Week 6
Day 1
Listen: 
The Lord’s Prayer
For Thine is the kingdom
John 3:3, 5. Jesus answered and said to him, Amen, amen, I say to thee, Unless someone be born from above, he cannot see the kingdom of God.... Amen, amen, I say to thee, Unless someone be born of water and the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
AE 48. “Kingdom” in the Word... [signifies] heaven and the church. It means the church in respect to truth, or where truths are, because by the kingship of the Lord is signified Divine truth proceeding from Him, and therefore by “kings” are signified truths.... It is said, ‘the church in respect to truth,’ by which is meant the church in respect to truths from good, and this is for the reason that there are no truths without good, for truths have their life from good. Truths with a man who is not in good are indeed truths in themselves, but they are not truths in him.
AE 48:3. From this it is plain what is meant by “kingdom” in the Lord’s Prayer.... “Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory,” means Divine truth from God alone. It is also said, “power and glory,” because Divine truth has all power and glory....
“Kingdom,” in the highest sense, signifies the Lord in respect to the Divine Human, because from Him all Divine truth proceeds; and “kingdom” signifies heaven, because heaven with the angels is from no other source than from the Divine truth that proceeds from the Lord’s Divine Human....
AC 916:2. The spiritual church is first called a church when it acts from charity, which is the very doctrine of faith. Or, what is the same thing, the man of the church is then first a church. Just in the same way, what is a commandment for? Not that a man may know, but that he may live according to the commandment. For then he has in himself the kingdom of the Lord, since the kingdom of the Lord consists solely in mutual love and its happiness.
AC 2359. No one can be admitted into the Lord’s kingdom, that is, into heaven, unless he is in the good of love and of charity. And no one can be in the good of love and of charity unless he acknowledges the Lord’s Divine... for this good flows in from Him alone, and indeed into the good itself which is from Him.... From this we can understand how it is that the Lord is the all in all of His kingdom; and also that nothing of the good that is with man is man’s, but is the Lord’s.
TCR 416. The Lord’s kingdom is the neighbor that is to be loved in the highest degree, because the Lord’s kingdom means the church throughout the world, which is called the communion of saints; heaven also is meant by it. Consequently, he who loves the Lord’s kingdom loves all in the whole world who acknowledge the Lord and have faith in Him and charity towards the neighbor, and he also loves all in heaven.
Those who love the Lord’s kingdom love the Lord above all things, and are consequently in love to God more than others, because the church in the heavens and on earth is the body of the Lord, for those who are in it are in the Lord and the Lord in them. Therefore, love towards the Lord’s kingdom is love towards the neighbor in its fullness; for those who love the Lord’s kingdom, not only love the Lord above all things, but also love the neighbor as themselves....
Therefore, the Lord says:
Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. Matthew 6:33
Questions and Comments
- What are some ideas that come to mind when you pray, “For Thine is the kingdom?”
- Does it seem hard for us to be “born from above,” or “born of water and the spirit,” and so to see and enter the kingdom of God?
- “Kings” in the Word signify truths, especially truths from good. What does this imply about leaders of our country and community? Can a man who is not in good still have an ability to lead by truths?
- Notice, in AC 916:2, what it says the kingdom of the Lord solely consists in: mutual love and its happiness. How does this add to your picture of what we are praying for in saying the Prayer?
- “No one can be admitted into the Lord’s kingdom, that is, into heaven... unless he acknowledges the Lord’s Divine” (AC 2359). This means that we must acknowledge that the Lord Jesus Christ is the one God of heaven and earth. Why is this acknowledgment essential to a good life?
- What does the teaching in TCR 416 about the Lord’s kingdom being throughout the world imply about our attitude toward Muslims?
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