On Earth as It is in Heaven
Have you ever read something, maybe pages and pages of something, and then realized that you didn’t retain any of it? This used to happen to me a LOT when I was a student and still can if I’m trying to read something that I don’t find very interesting. But it can also happen when reading something of vital importance like legal documents, ballot initiatives, medical reports…or God’s Word.
I think especially for those of us who’ve grown up in the Church, Bible stories can feel so familiar that we barely pay attention as we read them - if we read them at all. But, because “the word of God is living and active” (Hebrews 4:12), it has more to teach us no matter how many times we read it. Recently I was listening to a devotional that used a passage I’ve heard many times and suddenly it connected to another familiar verse in a way I’d never considered before.
In Genesis chapters 18 and 19, we see the prelude and destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. It starts with the Lord coming to visit Abraham in the form of three men. They eat together and the Lord reaffirms the promises He has made. Then it says something really interesting. Two of the visitors walk down the mountain to the cities and the Lord is still standing there and speaking to Abraham. When the perspective switches to the valley, the text calls “the two”, angels.
What fascinated me was that as the two angels make their way into the valley, eat and stay with Lot, the Lord continues His conversation with Abraham up in the hills. There’s a moment in 18:17-19 when the Lord speaks to Himself and seems to debate about whether to share His plans with Abraham. And then the Lord says, “Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is very grave, I will go down to see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry that has come to me. And if not, I will know.” He stays there with Abraham, explaining His plan, while saying that He will go down and investigate. He’s physically there with Abraham (a shocking concept in and of itself) while His servants, the angels, are physically with Lot. But the Lord says that HE will go down. I was thinking about how we are getting a glimpse of how perfectly obedient angels are. So much so that it’s exactly as if the Lord, Himself, is going down and carrying out the mission in the valley.
{Yes, I know that Satan and his followers are fallen angels so, clearly, they can go astray. And it’s also true that angels are mysteriously different creatures than humans, so the comparisons we can draw between ourselves and them are limited. But in this instance, with these angels, God’s will is being perfectly carried out through them.}
What struck me, was how many times I had recited the Lord’s Prayer and not given much thought to the line, “Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.” Yes, I wanted God’s will to be done. But I hadn’t thought about what that actually looks like. Here, in Genesis, we have an example. When the angels did the will of God, it was as if the Lord Himself was doing it.
It reminded me of places in the New Testament that talk about how Christians have the Spirit of Jesus Christ inside of them. Because of this, we are actually taking Christ into and throughout our day to day lives. Sometimes people refer to this as being “the hands and feet of Jesus.” In Paul’s second letter to the Church in Corinth, he describes us as carrying the knowledge of God everywhere as “the aroma of Christ.” And in Galatians 2:20, he boldly declares, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”
It is the Spirit of Jesus, living inside His children, the Church, that enables God’s will to be done on earth in the same manner as it is done in the Heavenly realm. As we, moment by moment, yield to the Spirit’s work in and through us, God’s mission on earth is advanced. Lives are marked by justice, mercy and humility. (Micah 6:8) Creation is stewarded well. (Genesis 1:28) All nations are taught about God’s great love and discipled to grow into the likeness of Jesus. (Matthew 28:19)
I’m sure there are moments in all our lives where the idea that God’s will could be done on the earth through us seems like an impossibility. Our weaknesses and selfishness surely disqualify us from such an honor. Today let’s challenge that lie:
“Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”
(Ephesians 3:20-21)
