Will you please turn to the Gospel according to Matthew? Matthew Chapter 6. We will just read verses 9 and 10.
After this manner therefore pray ye:
Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done, as in heaven, so on earth.
Last night, when we were together, we mentioned that the burden for our time together is the Lord’s Prayer. As we mentioned last night, the Lord’s Prayer is not only a prayer that our Lord Jesus certainly Himself prayed, but it is a prayer that He taught His disciples to pray. He wants us to join with Him in His prayer.
Now, this Lord’s Prayer is taught to the disciples. In other words, unless we are disciples of Christ, we do not know how to take up this prayer. As God’s children, of course, we can pray. And as babes in Christ, we cry to our heavenly Father. We ask for His help; we ask for His supplies; and we find how He cares for us and how He hears us.
But as we grow up in the Lord, as we put ourselves under His discipline, as we allow Him to train us, we grow up spiritually. Then we find our prayer will enter into a deeper realm.
In other words, as babes in Christ, we do pray, and these prayers are all prayers indeed. But when we grow up more, then we find in our prayer there will be a shifting of centre. When we are babes in Christ, our prayer is self-centred. In other words, our prayer is governed by our needs.
But as we grow up in Christ, then gradually in our prayer life we find our prayer begins to shift its centre. Instead of being self-centred, it should become God-centred. In other words, our prayer is not initiated by our needs; our prayer originates from God’s purpose.
When our prayer is God-centred, then we find we are lifted out of our narrow, petty self, and we enter into a horizon that is limitless. This is actually what the Lord’s Prayer is trying to bring us into.
So this evening we would like to share together on the nature of the centrality of prayer. In other words, in prayer, the first thing is not our need. The first thing is God’s need.
We remember our Lord Jesus says, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” So here you find, in our seeking, in our prayer, the first subject of our prayer and our seeking ought to be the kingdom of God and His righteousness. Then all these things will be added unto you.
All these things, of course, if we read the context in Matthew Chapter 6, refer to our needs: what we should eat, what we shall drink, what we should be clothed with—all these things. And all these things shall be added unto us. So these should not be our primary object of seeking and prayer.
Our primary seeking and prayer should be the kingdom of God and His righteousness. Then we find all these things shall be added unto us. Now, as babes in Christ, of course, our prayer includes all these things. But when we grow up in the Lord, we need to see that we need to seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness first. Then all these things shall be added unto us.
So this is the centrality of prayer. Our prayer must be centred upon the kingdom of God and His righteousness. And we know, as we so pray, all these things shall be added unto us.
Now, in the so-called Lord’s Prayer, you find our Lord teaches us to begin our prayer with three things:
Hallowed be Thy name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
“Hallowed be Thy name.” Now, we know a name represents a person. It identifies you, and sometimes, especially in the old days, it describes you. In modern days, you may have a name that does not describe you. But in the old days, a name not only identified you; it really described you.
This is especially true in Scripture. In Scripture, you find all the names really describe the person. For instance, Jacob—a supplanter. And after the Lord’s dealing with him, you find his name is Israel, a prince with God. It just describes that person. This is the way in China, you know. All our names describe a person, and that is the old usage.
So a name really stands for that person. It includes his character, his value, what he is—all is included in that name. And, of course, the name of God represents Him. It stands for Him, identifies Him, and also describes Him.
Now, “Hallowed be Thy name.” Hallowed, or sanctified, in the original means to be set apart, to be sanctified, to be different—the opposite of common. That which is not common is holy. The opposite of righteousness is sin, and the opposite of holiness is commonness.
Our God is holy. His name is holy. It means that our God is unique. He is special. He is one of a kind, incomparable. You cannot try to put Him on a level with anything else, with any other name, because His name is above every name.
That is the meaning of holy: “Hallowed be Thy name.” Your name—that is, Your person—is so unique, so special, that there is nothing and no one that can be compared with You. That is what is meant by “Hallowed be Thy name.”
We find in Scripture, in the vision of Isaiah—Isaiah Chapter 6—that Isaiah, as he entered into the temple to pray, was given a vision. In that vision, he saw God seated on His throne, high and lifted up, and His train filled the temple. Then you find the seraphim crying out:
Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts:
the whole earth is full of His glory.
Again, when you come to the New Testament, you find the Apostle John on the Isle of Patmos. He was raptured in the Spirit to heaven, and there he saw the throne of God, and One sitting upon the throne. Around the throne were the four living creatures, and they cried day and night without ceasing:
Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God, the Almighty,
who was and who is and who is to come.
So, in other words, you find God is holy. The holiness of God may be seen throughout the whole Scripture. God is holy. He is different. He is uncommon. He is special. He is one of a kind. You can never put anything on the level with Him.
That is what God is, and that is what is meant by His name being holy. Again, you find in Scripture sometimes another word standing opposite to holy, and that is profane.
Profane, in the original, simply means to cross the threshold. In other words, it becomes accessible to be trodden upon. That is what is meant by profane. Now, God is holy. You cannot tread upon His name as if He is accessible to everybody, as if He is nothing. Profane is the opposite of sacred, of holy. So we must sanctify God’s name, and we must not profane it.
You know, when you take the Ten Commandments, you find they are divided into two tables. One table of stone is inscribed with four commandments, and the second table is inscribed with six commandments. The first table deals with our relationship with God, and the second table deals with our relationship one with another.
When you read these commandments, especially the first four, you find all these commandments are related to “Hallowed be Thy name.” The first commandment says, “Thou shalt not have any other god beside God Himself.” He is the only One. You cannot put Him among other gods that you consider as gods, put Him on the same level, and make Him common. You cannot do that, because He is holy.
The second commandment says that you shall not make any image according to created things, and you shall not worship or serve them, because God is a jealous God. What is idolatry? Idolatry is an abomination to God. Why is it an abomination? Because idolatry violates the holiness of God.
God is unique, alone; but then you try to make God common, making Him one of the creatures. God alone is to be worshipped and God alone is to be served. But you try to worship and serve other things than God Himself. It is a violation of His uniqueness.
Then the third commandment, of course, says that we should not take the name of the Lord in vain. When you use the name of the Lord in vain, it means that you do not consider His name sacred. You make nothing much of Him. You despise Him, in a sense. It does not matter, you know. Again, this violates the holiness of God.
The fourth commandment is that we need to keep the Sabbath. Spiritually, we know that keeping the Sabbath simply means that we accept and enter into rest, because God has already finished the work. Yes, God did work in six days. The work is finished, and man entered into rest on the seventh day. To man, it is the first day. In other words, we begin with rest.
We do not try to work as if the work has not been done yet. God has already done everything, and we just enter into rest in the finished work of God, or in the finished work of Christ. That is honouring God. That is sanctifying God, because we accept what He has done.
So you find that even in the commandments, they are related to this matter of the holiness of God. When you come to the New Testament, you find our Lord Jesus summed up these four commandments. One day, a lawyer came to the Lord and asked, “What are the most important commandments?” The Lord said:
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart,
and with all thy soul,
and with all thy mind,
and with all thy strength.
This is the first commandment. The Lord was summing up the first four commandments. The spirit of the first four commandments is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your strength, and with all your soul.
Brothers and sisters, what is sanctifying God’s name? Sanctifying God’s name simply means you love God with your whole heart. If you love God with your whole heart, with your whole mind, with your whole soul, and with your whole strength, you sanctify His name. It is as simple as that: “Hallowed be Thy name.”
In order to understand this matter of “Hallowed be Thy name,” I think we should go back and try to see in history how God’s name must be sanctified. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. When God created the heavens and the earth, His name was sanctified.
You remember in Job it is said that when God laid the foundation of the earth, the morning stars sang together and shouted with joy. The morning stars there refer to the angels, because God first created the angels, the spirit beings. When God laid the foundation of the earth, all these angels were praising God and shouting with joy. In other words, God was honoured as the Creator of all things.
Now, we do not know from the day that God created the heavens and the earth how long that blessed state continued. We do not know. But we do know that during that period the name of God was honoured.
But unfortunately, we find something happened. If we look into Isaiah Chapter 14 or Ezekiel Chapter 28, we find a hint there. Among God’s created beings, probably the first-created angel was Lucifer, the morning star.
God evidently created him with such beauty, endowed him with such talents, and gave him such dominion to rule for God. He was a cherub, an anointed cherub, that covered the seat of God. That was how close he was to God.
In the beginning, when he was created, he was perfect. He was among those angels that shouted for joy and praised God for His creation. But unfortunately, gradually a self-consciousness entered into that archangel. He began to be self-centred. Pride entered into his heart.
When pride entered into his heart, he wanted to be equal with God. He was not content with being under God—above all the other angels, probably, but under God. He wanted to be equal with God. From pride, you find unrighteousness began to appear.
Finally, God had to cast him out of the third heaven, from the mountain of God. He turned himself into what we know today as Satan. God never created Satan. God created a beautiful angel, an archangel; but that angel turned himself into an adversary of God, into Satan.
When he was cast out, we know that the domain that was under his rule entered into void and waste. If you understand what happened, you know that what really happened was that this archangel, instead of sanctifying God’s name, violated the very holiness of God. He profaned the heavenly sanctuaries. That is exactly what happened.
God’s holiness was violated, because God would not allow anything to be equal with Him. He is unique. He is God, and God alone.
Thank God, God began to work. Again, we do not know how long after the destruction of this planet, or our solar system, evidently under the dominion of that archangel. It entered into void and waste. But God would not give up.
The Spirit of God brooded over the vast emptiness, the darkness, the waters of the deep. Then, in six days, God restored it. God restored the earth to make it habitable. On the sixth day, He created man. He created man according to His own image, and then He gave man dominion over the fowls of the air, over the beasts of the field, and over the fishes of the sea.
In other words, He gave this earth to man to rule for Him. What is the purpose of God in creating man? One of His purposes is that through the man whom He created according to His own image, the holiness of His name might be recovered.
His name was violated and profaned by the archangel. Now God created man, a little lower than the angels, and yet created in His own image. God wanted to use man as that vessel and instrument to restore the holiness of His name.
God put man in the Garden of Eden. He was given the privilege of enjoying everything in the garden, and yet he was put under one command: not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. In other words, by obeying God, God’s holiness is preserved.
But unfortunately, we find that again man began to think of himself instead of God. He was tempted to be God himself. He again violated the holiness of God, and sin entered into this world.
So from the very beginning of human history, even to our time, we know that so far as the history of mankind is concerned, God’s name is not honoured by man. God’s name is violated; it is not honoured by man.
Even though throughout human history you find here and there some individuals whom God apprehended, and in their lives God’s name was honoured—for instance, Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—in these few, God’s name was respected, honoured, and sanctified. But so far as mankind is concerned, you find the name of God was profaned and violated.
God chose a nation, the nation of Israel. Certainly, God put His name in that nation, hoping that nation would hallow His name. But unfortunately, again, you find the whole history of Israel is a history of God’s mercy and man’s unfaithfulness.
When you come to the end of the Old Testament, to Malachi, you find that God has a controversy with His people. The controversy is over this matter: “If I am a father, where is My honour? And if I am a master, where is My fear?” God’s name was not honoured or sanctified.
So the Old Testament ends with this word: “curse.” The last word in the Old Testament is “curse.” It ends with a curse. Man was under a curse because he had violated the holiness of God’s name.
But, dear brothers and sisters, we do thank God, because when you come to the New Testament, you find there is a new beginning. In the Gospels, there is one Man, and that Man is our Lord Jesus, the Son of God, who came into this world to be a man just like we are.
Yet in that Man you find God’s name is sanctified all the time. Never in His life do you find God’s name being profaned. When that Man was tempted in the wilderness, you find that Man said, “Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve.”
In order to sanctify God’s name, He was willing to lay down His own life. Throughout His life, you find God is glorified. Even when you come to John Chapter 17, when He prayed His prayer, you find that He said:
Father, I glorified Thee on the earth,
having accomplished the work which Thou hast given Me to do.
And now, Father, glorify Thou Me with Thine own self.
In other words, glorifying God simply means He sanctifies God. He did the will of God in His whole life. He is the only Man on earth who sanctified God’s name throughout His life. This is the life of our Lord Jesus.
Do you know, brothers and sisters, because of the redemptive work of our Lord Jesus, this life has been given to us. Today, we who are His, as 1 Peter 2:9 says, are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession. We are to declare the excellencies of Him who called us out of darkness into His marvellous light.
So, in other words, today you find the church is supposed to be the corporate vessel in which the name of God is sanctified. If in the world His name is not sanctified, then in the church His name ought to be sanctified.
But is it true? Is it true that the name of the Lord is really sanctified in the church? Because of that, you see the need of this prayer: “Hallowed be Thy name.”
Why does the church need to pray this prayer? First of all, it is because we sense in ourselves, we sense in our lives, both as individuals and as a corporate body, that oftentimes we do not sanctify God’s name. Oftentimes we look upon His name as common.
We do not honour Him as we should. We do not glorify Him in all things. We do not treat Him as God, the only God whom we worship and serve. In our individual life, you find that in many areas, and at many times, we do not honour Him; we do not sanctify Him; we do not set Him apart as we should.
Because of this, we need to pray this prayer: “Hallowed be Thy name.” Brothers and sisters, as we pray this prayer, on the one hand it expresses our desire. Do we really desire that the name of the Lord will be sanctified in our lives?
If we really desire it and pray for it, then you find the Holy Spirit will take up our prayer, and He will sanctify us. In other words, He will work in our lives in the areas where we are not sanctifying God, where we are not separated and set apart for God.
We are still seeking something for ourselves, and we do not put God first. In these areas, as we pray, the Holy Spirit will begin to work in our lives and sanctify us, that we may sanctify the name of the Lord Jesus.
So it is not a prayer that we just repeat. It is a prayer which, if we pray from our heart, will bring the working of the cross and the working of the Holy Spirit into our lives.
We pray this prayer not only for ourselves, but we realize that the name of the Lord is not sanctified on this earth. We take a stand and say, “His name ought to be sanctified.” As we pray, we find that God will work through us—that is, through His church—that His name will be sanctified upon this earth in different areas of life.
So, brothers and sisters, this is the reason why we must pray such a prayer: “Thy name be sanctified.” Do we realize this need of such prayer?
We know one day the name of the Lord will be sanctified upon this earth, because God has given Christ a name that is above every name, and at that name every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord. We know this day is coming, and it is the prayer of the church that will bring in that day.
If we do not pray such a prayer, it is a strange thing, in a sense, because in God’s work of creation He did all by Himself. He never asked anybody to help Him. But in the matter of redemption, in the area of redemption and new creation, you find He always looks for us to cooperate with Him.
If He cannot find cooperation from us, He will wait. That is the reason why, even though it has been two thousand years after Christ came, His name is still not sanctified on earth as it is in heaven. It is because the church is not praying. It is because we do not mean business with Him.
If we really take up the prayer and really mean business with the Lord, you will find the effect will first come upon us ourselves; and then through us, it will come upon this world. It will pave the way for the day when His name shall be honoured above everything.
“Thy kingdom come.” Now, kingdom, in the Greek original, is better translated as sovereign rule or sovereign reign. That is what the kingdom means. It means the reign of God. The kingdom of God is where God reigns.
Now, in the broad sense, God reigns from eternity to eternity. In the broad sense, you find that His kingdom is throughout the ages, and His dominion is from generation to generation, as you find in Psalm 145. His throne is set in the heavens, and His kingdom ruleth over all, as Psalm 103 says.
So, in the broad sense, God’s kingdom is from eternity to eternity because He is the Creator. Everything is under His rule. There is nothing outside His rule. That is true.
But in the strict sense, what is the kingdom of God? The kingdom of God is where God rules in such a way that those who are under His rule begin to be characterized by His own character. That is, strictly speaking, the kingdom of God.
In other words, there is a physical sense of the kingdom of God, which is broad—from eternity to eternity—and covers everything. But there is also a spiritual sense. The real sense of God’s kingdom is wherever God rules and puts His character into us, so that those who are under His rule begin to take up His character and express His character. Upon these people, the kingdom of God has come.
So when we pray, “Thy kingdom come,” it does not mean that God does not rule over the whole universe. He always does. But it simply means that the spiritual reality of His kingdom, characterized by His own character, has not yet become a reality on earth. That is the reason why we have to pray, “Thy kingdom come.”
We pray this prayer because we know there is another kingdom. The kingdom of God is the kingdom of love, because God is love. That is why you find in Colossians that He has translated us out of the power of darkness into the kingdom of the Son of His love. In other words, God’s kingdom is love.
But then you find Satan has set up an opposite kingdom. It is a kingdom of hate. God’s kingdom is the kingdom of righteousness. The kingdom of God is not in eating and drinking, but in righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.
God’s kingdom is a kingdom of righteousness because God is righteous. Everything in the kingdom exhibits righteousness. But the enemy sets up another kingdom. It is the kingdom of sin, the opposite of God’s kingdom.
God’s kingdom is the kingdom of light. God is light, and there is no darkness, no shadow, no shade. Everything is transparent. That is God’s kingdom. But the enemy’s kingdom is darkness. Everything is in darkness, so nothing is really revealed.
You find that in the universe there are two different kingdoms. One kingdom is called the kingdom of God, and the other kingdom is the satanic kingdom. These two kingdoms are the very opposite of each other.
Do you discover that these two kingdoms are not only outside of you? These two kingdoms are actually within you. Within you there are two kingdoms: the kingdom of God—love, righteousness, spiritual, heavenly, full of light, truth—and yet within you there seems to be another power, another kingdom: hate, sin, darkness.
These two kingdoms are within us, striving against each other. Because of this, brothers and sisters, how necessary it is for us to pray, “Thy kingdom come.” When we pray, “Thy kingdom come,” we are taking a stand.
With these two kingdoms, there is no neutral ground. You cannot be neutral. You must be in one kingdom or the other kingdom, and you have to declare where you are standing. So when the church prays, and when we pray, “Thy kingdom come,” it is a declaration of our stand.
In other words, we stand for the kingdom of God. We want His kingdom to rule over our lives. We do not want to have anything to do with the kingdom of darkness. That is the stance we take when we so pray.
When we pray, we are not praying only for ourselves, but we are praying that the kingdom of God will reign over the whole earth as it is in heaven. In heaven, you find His kingdom is unchallenged. But on earth, it is always challenged. That is the reason why we need to pray, “Thy kingdom come.”
Now, thank God, when our Lord Jesus was on this earth, you find that the kingdom of God was in Him. He said, when people asked Him when the kingdom of God would come, that they should not say, “Lo, here!” or, “There!” For the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.
Our Lord Jesus was in their midst. So you find that when the Lord was on earth, literally, spiritually, and really, He was the kingdom of God, because God’s sovereign rule over that life was absolute.
There was no darkness in Him. His conflict with the kingdom of darkness was only external. There was no internal conflict there, because He was absolutely obedient to the Father. He was willing to suffer in order to obey the Father.
Because of His obedience, on the cross of Calvary you find that He recaptured the kingdom from the hands of the enemy. The cross of our Lord Jesus has accomplished so much more than we ever imagine.
Oftentimes, we take the cross—the finished work of Christ on the cross—as a personal thing. Now, it is personal. But you must remember that the effect of the finished work of Christ on the cross is universal. Universal. Why?
Because on the cross He recaptured the kingdom of God. He took away from Satan that usurpation that Satan had over this world. He completely defeated the enemy and gave him a fatal blow. He has overcome.
That is the reason why, positionally, we are already translated out of the power of darkness and into the kingdom of the Son of God’s love. If the Lord Jesus had not overcome the enemy completely, if He had not recaptured the kingdom out of the enemy’s hand, then we would still be under the power of darkness.
But thank God, He has translated us out of the kingdom of darkness and put us into the kingdom of His love. That is where we are positionally. Now the Holy Spirit is to work this into us experientially. Because we already have that position, therefore we can have that experience.
Because of the finished work of Christ on the cross, in this aspect, we are able to enter into the kingdom of God in reality today. All the power of darkness in us can be cast out, and all that characterizes the kingdom of God can become a reality.
But we need to pray, because as we pray, then the Holy Spirit begins to work. In connection with that, we also know that whenever the Holy Spirit works, there will be the marks of the cross. You cannot expect the Holy Spirit to work without the mark of the cross.
It is by the cross of our Lord Jesus that the Holy Spirit is fulfilled. Whenever the Holy Spirit is working in our lives, you find He brings the cross upon us. Why? The cross is the place where self is crucified.
Self is the very nature of sin. If you really want to see what sin is, the very nature of sin is self. “I”—that is the very nature of sin. In the beginning, this sin began when that archangel said, “I, I, I, I, I.”
This sin, this nature, becomes ours in fallen man. Therefore, when the Holy Spirit begins to work, He will apply the cross upon our self-life, our soul-life. He will apply that to us, that our self will be reduced—reduced to zero.
When self is reduced, then Christ is increased. When the kingdom of darkness is cast out, then the kingdom of light begins to be enlarged in us. That is the way we find the kingdom of God becomes a reality to us.
Oftentimes we say that one day the kingdom of God will come. Now, when we pray, “Thy kingdom come,” it does have the sense that because His kingdom has not come yet, we pray that one day His kingdom shall come.
All the kingdoms of this earth shall become the kingdom of our God and of His Christ. We pray that His kingdom shall come, that God would rule over the whole earth. When God shall rule over the whole earth, that is the millennium. You find righteousness reigning over the whole earth.
You find that the lion and the cow will feed together, and a little child can play by the hole of the poisonous serpent. Nothing hurts anymore, because the kingdom of God has come upon this earth.
This is our prayer. When we look at the world today, brothers and sisters, we ought to pray, “Thy kingdom come.” We find that the kingdom of this world is not some place that we want to stay for long. We long for the time when the kingdom of God shall come, and His character shall characterize the whole earth.
What a blessed time it will be! But brothers and sisters, remember: before we enter into that kingdom, that kingdom has to become a reality in us. If today we let the kingdom enter into us, let the supreme rule of God be a reality in our lives, then you do not need to worry, when the kingdom comes, whether you will be there reigning or not.
So the thing is, today, “Thy kingdom come.” We are not just praying for something in the future. We are praying for something now. Unless the kingdom of God becomes a reality now in our lives and in the church, so that the rule of God is absolute in His church, then when the kingdom of God finally comes, probably we will be ashamed.
So let the Lord help us. “Thy kingdom come”—how much we need to pray that prayer.
Then, “Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” You know, here it is, “Thy will be done,” and the word will is singular.
We often think of the will of God in the plural sense. What is the will of God? Is this the will of God for me to go here or to go there? Is it the will of God for me to do this or to do that? We think of the will of God as countless, as many wills of God.
But of all the many wills of God, you find there is one will. God has only one will. That one will includes all the other wills. “Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” What is that will?
We cannot pray that prayer if we do not know what that will is. When we search the Scriptures, we find that God does have one will. He willed that will according to His good pleasure. After that will was made, then He began to work the counsel of His will. He will work until that will is realized. God never gives up.
It is by that will that He created all things. In Revelation Chapter 4, when the angels sing all the glory of the Creator, they say:
Worthy art Thou, our Lord and our God,
to receive the glory and the honour and the power:
for Thou didst create all things,
and because of Thy will they were, and were created.
In some translations it is according to Thy pleasure; in other translations, according to Thy will. It is the same thing, because God wills according to His pleasure. In other words, nobody tells Him how to will. He wills what pleases Him, because He is God. He created all things according to His will.
What is His will? When you come to the matter of the new creation, what is that will behind the new creation? Is it that He wants us to go to heaven? Is it that He wants us to be saved? Thank God, these are included, but certainly that is not the will. That is not the will.
What is the will behind the whole counsel of God? What is the will behind all God’s working? What is it that God is working towards? Brothers and sisters, I think it is evident when you read, especially, Paul’s writings—Ephesians or Colossians. You find it is very clear.
In Colossians Chapter 1, it says: Why is it that God created all things? In Him, through Him, and for Him. All creation, created in Him—in Christ, in the Son—is created by the Son; it is created for the Son.
Not only that, because He was the firstborn not only of creation but also the firstborn of the resurrection, He may have the first place in all things. That is the will. The will of God concerns His Son.
He loves His Son so much that He has only one pleasure, one will, and that is to give everything to His Son, that His Son may have the first place in all things. He may have the preeminence in all things.
The first place there does not mean that He has the first place and we have the second place or the third place. The first place simply means that He is all. He is all, all in all, in Christ Jesus. That is the will of God.
When God first created all things, that will was realized. When all things came out from the hand of the beloved Son, there was harmony. There was harmony. All things were integrated in Him.
But unfortunately, sin entered into this world. When sin entered into this world, then you find everything disintegrates. It is the Son who holds all things in unity. When sin entered into this world, it broke the unity, and everything disintegrated.
When things begin to disintegrate, we know they have lost their purpose. That is the reason why you find in Colossians Chapter 1 that through the cross of our Lord Jesus, through His blood, He has reconciled all things unto Himself.
Once upon a time, all things were created for Him, and all things were united in Him. But sin entered, and all things disintegrated. So the Son of God had to come into this world to die on the cross in order that, through the working of the cross, He might reconcile—that is, restore—everything into harmony with Himself.
That is reconciliation. He has reconciled us to God, and not only us, but He has reconciled all things to God. So far as the work of Christ is concerned, it is already done. Already done.
Why? Because with God there is no time factor. What Christ did on the cross is eternal. So on the cross He has reconciled all things to Himself. But with us, there is always a time factor.
That is the reason why you find in Ephesians Chapter 1 that in the fullness of time, God is to sum up all things in Christ—things in the heavens and things upon the earth. So today, so far as God is concerned, it is already done. That will is already accomplished by the cross of Calvary.
But so far as we are concerned, and so far as all things are concerned, there needs to be time. During this time, the Holy Spirit will apply the finished work of Christ in reconciling all things to Himself, that Christ may characterize all things. That is the will.
The will is much, much greater than you all, or even the whole universe. The will is the Son. That is the will: that He may have all things. This will begins first with the church.
That is why you find it said in Ephesians Chapter 1 that Christ is Head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fulness of Him who filleth all in all. This will must be done in the church first, and then through the church to all things.
Now, how serious this is. Do we know where we are? Do we allow this will to become a reality in our lives individually? Is He all to us? Does He have the first place in our lives? Is our character being characterized by Him?
In other words, it is Christ, not I, but Christ. Is this a reality in us? Is this will being done in us on earth as it is in heaven? This will be our first question.
The second question is this: In our lives together, is this will being done among us on earth as it is in heaven? Is Christ supreme? Is He the first and the last? Is He all and in all in the church? Do we see no one but Jesus only in the church? Is this a reality?
Then, through the church, we are to bring that will upon the whole earth.
That is the reason why you find Paul, in Romans Chapter 8, saying that the whole creation groans, because it is under corruption and under vanity. It does not like it, but it is under that kind of state. Why? Because of man.
When man failed, the whole creation fell into emptiness and corruption. They are not willing for it. If we have spiritual ears, we can hear the groaning of the universe. They are groaning for liberty, for purpose, for meaning.
But when the sons of God are manifested, then you find the whole creation will be liberated, and they will enter into liberty. So you find it depends on the manifestation of the sons of God.
What does that mean? It means that we who are God’s children have to grow up. As we grow up to be sons and daughters who are able to take responsibility together with Christ, co-heirs with Christ, then, when the sons of God are manifested, the whole creation will be liberated.
They will be rejoined into that unity. Christ is the centre of eternity. He is the cohesion, the cohesive force, of that oneness. This is the will of God. One day, everything will speak of Christ. Nothing will speak of anything else. That is the will of God: the Son is glorified.
So, brothers and sisters, how we need to pray that prayer for ourselves and for the whole universe, because that is what the universe is waiting for.
If we realize these things, I hope we can see the importance of the Lord’s Prayer. That is why our Lord Jesus teaches us to pray in this manner.
But is the church praying this prayer? Are we praying this prayer? I think this is something that we really need to consider before the Lord.
If we really take up this prayer burden, God will hear us. His name will be hallowed, His kingdom will come, and His will will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
If I remember right, I think in the last days of that man Evan Roberts—I do not know whether you have ever heard of that name—Evan Roberts was the instrument of God during the Welsh Revival of 1904 and 1905.
He was a miner, but he had such a heart for the Lord. His prayer was, “Bend the church, and save the world.” God used that man and brought in such a great revival in Wales.
If you have read the story of the Welsh Revival, you can see that during that period even the courts had no cases. The judges had no cases to judge anymore, because the revival just swept through that land.
During his last days, he prayed only one prayer. He was a prayer warrior. He knew how to pray. He really agonized in prayer before the Lord, and that is how it all began. During his last days, he prayed only one prayer: “Thy kingdom come. Thy kingdom come.”
That was his prayer. I do believe that as we enter into this last age, we ought to take up this prayer:
Hallowed be Thy name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Amen. Shall we pray?
Lord, we do acknowledge that we do not fully understand the prayer that Thou hast taught us to pray. Lord, we do ask Thee that Thou wilt open our eyes and our understanding, that we may know more and more what that prayer is, what it means to Thee and to us.
Lord, we do pray that we may, by Thy grace, through the energizing of Thy Holy Spirit, really take up this prayer that is upon Thy heart.
Our Father who art in heaven,
Hallowed be Thy name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.
For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.