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‘Blessed Is the One Coming as King’

An article specially designed for parents to read with their children

DO YOU know the Lord’s Prayer? Can you tell me what it says? Let me hear you say it. If you don’t remember, we will read it together from the Bible at Matthew chapter six, verses nine to thirteen.

Now, in that prayer it says, “Let your kingdom come.” What does that mean? What is a kingdom? Do you know?

A kingdom is a government. And you know what a government is, don’t you? All countries have a government. The government rules a country.

In a government there is someone who is the head person or ruler. In some countries this person is called the president. But do you know what the ruler of God’s government is called? He is the king.

Who makes a person president or ruler of a government? Do you know? Often it is the people who choose him. They vote for him to make him the president. Or a person may just be born into a certain family and he becomes ruler.

But for God’s kingdom Jehovah himself has picked the king. Do you know who that king is? It is Jesus Christ. He is better than any ruler that men choose. Jesus has more power than any of those rulers. And Jesus really loves God, so he always does what is right.

Long ago in Israel new kings rode into Jerusalem on a colt to show themselves to the people. This is what Jesus did.

Just outside of Jerusalem there was a small village called Bethʹpha·ge. As Jesus got near to it, he said to two of his disciples: ‘Go into that village, and you will find a colt. Loose it and bring it to me.’

The disciples did just as Jesus said. And when they brought the colt to Jesus, he sat down upon it. Quickly the word spread that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, and a great crowd of people came out to meet him.

As Jesus rode along, most of the crowd began laying their outer garments on the road in front of him to show their love for him. Others cut down branches from the trees and put these on the road. And the crowd rejoiced and praised God with loud voices.

The people were glad to welcome Jesus. They cried out: “Blessed is the One coming as the King in Jehovah’s name! Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest places!”

But not everyone was happy that Jesus was riding into Jerusalem as king. The religious leaders did not like it. They even said to Jesus, ‘Teacher, tell your disciples to be quiet.’ But Jesus said to them: ‘I tell you, if these persons were silent, God would cause the very stones to say it.’​—Luke 19:28-40.

How do you feel about having Christ as king? If you had been living when Jesus rode into Jerusalem, would you have welcomed him as the one sent by Jehovah?

Well, Jesus is not on earth today, is he? He is in heaven. It is from there in heaven that he rules as king. Even though we cannot see him, he can see every one of us here on earth. We can’t fool him. He sees what we do, and he even knows what is in our hearts. If we really love Jehovah, he knows that. And if we are trying hard to do what the Bible says, he will help us. Would you like to have him as your king forever?

Not everyone wants Christ to be king. They may say they believe in God, but they do not want his kingdom. They don’t want God or Christ to be telling them what to do. They want their own governments right here on earth. So do you know what is going to happen to them?

The Bible gives us the answer at Daniel chapter two, verse 44 forty-four. Let’s get our Bibles and turn there together. This scripture is speaking about our own day when it says: “In the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be brought to ruin. And the kingdom itself will not be passed on to any other people. It will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, and it itself will stand to times indefinite.”

Did you understand that? The Bible says that God’s government is going to put an end to all these earthly governments. Why? Because they don’t obey the one whom God has made king. The whole universe belongs to God. He made it. So he has the right to decide what kind of government should rule. And his government is the best. Soon God’s kingdom will be the only government there is.

Do you want to live forever under God’s kingdom? I do. But we need to prove to God that we really do. Do you know how? Listen carefully to the answer. It is by learning the laws of God from the Bible and obeying them now.

Now, God says that his kingdom will destroy the governments of men. But does he tell us that we should do that? No. The Bible says that we should obey the laws of men. So we must do that just as long as God lets those governments exist.

But if we really want Christ as king, we have to do more than that. We have to obey all the things he said. He said that we should be “no part of the world.” Would we be obeying him if we got involved in the affairs of the governments of the world? Jesus and his apostles all stayed away from such things.​—John 15:19.

What did they do instead? They talked to other people about God’s kingdom. That was the big work in their lives. Can we do that too? Yes, and we will do it if we mean what we say when we pray for God’s kingdom to come.

“See there! with the clouds of the heavens someone like a son of man happened to be coming . . . And to him there were given rulership and dignity and kingdom, that the peoples, national groups and languages should all serve even him. His rulership is an indefinitely lasting rulership that will not pass away, and his kingdom one that will not be brought to ruin.”​—Dan. 7:13, 14.