven. We are sinners but we are justified, made right, declared innocent. We live a life in which God’s kingdom has come, it will come, and it is coming, all at the same time. We are dead in sin, we are alive in Christ. Christ has come, and He has not yet come. We live in His grace waiting, watching and praying, while we live in trial and tribulation. We have joy in the Gospel, and sorrow under the Law. In a life described as a dark veil of tears, we can still sing our Easter Hallelujahs.¹² While our own dusty grave can bring us no peace, Jesus’ empty tomb gives us peace eternal. We are given the gift of Jesus’ resurrection, while we live now as children of God, but we are not yet fully resurrected.

The paradox are almost uncountable. This is what we pray, when we pray, “Thy kingdom come.” It is a bold, a brazen thing to pray. We are praying for God to reign over us as King, and to pour out His Holy Spirit on us so our faith, the faith He gives us, may never weaken or weary.¹³ We pray “God, call us by Your living Gospel¹⁴ voice that we would not hear from You the question, ‘Where are you?¹⁵’but rather the promise ‘Here I AM.¹⁶’ Place Your name on us O Lord. Deliver us from Death and the devil. Save us Lord from eternal starvation by feeding us with Jesus’ Sacred Body and Blood.¹⁷ Give to us new life and salvation.”

“Thy kingdom come” means, “God we have sinned, forgive us.” “The devil is seeking to devour us.¹⁸ God rescues us.” “We are dying God, deliver us from death.” “We are dead to You Lord, raise us up.¹⁹” “Judge us Lord, give us Your gift of eternal life.”

“Thy kingdom come” makes a lot of demands on God. The demands however are those things which God has told us to ask from Him because these are the things we need from Him to be saved.

In fact Jesus Himself has taught us to pray this very thing, to pray “Thy kingdom come.” He has promised it would, and we long for it to come soon.²⁰ Since we are praying for the things God tells us to ask of Him, will He not provide all that we ask?²¹ When we pray, “Thy kingdom come” all Christians pray with one singular voice together across all countries and continents that God in His grace would grant these things to us. To come and save us from sin, sin’s affect and ourselves.

In Jesus’ name.

Amen.

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