“Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” (Matthew 6:10)
What does 'Your kingdom come' mean?
The word "kingdom" is being translated from the Greek word, βασιλεία (basileia), which can mean "kingdom," but only in the context of "royal power, kingship, dominion, rule" according to the lexicon. The lexicon also states that the word is "not to be confused with an actual kingdom but rather the right or authority to rule over a kingdom."This means that "kingdom" is not an appropriate translation. Rather, a more appropriate translation would be something like "dominion" or "authority."
But further in the context of Jesus' times and use of language would relate to what kings provided to their subjects in feudal times - "sanctuary." A citizen of a particular village or region would basically take sanctuary under a particular king or leader. Such sanctuary provided safety as well as a role in the society.
The word "come" is being translated from the Greek word ἔρχομαι (erchomai), which means, when used metaphorically (as is the case here), "to come into being, arise, come forth, show itself, find place or influence;" and "be established, become known, to come (fall) into or unto" according to the lexicon.
In other words, Jesus is suggesting that we pray to God to reveal His sanctuary to us. This is essentially asking that God provide us with His sanctuary - to give us protection and allow us to connect with Him.
What does 'Your will be done' mean?
The terminology of this phrase is a little muddled according to this translation.Note that Jesus is suggesting a prayer to the Supreme Being. God is in complete control, and therefore He can have His will be done any time and any place. Therefore, Jesus is not saying that we should instruct God to have His will done.
Rather, Jesus is saying, with the phrase, "γενηθήτω τὸ θέλημά σου" that we should ask God if we can do His will.
Actually, the word translated to "will" (θέλημα (thelēma)) actually means, "what one wishes or has determined shall be done."
Since this is a "Your" thing here, this could also be translated to "what pleases You."
In other words, what Jesus is suggesting here is that we ask God if we can do what pleases Him.
The Supreme Being can do what He wants. He can make His will happen with or without us. What the Supreme Being did, however, is give each of us the ability to make a choice of whether we want to do what pleases Him or not.
This is called free will and each of us has this freedom to reject God's wishes or adhere by them. This is because love is based upon freedom, and the only way we can truly love God is if we have the freedom not to.
Why does Jesus prayer suggest this?
This portion of Jesus’ suggested prayer is focused upon our ultimate perfection as spiritual beings: Jesus is requesting that when his students pray, they ask God if they can serve Him and please Him with their lives.God created us to exchange a loving relationship with Him. Love, however, requires the freedom of choice, because a person cannot be forced to love someone.
So the Supreme Being gave us the choice to love Him or not. This also means we have the freedom to serve God or not. You see, God does not have slaves. He has loving servants - those who choose to love and serve Him.
Why do so many ignore God?
Most of us who live in the physical dimension have chosen not to love and serve God. We have chosen not to do His will. This decision each of us made is symbolized by the story of Adam and Eve. Adam chose not to do God’s will after being asked by God not to eat the forbidden fruit.This primary act, of deciding to go against the will of God, created our entry into the material world, away from God’s presence. This is explained in symbolic language in Genesis:
“The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. And the Lord God said, “The man has now become one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. After He drove the man out, He placed on (in front of) the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.” (Genesis 3:21-24)
The “garments of skin” are our temporary physical bodies. Because we decided we wanted to be independent of God, we were given our virtual independence from Him.
Here we can forget about God. We can even claim He doesn't exist. In fact, it is God who gives the atheist the rationale to claim His non-existence.
This is the expression of freedom. In order to have true freedom to love God or not, the Supreme Being set up this plane of existence where our physical eyes do not see Him. Though He dwells among us, we cannot see Him with these physical eyes. This gives us a chance to ignore Him, just as we wanted.
Any loving relationship is accompanied by loving service. Loving service means doing the will of the one we love. Jesus is saying, "Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." What does this mean?
This illustrates that one can do God’s will here in the physical dimension just as well as we can do His will in the spiritual dimension. We can exchange this loving relationship anywhere. We don't have to 'go to heaven' in order to be in the spiritual realm.
Because we can do the Supreme Being's will regardless of whether we are in the physical body or not, we can virtually be in the spiritual realm where ever we may be.
Practically speaking, the entire creation - both spiritual and physical - was created by the Supreme Being. This means it is all His kingdom. Therefore if we are in the consciousness that we want to do His will, we will be in the spiritual realm right here and right now.
Jesus showed by example how to be pleasing and loving to God even while living in this temporary physical body. Even when he was being ridiculed, mistreated, misunderstood, and even tortured, he was thinking of God's pleasure. He wanted to do what God wanted him to do. This was expressed in his prayer right before he was arrested:
Jesus taught that spiritual life is about having a relationship with God. It is not about joining one sect or another. It is not about doing a bunch of rituals. It is not about being saved or being cleansed of sins. It is about exchanging a loving relationship with the Supreme Being.
And this is what Jesus was teaching his students:
Here we can forget about God. We can even claim He doesn't exist. In fact, it is God who gives the atheist the rationale to claim His non-existence.
This is the expression of freedom. In order to have true freedom to love God or not, the Supreme Being set up this plane of existence where our physical eyes do not see Him. Though He dwells among us, we cannot see Him with these physical eyes. This gives us a chance to ignore Him, just as we wanted.
Why do we seek love?
Yet we continue to look for true love throughout our physical lives, demanding it from our parents, friends and even our pets. These forms of so-called love, however, do not satisfy us because we need our original loving relationship with God.Any loving relationship is accompanied by loving service. Loving service means doing the will of the one we love. Jesus is saying, "Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." What does this mean?
This illustrates that one can do God’s will here in the physical dimension just as well as we can do His will in the spiritual dimension. We can exchange this loving relationship anywhere. We don't have to 'go to heaven' in order to be in the spiritual realm.
Because we can do the Supreme Being's will regardless of whether we are in the physical body or not, we can virtually be in the spiritual realm where ever we may be.
Practically speaking, the entire creation - both spiritual and physical - was created by the Supreme Being. This means it is all His kingdom. Therefore if we are in the consciousness that we want to do His will, we will be in the spiritual realm right here and right now.
Jesus showed by example how to be pleasing and loving to God even while living in this temporary physical body. Even when he was being ridiculed, mistreated, misunderstood, and even tortured, he was thinking of God's pleasure. He wanted to do what God wanted him to do. This was expressed in his prayer right before he was arrested:
“Abba, Father, everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.” (Mark 14:36)What does this mean? It means that Jesus is enjoying a loving relationship with the Supreme Being.
Jesus taught that spiritual life is about having a relationship with God. It is not about joining one sect or another. It is not about doing a bunch of rituals. It is not about being saved or being cleansed of sins. It is about exchanging a loving relationship with the Supreme Being.
And this is what Jesus was teaching his students:
" 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment." (Matt. 22:37-38)
