One of the prayer requests Jesus instructed His disciples to include in their prayers was, “Your kingdom come.”   Obviously, that request was for the kingdom of God to come upon the earth at some future time (cp. Acts 1:6-7).  Jesus Christ Himself will establish His kingdom when He comes again to earth (Mat 25:31).  Though the kingdom will not be inaugurated until Christ’s Second Coming, Paul writes that we have been transferred from the kingdom of darkness into this kingdom of God’s Son (Col. 1:13).  This is true in the same way we are citizens of heaven, but have not yet taken up residence there (Phi 3:20).  The kingdom has not yet come, but the people of God are already known as “sons of the kingdom,” and are awaiting and praying for its coming (cp. Mat 13:36-43).  At His coming Jesus will say to His people, “Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (see Mat 25:34).

We who have been forgiven of and delivered from our sins look forward with great expectation to inheriting the coming kingdom of God while enjoying our present status as sons of that kingdom.