Matthew 6:9-13. “Pray, then, in this way: ‘Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. ‘And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. ‘And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.’ ”
Hebrews 5:8. Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered.
In eternity past our Father’s will was unquestioningly obeyed and performed by every member of the heavenly host. His will was done in heaven and all His created beings performed it, and they worshipped their Creator. That is, until the rebellion of Lucifer the light bearer, the archangel of God. As soon as that insurrection occurred, heaven set in motion a plan that would return the conditions of unquestioned obedience to the Father by all His created beings.
All those who participated in that rebellion were under judgment. In God’s time they will be cast forever into the flaming fires of Hell. They will be without the capacity to exercise their will to do anything. When Lucifer became God’s adversary, Satan (for such is the meaning of his name) it became his role to oppose God. In Hell he has lost this role forever for he has no way to exercise it. Existence in Hell is completely pointless and purposeless, for the capacity to will and to purpose lies alone with God. Those who are judged and found guilty before God will be cast into Hell with Satan. They will be there because it was their deliberate and irrevocable choice to serve their self and thus oppose God.
All the many generations who have descended from the one man, Adam, right down to we who are living today, have been given the choice to obey and perform the will of God on earth ‘as it is in heaven’. In choosing to obey and to do God’s will we shall align ourselves with that heavenly order that was God’s determination in eternity past and shall ever be in eternity future.
‘Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name’. To this we might add ‘by all your created beings in heaven and on earth’. These few words succinctly describe what forever was and what shall surely forever be. Each one who expresses these words to the Father from their heart in deepest reverence is placing themselves utterly under the divine authority. When we come as a sinner to Jesus for forgiveness and grace this is our starting point, for we are no longer orphans because of sin, but we are now children begotten of one Father.
Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. Within these few words lies the intent and content of the whole of Scripture. It was for the individual and corporate fulfillment of these words that the Holy Spirit came into our human spirit at the instant of the new birth. Every human being throughout history has had the fulfillment of this statement as the one and only purpose for their existence. We were created to obey and perform the will of God, as do the host of angelic beings in heaven.
We were born into this world with the gift of choice, yet there is only one choice that will satisfy the reason that we were given life. The words of Jesus in Gethsemane spell this out. “Father….not My will, but Yours be done.” Luke 22:42. Whenever we make this full and final choice we must, thereafter, wholly rely on the Lord to keep us from all self-centred individualistic choices. Henceforth and forever we must make it our determination that all our words and deeds be performed by Him in us and through us.
Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered. Why would Jesus need to learn obedience? In taking on sinful human flesh through being born of His mother Mary and becoming thereby ‘the Son of Man’ Jesus learned obedience in the power of the Spirit in His every word and deed. So in the power of the same indwelling Holy Spirit must we also learn obedience. Jesus was able to say “And He who sent Me is with Me; He has not left Me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to Him.” John 8:29. We can only echo with Paul ‘Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him’. 2 Corinthians 5:9. We shall be pleasing to Him when we make it our prayer and continual practice to murmur moment by moment “Your will be done, in me as it is in heaven”.
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