the Lord's Prayer: Let your will be done on earth as in heaven
how is His will done in heaven? we can guess from the opposite of our current reality that when His will is followed things have got to be much better.
we only have a couple glimpses into heaven in the scriptures, the beginning of Job and the Apocalypse. Both of those use royal court motifs. And the person sitting on the throne, who's decrees are not contradicted, is God the Father, our Father. when kings were defied in Bible times, they were not out of bounds to put down such rebellion quickly and usually mortally. the will of the king was absolute. it was the will of His people. that's how it is in heaven.
what is God's will then? that the wicked repent so that none should perish. to separate the sheep from the goats. eventually the kingdom will come and the last book of the Bible, the apocalypse, tells us that there will be plenty of wicked opposers to the reign and the will of God. so He will take his bride to heaven for a wedding banquet while he unleashes hell on earth. when i pray for his will to be done here on earth as it is in heaven i'm asking him to establish his authority and kingdom in its immediate consequence for rebellion. that's scary in my sinful times and comforting in my oppressed times.
that is God's will on the horizon, on Sunday, but it's still Friday.
last week i copied, with post crime blessing, a post on the 10 commandments of Jesus. these are the will of God on earth. it all boils down to loving Him and our neighbors. if we love Him we'll obey Him. if we love Him we will love all those around us made in His image even those who treat us as enemies. and when we pray for His will to be done in us on this earth, we are convicted by how often we fall short of it, neglect it, oppose it, and sometimes trample it.
Jesus is setting us up.
i know what's right and i don't do it. what a miserable man am i. a guy named Paul wrote that down in a letter once (Romans 7). eventually, Jesus leads us to reconnect with the Father by asking for forgiveness from Him and granting forgiveness to others.
this prayer is a journey because life is a journey. he doesn't give us "rub-a-dub-dub, thanks for the grub." he gives us worship and orientation and conviction in only 2 sentences so far.
is His will trustworthy? its the question of someone who hasn't experienced autocratic government. it's a question that comes from a life of ease. but the answer is yes. can i trust myself? the only thing i can count on for myself is screwing things up. everyone else in skin have similar weaknesses and unreliabilities. what about the other pretenders to the throne of higher power? can they be trusted? can they save? no, no, no. God invites us to taste Him and see He is good. He invite us to compare his prophecies to any other deities and see who is always right. read His book and see.
we only have a couple glimpses into heaven in the scriptures, the beginning of Job and the Apocalypse. Both of those use royal court motifs. And the person sitting on the throne, who's decrees are not contradicted, is God the Father, our Father. when kings were defied in Bible times, they were not out of bounds to put down such rebellion quickly and usually mortally. the will of the king was absolute. it was the will of His people. that's how it is in heaven.
what is God's will then? that the wicked repent so that none should perish. to separate the sheep from the goats. eventually the kingdom will come and the last book of the Bible, the apocalypse, tells us that there will be plenty of wicked opposers to the reign and the will of God. so He will take his bride to heaven for a wedding banquet while he unleashes hell on earth. when i pray for his will to be done here on earth as it is in heaven i'm asking him to establish his authority and kingdom in its immediate consequence for rebellion. that's scary in my sinful times and comforting in my oppressed times.
that is God's will on the horizon, on Sunday, but it's still Friday.
last week i copied, with post crime blessing, a post on the 10 commandments of Jesus. these are the will of God on earth. it all boils down to loving Him and our neighbors. if we love Him we'll obey Him. if we love Him we will love all those around us made in His image even those who treat us as enemies. and when we pray for His will to be done in us on this earth, we are convicted by how often we fall short of it, neglect it, oppose it, and sometimes trample it.
Jesus is setting us up.
i know what's right and i don't do it. what a miserable man am i. a guy named Paul wrote that down in a letter once (Romans 7). eventually, Jesus leads us to reconnect with the Father by asking for forgiveness from Him and granting forgiveness to others.
this prayer is a journey because life is a journey. he doesn't give us "rub-a-dub-dub, thanks for the grub." he gives us worship and orientation and conviction in only 2 sentences so far.
is His will trustworthy? its the question of someone who hasn't experienced autocratic government. it's a question that comes from a life of ease. but the answer is yes. can i trust myself? the only thing i can count on for myself is screwing things up. everyone else in skin have similar weaknesses and unreliabilities. what about the other pretenders to the throne of higher power? can they be trusted? can they save? no, no, no. God invites us to taste Him and see He is good. He invite us to compare his prophecies to any other deities and see who is always right. read His book and see.
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