Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
—Matthew 6:10
The will of God is the living power to which the world owes its existence. Through that will, the world is what it is. The world is the manifestation of that divine will in its power and goodness. The world has only what God has willed it to have. Creation does what it was destined for; it shows forth the glory of God. “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory…for Thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are and were created” (Revelation 4:11).
The unfallen angels consider it their highest honor to be able to will and do exactly what God wills and does. The glory of heaven is that God’s will is done there. The sin and misery of fallen angels and men consists simply in their having turned away from and having refused to do the will of God.
Redemption is the restoration of God’s will to its place in the world. To this end, Christ came and showed how man has only one thing to live for: to do the will of God. Christ said, “I come to do Thy will, O God” (Hebrews 10:9). He showed us how there was one way of conquering self-will—by obeying God’s will even unto death. So He atoned for our self‑will, conquered it, and opened a path through death and resurrection into a life united to the will of God.
God’s redeeming will is now able to do in fallen men what His creating will had done in nature. In Christ, God has revealed the devotion to and the delight in His will that He asks and expects of us. In Christ, He renews and takes possession of our wills. He works our wills to make us able and willing to do all His will.
He Himself “worketh all things after the counsel of His own will” (Ephesians 1:11), to “make you perfect in every good work to do His will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in His sight” (Hebrews 13:21). As this is revealed by the Holy Spirit we begin to acquire an insight into the prayer, “Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.” Then the true desire is awakened in us.
It is essential to the believer that he realize his relationship to God’s will and its claim on him. How few believers say, “My desire is to be in complete harmony with the will of God. I feel my one need is to maintain my surrender, to do what God wills me to do. By God’s grace, every hour of my life can be lived in the will of God—doing His will as it is done in heaven.”