07 - The Will of God Performed on Earth

Chapter 7 THE WILL OF GOD PERFORMED ON EARTH "Thy Will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven"

There is no higher or more absolute authority, than that one being should claim the right of governing another by his own will. Yet such is the government of God. It is monarchy; absolute monarchy. He is the sole governor, and makes his will the rule of action to all creatures. His views of right and wrong, his thoughts of propriety and impropriety, are the rule. In a universe like ours, there must be a monarchy as absolute as this, or there is no government at all.

God’s right thus to give law, is founded on his original and underived supremacy. The eternity of his existence, the supremacy of his wisdom, powder and goodness, so infinitely above those of all creatures, give him the throne, and make him the monarch. It is a monarchy which, however unsafe in other hands, is safe in his. It is a monarchy in which all holy beings delight, and would not exchange for any other form of government. Hence we are taught to pray, " Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven!"

There can be but one opinion as to the import of the phrase, the will of God, as it is here used. The phrase itself is taken in the Scriptures in a double sense; sometimes denoting that which shall be, and sometimes that which ought to be. The former is the will of God in his providence, or that which he has purposed; the latter is the will of God in his law, or that which he requires. This distinction should be clearly stated and understood, when the Saviour says, "For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and my sister, and mother;" the meaning of the phrase is the laws and commandments of God. So when we read of those who "do the will of God from the heart;" of standing perfect and come into in all the will of God; of ’’ living not in the lusts of men, but to the will of God; in these and similar passages the import of the phrase is the same with that just mentioned. But, we find the same phrase frequently used in a different sense. Paul says, " For who hath resisted his will;’’ ’’ Who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will The Saviour says, in view of the cross, "Not my will, but thine be done" And John says, "If we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us." In these last mentioned passages, the phrase signifies not the laws and commands of God, but the divine purpose or decree.

These two are very different things. The divine purpose extends to the irrational and material, as well as to the rational and spiritual creation; the divine law extends only to that which is spiritual and rational. The divine purpose includes all that God means should take place; the divine law only that which he requires and forbids. The divine purpose expresses no authority, and no moral obligation, and is, therefore, never a rule of action; the divine law expresses both, and is a rule cf action to all to whom it is revealed. The divine purpose has respect to events, and is concerned with the consequences of human conduct, while the divine law respects the conduct of intelligent agents as such, and has nothing to do with its events and consequences. That it is the perceptive will of God to which this prayer refers, cannot admit of a question. An object obtained, cannot be the object of petition. This request cannot relate to God’s purpose, because his purpose is accomplished as well on the earth as it is in heaven. " His counsel shall stand, and he will do all his pleasure." But it is not so with his law. His perceptive will is accounted as a strange thing; it is transgressed, abused, and vilified ; and however venerated in higher and purer worlds, is despised and trampled on, on earth. It is this great moral code, therefore, to which this prayer refers, and the precepts and prohibitions of which we are taught to pray, may be as sacredly regarded on earth, as they are in heaven.

How then is the will of God done in heaven? The answer to this inquiry is the key to this request. Heaven is a section of the divine empire, and as really under the binding force of the moral law, as any other part of God’s dominions. The same God exists and governs there, that exists and governs here. Essentially the same moral relations, and the same laws founded on those relations, exist there, which exist in this lower world. And these obligations are not only acknowledged and felt, but obeyed there, as in no other world. The will of God is there done in all its parts. All the obligations of the law are there fulfilled; every precept and every prohibition is regarded with reverence and love. Where God’s command is known, the thing commanded, whatever it be, is done. There is no government there but the government of the divine will. All those affections of mind which are due from creatures to their Creator, from subjects to their supreme Lord, from pensioners upon the divine bounty to the first and the greatest of all givers, and from redeemed sinners to their all-sufficient and gracious Redeemer, are there enkindled and sustained. All that is elevating in complacency and confidence in the divine character; all that is amiable and lovely in that lowliness and sweetness of mind, that are the fruits of the divine Spirit; all that is peaceful in resignation, joyous in gratitude, and adoring in praise, is there mingled and blended in the beauties of holiness.

There are no rival deities there, and no idolatry to subvert the throne of the Most High. There is no profanity or irreverence; but every expression of filial fear. There is no violation of the Sabbath; that glorious world is one vast temple, and its revolving ages one everlasting day of holy rest. There is no form, or modification of holy affection toward God, which does not there exist, and is not acted out. Nor are there any violations there of the great law of love to fellow intelligences. There are no infringements upon the claims of social piety ; no mutual relations inverted ; no ties torn asunder ; no principles of subordination destroyed; no envious, or cold, unfeeling heart. There is no murderous hand, or malignant intention; no furious and revengeful passion ; no harshness or cruelty; no unkindness, or even inattention and negligence. There are no revolting scenes of impurity, no haunts of licentiousness, and no lascivious eye. There are no locks, nor bars, nor prisons, nor courts of justice, nor pilfering, nor plunder, nor any species, or suspicion of fraud. There is no lying tongue, or covetous desire. Truth, that strong bond of society, that firm foundation of confidence and intercourse, remains inviolate ; while all those inordinate desires after earthly objects and enjoyments, which so disturb the tranquility and repose of earth, are subdued and extinguished by the charity that seeketh not her own. Heaven presents the purest, noblest, loveliest character, because it is implicitly subject to the will of God. It asks for no reason of its conduct but God’s will. And therefore its obedience is perfect in all its departments. It has no blemishes ; no cloud in its hemisphere ; no shadow in its horizon ; no spot on its disk ; no waxing and waning light ; but a steady, pure, and full-orbed splendor. The will of God is there obeyed also by all its inhabitants. In that immense family, there are diversities of rank, different orders of intelligence, and various measures of moral rectitude, as "one star differeth from another star in glory." There are the angels who never fell, with all their different degrees of excellence. There are the unnumbered millions redeemed from among men, from all the climes and languages of earth, from the little infant to the tried piety of hoary years, and from the thief on the cross to the aged and martyred Paul. But with all this varied extent and degree of excellence, and all this differing splendor, the same spirit pervades the whole; all possess the same elements of excellence. There is no jar in their society, and no discord in their song. Within the vast compass of this immense population, throughout all these unexplored regions, amid the whole of this vast assemblage of existences, from the highest to the lowest, there is not a bosom that does not glow with holy ardor to do the will of God, One sinning mind would poison these sources of joy. There is no lawless planet there ; no unsubjugated province; no land of darkness; no pagan island; no habitation of cruelty — not a dwelling of wickedness, nor even a revolting heart. In heaven the will of God is also done with sincerity and cheerfulness. There is no hypocrisy there; no formal sacrifice is offered on that altar. The outward conduct is there governed by first governing the willing and warm affections. Obedience is not a yoke at which pure and sinless spirits reluctate, but in every view a pleasant, agreeable, delightful service. There is no pensiveness, no depression, no gloom, in that blessed society, but all that is buoyant and cheerful. It is not the abstract sense of duty, the heavy bond of obligation, the solemn and fearful sanction of law, and the cold and cheerless impression of necessity merely, that constrains their acquiescence. It is the sweeter, stronger cord of love, irresistibly fascinating them with its charms, and drawing their willing, gratified minds as "with the bands of a man." In this low world, true religion is an exotic ; an unnatural and unindigenous plant, confined and stinted in its growth, and sometimes a meagre, dwarfish, and ungainly thing. It partakes of the cold soil and cheerlessness of this low earth; never arrives at maturity, and sometimes blooms to fade. But what pencil can paint, or what poetry describe its beauty and fragrance, when transplanted to the skies? No longer some depressed and drooping floweret, it is like Sharon’s rose, unfolding its leaves on its native bed. No longer weak and sickly, it is like a vigorous, healthy scion from the Tree of Life, fair and luxuriant, fragrant with blossoms, and yielding its fruit every month. It is the joy, I had almost said it is the mirth of heaven to obey the statutes of its King. Obedience is an employment which nourishes, and draws toward it all their ardor and sensibility. The perception, the reason, the judgment, the memory, are all joyfully employed in such a service. Even the imagination, that ungoverned and wandering faculty, which here on the earth is so often the sport of temptation, and the plaything of the arch Deceiver, there exerts its magic and hallowed influence, ever supplying the materials of some new service, some new purpose of devotement, some new scene of still more gratified holiness and exquisite joy. Their obedience is indeed the obedience of thought, and deliberate purpose; but it is also the obedience of love. It has the wings of emotion and desire. Love is the element in which pure spirits breathe. Love is the soul of heaven — strong and urgent, " swift to do his will, harkening to the voice of his word." In heaven, the will of God is likewise done perfectly, and forever . Its holy inhabitants are like Him, because they see him as he is. Everything there is so full of God; creation, providence, and redemption, are there displaying forth such perpetual exhibitions of the divine nature, that they cannot but be discerned and enjoyed; and because discerned and enjoyed, transform the soul into their own likeness. The flow of holy affections is there constant and resistless, and "clear as crystal;" and their strength and vigor remain forever unabated. There are no seasons of languor and declension, and no apostasy and backsliding. No wandering thought, no Aain desire, no unperfected emotion, there creeps into the soul. There is no backwardness, no unfruitfulness, but all the activity and fervor which the soul is capable of exercising. There is no weariness, nor satiety. Ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands, cease not, day nor night, from their active service, or their anthems of praise. There, the soul eagerly cleaves to, affectionately admires, and constantly rests on God. Its thoughts and desires are concentrated ill this single object; pleased and satisfied with God as its portion, " acting from him as its Author, for him as its Master, and to him as its End." Eternity rolls on ; and he that is holy, is holy still.

Thus is the will of God done in heaven, in all its parts, by every individual, sincerely and cheerfully, perfectly and forever. And is there not a reason for the prayer that it should be thus done on earth ? For this Christ has taught his disciples, in every age of the world, to pray, "thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven,’’ Why ought we to pray thus ? Let us give an answer to this inquiry.

It is not out of place to submit the remark, that the law of God is no less binding on the earth than it is in heaven. Its obligations are real, throughout the whole range of God’s dominions. Wherever intelligent beings exist, they are bound by it. If angels are bound by it, so are men; and if one world of intelligent agents is bound by it, so are all worlds. There is no more excuse for violating it on earth, than for violating it in heaven. Nothing can dissolve, suspend, or at all impair the obligations of men to do the will of God, as universally, sincerely, fully, and perfectly, as it is done in heaven. As it alters not the nature of transgression, that it is committed in secret, or in the light of day, at home or abroad, in the eastern or western hemisphere of this terraqueous globe; so it alters not its nature, that it were committed in the terrestrial, rather than the celestial sphere. The binding force of thy. divine law depends on the nature of the Lawgiver, and on the relations which exist between Him and his subjects; and not until these are destroyed, or altered, can there be any change in the law. This is the only true doctrine of moral obligation. The will of the superior binds the inferior everywhere. And much reason have we to pray that this rebellious world may recognize, both in theory and in practice, the principle that there is no virtue, but in obedience to the will of God. But this is not all. While every man should obey the law of God, merely because it is law and an expression of his will, it is a right rule to which he is subject. It is as reasonable that the will of God be done on earth, as that it should be done in heaven. Though its reasonableness does not augment his obligations to obedience, yet is it one of the motives for it. All the considerations which show the reasonableness of doing God’s will in heaven, also show that it is reasonable it should be done on earth. Wickedness is unreasonable, always and everywhere; nor is there anything so reasonable, so beautiful, so lovely, in the universe, as obedience to God. Whatever is right, the will of God requires; it forbids nothing but wickedness. It is impossible that too much rectitude be required of any order of intelligences, nor can they be governed by a law that is too holy. The inhabitants of earth are no more dependent for holiness, than are the inhabitants of heaven ; and if they were, we have not now to learn, that the dependence of men does not render it less reasonable that they should do what is right. Why is it not reasonable that the will of God should be done on earth, as it is in heaven? Is it reasonable for those immortal princes to obey their sovereign, and is it unreasonable for man? Shall those bright partakers of the divine glory, those favored attendants at the heavenly court, consent to the law that is good; and shall men, abject and fallen, contend with their Maker, and complain that his ways are not equal?

Obedience to God’s will would produce a high degree of happiness in the earth, as well as in heaven. The foundation on which the happiness of thinking beings rests, is their obedience to the divine will. Individually and relatively, as parts and as a whole, this earth would be supremely happy, did it possess the character of heaven. We know the happy effects even of the very imperfect holiness which good men possess in the present life. Where that moral transformation which results in the sinless purity of the heavenly world is but begun, what new affections and hopes, what divine peace and joy are imparted to the soul! When first the heart is dissolved with the mild influences of the Spirit of grace, and imbued with the love of God and man, what sweet repose possesses it! Its struggles for a while seem to be over; the alarms of conscience are still. And not until the workings of iniquity revive, are this tranquility and joy disturbed. And when in his progressive career of sanctification the regenerated man becomes more holy, and the power of indwelling corruption is broken and prostrate, how does his light break forth as the morning, and his joys become like the spring-tide, when it overflows its banks! Witness the blessedness of David and Paul, and others in later days, when their transported spirits could not utter their ecstasy, because clogged and fettered in this prison house of clay. Even this were a prelibation of heaven. Extended over all the habitations of men, it would make this earth an exquisitely happy world. How pure and transporting the joy, if, instead of this, the will of God were obeyed on earth as it is in heaven! Over all the regions of the globe would every pulse beat, every heart throb, and every tongue respond to the claims of holy love. Disorder and tumult would be unknown, the oppressor’s rod would be broken, and injustice and war would no more ravage the habitations of men. Individual quietude and social joy would change the face of every land; and nothing would be seen but spectacles of loveliness and beauty, while everywhere would be heard the voice of thanksgiving and praise. How serene and clear the light that would then be diffused over the creation! How rapturous the glow of every heart! How thrilling every song! What a picture of the bosom of angels! Like what a "sea of glass" would the minds of men become, everywhere placid and unruffled, and without a ripple on its surface! What a world were this, when God shall thus create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy and when, compared with this new, spiritual creation, the first heavens and earth shall not be remembered, nor come into mind!

Still further: God would he as truly honored and glorified by the obedience of earth, as he as by the obedience of heaven. He is eminently exalted by the sinless perfection of the heavenly world. Every tongue there speaks well of God; every mind sees him as he is; every object reflects bis glory; every heart loves and exalts him; and the only emulation is to ascribe the highest honors to his name. There is no other way of honoring and exalting God, but by doing his will. When the same spirit glows in the bosom of men, as in the bosom of angels, the same honors will be paid him from the altars of this world that now ascend from the heavenly sanctuary. Anticipate this delightful spectacle. Behold the creatures of God, in all their varieties of habitation and name, and in all the gradations of their intellectual endowment, never varying from the standard of rectitude; failing in no precept; unceasingly devoted to their duty, and from the best spirit ; chargeable with nothing that can be condemned or reproached; all doing the will of God as it is done in heaven; and what a field of light, what a sea of glory were presented by such a renovated creation! No longer would his name be dishonored, who calls himself our "Father that is in heaven;" no longer would his government be defamed, his designs impeached and opposed, and his honors taken from him; but everywhere would he be acknowledged as God over all, blessed forever. Princes and subjects, young men and maidens, old men and children, would give him the honor which is his due. His name would be great among the heathen, and in every place, incense and a pure offering would be offered on his altar. Nor is this all. In some respects, God is even more honored by the obedience of earth, than by the obedience of heaven. The planet on which we dwell is a peculiar world. It has properties and relations altogether peculiar to itself. There are no such expressions of the divine goodness made to any other world, as are made to this. Nowhere does it assume the form of favor to the guilty except to men. No where else does it flow through the channel of a Saviour’s blood; and nowhere else does it cost so many efforts of wisdom and power, throughout all the dispensations of a widely extended providence. When men on the earth become holy, they are a peculiar people, and "show forth the praises of him who hath brought them out of darkness into his marvelous light." They differ from all other beings in the universe. They sustain a relation to the once atoning and now reigning Saviour, which other beings and other worlds do not sustain. Others have gained the heavenly inheritance by their own righteousness; inhabitants of earth are the purchase of the Saviour’s blood, and the reward of his obedience unto death. Others have been created and preserved; these have been redeemed and sanctified. Others are beautiful in themselves; these are beautiful through the comeliness which he puts upon them, and on that account, have moral perceptions, and emotions, and joys to which others are strangers, and a song in which others can never unite. God is glorified by the obedience of the unfallen; but their love and admiration flow forth in none of the forms peculiar to redeemed sinners. We are told, "there is joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons who need no repentance." And who does not see, that when such a population becomes holy; such rebels become children; such outcasts heirs of God; there is glory to God in the highest decree? When it is seen and known to "principalities and powers in heavenly places," that in defiance of the machinations of the Prince of darkness, and the invincible depravity of man, the kingdom of Christ and the empire of mercy are triumphant; what honors will be recovered to the Great Supreme — in what unequaled beauty will the reflected excellence of his nature cover the earth, as the waters cover the sea — and how will holy ones look down from heaven to say, "The whole earth is full of his glory!" How will the mountains echo it to the valleys, and the valleys roll it back again to the mountains, that "the Lord God omnipotent reigneth!" How will continent proclaim it to continent, and ocean waft it to the main, that "the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and his Christ!" And what ascriptions of honor. That thunderings of praise, in one mighty concert of the fallen with the unfallen, like the sound of many waters, will pour forth their sublime and unceasing Allelujahs to God and the Lamb!

Such is the import, and such some of the reasons for the petition urged in the text. In view of the preceding thoughts, who may not with strong propriety lay his hand upon his mouth? Mournfully affecting to every Christian mind, is the present condition of the church and the world, I say of the church, as well as the world ; because even in her fairest and holiest portions, the will of God is so imperfectly done. When we consider how much more holy the people of God might become; how much more happy and exalted ; how much more conspicuous the spiritual kingdom of God might be among the nations, and how much more subservient to the glory of its great Prince and Saviour; we feel condemned before God and man.

If from the church, we look at the world, our "eye affecteth our heart." It is a world fallen by its iniquity, and under the wrath and curse cf God. O how vile, how abject it is! — how dishonored! What indifference to God, what practical atheism, what subversion of religion and moral order, what sottish ignorance, what depraved passions and shocking immoralities disfigure the aspect, and mar the form of human society. And when we look beyond the pale of Christian lands, what do we see, but men sunk still deeper in pollution and sin, prostrated in wretchedness, corrupted and loathsome, and covered with the pall of sin and death. Can this be the world where men have been taught to pray, " Thy will be done on earth, as it is done in heaven ?" How desolate! How bewildered! What gloom and terror! " Darkness covers the earth, and gross darkness the people." Three-fourths of the world in which we dwell do not as yet know that they may call God their Father, and approach his throne in the new and living way. Not a ray of light from the cross has ever descended on their path. Over what vast regions does the Prince of darkness extend his dominion! With the exception of a few bright spots, or at best, a few narrow zones, this dark and iron-hearted empire enwraps the globe. Alas, that such a picture should ever be realized in the world where the Saviour died, and where he has left on record such a prayer !

Yet, notwithstanding this, does this very prayer suggest a ground of hope. The Saviour would not have instructed his disciples to pray, as he has here instructed them, had he not designed to bring men extensively to the knowledge and obedience of his truth. He has predicted that ’’ all the ends of the earth shall remember, and turn unto the Lord, and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before him." Dark as is the prospect, therefore, the rays which already, like the pale twilight of the morning, pierce the gloom, are destined to shine more and more unto the perfect day. He who has taught us this prayer is "God manifest in the flesh." He is the author of that Gospel which is the wisdom of God, and the power of God to salvation, and whose mighty agency, like the Spirit of God moving upon the face of the waters, is destined to give form, order, and beauty to this moral chaos, and create all things anew.

Yes, there is hope for the recovery of this apostate world. Our Emanuel is on the throne ; and his heart of love is bound up in this glorious consummation. From the top of Calvary, these clouds that settle upon the earth are seen passing away. Just as certainly as Jesus died and rose again, " the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together." Whose heart shall not be inspirited with this confidence ? To secure this predicted end, God gave his Son to die ; sends his Spirit to dwell with men ; reveals his word ; and lays on his church the responsibility of sending his Gospel to every creature. I blush to ask, how little have we done that the will of God might be performed on earth, as it is in heaven? How little have we suffered and in how few respects have we denied ourselves, that these designs of Heaven’s mercy may be accomplished!

Who, then, will not make frequent use of this great petition? Whether we look to Pagan or to Christian lands, in what tones of solicitude may these blood-bought churches hear the cry. Pray for us, pray for us! and who will not respond, ’’thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven?" There wanders some poor Pagan, who never heard a sermon, nor saw a Bible, and knows not that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin. He is intelligent and thoughtful, but he is the victim of a dark and dreadful idolatry. His mind is merged in the shades of impenetrable night. Over his prospects for eternity, are collected heavy and dense clouds of unappeased indignation. And even here, where we ourselves dwell, whit darkness covers large portions of the land. Cities, villages, colleges, schools, families, the rich and the poor, old and young, in almost untold numbers, are strangers to the hopes of the Gospel. Some of them are thoughtless, and some of them are anxious, and struggling for the assurance of a happy immortality. We do not count them, either in Pagan or Christian lands, by hundreds or by thousands, but by millions - millions living without God, and soon to die without hope!

Approach and see them one by one, as they drop into eternity. It is a melancholy chamber, and a dark hour. That face is pale. That eye is dim with tears. That bosom is torn with anguish. Those lips quiver with agony, and the despondent sufferer draws his last breath in despair! One by one, these millions are sinking into such a death. Yet, through our mercy, they might obtain mercy ; immortal as they are, they may gain a happy immortality.

O for more of the spirit of this precious prayer! The Saviour would have his people utter it, every day they live. His word goes forth in vain, without the prayer for his accompanying grace. The most disheartening, the most overwhelming obstacles oppose it at every step. It is not in Paul, nor Apollos; it is not in ministers, nor means to arouse the lethargy, or disturb the deeply embedded depravity of the human heart. If men are ever led to do God’s will, those who live an interest at the throne of grace must be often on their knees. They must stretch out their hands unto God. They must lie on their faces at his feet. With hope and confidence, and not unfrequently with strong crying, and many tears, they must carry the souls of men to his throne. We cannot hope too much from him. We shall enjoy for ourselves copious showers of divine grace, as soon as the spirit of supplication is copiously poured upon us from on high. The world will enjoy them, as soon as the churches have more of the spirit of prayer. When we come nearest the throne, then let us remember this precious request. If ever we lean on Jesus’ bosom, and feel that we have intercourse with him; if ever we enjoy seasons of enlargement in prayer, and have the sweet consciousness that we are allowed to have power with God, let us fill our mouth with arguments, and plead fervently and importunately, that his will may be done on earth, as it is in heaven.