GOD’S WORD FOR SEPTEMBER 22 ~ ~ Matthew 6:10 ~ ~ “Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven”
From the book “We Shall See God” with sermons from the 19th-century “Prince of Preachers”, Charles Spurgeon, and comments by Randy Alcorn
Creation Restored
Spurgeon:
We live under the curse, and so does the whole creation we inhabit. But through the ultimate outworking of Christ’s redemptive work, God has a grand design to restore this earth, not just to what it once was, but to something far greater still.
If the prayer of our text had not been dictated by the Lord Jesus Himself, we might think it too bold. Can it ever be that this earth, a mere drop in a bucket, should touch the great sea of life and light above and not be lost in it? Can it remain earth and yet be made like heaven? Will it not lose its individuality in the process?
This earth is subject to vanity, dimmed with ignorance, defiled with sin, furrowed with sorrow. Can holiness dwell in it as in heaven? Our divine Instructor would not teach us to pray for impossibilities. He puts such petitions into our mouths as can be heard and answered.
Yet certainly this is a great prayer. It has the hue of the infinite about it., Has not this poor planet drifted too far away to be reduced to order and made to keep rank with heaven? Can your will, O God, be done on earth as it is in heaven?
It can be, and it must be, for a prayer wrought in the soul by the Holy Spirit is ever the shadow of a coming blessing, and He who taught us to pray after this manner did not mock us with vain words,. It is a brave prayer, which only heaven-born faith can utter, yet it is not the offspring of presumption, for presumption never longs for the will of the Lord to be perfectly performed.
That our present obedience to God should be like that of holy ones above is not a strained and fanatical notion. It is not far-fetched, for earth and heaven were called into being by the same Creator.
The empire of the Maker comprehends the upper and the lower regions. “The heavens are the Lord’s and the fullness thereof” (Psalm 24:1) He sustains all things by the word of His power both in heaven above and the earth beneath.
If earth were of the devil and heaven were of God, and two self-existent powers were contending for the mastery, we might question whether earth would ever be as put as heaven. But we expect to see the dragon cast out from earth as well as heaven.
Why shouldn’t every part of the great Creator’s handiwork become equally radiant with His glory? He who made can remake. The curse which fell upon the ground was not eternal; thorns and thistles pass away. God will bless the earth for Christ’s sake even as once He cursed it for man’s sake.
“Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10).
It was so once. Perfect obedience to the heavenly upon this earth will only be a return to the good old times which ended at the gate of Eden. There was a day when no gulf was dug between earth and heaven; there was scarcely a boundary line, for the God of heaven walked in Paradise with Adam. All things on earth were then pure and true and happy. It was the Garden of the Lord.
Alas, the trail of the serpent has now defiled everything. The Lord is King, and He has never left the throne. As it was in the beginning so shall it be yet again. History shall, in God’s providence, repeat itself. The temple of the Lord shall be among men, and the Lord God shall dwell among them, “Truth shall spring out of the earth; and righteousness shall look down from heaven.”(Psalm 85;11)
“Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven:” It will be so at the last.
This much, seems plain—there is to be “new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells” (2 Peter 3:13). This creation which now “has been groaning…in the pains of childbirth” (Romans 8:22), in sympathy with man, is to be brought forth from its bondage into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
(If you haven’t made Jesus your personal Lord and Savior, you will not be living on this wonderful earth made perfect, however. “ And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.” Hebrews 9:27-28. The Bible is clear that only those who have received Christ’s righteousness will be there.)
Tomorrow, we will hear from Randy on this subject of the new earth.
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Revelation 21:1
Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea.
*Isaiah 50:7 For the Lord God will help me: therefore shall I not be confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed.
*Philippians 4:6&7
Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
Psalm 46:1
God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.