Thy Will Be Done

Matthew 6:10

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A few years ago, my wife and I were visiting Norway, and one of the sights we saw was the National Cathedral in Oslo. And I love the artwork all over the walls. But the one thing that captured my attention and imagination was that the baptismal font. There at the baptismal font on the floor was a snake, but it was a mosaic snake in the tile. So we’d ask them about that snake. And our tour guide told us that was so that the fathers, when they were bringing their child up to be baptized, could step on the serpent’s head.

It’s a great picture for the petition in the Lord’s Prayer when we say

Thy will be done. (Matthew 6:10)

So oftentimes when we think about God’s will, we think about it as this hidden and mysterious thing. But really, in the Bible, God’s will is perfectly clear. His will is to break and defeat every evil plan and purpose of the devil, the world, and our sinful flesh. His will is that God wants all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth in Christ Jesus, their Savior. But when Jesus talks about that petition or that prayer, thy will be done, he says,

On earth as it is in heaven. (Matthew 6:10)

So there’s two spheres where God’s will is done. The first I want to look at is in heaven.

In heaven, God’s will is absolute. When the devil rebelled against God. God threw him down. The dragon and his angels made war in heaven and they made war against Michael and Michael and his angels fought back and they cast the devil down. God’s will in heaven is that the devil must lose. In fact, the devil’s greatest plans can ever only backfire against him. We see this when the devil and all of his angels took the Lord of Glory, Jesus Christ himself and the greatest evil they had planned against him, nailing him to the cross, crucifying the Son of God, only ended up backfiring. They accomplished God’s own plan of salvation by Jesus dying on the cross. And on the third day he rose again from the dead and he crushed the serpent’s head.

But God’s will is also carried out on this earth or in these earthly realms. And when God’s will is carried out here, it’s often carried out in a hidden way. For instance, God certainly wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. However, at the same time, God’s will is not to force anyone to believe in Him, but in fact, he gives people the freedom to simply walk away from him. God gives each one of us a time of grace, a period in our life where we can come to repentance and faith in Jesus as our Savior. And God wants each of us to seize that opportunity with all of our heart, seize Christ with all of our hearts.

In this life, all the trouble, all the trials, tribulation, suffering we face. Is because we live in this constant battle between God’s will and the will of evil. We live in the constant battle between angels and demons. The devil wants to exercise his will and power over us. He wants us to be convinced that we should reject God or that we know better on our own. We don’t have to listen to God in His Word. Or maybe that sin in my life isn’t really that big of a deal. In the meantime, God’s voice is always there. His word is always there, calling us to repentance, calling us back to him, calling us to crucify ourselves with Christ and and rise with him through baptism.

When we pray this petition, thy will be done, we are joining our Savior in humility in the Garden of Gethsemane, praying those same words, trusting in God’s mighty power that God’s will will be done. At the same time, it’s not a prayer of wishy washy hopefulness. It is a certain prayer of confidence that God will break and defeat every evil plan and purpose of the devil, the world in our sinful flesh. That God will see us safely through this life as His baptized children, and that the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet. Thy will be done. Amen.