willard points out that “god did not start to bring his kingdom, the ‘kingdom of the heavens’ as jesus often called it, into existence through jesus’ presence on earth. all too frequently it is suggested that he did. but jesus’ own gospel of the kingdom was not that the kingdom was about to come, or had recently come, into existence. if we attend to what he actually said, it becomes clear that his gospel concerned only the new accessibility of the kingdom to humanity through himself.” this refers to the sending of the holy spirit by god the father and the resurrected jesus christ to indwell those who are repentant so that communion between mankind and god through his holy spirit is restored. this is an interaction that defines the “kingdom of the heavens” now accessible to the saints in christ by his sin sacrifice on the cross. . . . “so when jesus directs us to pray, ‘thy kingdom come,’ he does not mean we should pray for it to come into existence. rather, we pray for it to take over at all points in the personal, social, and political order where it is now excluded: ‘on earth as it is in heaven.’ with this prayer we are invoking it, as in faith we are acting it, into the real world of our daily existence.”