The Will of God in Our Generation

We have the simple prayer of the Lord. It seems very simple, not intricate at all. With most people in different lands, it’s: “Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be Thy Name…” (very fast) Amen! You go into any of the churches and you hear (the same zipping through). I have heard some say, “Well, let’s try to say it slowly this morning and get the full meaning of it,” and they say (slowly), “Our Father, which art in heaven… Thy will be done,” but still they do not get it. It was taught by the Lord Jesus Christ, so it can only be revealed by the Holy Spirit.

One part, to which we call attention especially, is “Thy will be done on earth as it is done in heaven.” Jesus taught this prayer after the disciples requested to be taught how to pray. We want especially to deal with, “Thy will be done on earth.” How many people ever understand what they are praying when they come to this part? If they would think about it, they would say, “Well, where is it being done?” You would need a microscope to find it.

It is not difficult to see how Satan is carrying out his will on every side. He is having his heyday. Where is God’s will being carried out?

Jesus teaches to what extent the will of God can be done on this earth. He balances it by saying, “Pray that the will of God be done on earth as it is done in heaven.” There it is done absolutely 100 percent. In heaven, everything is moving, everything is in action, doing the will of God. The men of God who penetrated the heavenlies – John on the Isle of Patmos, Paul when he was caught away to the third heaven, and Ezekiel by the river Chebar – had the heavens open to them, where the will of God was being carried out. Everything – angels, seraphims, cherubims – praising God and doing the will of the Father. Hallelujah!

But for us, on earth at this time, how can this ever be done? We know it will be done. We know “the knowledge of the Lord will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea.” But how can it be done on earth in such a time as this? We know it is predicted that, not only such times as we now see, but worse things will come upon us. If you see people now looking odd, not just odd, but demon-possessed, doing vile things, what will happen when Abaddon (Apollyon) is given authority to open the bottomless pit? He will let out demons who have lion’s teeth, hair of women, and stings in their tails as of scorpions! The horrors we already see of women and men, what will it be then, what will the streets be like? Can we pray in the midst of our day that the will of God be accomplished on this earth as it is being done in heaven?

How could it ever be? Praise God, it is being done by those who are in the place to be used of God to see that His will is accomplished on earth. We can take it personally and say it is being done through me, if that is the case.

Some make a distinction between what they call the permissive will and the perfect will of God, as though God’s will were divided. But the “permissive will” could not be called God’s will at all. You would just say God permits or allows a person to go on. There’s no God’s will in it. The man is using his own will, which is not the will of God.

But if you are truly and wholly yielded to God, as an instrument in his hands, with no other motive, then you are in His will and doing his will – and that is perfect, praise God.

Jesus said “Pray” that God’s will be done on earth as it is done in heaven. It means that I take the responsibility for it. I become involved. God’s will is being absolutely carried out in every point in heaven so that God’s every wish and every desire are being responded to. The heavens are in action to it.

Paul said he was caught up to the third heaven and there he saw heaven in action. There were things he could not write down. It was not lawful. Other things he wanted to write, but the believers could not receive them, because there were yet disputings, envyings, and murmurings. You are yet carnal, he wrote, you could not grasp them.

So there are things yet to be revealed – light upon His word – that God will give to human instruments who are moving on in His will.

We know the words God said to Moses: “See to it that you make it according to the pattern that I gave to you on the Mount.” Moses was the instrument and God revealed to him as much as was needed for his day. The Lord did not open all of His plan to Moses for other people of later generations. It comes down to Paul’s day, and Paul was doing the will of God for his day. He took on the responsibility for God’s will on earth for his generation.

Moses had the pattern for his day. It was given to him on the Mount. God said, “This is what I want,” and God reminded him of it several times, “See to it that you put it on earth.” God’s will at that time was a tabernacle, it was set up with everything in order, exactly as God had directed, that the glory of God could come down and bless it and show that God had planned and patterned it that way.

How is the will of God being done in our day and where is it working out on earth? Well, it is planned. It is all there, just as the tabernacle was there. The whole tabernacle was right there in heaven. The whole pattern and plan of the earthly tabernacle was shown to Moses on the Mount, down to every detail; and he had to see it and believe it and act upon it. It is a marvel to read about it.

The plan of God is all arranged in heaven. The thing is to get it down, so that it can be accomplished on earth. It was accomplished when Moses got the whole picture there and could put it up absolutely step-by-step, piece-by-piece, furniture-by-furniture, silver, brass, and rings, and glory and beauty and everything that would honor the Father in Heaven.

Did God show Moses the whole plan for all the ages? Impossible. Moses could not have taken it all in, but God has the whole panorama before Him. It is just the same as when a master weaver is going to weave a rug; he knows the whole design and he puts it into effect. How? By giving each workman a part to do.

God is a wise Master Builder; He’s got the whole design! Where is it? It is in heaven. But pray that the will of God be done on earth! Pray that the will of God be accomplished in you on earth, as it is already accomplished in heaven.

In God’s foreknowledge and in His plan, Jesus Christ was nailed to the Cross as part of the foreordained pattern. Jesus came on earth and put it into effect. His death, His resurrection, our justification, everything was there. It was all finished in the mind of God before the foundation of the world.

God will absolutely complete His plan, as John saw it there in The Revelation – the end of the whole pattern, the whole Plan of God. The heavens were opened and he was looking at the finale of that plan. Moses saw the tabernacle for his day. On the Isle of Patmos, John was seeing the unfolding of the end-time events in the plan of God. He was in God’s will, and he had the heavens opened to him and he saw the pattern. He saw those who were beheaded, or to be beheaded. He saw the company of martyrs. He heard their cry from under the altar. He saw the whole thing. And we see it because he got it by revelation, and wrote it down. When John saw that no one was there to open the final part of the book, he wept and began to intercede. He said, “And I wept much because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book.”

In the mind of God, in the foreknowledge of God, the whole plan is accomplished. In the mind of God, and in the foreordaining of God, that whole tabernacle was done, absolutely finished, but it had to be done on earth in conformity to that in heaven.

Now that day is past. We don’t build another tabernacle and try to keep up with that. We don’t try to get the stones together for the temple or roll out a scroll. That was past. The law served its day. That is finished. The sacrifices of bulls and goats are over. It was the plan for that day.

The whole plan is there – do you see it? It’s there in heaven, all stretched out before Him, through the hundreds and hundreds and thousands and thousands of years. That would take an immense blueprint. What would it ever cover? It would span the whole heavens. He has all that before Him. Now the part for us is to get that down to where it concerns us, not for selfish reasons, but for a blessing to the world.

Just say this whole ceiling was covered with a beautiful tapestry and every part of it meant something. Think of wonderful tapestries by master artists. The guide would be there to point something out and say, “See here, this sword and this part where the horse rares – that was in the battle. And see here – the army encamped on the hillside.” Just as the guide has shown on that great wall the whole course of the battle, scene after scene leading to the final victory, so God has His plan laid out by generations.

The part that is ours individually is to find our place in God’s plan. We talk about serving our generation. You can never serve any generation but your own. This cannot be done by being good, doing good, acting good. It does not work. It does not fit into His plan. It’s not of the same texture. As a Christian, you must call out to God for your part in the pattern – that part of His plan that He has for you. It may be the most ordinary-seeming part compared to someone else’s, but you know when you have the right quality and the true texture. It has the hallmark of God. It rings the bell.

Take Noah. He had instructions to build the ark and he built it just the way the Lord commanded: he did exactly as he was commanded. It was an ark, it was not a tabernacle. He could have said, “Well, I want to be just like Enoch. I want to walk with God as Enoch did. I want to have sweet communion with the Lord. How much better for God to take me out than to have to stay and build the ark and face the flood.

The Lord said to Noah, “All right, build an ark, so many cubits here and so many there….” You have to understand that it had never rained. As we read in Genesis, “There went up a mist from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground…for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth.”

He could have said, “I’ll be a laughing stock, banging away at a boat.” A boat – something unique, different, that no one had ever heard tell of. Do you realize it was the size of the Queen Mary? But God had an ark designed in heaven, and he had a man on earth ready and able and willing to build it. Noah saw it by revelation and made it in accordance with what he got from God. “He did as he was commanded.” He was obedient to his generation, and so the world was saved.

To Ezekiel, it was something else. He was to prophesy at a certain time, he was to dig through a wall, or to lie on his side for so many days, or cut off his beard and weigh it. And he did as he was commanded. That was what God had for him in his generation.

Jeremiah said, “Lord, you have deceived me and I am deceived. I am not going to speak about this anymore because every time I speak I get into more trouble. I get put into a pit….” But God sent the fire and he commenced to feel the burning in his bones. Again he began to prophesy, completing and finishing the plan for that day, the part that he was supposed to do.

God’s plan is not finished. We have not come to the end. Where Elijah failed was when he could not see anymore to God’s plan. He lost the vision! And you can see plenty of people who have failed today or are in the failing stage right now. They have lost the vision. The clouds have settled upon them and covered the whole panorama of God’s plan as far as they are concerned. If they could only penetrate by faith, calling on God and see even a little, just enough for them to know God can pull them through. It makes no difference whether the water comes high and you feel as if you will go down for the last time. There is another opportunity, you can come up, if you will. Hallelujah! If you have the least idea that there is a plan that you are supposed to walk in, then take his orders and obey them, and you will come through. “Though the waters rise high,” the prophet says, “they will not overflow me.”

What happened to Noah? He obeyed orders and made the ark right, so it floated. It was waterproof and it was devil-proof. What you see may seem small, but praise God that you have a link with heaven and the whole panorama of God’s plan. There is the whole canopy of God above us – His will. The heavens cannot contain it. It runs over. The heavens are pregnant with the plan of God, waiting for His people to penetrate through those low-hanging clouds. They threaten and are ominous but, praise God, by His will, through prophecy, through tongues with interpretation, through the Word of Wisdom, through the Word of Knowledge, they can be penetrated. We can have part in bringing down upon this earth that which God wants for our generation.

What does God want you to do? Where do you fit into His plan? Jesus fit right into the plan and will of God, into that whole panorama, the whole tapestry of God. He was fitting in when he said, “Not My will but Thine be done.” It cost Him His life. That was the Father’s will, that He should die. And that is God’s will for us, that we die to ourselves and to our own plans and become alive and full of resurrected life, alive to His will. Can you say with Jesus “Thy will be done on earth as it is done in heaven”?

Faith – our prayer must be winged by faith to penetrate. Elijah thought he had come to the end when he heard that Jezebel had resolved to take off his head, so what was the use of bothering anymore? But, praise God, God had another man there, the prophet Elisha, who could step in where Elijah stepped out.

Just penetrate through those clouds right where you are – at college, in business, at home, right where you art, get hold of God’s will, and don’t try to tack anything onto it. It is already perfect because it is from heaven.
Pray that God’s will be done on earth, whether we are permitted to see the end or not, “They will be done.”

Stephen and Paul were not permitted to see the end but, praise God, they had penetrated. Paul even wrote down God’s plan and will for the Church, His Body. John, on the Isle of Patmos, penetrated the clouds and was told to write the Revelation. To some it is given to write: “Write the vision.” To some it is given to die. To some it is given to build up, to others it is given to tear down. It is all the means to the end, namely, that God’s will be done on earth.

Praise God, His plan is glorious. It is alive. It is beautiful. It keeps you going, at any age!

Have you caught the vision, or have you lost the vision? Has your heart felt the thrill? Do you answer to Him, “Yes, Lord, I will”?

Your vision, live it, write it, make it plain, so that those who get hold of it can run, Hallelujah! There will be those in God’s will, we know that, who can pray and believe that God’s will will be done on earth, as it is already done in heaven.

Are you one of them?