The Present Truth, vol. 14
March 3, 1898
“‘As in Heaven, so in Earth’” The Present Truth 14, 9, pp. 129, 130.
WE pray often some of us every day, “Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.” But how many have ever taken the time to find out just how His will is done in heaven? And flow can there be any real point in our prayer, “Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven” so long as we do not know how His will is done in heaven? PTUK March 3, 1898, page 129.1
Such a prayer is certain to be vague and indefinite, a mere generalisation, unless we know how His will is done in heaven. But when we do know that, our prayer can be definite, positive, and full of faith, and thus with the sure result that, so far as we are concerned, the will of God will be done on earth precisely as it is in heaven. PTUK March 3, 1898, page 129.2
The Lord does not present to men vain things. It is intended, and it can be so, that the word shall be accomplished as certainly as it is prayed. Though, we say again, How can this be unless we know how it is done in heaven, so that this prayer by us can be definite, positive, and full of faith? PTUK March 3, 1898, page 129.3
WHO are in heaven to do the will of God there?—The angels, to be sure. Then when we know how the will of God is done by them in heaven, and what they do that the will of God may be done in them in heaven, we can know how to pray this prayer so that it shall mean to us just what it says,—we shall know just how the will of God shall be done on earth as it is in heaven. PTUK March 3, 1898, page 129.4
WHAT, then, of the angels? PTUK March 3, 1898, page 129.5
First: In heaven the angels “do always behold the face of My Father which is in heaven.” Matthew 18:10. PTUK March 3, 1898, page 129.6
Second: His angels hearken to the voice of His word. Psalm 103:20. And they “do His commandments” through “hearkening unto the voice of His word.” PTUK March 3, 1898, page 129.7
Third: The will of God, as in His Word,—“as it is in heaven,”—is conveyed to the knowledge of the angels by the Spirit of God—“Whithersoever the Spirit was to go, they went.” Ezekiel 1:20. PTUK March 3, 1898, page 129.8
Fourth: When the Spirit of God thus conveys to their knowledge the will of God, as it is in His Word, to which the angels are “hearkening,” instantly their spirit responds, and thus His will becomes at once their will, too,—“Whithersoever the Spirit was to go, they went, thither was their spirit to go.” “And the living creatures ran and returned as the appearance of a flash of lightning.” Verses 20, 14. PTUK March 3, 1898, page 130.1
THAT is the way the will of God is done in heaven. And that is the way that it is to be done in the earth. That is what is in the prayer, “Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.” And that is the way that His will will be done on earth, in every one who, knowing how His will is done in heaven, puts himself in the same attitude as those in heaven, and makes the prayer in an intelligent faith. PTUK March 3, 1898, page 130.2
This attitude of the angels in heaven is precisely the attitude which it is intended that we shall hold on earth. Read, then, of ourselves:— PTUK March 3, 1898, page 130.3
First: We are always to behold the face of God, in the face of Jesus Christ. “For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” “But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image.” 2 Corinthians 4:6; 3:18. “Unto Thee lift I up mine eyes, O Thou that dwellest in the heavens. Behold, as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters, and as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress; so our eyes wait upon the Lord our God.” Psalm 123:1, 2. PTUK March 3, 1898, page 130.4
Second: We are to hearken to the voice of His Word—“Mine ears hast Thou opened.” Psalm 40:6. “The Lord God hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back.” “He wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned.” Isaiah 50:5, 1. PTUK March 3, 1898, page 130.5
Third: The will of God as in His Word, is to be conveyed to our understanding by the Spirit of God. We are to be ever dependent upon the Spirit of God for this. “Consider what I say; and the Lord give thee understanding in all things.” 2 Timothy 2:7. The Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in My name, He shall teach you all things, ... whatsoever I have said unto you.” John 16:26. “He small not speak of Himself, but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak.” John 16:13. PTUK March 3, 1898, page 130.6
Fourth: When the Spirit of God does convey to our understanding the will of God as it is in His Word, instantly our spirit is to respond, and yield submission to His Spirit, that His will may be our will. “As many as are led by the Spirit of Lord, they are the sons of God.” “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.” Romans 8:6. And “the minding of the flesh is death; but the minding of the Spirit is life and peace.” Romans 8:6, margin. PTUK March 3, 1898, page 130.7
Fifth: When we thus hearken to His Word, and receive, by His Spirit, the understanding of His will as it is in His Word,—“as it is in heaven,”—and our spirit responds to His Spirit, so that His will becomes our will, then the thing is done; His Word is filled, His will is accomplished in us on earth as it is in those in heaven: as it is done just as quickly—“as the appearance of a flash of lightning”—in our innermost, secret life, and shines through all time, openly, before those who are without. For “My Word ... shall accomplish that which I please.” Isaiah 55:11. And the Word of God always acts instantaneously—“He spake, and it was.” Psalm 33:9. The leper said, Lord, “If Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean.” The Lord replied, “I will; be thou clean. And as soon as He had spoken, immediately the leprosy departed from him, and he was cleansed.” Mark 1:40-42. PTUK March 3, 1898, page 130.8
Do you now see more clearly, do you understand better, how the will of God done in heaven, and how it is to be done on earth? Can you not now pray more intelligently, “Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven”? Then will you now pray directly, positively, and in full faith, “Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven”? PTUK March 3, 1898, page 130.9
A. T. JONES.