Implications of Our Prayers
The Lord's Prayer is given us as a warning against using too many words in prayer. Every request of God has many implications.
When we say, "Your kingdom come," we should not use these words without knowing their consequences.
We say, "Come, Lord Jesus" (Revelation 22:20) but it is written, "Let no man deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first" (2 Thessalonians 2:3). In the great apostasy, whole nations will forsake the Christian faith; Christians will be hated by all nations for Christ's name's sake. “And then many will be offended, [and] will betray one another" (Matthew 24:1-10). You wish for the Lord's coming. But have you made your decision? Will you be among the traitors or among the betrayed?
The coming of Christ brings eternal, definitive doom for unbelievers, among whom will be many of your cherished friends. It is written, "Woe to you who desire the day of the Lord! For what good is the day of the Lord to you? It will be darkness and not light" (Amos 5:18).
Do you wish Jesus to come? On that day the believers "shall go forth and look upon the corpses of the men who have transgressed against [God]. For their worm does not die, and their fire is not quenched" (Isaiah 66:24). Perhaps among these corpses will be members of your own family.
The Jews cannot bear to read this as the last verse of Isaiah and in their synagogues. In public readings, they repeat after this verse the comforting one that precedes it. They also do this after the last verse of Malachi, which concludes the Old Testament with the words of God: "Lest I come and strike the earth with a curse" (4:6)
But however you read it, the situation will be the same. When the Lord comes, all His opponents shall perish.
Although this wrath is beneficent, although their being consumed will show them "that God rules in Jacob to the ends of the earth" (Psalm 59:13), nonetheless it will be a difficult day to bear. Are you prepared to bear it?
The answer depends on whether you are born again. For those who have passed through new birth, the sight of hell will be a source of joy. St. Thomas Aquinas wrote that the tortures of the damned will be one of the delights of heaven. This is because we will be changed in a manner which we cannot now imagine. "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him" (1 Corinthians 2:9).
After conversion, the things that made you happy before become abhorrent and the things that displeased you become your joy. So, in the glorified body, we will appreciate the righteousness and the wrath of God in a manner incomprehensible for us now. Can an alcoholic believe that he will ever come to hate alcohol? So we cannot fathom that we will ever rejoice at seeing hell. It must be enough for us that it seems good in His sight (Matthew 11:26).
It is written that it pleased God to bruise Jesus (Isaiah 53:10). In our present stage of development, this is unimaginable. But if God can find pleasure in the innocent suffering of His Son, knowing the purpose it accomplishes, it might easily be that we will find pleasure in the righteous punishment of the wicked.
"Your kingdom come." Do not speak these words lightly.
Richard Wurmbrand
_________________ Steve
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