“Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Matthew 6:10b

In heaven, all live in accord with God’s perfect and holy will. The psalmist writes: “Bless the LORD, you His angels, who excel in strength, who do His word, heeding the voice of His word. Bless the LORD, all you His hosts, you ministers of His, who do His pleasure” (Psalm 103:20-21).

On earth, since the fall of mankind into sin which is recorded in Genesis 3, it is not so; but man, as he is by nature, rebels against God’s perfect will and seeks to go his own way. Again, the Bible tells us: “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way” (Isa. 53:6).

Jesus, in the prayer which He has taught us to pray, directs us to pray that God’s will be done on earth — in our own lives — as it is in heaven! And what is God’s will? We find His perfect will recorded for us in the Holy Scriptures; God would have us faithfully believe and teach God’s Word and live according to it, submitting our will to His perfect will for us.

Jesus, God’s Son, faithfully carried out the will of His Father in heaven, even praying in the Garden of Gethsemane, “Not My will, but Yours, be done” (Luke 22:42), and being “obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross” (Phil. 2:8). We, on the other hand, so often say with our words and actions, “Not Your will, but mine be done!”

But God the Father laid all our sin and guilt upon His Son, Christ Jesus; and Jesus paid the just penalty for our sins (Isa. 53:6). Jesus died on the cross, making full atonement for our sins and the sins of all, and rose again on the third day (1 Cor. 15:3-4).

God’s will for us is that we repent of our rebellion and sin against Him and trust in Christ’s shed blood for forgiveness and life. And, as a fruit of our faith in Christ, God desires that we conform our lives to that of His Son.

This is His will for all mankind (cf. 1 Tim. 2:3-6). And thus we pray: “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

Dear Father in heaven, I am by nature sinful and rebellious. I have not lived in accord with Your holy and perfect will. Forgive my sins for Jesus’ sake. Fill me with Your Holy Spirit and grant me both the desire and the strength to live in accord with Your perfect will. “Not my will, but Yours, be done”! “Your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.” Amen.

[Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.]

“Your kingdom come.” Matthew 6:10a

Even though God is patient and long-suffering with the people of this world, not wanting any to perish but all to come to repentance and faith in Jesus Christ (2 Pet. 3:9), He already rules over all things and the day is coming when every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father (Eph. 1:19-23; Phil. 2:10-11).

And so, we might wonder, why does Jesus direct us to pray to the Father: “Your kingdom come”?

Jesus here directs us to pray that His kingdom of mercy and grace would come to each of us and to people all over the world. Messiah Jesus was lifted up on the cross and crucified to pay the full penalty for our sins against God the Father — He died for the sins of the whole world and rose again from the dead on the third day. But, in spite of that fact, we would go on our merry way in ignorance of the import and meaning of what took place on that Roman cross outside of Jerusalem.

Of ourselves, we cannot enter God’s kingdom or be a part of it. As Jesus says, we must be born again of water and the Spirit (John 3:3ff.). And so Jesus directs His followers to pray for God’s kingdom to come — for God the Holy Spirit to graciously regenerate us through water and the Word and keep us trusting in Jesus and His shed blood for forgiveness and life everlasting. In this way, with childlike faith in Jesus and His atoning sacrifice, we are God’s children and a part of His eternal kingdom. The Bible tells us: “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ” (Gal. 3:26,27).

Not only do we pray that God’s gracious kingdom would come to us, but that it would come to others also. We pray that people, both near and far, would hear the good news of salvation through faith in God’s Son and that they would turn from their sinful and rebellious ways and trust in Jesus and His shed blood for forgiveness and life.

Jesus Himself was moved with compassion on the multitudes of people around Him because they were weary and scattered abroad as sheep without a shepherd. He tells us: “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest” (Matt. 9:37-38).

Finally, we are directed to pray for Jesus’ coming and the establishment of God’s everlasting kingdom.

As the Scriptures teach us, “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself” (Phil. 3:20-21).

We look forward to the day of Jesus’ return in hope and longing for the blessings of His eternal kingdom (cf. Rom. 8:22-23), and so we pray: “Even so, come, Lord Jesus!” (Rev. 22:20).

Dear Father in heaven, graciously grant that Your kingdom would come to us — that we might have a place in Your kingdom through faith in the Son, Jesus Christ, and His sacrifice upon the cross for our sins. Grant that others too, both near and far, may learn of Your mercy and forgiveness in Christ Jesus and trust in Him. And, dear Father, as You have promised, come and reign over us forever through Your only-begotten Son and our Savior, Jesus Christ. In His name, we pray. Amen.

[Scripture is taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.]

“And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” John 3:14-17 (Read v. 14-21)

In Numbers 21:4-9 is the account of the children of Israel and the bronze serpent which Moses lifted up on a pole. The people became discouraged along the way in the wilderness and spoke against both God and Moses, questioning why God and His servant Moses brought them out into such a desolate land where they had neither food nor water. Because of their lack of faith and their evil words, the LORD God sent fiery serpents among the people to bite them, and many of the people died.

The people then acknowledged their sin and asked Moses to pray to the LORD that He remove the serpents from them. Instead, God commanded Moses to make a serpent and lift it up on a pole so that anyone bitten by a serpent could look at the serpent on the pole and live rather than die. As God commanded, Moses made a serpent of bronze and mounted it on a pole, and anyone who was bitten by one of the fiery serpents, if he looked in faith at the bronze serpent, he lived.

In the same way, because of our sinful and unbelieving hearts, we do not follow after the LORD God and walk in His ways. We grumble and complain of His commandments and of the things which God permits to arise in our lives. Like Adam and Eve, who failed to trust in the Word of the LORD and ate of the tree of which God had commanded them not to eat, so we fail to trust in the Word of the LORD and so often think we know better than God what is good for us.

Thus, when God says, “You shall not,” we question His goodness and wisdom and do those things He says not to do. When He tells us what He would have us do, again we think we know better and do our own thing instead.

In the same way as God did not immediately remove the fiery serpents from among His people, so He has not removed from us all the consequences of our sin. Like Adam and Eve, we must suffer sorrow and hardship in this life and finally die (cf. Psalm 90:7-9).

But God has provided a way for us to live rather than suffer the eternal death and damnation we deserve. As He promised Adam and Eve the Seed of the woman who would crush the serpent’s head (cf. Gen. 3:15), and as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness that all who, in faith, looked to it could live (cf. Num. 21:4-9), so God sent His only begotten Son into the world, the Seed of the woman, to win for us eternal salvation (cf. John 3:16).

Though we are still bitten by the old evil serpent and have the poison of sin flowing through our hearts and veins, God in His great love for all mankind sent His only begotten Son into the world. And, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so also Jesus, the Son of God and Son of man, was lifted up on the cross when He was crucified and condemned for the sins of the whole world.

And, as those who looked in faith upon the bronze serpent lifted up by Moses lived, so also sinners today can look in faith to Christ Jesus, who was lifted up on the cross and crucified for our sins and has risen again in victory; and those who look to Jesus in faith will not die eternally but live!

Jesus, when He was lifted up upon the cross, paid in full the just penalty for the sins of all. His resurrection is proof (cf. Rom. 4:23ff.). And those who look to Jesus in faith will not be condemned to hell for their sins because, in Jesus, atonement was made and, through faith in Him, God graciously forgives sins and gives to all who believe everlasting life!

Those who will not repent and turn to Jesus and His cross in faith remain dead in their trespasses and sins and will suffer the eternal and just consequences for their sins (cf. John 3:18-21; 8:24).

Because Jesus was lifted up as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, we who should die for our sins are, through faith in Jesus, given instead the everlasting glories of heaven. How great God’s love toward us is in Christ Jesus!

Dear Jesus, I have sinned and turned aside from loving, trusting and honoring You with my life. Do not deal with me as I deserve on account of my sin. I look to You and Your cross for salvation. Forgive my sin, cleanse my heart and grant me life eternal with You in Your everlasting kingdom.

[Scripture is taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.]

“In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.” Matthew 6:9

The Lord’s Prayer is perhaps the most misused prayer in all the world. People recite its words — sometimes repeatedly — with little or no thought as to what the prayer really asks of God. Instead of being a sincere prayer of the heart, it is often only empty words uttered from the lips.

When we remember that Jesus tells us, when we pray, to “not use vain repetitions as the heathen do” (Matt. 6:7), we would do well to consider the meaning of the Lord’s Prayer and take the time to pray through it with our hearts and minds and not just recite its words thoughtlessly.

We pray to “our Father in heaven.”

What a privilege it is for us to address the Almighty God, Maker of heaven and earth, as “our Father”! But that is what He is to us — our Father. Not only did He create each and every one of us, but He also redeemed each and every one of us from our own sin and rebellion by sending His only-begotten Son to fulfill all righteousness for us and to suffer and die for all our sins.

As believers in Christ Jesus, we sinners have the privilege of addressing God as “our Father” and can be assured that He has forgiven us and will both hear and answer our prayers for Jesus’ sake.

The Bible tells us in Galatians 3:26-27: “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.”

Hebrews 10:19-22 says, “Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, and having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.”

In 1 John 5:13-15, we also read: “These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God. Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.”

Because Christ Jesus suffered and died upon the cross for the sins of all and then rose again and ascended to the right hand of God the Father to intercede for us with His blood and be our Advocate before the Father, we can come boldly before the holy LORD God and He will hear us!

Is any petition too large when coming before the Maker of all things? Is any request too small for a God who has given such great attention to even the most minute detail?

What a privilege we have to be able to call God, the Maker of heaven and earth, our Father! And we can call Him just that and know that He, as our loving Father in heaven, will hear and answer all our prayers for the sake of His Son, Christ Jesus, who suffered and died for all our sins and rose again.

Dear Father in heaven, we thank You for Your love and mercy toward us and for the gift of Your Son to redeem us and make us Your own children through faith in Him. We thank You for the privilege of calling You “our Father” and for Your promise to hear and answer our prayers for Jesus’ sake. In His name, we pray. Amen.

[Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.]

John 16:16-23

16 “A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me, because I go to the Father.” 17 Then some of His disciples said among themselves, “What is this that He says to us, ‘A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me’; and, ‘because I go to the Father’?” 18 They said therefore, “What is this that He says, ‘A little while’? We do not know what He is saying.” 19 Now Jesus knew that they desired to ask Him, and He said to them, “Are you inquiring among yourselves about what I said, ‘A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me’? 20 Most assuredly, I say to you that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; and you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into joy. 21 A woman, when she is in labor, has sorrow because her hour has come; but as soon as she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. 22 Therefore you now have sorrow; but I will see you again and your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from you. 23 “And in that day you will ask Me nothing. Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you.

On the night when Jesus was betrayed, He told His disciples these words in John 16:16: “A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me, because I go to the Father.”

Even though Jesus had often explained that He would be betrayed into the hands of the chief priests and scribes, be condemned to death, handed over to the Gentiles, mocked, scourged, crucified, and that He would rise again on the third day (Matt. 20:18-19), his disciples did not understand what He meant when He said, “A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me, because I go to the Father” (v. 16; cf. v. 17-19).

Jesus explained briefly in verses 20-22: “Most assuredly, I say to you that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; and you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into joy. A woman, when she is in labor, has sorrow because her hour has come; but as soon as she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. Therefore you now have sorrow; but I will see you again and your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from you.”

What Jesus meant became clear to them only after it came to pass, when Jesus appeared to them on that first Easter evening and said, “Peace be with you” (John 20:19).

That “little while” began on that very night when Jesus was betrayed and arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane. It continued as Jesus was tried, condemned, crucified and laid in the tomb. Jesus had been taken from His disciples and crucified. He was dead and enclosed in a tomb! All appeared to be hopeless and their faith in Jesus as the promised Messiah and Savior was crushed.

And they had great sorrow because Jesus, in whom they had trusted and whom they had followed for three years was now dead. And they, His own disciples, had betrayed Him, denied Him and fled from Him in fear for their own lives! And now Jesus was taken from them and gone — their faith and hopes were dashed!

As Jesus said, “you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice.” The disciples of Jesus sorrowed but the world rejoiced at the death of Jesus.

No longer would the enemies of Jesus have to hear Him pointing out their sinfulness, their hypocrisy and their need to repent and to look to God for mercy and forgiveness. No longer would they have to hear Jesus’ claims to be the Son of God and their Messiah and Savior and the only way of salvation!

But the disciples’ sorrow and the world’s rejoicing were shortlived! The disciples’ sorrow was turned into joy when they saw Jesus alive from the dead on the third day? And their rejoicing grew, even more, when Jesus opened up their hearts and minds to understand the Scriptures and they came to understand what Jesus had accomplished through His death and resurrection — that He had made full atonement for the sins of all and was risen again in victory that all who repent and look to Jesus for pardon and forgiveness could have God’s pardon and peace and the certain hope of being raised up again unto everlasting life (cf. Luke 24:44ff.; Rom. 4:23ff.; 1 John 2:1f.; 1 Cor.15:20ff; 1 Pet. 1:3ff.).

Like a woman in pain as she gives birth forgets that pain and rejoices when her child is born, so the pain and anguish — the sorrow — suffered by Jesus’ disciples was nothing in comparison to their joy when He appeared to them alive again, having won salvation for all!

But, imagine the shock when the chief priests and elders of the Jews heard the soldiers’ report of an angel, the stone rolled back and an empty tomb (cf. Matt. 28:2-4,11-15)! Their rejoicing was turned to fear because Jesus had risen from the dead as He said, proving He truly is the Son of God and that His words and teaching are true!

These words of Jesus about the “little while” have yet another application that applies to all of us. On the 40th day after Easter, Jesus ascended into heaven and was exalted to His position of power and glory at the right hand of God the Father.

We cannot see Him now but He is present with us and rules over all that He might establish His everlasting kingdom (cf. Matt. 28:16-20; Eph. 1:18-23). He sends His ministers to call people to repent and believe the Gospel of forgiveness of sins and life everlasting through faith in the crucified and risen Savior! He sends out His Holy Spirit, who works through the Word to convict people of their sins and to assure them of forgiveness and life through faith in Jesus and His cross (cf. Eph. 1:3ff.; 1 Thess. 1:5; 2 Thess. 2:13-14).

But, as we live out the remainder of our lives here in this world, our lives are full of sorrow and pain. Not only are we ridiculed by the world for our faith in Christ Jesus, but some are also even persecuted and suffer for their faith. Large numbers are still killed today because of their testimony regarding Jesus and His doctrine — especially in Islamic countries.

Sometimes we may even lose sight of Jesus and all He accomplished for us. We may forget that He is with us always, even to the end of the age (Matt. 28:20), and will never leave us or forsake us (Heb. 13:5).

But our sorrows and all our suffering will be turned to joy when we see Jesus coming again in the clouds of glory. The world will weep and lament, but we will lift up our heads in joy (cf. Rev. 1:7; Luke 21:28).

St. Paul assures us in Romans 8:18: “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.”

Now, we may weep and sorrow as we suffer in this world and are under constant attack by the devil and his evil angels, by the unbelieving world and even from our old sinful flesh which causes us to doubt and despair and seeks to lure us back into sin.

That is why the Scriptures warn us in 1 Peter 2:11: “Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul.”

And the world (all who remain impenitent and without faith in Christ Jesus for mercy) rejoices. The world rejoices to see the true church diminish in numbers and influence. The world rejoices when the true message of the Bible is silenced or contradicted because, then, people don’t have to hear of their sinfulness and of their need to repent and look to Jesus for salvation. People rejoice because they can continue on in their sinful ways without being reminded of their guilt and the coming judgment of God upon them.

To paraphrase the words of John 3:19, people love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil and they do not wish to have their sinful ways exposed by the light of God’s Word.

Though the world rejoices now as Christianity and the true preaching of God’s Word appears to wane in the face of constant attack, this rejoicing will be shortlived because, in “a little while,” Jesus will return in judgment. In the words of Revelation 1:7, “He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him.”

But, though we, like Peter after He denied Jesus, may weep and sorrow in this world because of our own sins and failures, though we may be troubled because of the world’s hatred and persecution, though we may sorrow as our loved ones die and we too face temporal death, our sorrow will be turned to joy when Christ Jesus returns to receive us into His everlasting kingdom of glory.

The Bible assures us this in the words of Revelation 21:3-4: “And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, ‘Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.’”

Or, in the words of Revelation 7:13-17: “Then one of the elders answered, saying to me, ‘Who are these arrayed in white robes, and where did they come from?’ And I said to him, ‘Sir, you know.’ So he said to me, ‘These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple. And He who sits on the throne will dwell among them. They shall neither hunger anymore nor thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any heat; for the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to living fountains of waters. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.’”

For a little while, we may grieve and sorrow — though we still have hope because we know Jesus rose from the dead and will return to raise us up and give us the everlasting joys of heaven. But, in a little while, when Jesus comes again, we shall rejoice with joy inexpressible!

As the psalmist writes in Psalm 16:11: “In Your presence is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”

We thank You, dear Lord Jesus, for the comfort of knowing that our sorrows are only for a little while, that in a little while You will appear again in the clouds of glory to receive us and all who have trusted in Your name to the everlasting joys of heaven. Grant us Your Holy Spirit and the faith to believe the Gospel promises of forgiveness and life eternal for the sake of your blood, shed upon the cross for the sins of the world. Amen.

[Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.]