CD - The Third Petition - 1 Timothy 2:3-4

This third petition is the final petition of the first three, asking for spiritual blessings. We pray in this petition, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” What is the will of God? The scripture reading from 1 Timothy 2:3-4 tells us, “This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.” Of course, this short passage then brings to mind several other questions like, why is not everyone saved if it is God’s will that all people are saved? Pilate asked, “What is truth?”

Let us take a moment first to answer the second question, what is truth? We find this question in the Gospel of John, of course, our philosophical gospel writer. The context of the question was when Jesus was on trial, being questioned by Pilate (John 18:28-40). Jesus said that He came into the world to bear witness or to testify of the truth, and Pilate, who was interested in philosophical discussions, asked, “What is truth?” Jesus, then, answered our question of what is truth. Truth is God the Father made flesh in Himself, Jesus. Men are liars and sinners. God only is holy. Jesus, true God, is sinless. Thus, the only perfect, sinless, holy truth can be Jesus and His Word. For us today truth is the inerrant Word of God, the Bible. How important it is, as we now see, that we do confess the inerrancy of Scripture. Otherwise, we are left with nothing of truth or value.

This discussion now brings us to question number one above, why is not everyone saved? First, we make note that it is God’s will that everyone comes to the knowledge of the truth, that is, knows Jesus and is saved. Second, we need to remember that man was created with a brain to think and a free will to decide what to do. Sure, God could have made us all puppets that said, “I love you, God,” but that is not true love. God gave us minds to decide what our will would be. We remember back in Genesis in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve both exercised their free will to disobey God. This brought about the fall into sin and the knowledge not only of good, but of evil. Ever since then, men (and women) have been deciding evil, as “The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Gen. 6:5). Sure, it is God’s will (He wants it) that all people know Jesus, but, at the same time, it is according to a person’s will to say no. Without getting into it at this time, however, let me add one point along these lines, that is, as sinners we can only say no to Jesus. Thus, we get the blame for our damnation if that is the case, but, with the help of the Holy Spirit, we can accept Jesus, and the Holy Spirit receives the credit for our salvation (1 Corinthians 12:3).

Finally, we do pray in this petition that God’s will that all people would be saved will happen. We pray for the conversion of all people.

Our Father in heaven, forgive me when I forget that You love everyone so much that You sent Jesus to die for all people. Thank You for bringing me to faith and for keeping me in faith. I pray that You will be done on earth as it is in heaven, and that Your Word may reach all people on earth so that as it is Your will, all people might come to know You and be saved. Grant this for Jesus’ sake. Amen.