PEOPLE ARE NATURALLY SELFISH, ALTHOUGH THE MOST UNSELFISH PEOPLE ARE SEEN AS WOMEN WHO GIVE UP ALL THEY HAVE FOR THEIR CHILDREN. Yet We Know That For A Woman To Give All She Has For Her Children Can Still Be Selfish, Because Another Child Will Not Be Treated The Same As Her Own. This is because a woman sees her own children as an extension of herself.

What does the Bible verse "Thy will not mine, be done" mean?

Harry Riches · Answers

When one comes to someone who is more powerful, more influential, more knowledgeable and more wise than oneself, and this is acknowledged, then one is inclined to submit and say, "Thy will be done."

In the case of the question under consideration, the suggestion that one would exercise one's own will is to imply that there may have been an option that under the circumstances might seem better. Otherwise, why would one defer to another and say, "Thy will, not mine, be done."

When we consider what Jesus was facing, having realized that he was about to undergo an experience that hitherto had been unknown, whereupon a sinless man becomes sin, we realize that he may have been presented with the possibility of an alternative action.
Jesus would have known about the Scriptures that predicted his death and what would happen at that time.

• He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that made us whole, and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people? (Isaiah 53:3-8)

• His skin is devoured by disease, The firstborn of death devours his limbs. (Job 18:13)

• And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth. Yet it was the will of the Lord to bruise him; he has put him to grief; when he makes himself an offering for sin, he shall see his offspring, he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. (Isaiah 53:9-10)

An alternative option for Jesus would have not to have gone through with the plan to redeem mankind. If Jesus had wanted, He could live on Earth and be at constant war with Satan. The number of angels at His disposal was sufficient for Jesus to defeat the Romans and secure the land promised to Israel as the promised Messiah and take His rightful place on the Throne of David.

The only problem with this option is the sin issue would not have been resolved and Satan would have the right still to rule the world, having secured this right when Adam disobeyed the voice of God by listening to the voice of Eve and accepting the offer to eat of the forbidden fruit.

Hence, Jesus, in His humanity was given an option of exercising His right to reign on the Throne of David as King of the Jews or fulfill the plan of God by offering His righteous life as the ransom to redeem what Adam had lost. At the same time, Jesus would also be able to judge the Evil One by rising from the dead, after having been taken captive by him, once he had unjustly devoured His righteous flesh.

Only a sinless person could follow Jesus' example. Since this is impossible for any person who violates just one of the Ten Commandments, the only way this could be possible is if the life of the Righteous One Himself is substituted for the sinner's life. The sinner can take up this option by laying down the option to sin and allowing righteousness of God to reign in his or her life. This is expressed by the Apostle Paul as:

• For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21)

• For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do: sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin,he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the just requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. (Romans 8:3-4)

Those who recognize they have this option are at the point in their life where they acknowledge that the truth has set them free, and if they are to secure this freedom for eternity, they can do so by complying with God's will; which is to love the Lord God with all one's heart, soul, mind and strength, and one's neighbor as oneself. Of course, one really needs to understand the Ten Commandments if one is to truly accomplish this.

The will of God is that not one of the Ten Commandments is to be transgressed. For the Ten Commandments describe what is required of us all. Since the just requirement of the law has been fulfilled in those who walk in the Spirit of God, this should not be too difficult.

Naturally, those who do not understand the Ten Commandments, cannot be expected to be walking in the Melchizedek Order. To walk in accordance to the New Covenant requires a demonstration that the Ten Commandments are understood as being the initial requirement for securing salvation (Hebrews 5:7-6:6). For the New Covenant is the Order of Melchizedek priesthood and not that of the Levitical Priesthood, which could not perfect the worshiper. Therefore, those who follow the footsteps of Jesus keep the commandments of God as Jesus did, and daily express, "Thy will, not mine, be done," as they continually abide in Him (1 John 2:3-6).

The Ten Commandments Were Designed For You To Enjoy And Possess Life