Question
I am gaining more of an appreciation and understanding for the need for God to reconcile the heavenly places back to himself due to them being in a current state of being “vain” and “under the bondage of corruption”. But I then wonder, what does our Lord Jesus Christ mean as he teaches his apostles to pray saying “Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.” As I consider this, it seems that the Lord may be making reference to the construction of the kingdom of heaven that will be brought down to the earth, but I’m not sure if this is really it. This statement seems to imply that something in heaven is going according to God’s will and I wonder how it is reconciled with the above quotes taken from Romans 8 about the heavenly realm. I would appreciate any understanding you can offer.
Response
When the Lord says, “Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven”, my understanding is that He is speaking of the specific “heaven” where God the Father dwells, not the heavenly places of the sun and stars that are between the earth and God’s heaven. I am persuaded first of all that this is so since He made direct reference to the specific place where God the Father resides when He taught His apostles to say, “Our Father which art in heaven.” Now the specific “heaven” where God dwells or resides is what Paul, for example, designates as “the third heaven” in II Corinthians 12:2. This designation comes from the description of creation set forth in Genesis in which God refers to the heaven of His creation as having two parts or sections to it. In order of their occurrence from the earth, first there is “the open firmament of heaven” that is “above the earth” in which the fowl fly. Next, or second, there is “the firmament of the heaven” in which God put the lights “to give light upon the earth”. This ‘second heaven’ is the realm of the heavenly places with the principalities, powers, and the like, of the angelic realm. Then there is God’s own heaven where He dwells outside of this, and as such is called “the third heaven”. And again, my understanding is that this is the heaven to which the Lord is referring.
This also accords with the fact that the specific heaven/place of God’s residence is consistently described as holy and separate from the unholiness within creation. In view of this, my understanding is that the implementation of Satan’s plan of evil with all of its corruption, unholiness, and the like, has taken place within “the heaven and the earth” of creation, but not in “the third heaven” of God’s residence. Hence there is no opposition to God’s will in “the third heaven” where He dwells. God’s will is done there. The opposition to God’s will exists only in the heavenly places between the earth and God’s heaven, as well as on the earth itself.
That the Lord is referring to “the third heaven” also accords with the fact that the “heaven” where God dwells is the very place from which the kingdom of heaven will come when God brings His residence to the earth. In “the third heaven” where God dwells is the very place where “the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem” is located, which God will bring down to the earth for His residence in the midst of His creation when He establishes His kingdom on the earth in the fulfillment of His plan and purpose with Israel. The heavenly Jerusalem is not in the ‘second heaven’; it is not in the heavenly places of that realm; but it is where God dwells. And the bringing of this city down to the earth for the establishment of God’s kingdom on the earth is the very thing the disciples are praying about when the Lord taught them to pray, “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.” God’s kingdom with the heavenly Jerusalem will come down to the earth from the very “heaven” where He Himself resides; i.e., “the third heaven”. Hence, I am persuaded that “the third heaven” is the “heaven” to which the Lord refers.
Now since I am persuaded that it is “the third heaven” of God’s residence and not the heavenly places that the Lord has in mind, there isn’t any conflict between what He says in Matthew 6:10 about God’s will being done there and passages describing corruption and the like in the heavenly places, as for example in Romans 8.
Keith Blades
Enjoy The Bible Ministries
20020820 B51 H C