Understanding “Kingdom Come”

Kathy — I have prayed or read or quoted or sang the phrase, Thy Kingdom come, for years without really being aware of the magnitude of what I was saying.  In my early understanding, Thy Kingdom come was a reference to heaven and eternity only.  So it was like a salutation, a verbal salute, before beginning the actual prayer of Thy will be done on earth as in heaven.  I’m fairly sure a good percentage of the Church prays the Lord’s Prayer with a similar paradigm which boils down to this: may heaven be ours someday and meanwhile, Thy will be done in things concerning the earth.   However, there is a different understanding of the Kingdom of God in the light of  Psa 145:13:  “Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and Your rule endures throughout all generations.”  Rather than a place and a future existence, the Kingdom is the rule of God, His power, His authority and His government and order in effect already, in fact, for all generations.