“Our Father, who art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Matthew 6:9
If there is one thing that is revealed to men in what is called the Lord’s Prayer, it is that, what is true, and is occuring in heaven, is that which should be true and occuring on earth. A clear example of this in another passage in the gospel of Matthew is the Lord’s address to Peter when He said, “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatever you shall bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.” (Matt. 16:19) There is a direct correlation between what is “in heaven” and what is to be “on earth,” with regard to the kingdom of God and the reign of Christ. In our consideration of the Great Endeavor, let us look through the lens of heaven, by the word of God, to discover the application of God’s purpose “on earth.”
In Psalm 2, there is a statement by the Father to the Son concerning that which is “on earth.” It has to do with Christ’s inheritance, even though Jesus has not yet been born in Bethlehem, nor has He been crucified on Calvary. The Father says, “Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Thine inheritance, and the very ends of the earth as Thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron, Thou shalt shatter them like earthenware.” (v.8,9) What is the Father saying? In the first of two great prayers by the Apostle Paul mentioned in his letter to the Ephesians, Paul writes: “…I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of HIS INHERITANCE in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe.” (1:18) There will be one day the “summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things upon the earth.” (Eph. 1:10) But there is also the specific, declared inheritance of Christ, which is the glory of God revealed “in the saints.” God will give His son one day the entirety of creation, a perfect new heaven and new earth. But the greatest gift will be that for which Christ gave Himself, as the greatest of all gifts, in dying on Calvary. The Father’s gift is the combined, and magnified, glory of God in every believer from the beginning of time. Primarily in the entire body of Christ, the members will be derived from every tribe, tongue, and natiion. God the Father gave the Son, who gave Himself to save the souls of men. The great prize, and reward of the Son’s suffering, would be those in whom the glory of the Father resides, and will one day fill. From the multitudes throughout the history of the world, who have turned to the Messiah, the Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ, for cleansing, forgiveness, and newness of life and eternal hope, to the one, perhaps unknown or recognized, lone sheep out in the wilderness, lost and about to die, the whole heart of the Great Shepherd spends all to find and save it. His reward is not primarily heaven and earth, but the soul of measureless worth for which He dies. The great inheritance is the souls of men. The great endeavor is the unceasing work and battle to save them.
When Jesus spoke to Nicodemus of matters concerning eternal Life, He spoke to him of the “wind.” It was a wind which was undiscernable in origin or path it took. That which distinguished this wind, was the recognized effect it had upon those who felt it. This “wind” was the Spirit of God, for whom nothing inside or outside of man’s heart is impossible. This saving power would respond to faith, a total surrender of oneself, to trust in Christ alone.
Dear Father, Fill us with Christ. In Jesus’ name, Amen.