God’s Kingdom

When we use the word kingdom we often think of it as the land ruled over by a king, or a queen.  But of course, more important than the land are the people in it who are ruled.  So, even if a king is in exile from his native land, he is still king if his subjects are loyal to him.

Just as the Kingdom of England means the people of England, so the Kingdom of God means the people of God over whom God rules – in other words, the Church.  When, therefore, we say in the Lord’s Prayer “Thy Kingdom come”, we are praying for the Church and are asking God that it may grow and bring more people to obey him as their King.  So we sing in the hymn,

“The Church of God a kingdom is,
where Christ in power doth reign…” (1)