Your Will Be Done
In n the midst of what is commonly referred to as the sermon on the mount, Jesus gave His disciples an example of how they should pray. He began,
...Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven... (Matthew 6:9-10)
It is worth noting that we cannot include the words "Your kingdom come" in our prayers today. The Lord's kingdom has come (Mark 9:1; Colossians 1:13; 4:11; Revelation 1:9). Those who mindlessly recite "the Lord's prayer" sadly deny that Christ is reigning in His kingdom today. He is King of kings and Lord of lords (1 Timothy 6:15; Revelation 17:14; 19:16) and presently rules in the midst of His enemies (Psalm 110:2).
Much more could be said about the reign of Christ in His kingdom, but let us turn our attention to the next words spoken by the Lord as He taught His disciples to pray,
Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. (Matthew 6:10)
The fact that Jesus felt the need to voice such a statement infers that the will of God is not done upon the earth as it is in heaven. God has given man free will, and with his own will, man may choose to do according to the will of God, or contrary to the will of God. The Scriptures display very plainly that the will of God is not universally accomplished upon the earth.
Was it the will of God that Adam and Eve eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil? Was it God's plan that Cain should rise up and kill righteous Abel? Was it God's desire that only Noah and his family be found righteous in the ancient world? Sin after sin, throughout the inspired text (and in life today), we see men and women exercising their own will rather than God's will in their lives.
Some find it hard to reconcile the sovereignty of God with the exercise of man's will. The Calvinist denies that man has free will at all, concluding that all things are according to the will of God. The inevitable consequence of such a thought is that God is responsible for all the evil which takes place upon the earth. What a blasphemous doctrine!
“...the will of God is not universally accomplished upon the earth.”
Understand, we are not saying that man is able to thwart the will of God. Several Bible examples show us that God is able to accomplish His will, at times despite what man has chosen to do. The concept of redemption is perhaps the most blatant display of such. Though man has chosen sin time and again, God has provided salvation, and the means whereby we can be cleansed of sin.
It was not God's plan to throw Joseph into a pit or to sell him as a slave (Genesis 37:26-28). That was the wicked ploy of his brothers. God's will was still accomplished, saving the family of Israel (Genesis 45:5; 50:20).
It was not the will of God that Balaam go with Balak (Numbers 22:12). Balaam ignored God's instruction, and asked Him again. God permitted him to go, but it was not His will (Numbers 22:20-22). God would use Balaam's presence with Balak to bless His people (Numbers 24:10).
A king in Israel was not God's will. In fact, their desire for a king displayed a lack of confidence in and desire to have God as their king (1 Samuel 8:6-7). However, God would employ the monarchy to bring the promised Messiah (Genesis 49:10).
The Scriptures tell us that God's will is for all men to be saved (2 Peter 3:9). Yet we see that there will be few saved (Matthew 7:14). Time and again the Scriptures show that God's will is not always done.
It is unfortunate that man's will and God's will seldom agree. God will not change His will to suit man, man must change his to suit God. But keep in mind that man's will will not thwart God's will. The Lord's purpose will prevail.
Let us not assume that if things do not go as expected that it just wasn't God's will. I have heard folks say such on more than one occasion. Could it not equally be when bad happens that man's will has occurred rather than God's? As can be seen in the examples cited above, the plans of man may not always be for good, and will at times prevail. How comforting would it have been to tell Joseph that it was God's plan for his family to forsake him? It was not God's will, but he could eventually see how God used the decisions of men to bring forth His own will. Let us be careful what we attribute to God and what we call His will.
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Answering The Atheist
Complaint:
Does righteousness come from following the Law? Luke 1:6 says that Zecharias and Elizabeth were righteous because they followed all of God's commandments, but Galatians 2:21 indicates that righteousness does not come from the Law. Is there a contradiction?
Response:
The Bible contains two major divisions, the Old and New Testaments. Each is established as a covenant - the Old for the people of Israel (Exodus 34:27), the New would replace the Old (Hebrews 8:13), and would be unto all people (Mark 16:15). Whether keeping the Law of Moses would make one righteous or not depends upon one's relationship to the Law.
If someone was subject to the Old Covenant, then to walk righteously before God, keeping the Law was necessary. Zecharias was of the tribe of Levi, and served as a priest in the temple. He and his wife, Elizabeth, lived before the death of Christ, and thus before the Old Covenant was done away with (Ephesians 2:15-16; Colossians 2:14).
The people Paul wrote to in Galatia were not under the Law. Paul explained to them that the Law was a tutor to bring the Jews to faith in Christ, but now that faith had come, the tutor was no longer necessary (Galatians 3:23-27). He would later tell them that to seek justification by the Law was to depart from Christ; righteousness was now by faith, not by the Law (Galatians 5:4-5).
If Zecharias and Elizabeth were still alive after the death of Christ, they too would need to seek righteousness by faith in Christ rather than through the Law of Moses.
There is no contradiction.
This article is in response to Skeptics Annotated Bible.