"Your Kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven."
-Matthew 6:10
As part of what we have come to call "The Lord's Prayer," this is a verse that just about everyone is familiar with. But what are we really asking when we pray these words?For a lot of people, this verse is a request to God to straighten things out down here. When we ask God to "do His will," we are often really asking Him to do our will -- to get people to stop being cruel to one another, to put an end to corruption and violence, to make life a little better for us in this world.But, although that may be part of what this verse implies, closer inpsection reveals that we are actually asking God's will to be done on earth as it is in heaven.
So let's think for a moment about what heaven is like.I'd suggest we look at three primary aspects of heaven as we discover the deeper meaning of these words:
Heaven is a place of worship
There are no Bible studies in heaven. There are no acts of charity. The only thing that we do in church today that we will still be doing in heaven is worshipping God. In fact, the Bible says that God is seeking those who will worship Him. He desires worship. So when we ask that God's will be done on earth as it is in heaven, we are asking the world to be filled with worship.
Heaven is a place where God's authority is unquestioned
You don't have to be a Bible scholar to know that the Kingdom of God is a place where God is king. Living in a democratic society, we don't necessarily have a clear picture of what it is like to live under a king. A king has ultimate authority of his subjects. If he is a good king, as God is, he will make decisions that are in the best interest of his subjects. But his authority is supreme. So when we ask that God's will be done on earth as it is in heaven, we are asking that the people of the world fully submit themselves to His authority.
Heaven is a place of eternal life
In heaven, no one has to worry about dying. They have all received the gift of eternal life and are secure in that gift. That is God's will for the earth too -- that none should perish (II Peter 3:9) and that we should not fear physical death (Luke 12:4). So when we ask that God's will be done on earth as it is in heaven, we are asking for the people of the world to receive the gift of eternal life that He has made available through Jesus Christ.
So now let's personalize these three points. Instead of using the Lord's Prayer to try and get God to change everyone else, let's apply it to you:
Do you worship God?
Have you fully submitted your own life to God's authority?
Are you ready to receive the gift of eternal life?
Those are the questions that this verse poses to every one of us. The answers we give are critically important!
