God’s will in Heaven

Luke 11:2 “So He said to them, "When you pray, say: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

The context of the above quoted passage of scripture is that the Lord’s disciples had asked Him to teach them how to pray. And so in response to their request we have recorded in scripture the passage that is very often referred to as the Lord’s Prayer. In this prayer our Lord gave us some insight into the will of God; for in this passage we see that the Lord’s instruction to His church is that we should pray that our Father’s will would be done here on earth as it is in heaven. And so clearly our Lord is implying that God’s will that is done on the earth is different to God’s will that is done in heaven, for if that were not the case then our Lord would never have instructed us to pray in this manner. So what is the difference between the implementation of God’s will in heaven and the implementation of His will on the earth? Simply put, God’s perfect will is done in heaven whereas God’s permissible will is done on the earth. The reason that God’s perfect will is done in heaven is because there is no opposition to His will, for all of creation in heaven as an act of their free wills, are fully submissive to His will. Clearly that is not the case on the earth however, for most of mankind rebel against God’s perfect will being done in their lives. And so it is for this reason that the Lord has encouraged us to pray that heaven’s standard would also be applied on the earth, i.e. that men would submit themselves to God’s will. As an aside, the reason I have entitled this section “God’s will in eternity” and not “God’s will in heaven”, is because in a similar manner to God’s perfect will being done in heaven, His perfect will is also applied to His creation under the earth, with a bit of a twist. So what do I mean by that statement? Under the earth men are held in Hades in torment against theirs wills, nevertheless because God no longer permits them to exercise their free wills, the resulting outcome is that under the earth God’s perfect will is being done by default. And so we see that the reason our Lord instructed us to pray that God’s will would be done on the earth as it is in heaven, is because it is the Lord’s desire that men on the earth willingly submit to God’s will as in heaven, and not be forced to do so as under the earth.

God’s will on earth

Luke 7:29-30 “And when all the people heard Him, even the tax collectors justified God, having been baptized with the baptism of John.  (30) But the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the will of God for themselves, not having been baptized by him.” 

The above quoted passage of scripture is very illustrative of the truth that in the earth, God permits mankind to exercise their free wills, which results more often than not in His permissible will being accomplished in the lives of men. In this passage we see that God had made His perfect will known to the Jews living in Judea at that time by instructing them to be baptised by John the Baptist, and although many did submit to God’s will by being baptised, most Jews chose, of their own free wills to reject God’s will for their lives. And so clearly we see from this passage that God permitted the Jews to reject His perfect will for their lives and walk according to their own counsel. That same principle applies to all men living on the earth, i.e. God makes His perfect will known to mankind and then He allows them to decide of their own free wills, whether they will be obedient to His will or choose rather to walk according to their own counsel. And so we see that in heaven men willingly submit to God’s will, while under the earth God enforces His will on men, nevertheless on the earth God defers to the free will of men.

Ephesians 1:11 “In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will.”

We have stated in this section that God defers to the will of men in this life. In other words God allows men to exercise their free wills. And so for those who of their own wills choose to submit to the will of God, the excising of their free will becomes a non issue, for in those instances the will of man and the will of God are in sync with each other. A problem arises however when men choose to reject God’s will, for in those instances the will of man and the will of God are in direct opposition to each other. Sadly most of mankind falls into the second category, i.e. they reject God’s will for their lives. And so clearly God has to deal with the issue, otherwise chaos would reign in the earth as each man did whatever he pleased. So how does God overcome the problem of allowing men to reject His will, and yet still reign as God over His creation in the earth? In the above quoted passage of scripture the Holy Spirit gives us some insight into how God solves the problem, for in this passage we see that God works all things according to the counsel of His will. So what does that mean? It simply means that God restricts the free will of man to operate within the framework of the counsel of His will for their lives. In order for us to more clearly understand that concept, we can look at a few examples of the restrictions that God places on the free will of men in this life. For example, men do not decide when they will be born into the earth, God does. Men do not decide where, i.e. into which nation they will be born, God does. Men do not decide which families they will be born into, God does. God also only allows men to have limited control over when they will die, for currently God limits men to one hundred and twenty years on the earth (Genesis 6:3), although few if any ever attain to that age. And so no man has the ability to live beyond God’s set limit, although men can for whatever reason, choose to end their lives at any age below that limit. Unlike the angels, God also does not endue men with supernatural power thus restricting them to live in the natural. All of these points mentioned are just some of the aspects of how God places limitations on the free will of men, thus ensuring that He is still able to predestine the lives of men so that His purposes are accomplished in the earth. And so we can see that God is well able to work all things according the counsel of His will, even though He allows men to exercise their free wills by rejecting His perfect will for their lives.

Michael E.B. Maher

The Will of Man

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