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Matt. vi, 10

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The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jun 23, 1863

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 22, No. 4.

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Matt. vi, 10.

By R. F. Cottrell

THY kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
The Lord's prayer was doubtless intended for the use of Christians in the gospel dispensation. It is not yet out of date, and will not be till its petitions are fulfilled; and, being indited by the Holy Spirit and in harmony with the will of God, each petition is sure to be fulfilled. The kingdom will come, and the will of God will be done in earth, as it is now done by the angels of God in heaven.
It is true, if the kingdom was established on the day of pentecost, as some teach, the prayer is out of date, and should have been out of use, for more than eighteen hundred years. But, not seeing the will of God done on earth, as we have reason to believe it is in heaven, reason would say that it is proper to still make use of the leading petition, "Thy kingdom come."
The kingdom of the text is the one prophesied of in Dan. ii, and vii—the everlasting kingdom which the God of heaven was to set up, and which the saints were to possess forever and ever. That this promised kingdom has not been given is evident from numerous passages in the New Testament. Paul instructs Timothy that Christ will judge the living and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom. James encourages the poor brethren with the thought that though poor in this world, they may be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which God, saith he, hath promised to them that love him. We are further instructed that it is through much tribulation that the people of God—those that have been converted—are to enter the kingdom; that flesh and blood cannot inherit it, and consequently there must be a change from corruptibility to incorruptibility in the saints before they can inherit it, and that this change does not take place till the coming of Christ and the resurrection of the dead; therefore we must look beyond that event for the answer to the petition, Thy kingdom come.
The second petition—"Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven"—will be fulfilled when the kingdom shall have come. There will be no failure in the fulfillment of this petition. We cannot hasten the coming of the kingdom by any act of our own. We can express the ardent desire, and leave the time with God. But if we do really desire the will of God to be done on earth, we can at least show a disposition to do it now. And we are not consistent unless we do so; neither shall we enter into the kingdom of God. Our Saviour says, "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven." It is in vain, then, that we pray the Lord's or any other prayer, unless we do his Father's will. The kingdom will come, but we shall have no part in it.
It is an important inquiry then, What is the will of the Father? Reason would at once say that if he has a law, his will is expressed in it. Some talk of the old and new law, as though God's will respecting a proper course of conduct for men was changeable. But we find but one perfect code of morals in the whole Bible, and that is the ten commandments. Here, and only here, is the will of the Father embodied.
We cite a testimony to prove that the will of God is expressed in his law, and also to prove that the Son of God did not come into the world to abolish it. Ps. xl, 7, 8. "Then said I, Lo, I come; in the volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do thy will, O my God; yea, thy law is within my heart."
This according to our inspired commentary, relates to the time when Christ came into the world to make an offering for sin. See Heb. x. Instead of saying he comes to abolish the law, to nail it to his cross, he says, I delight to do thy will. Yea, the law is within my heart. This is the same law, doubtless, which is to be written in the hearts of God's people under the new covenant. Jer. xxxi, 31; Heb. viii, 10. Jesus obeyed this law perfectly in his life, and then suffered its penalty—that which is due to transgressors. But the prediction continues: "I have preached righteousness in the great congregation." This he did in his sermon upon the mount. "Think not," said he, "that Iam come to destroy the law or the prophets," &c. Matt. v, 17. Read down to the twentieth verse, and it will be seen that he did preach righteousness in the great congregation.
Another testimony concerning the will of God is found in the New Testament. 'Behold, thou art called a Jew, and restest in the law, and makest thy boast of God; and knowest his will, and approvest the things that are more excellent, being instructed out of the law.' Rom. ii, 17, 18. If we read onward to verse 23, we shall see that this law, which makes known the will of God, is the one that forbids theft, adultery, and idolatry; and by verse 12, in connection with verse 16, it will be seen that all men that have a knowledge of this law will be judged by it, in the day that God shall judge the secrets of men according to the gospel.
The will of God, then, which Jesus taught us to pray might be done on earth, includes the ten commandments. Earth will be a happy place when they are all obeyed. No Christian will object against any of these, as being holy, just, and good, except the Sabbath commandment. This is held to be abolished. But turn to the last chapter of Isaiah, and read verses 22, 23, and it will be seen that when the kingdom is come, and the new earth is made, that 'all flesh' will come 'from one Sabbath to another to worship before the Lord.' We may pray in faith then, that the time may come when the will of God shall be done on earth; but, to be consistent with ourselves, we must do his will now. Otherwise we oppose in our practice the fulfillment of the petition.
From what has been thus hastily said, we draw the following conclusions:
1. When we pray for the coming of the kingdom, we pray for the coming of Christ, the king. 'Even so, come, Lord Jesus.' None but a believer in the second advent ever understandingly prayed this prayer. No one ever prayed it in the Spirit, and at the same time desired that the coming of Christ might be far in the future, at least, that he should not come in their day. This theme of Christ's coming should not be so unpopular as it is among professors of Christianity at the present time. All, at least, who use the Lord's prayer, should be advent believers, and desire his coming.
2. When we pray for the will of God to be done in the earth, we pray for the ten commandments to be kept, the Sabbath as well as the rest, as will be the case in the new earth. None but a commandment-keeper ever understandingly and consistently prayed this prayer. We cannot, in spirit, pray this prayer, unless we really desire God's will to be done; and if we truly desire this, we shall engage with all our hearts to do his will.
The prayer was composed for the use of advent believers and commandment-keepers, yea, for Sabbath-keepers. Brethren, let us live as we pray, and pray as we live, 'Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.'