For all the centuries

When the Lord Jesus Christ declares that 'the kingdom, the power, and the glory' belong to God 'forever,' He is saying, 'forever.' The word in the original Greek that is translated into Spanish 'for all the centuries' is aion, which means 'epoch, ages, times, century, eternity'. It is a reference to what has no end, to an endless, inconceivably long measure of time.

Jesus is declaring that God's Lordship is eternal, forever and ever. The Lord's Prayer ends by inviting us to set our eyes on eternity. When this world, with all its cares and dangers, is over, we still have eternity to live, those of us who have lived and died in Christ Jesus.

The kingdom of God is eternal and irrevocable, and to that eternal and perfect dimension each of us will one day be called to dwell. That is the great hope of every believer. That certainty of a life to come keeps us motivated and full of joy despite all the troubles of this fallen world. In light of the coming resurrection, Paul counsels us in 1 Corinthians 15:58, “So, my beloved brethren, stand firm and steadfast, growing in the Lord's work always, knowing that your work in the Lord is not in vain. ”.

God's dominion and lordship can never be taken away from him. Therefore, we know that our reward, our eternal rest, is assured to us. One day, the millennial controversy between good and evil will end for good. God will wrest his false and illegitimate dominion from Satan and cast him into the lake of fire and brimstone "forever and ever," as Revelation 20:10 promises. Then the will of God will be fulfilled on earth in the same way that it is fulfilled in heaven, as requested by the Lord's Prayer.

Kingdom, power, and glory belong to God. And they not only belong to you, but they belong to you for all eternity. The angel promised Mary that the Son who was to be born from her womb would reign over the house of Jacob forever, and that his kingdom would have no end (Luke 1:33).

That same Jesus who declares in the Lord's Prayer that the kingdom of God is "forever" is himself destined to reign "forever" as well. And all of us who join him in this life will also be called to reign together with him, and to share in his glory. That is the wonderful image presented to us by the glorious hymn sung by the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders in Revelation 5:10: "And you have made us to our God kings and priests, and we will reign on the earth."

The apostle Paul invites us in 1 Thessalonians 5:18 to encourage one another with that glorious image of a redeemed people reigning with their Christ for all eternity.

Because the kingdom, power, and glory belong to our God, we can endure all the afflictions of this world, knowing that ultimately we are more than conquerors through the one who loved us and gave himself for us.