Charles Ellicott Commentary Matthew 6:10

"Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so on earth." — Matthew 6:10 (ASV)

Thy kingdom come — Historically, this prayer originated in the Messianic expectations embodied in the picture of the ideal king in Isaiah 11:1–6, Isaiah 42:1–7, and Daniel 7:14. It had long been familiar to all who looked for the consolation of Israel. Now the kingdom of God—that in which He manifests His sovereignty more than in the material world or in the common course of history—had been proclaimed as near.

The Teacher of the prayer knew Himself to be the Head of that kingdom. But it was not, like the kingdoms of the world, one that rested on the despotism of might, but on the acknowledgment of righteousness. It was therefore ever growing toward a completeness which it has not yet reached. Its advance to that completeness might be hindered by human self-will and hastened by human fulfillment of its conditions. Therefore, we pray that it may “come” in its fullness, so that all created beings may bring their wills into harmony with God’s will.

Insofar as that prayer comes from the heart and not from the lips only, it is partly self-fulfilling. It also works according to the law by which God answers prayers that are in harmony with His own will. And because the kingdom—though in one sense it has come and is among and within us—is still far from the goal toward which it moves, ever coming and yet to come, the prayer never becomes obsolete. It may be the utterance of the saints in glory no less than of toilers and sufferers on earth.

Thy will be done — The prayer has often been, even on the lips of Christians, hardly more than the “acceptance of the inevitable.” Like the Stoic, we have submitted to a destiny; like the Muslim, we have been resigned to a decree. But as it came from the lips of the Son of Man, it was surely far more than this. We pray that the will of God may be done because we believe it to be perfectly loving and righteous. It is the will that desires our sanctification (1 Thessalonians 4:3) and does not will that any should perish. The real difficulty in the prayer is that it leads us, as before, into a mystery we cannot solve. It assumes that even the will of God is partly dependent on our wills—that it will not be done unless we so pray. The question, “Who has resisted this will? Does it not always fulfill itself?” forces itself on our thoughts. The answer is found, as before, in accepting the seeming paradox of prayer. In one sense the will of God, which is also the eternal law, must fulfill itself; but it is one thing for that law to work in subduing all things to itself, and another for it to bring all created wills into harmony with itself. In truly praying for this we, as before, partly fulfill the prayer.

As it is in heaven — The thought is true of the order of the visible heavens, where law reigns supreme, with no variableness or shadow of turning. But seeing that the obedience contemplated is that of the will, it is better, perhaps, to think of the words as pointing to the unseen hosts of heaven, the ministering angels, and the spirits of just men made perfect. We are taught to pray for this: that all wills on earth should be brought into the same entire conformity with the divine will as theirs.