“When we pray, ‘Thy kingdom come,’ we pray that the kingdom of glory may hasten, and that we may in God’s good time be translated into it.
These two kingdoms of grace and glory, differ not specifically, but gradually; they differ not in nature but only in degree.
The kingdom of grace is nothing but the inchoation or beginning of the kingdom of glory; the kingdom of grace is glory in the seed, and the kingdom of glory is grace in the flower; the kingdom of grace is glory in the daybreak, and the kingdom of glory is grace in the full meridian; the kingdom of grace is glory militant, and the kingdom of glory is grace triumphant.
There is such an inseparable connexion between these two kingdoms, grace and glory, that there is no passing into the one kingdom but by the other.
At Athens there were two temples, a temple of virtue and a temple of honour, and there was no going into the temple of honour, but through the temple of virtue: so the kingdoms of grace and glory are so close joined together, that we cannot go into the kingdom of glory, but through the kingdom of grace.
Many people aspire after the kingdom of glory, but never look after grace: but these two, which God hath joined together, may not be put asunder; the kingdom of grace leads to the kingdom of glory.”
–Thomas Watson, The Lord’s Prayer (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth Trust, 1662/1999), 59-60.
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