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6-4-2023 Sunday Sermon Message

Meditations of the Week: Psalm 91:1-16

Text: Matthew 6:5-13

Word title: Christ’s millennial kingdom revealed in the Disciples’ Prayer

          In Matthew 5, Jesus, who came as the King of the Jews, proclaimed in advance the constitution of the kingdom that he must conduct in His future Millennial Kingdom. He also went on and taught to pray by going into a closet and shut the door to hear the Father in secret and not to repeat vain repetitions while praying.

         He also told the disciples what to pray for. Thinking that the content of the prayer they have to say is the Lord’s Prayer, it has been considered a tradition of the churches to this very day to conclude church meetings by vainly repeating the Lord’s Prayer,

       However, this prayer we know so well is not the Lord’s prayer, but instead the Lord’s disciples’ prayer, the prayer of the disciples. Back then, Jesus spoke about this to His Jewish disciples for His audience was not the Gentiles and it was a time before the Church of God was established.

         Unto his disciple Timothy the Apostle Paul said: Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. (2 Timothy 2:15 KJV)

If so, we must learn how to properly divide and study the words of truth.

All of God’s words are those spoken by the Holy Trinity unto the Jews, Gentiles, and the Church of God.

       Then, we need to know to whom the words Jesus spoke in today’s text were addressed. We must know that at that time there were no Gentiles, no Christians who belonged to the Church of God, only Jews.

       Among the four Gospels, the Gospel of Matthew is about Jesus who came as the King of the Jews. Matthew chapter 1 begins with, ¶ The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. (Matthew 1:1 KJV)

all the way to…Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ. (Matthew 1:16 KJV) for it is the word pertaining to the geneology of the Israeli King. The word  Jesus, who is called Christ. means  Jesus is the anointed, the prophet, the high priest, and the Messiah of Israel, who will come not only to Israel but also as KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS to establish his kingdom on earth.

       Jesus said first of all that God is the Father of the Jews and the Holy One, and first of all, to pray for “Thy kingdom come.”

       It is to meditate deeply on the words of Jesus to the Jews to pray, “Thy kingdom come.” The first kingdom of God established on earth was lost for 4,000 years after the first man, Adam and Eve, were tempted by the serpent and sinned, as the Garden of Eden was taken away by the devil. Although theocratic kingdoms existed in Israel and Judah for a short time, they eventually came under the domination of Babylon and other Gentile nations, and when Jesus appeared in the land of Judea, they were under the domination of Roman empire.

        Jesus, who appeared as the king of the Israelites chosen by God, told the Jews to pray,  “Thy kingdom come.” When Jesus came to the land of Judea, they had no king and were under the rule of the Roman Emperor, Caesar. John the Baptist, born six months before Jesus, preached to the Jews in the Judean wilderness, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. (Matthew 3:2 KJV)

 In other words, Jesus, the King of the Jews, is their King, repent, believe in Him, and receive Him. However, they did not repent and killed John. Afterward, Jesus too preached, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. (Matthew 4:17 KJV)  calling them to repent and receive Himself as He is their King, and to come into the Kingdom He is establishing. However, they did not acknowledge Jesus as their King, the Messiah. Jesus knew ahead of time that they would crucify Him. Knowing this, Jesus said to them in advance:

I am come in my Father’s name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive. (John 5:43 KJV)

Jesus knew that they would receive the Antichrist, who would appear in his name in the distant future, as the Messiah.

         Knowing this, Jesus told the Jews to pray for the coming of the Kingdom he was about to establish. Looking forward to the establishment of the millennial kingdom of Christ, He taught the disciples to pray, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. (Matthew 6:10 KJV) Just as Satan the Devil has already been cast out of heaven and the will of the Father has been fulfilled in heaven, he will return to earth as the King of kings and Lord of lords to judge the world and throw the Antichrist and the false prophet into the lake of fire (Rev 19:20)

        Jesus knew in advance that the kingdom he was about to establish would be violently taken from the religious leaders and Jews of his day, and said:

And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force. (Matthew 11:12 KJV)

       Jesus knew that the kingdom would be fulfilled when he returned to earth after the Great Tribulation, and he told the Jews to pray, Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. (Matthew 6:10 KJV)

       Also, to pray,Give us this day our daily bread. (Matthew 6:11 KJV) means He knew that the time would come when Israelites would be driven out into the wilderness and seek daily bread during the Great Tribulation, just as their ancestors did their daily work in the wilderness, because of their sin of not receiving their Messiah, Jesus Christ, and hanging him on the cross. The prophet Jeremiah prophesied that the time would come when they would suffer in the Great Tribulation, the time of Jacob’s trouble:

Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble; but he shall be saved out of it. (Jeremiah 30:7 KJV)

        Also, unlike the current age of grace, when the age of tribulation arrives, all who are left behind must believe in Jesus and keep the commandments, as Apostle John testified:

Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus. (Revelation 14:12 KJV)

He spoke in advance that during this time, if you do not forgive the sins of others, your sins will not be forgiven, and you must pray to be saved from the evil of being tested by the antichrist and receiving the mark of the beast.

         When the Lord Jesus Christ establishes His Millennial Kingdom, it will be the only Kingdom on earth. Because of this, Jesus said to all Jews to pray:For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen. (Matthew 6:13 KJV)

       The Lord, who promised and told the Jews to pray for the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ, predestined that before that day would come, many would be adopted as God’s children without discrimination, whether they be Jews or Gentiles. From the conversation Jesus had with his Jewish disciples after his resurrection, we can learn about the spreading of the gospel of grace over the past two thousand years:

And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me. For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence. ¶ When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. (Acts 1:4-8 KJV)

        When the disciples asked Jesus, knowing that the kingdom of Christ, which was promised to Israel, would come on the day of Pentecost, the Lord said that He would fulfill it on earth as it was in heaven when He returned to earth two thousand years later. Even today, the Israelites are still waiting for their Messiah to come and establish the promised kingdom of Christ in Jerusalem. Sadly, they still do not know that Jesus is the Christ, their King.

This is why we must preach Christ’s gospel of grace (Rom 1:16) to the Jews first. Amen! Hallelujah!