THE WILL OF GOD

Hebrews 10: 5-10; Colossians 1: 9-13; Ephesians 1: 3-6

J.S. What is in mind in suggesting these scriptures is the references in them to the will of God, the Lord Jesus coming in to establish the will of God so that we should be sanctified by that will, as it says, "sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all". Then in Colossians there is the reference to being "filled with the full knowledge of his will", and in Ephesians how we are marked out for blessing, marked out for sonship "according to the good pleasure of his will". I wondered if we might get some help in enquiring into what is in mind in the will of God, relating to ourselves and to what God is going to secure for His pleasure.

J.M. I suppose that is why we are taken up - for the pleasure and will of God. Is that what you had in mind?

J.S. Yes. His will enters into it. It is not just something we cannot do for ourselves but His will is involved in it; how things are going to work out for His pleasure.

J.M. As in everything else, the Lord Jesus sets a pattern for us, does He not?

J.S. Yes. We see on one hand a Man who was here entirely devoted to the will of God. All that God looked for in a man, filling out His will on the earth here, He found in Christ. Then as you think of His work, of His death, through that death all the will of God is going to be secured and His pleasure reached in men.

A.A.B. Is there a contrast in all that had gone before, there being no pleasure in it? Does it bring into relief the One who comes on the line of doing His will? "Sacrifice and offering thou willedst not; but thou hast prepared me a body". Would it require the incoming of the Lord Jesus?

J.S. In a sense, I suppose, these sacrifices were ineffective because they had to be repeated over and over again; so there was no stable order of things through the sacrifices. But through the one offering of Jesus Christ, God can secure His pleasure not only now but eternally, and it is stable.

A.A.B. Would that be emphasised in the "once for all"? We are brought into a stable order of things in contrast to the old economy of which the Hebrews would have a particular understanding.

J.S. I suppose every time they came up with a sacrifice they would be thinking of the next time. There was the calling to mind of sins yearly, for example. In Christianity what we have is the calling to mind of the Lord Jesus. As we experienced this morning, as we are engaged with that, we are in touch with an order of things that is stable. We are not having to call Him to mind to make the thing effective but so that the whole matter is kept fresh in the soul.

J.M. There is a very definite statement in verse 4: "For blood of bulls and goats is incapable of taking away sins". It is intended to set us free, is it not?

J.S. Quite so. So all these sacrifices were looking forward to Christ, to the One perfect sacrifice on which not only our blessing is secured but the will of God in relation to a universe of bliss will be secured eternally.

J.S-s. Is there a point of time stressed here? - Then he said. What went before really was the trial of man. This word "incapable" would cover the whole period - man's inability to answer to the will of God. The Lord Jesus was the one Man who established every thing for God.

J.S. There was plenty of opportunity given to man under different relations before Christ came in manhood. But it proved that things could not be secured that way. "He takes away the first that he may establish the second". Everything is secured in the second Man.

J.M-l. When the Lord was on the mount of Olives He knelt down and prayed, saying "Father, if thou wilt remove this cup from me: - but then, not my will, but thine be do ne", Luke 22: 42. It was the completion in Himself of all the Father's will.

J.S. Yes. What perfection in manhood, what sub· mission, what obedience! - "not my will, but thine be done". Everything for God in His relations with men hinged on that offering, and He was equal to it.

J M. Why do we have this double quotation from the psalm?

J.S. In Psalm 40 it says "Thy law is within my heart" (v 8). It was not only the externals but there was inwardly in Christ what was capable of carrying through the will of God. It reminds you of the tables that were put into the ark.

H.F. "To do thy good pleasure, my God, is my delight".

J.S. It was not just an obligation or a duty but His delight was in it. You can understand Ephesians in the light of that - "the good pleasure of his will"; the only Man who is capable of seeing things through in that way.

H.F. There could hardly be anything more important for a believer than the will of God. Why did God create the worlds? It was an area for His will to be expressed and for Himself to be enjoyed, and for Him to enjoy His creation.

J.S. That is the importance of that verse, "by which will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all". How we have been set apart for the will of God! It is the greatest thing you could think of for man, that he should be here according to the will of God.

J.S-s. In other scriptures the stress is on the shed blood. Is there some significance in the offering of the body of Jesus Christ?

J.S. I think so. You think of a Man who came in here with a body, and that body was held for the will of God and He offered it. Now what is going to be the moral effect in me as I appreciate that that was for me? Is it not that I am going to hold my body here for the will of God?

J.S-s. The body is the vehicle for the will of God to be expressed. "Thou hast prepared me a body". In its application to us we have our bodies and the capability by the Spirit to fulfil the will of God, as Romans shows.

J.S. So each one of us has a body. It is not a question of what means or resources we may have, but we have a body, and God would appeal to us in regard to our bodies, as to whether they are held here for His will. The Supper becomes a fresh challenge to us as we take it. What is this week going to be in my relations with God? Am I going to be here in my body for the will of God?

A.G. Would David set out something of the will of God being carried through?

J.S. Yes, "a man after my heart, who shall do all my will", Acts 13: 22. That is a fine thing, to have that sense in your relations with God that He is satisfied with your life.

D.S. Is this matter of being sanctified an absolute idea?

J.S. God would set us apart for Himself. Think what our course would have been in this world as unbelievers; but God has intervened. Why has He intervened? It is to set us apart for Himself, now and eternally. What He does He does for ever.

D.S. The same will that has given us a place in glory has set us apart now. It is done absolutely.

J.S. We are to be set apart for the will of God down here. The Supper would help us in that regard. We take the Supper down here in the wilderness and the emblems before us are the evidence of a Man here who has been devoted to the will of God. It is a challenge as to whether I am going to be here during this week for the will of God.

J.M. If we get a sense that the love of God lies behind all this it would help us to commit ourselves.

J.S. Yes. The cup especially gives us a touch as to the love of God, the disposition of God. God wants us. It is not that God is being arbitrary. He is so disposed towards us that it is calculated to bring out a response.

A.A.B. In Romans 12 the beseeching is by the compassions of God; it is like the love of God; so that the body of the believer is secured. Would the Supper then be both a fresh committal on our part and also a strengthening for the week of the testimony?

J.S. Yes, committal and strengthening too. In the reference to the Lord in Gethsemane you get the thought of an angel strengthening Him. I think the Supper is to provide food for us, to give us strength to be here for the will of God.

D.S. What is involved in "He takes away the first that he may establish the second"?

J.S. There was what was ineffective connected with the first. Then He is establishing the second. What stability is connected with it! It is going through into eternity; there is no breakdown connected with it. Publicly you might say things are in a terrible state, but when you view things as they are before God there is no breakdown. There is a Man there who has laid a basis for the will of God to be brought in, and it is going through.

A.A.B. How much would be involved in that sentence "He takes away the first"! but it is in view of the second being established. The will of God would involve the taking away of the first. The Lord says "My food is that I should do the will of him that has sent me, and that I should finish his work", John 4: 34. Taking away the first would be part of that work but establishing the second is in the work too. I am thinking of the immensity of what the will of God involved for Christ.

J.S. Quite so, divine counsels have entered into that - "Then I said... " We are initiated into something that took place between divine Persons. You cannot say a great deal about it but you get the sense that there was some conversation, speaking reverently, between divine Persons that bore on this very matter.

J.M. In Psalm 40 (v 6) it says "ears hast thou prepared me" (or digged - see note). There was an entrance there. There was not only what was external in a body but the Lord's feelings and affections were in the matter.

J.S. The Lord as a man down here started the day with that attitude: "He wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the instructed", Isa 50: 4. I am challenged by that. Would I be ready to get my directions, and be ready to carry out the will of God during the day?

A.A.B. Is it all the more telling when we think of what the Lord's will was, as always being the will of the Father? The fact that this should be said - "Lo, I come to do thy will" - would have significance, would it not? The feelings of divine Persons would be engaged in this, that One came into manhood to express the will of God.

J.S. Quite so. We think of it in connection with ourselves; the will of God would set us apart. Then what scope it affords as you think of the whole scheme of divine purpose being in mind; how that would be secured. Everything depended on the Lord Jesus coming into manhood and on the offering of His body. I wondered if in Colossians we might get some help as to being filled with the full knowledge of His will. When we start off as believers we have a sense that God wants us to be here for His will; but then as we proceed I think we become intelligent as to what His will involves - "that ye may be filled with the full knowledge of his will, in all wisdom and spiritual understanding". So that the prayers of the apostle, and others with him here, bear on t his matter. They do not "cease praying and asking for you, to the end that ye may be filled with the full knowledge of his will".

J-n.M. Does that clearly imply that it is necessary to be in the assembly livingly to get the gain of this? The will of God is very wide, but to be in the full knowledge of it implies that I have to be in a certain sphere. You hear individual Christians saying, I should like to know God's will for me; but it is not a question of God's will for me, but of God's will; and the realisation of that is only known according to God as the saints are gathered in this way.

J.S. Quite so. What we might say is, What I want to knows God's will and how I fit into my place in it. You get the idea of sharing in this scripture. That immediately means that there are others involved. For a believer just to remain on his own is not the normal divine idea; that is not God's will for believers. It is quite clear from this scripture that God means us to share things with others.

J.M. The scripture in Romans 12 involves that. As soon as you come into the gain of the gospel you a re immediately linked with someone else.

J.S. That is the first reference, I suppose, to the body - "one body in Christ", Rom 12: 5. It is not exactly the body of Christ but "one body in Christ", showing the dignity of what the believer is brought into. So you could not be in any body which has greater dignity, in any human organisationor anything of that kind. The idea there is that each of us as set for the will of God has something, therefore we are capable of being in the body as contributors.

W.W. Would verse 10 be the result of "the full knowledge of his will", in walking worthily of the Lord, bearing fruit in every good work, and so on, so that what was found uniquely in the Lord here for the Father's will and delight would have its correspondence in the saints?

J.S. Yes. The idea of growth comes in. You are coming gradually to a greater understanding of what the will of God is. That depends on our state. Then, too, you are bearing fruit. In that sense the believer does not have to wait until he is fully mature to bear fruit. There is fruit-bearing going on and there is increase connected with it.

H.F. Does the idea of being filled suggest measure and capacity? Paul brings this idea into other epistles - filled full. It makes you wish for more capacity to understand the will of God. It is a wonderful thing that being fallen creatures we are accepted. It is possible to delight the One we had offended and to be here for His pleasure intelligently.

J.S. It is a very interesting thing that there is this reference of the apostle to his concern for the saints at Colosse; then at the end of the epistle there is a man called Epaphras "who is one of you, the bondman of Christ Jesus, always combating earnestly for you in prayers, to the end that ye may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God", chap 4: 12. That would be a fine thing to have in mind for everybody in our local meetings. There was what the apostle was ministering, and his own exercises and prayers, but you need persons in localities who have the same character of exercise as the apostle had.

J.S-s. Do you think that, as we are here committed to the will of God, we shall grow in the feelings and the knowledge of what God is and express some of God's feelings towards those with whom we walk?

J.S. Quite so. Colossians would help us to see that there is a circle of persons like that established down here.

A.A.B. The natural order is reversed. There is bearing fruit here before there is growing. The first has been taken away and the second established now, so that this can be made way for in one another. As you say, prayer is to be made for this to be developed in the local company. Where those feelings are in circulation in the locality, this is how it comes.

J.S. Colossians, as we have been taught, is a half-way epistle. The brethren have gone so far but there is room to go farther in Christianity. Someone has said that divine Persons will take us as far as we are prepared to go. In the light of that there is still Ephesians.

J.M-l. Here he begins to open up to them what the Father has done.

J.S. The true knowledge of God would involve the Father, and would involve the Son too.

J. M-l. It would involve the whole economy, but there is someone bringing us into it, the Father.

J.S. This is a striking reference to the Father "who has made us fit for sharing the portion of the saints in light" - what the Father has done.

J.M. Sanctifying was referred to earlier. Would it be not only a question of praying for these things but, in a meeting like this, that ministry would come into it? Would John 17 bear on it? The Lord says "sanctify them by the truth: thy word is truth" (v 17). It is as if the word coming to us on an occasion like this ought to have a sanctifying effect so that we should be here for the will of God.

J.S. On the one hand the Lord is setting Himself apart on high for us to accomplish such service, and then as the word is brought in amongst us it is going to effect something. It would be on the line of growing.

J-n. M. Would the references to the body in Colossians and Ephesians show that it is really an extension of Christ here that is to display the will of God.

J.S. It is not only the individual body of the believer but that the will of God is going to be expressed in the body of Christ.

J.S-s. The new man is really a collective idea, and that is the vehicle in which the will of God is expressed in a collective way.

J.S. It is Christ in character. There is what came out in Christ personally; then the new man would be the expression of Christ in character in the saints.

J.S-s. The new man is for testimony.

T.M. In verse 11 the note to "strengthened with all power" is 'made powerful with all power'. Not only does God desire this but He provides the strength for it.

J.S. Yes. It is encouraging that we are not left to our own resources. In recent weeks the Lord has been calling our attention to divine resources. We want to get some sense of what these resources are. The Spirit is keeping Himself out of sight here but you cannot help feeling how He would be working.

A.A.B. I wondered as to that - "according to the might of his glory". It is no doubt the Spirit, but in the way it is referred to here there is something irresistible about it.

J.S. More is brought out on that line in Ephesians. You feel you are on the way there. There are references in Ephesians that show how God is strengthening the believer inwardly for great matters.

A.A.B. While "endurance and longsuffering with joy" would involve the testimony, it is not far off the strengthening by the Father's Spirit in the inner man mentioned in Ephesians 3.

J.S. This in a sense is on the way to it. "In all wisdom and spiritual understanding" involves our state and our relation to the Spirit.

A.A.B. "Spiritual understanding" would be a wholly spiritual matter. It would be further than obedience and subjection; it would be intelligence in the will of God.

J.S. Once you are obedient and submissive you are set for the will of God. Then you want to understand more about the will of God, what it involves, and you do not arrive at that by drawing up a code of rules but by means of this "wisdom and spiritual understanding". That involves our relations with the Spirit.

H.F. The "kingdom of the Son of his love" is a far better thing than a code of rules. There would be a feeling after God's will because of love. It makes me want to be subject to the "Son of his love".

J.S. So if He has translated us into this situation where we are made fit for sharing the portion of the saints in light, for one thing you would want to know what "the portion of the saints in light" is, and you would want to know more about this kingdom that is dominated by "the Son of his love". I think the will of God is involved in that, so you want to understand more about it.

H.F. It is intended that "the portion of the saints in light" should be attractive.

J.S. So immediately he brings in this reference - "the kingdom of the Son of his love" - the apostle goes on to enlarge greatly on who this Person is, His varied glories; it is all to attract us into the "portion of the saints".

J-n.M. The authority of darkness would pervert our minds to think that subservience to the will of God would bring in bondage, but it is not so. This is the way to complete liberty. The will of God is not some thing restrictive, it eliminates what is unlawful but brings into true liberty.

J.S. You are thankful to be translated from the authority of darkness, and you feel for dear brethren who are still held in it. "The kingdom of the Son of his love" is a kingdom that is dominated by this kind of Person.

J.M. As well as being called a 'half-way' epistle, this has been called a 'going-up' epistle. Ephesians is the full idea. Colossians is Hebron but Jerusalem is the full thing.

J.S. Yes. We might just look at Ephesians. It is what we are brought into - "for adoption through Jesus Christ to himself", God is thinking about securing persons for Himself in sonship "according to the good pleasure of his will". We think a lot about our blessings and enjoy them - "blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies" - but the end of it is that God is going to have men in sonship for His pleasure.

A.A.B. The end in all these things is what is for God's own affections, and "the good pleasure of his will". Everything that has come in that stood in the way has been removed. It all serves to bring out what God had in His heart. Even being "chosen... in him before the world's foundation" is in view of what is for God's heart. It is a great blessing and privilege, but it is what is for God, is it not?

J.S. Yes. I think the point in blessing us would be that we are enriched and set up suited to God's presence, suited to the Father's thoughts. The son in Luke 15 would have a sense of that. He was not brought in bedraggled to the Father's presence. He was set up in the sense of what the Father gave him. He would have the sense of being suited to the Father's thoughts, the Father's presence, and be able to serve the Father suitably.

A.A.B. We are all clothed in Christ and before the Father. Do you think there should be the sense of the suitability and the response that becomes that?

J.S. I think the 'best robe' is how we are clothed with Christ according to God 's purpose.

A.A.B. It links with "Lo, I come", with the purpose of God. The 'best robe' is not exactly redemption. Redemption is necessary, as it says here "redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of offences according to the riches of his grace", but it is what is suitable for the presence of God and that is only what is of Christ.

J.S. So the son in Luke 15, returning to his father, was feeling he needed things. He would get the food he needed there, but what would be conveyed to him, I think, would be the father's pleasure, as it says here "the good pleasure of his will". It was not only that he needed certain things but it was the good pleasure of the Father's will that he should be set up suitably.

J.M. That would no doubt relate to what we have in the next chapter - "has raised us up together, and has made us sit down together, in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus" (v 6). That is where He is now. "Taken into favour in the Beloved" would involve that.

J.S. Yes, the position we are brought into along with Christ - "raised us up together, and has made us sit down together in the heavenlies". It is a wonderful thing to get into our souls that that is the position we are brought into along with Christ, but that in itself is the present evidence of the Father's love.

J.M-l. Is that what is meant in verse 9 - "having made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he purposed in himself"? We are brought into the knowledge of it through His grace.

J.S. Why should we not go in for the spiritual understanding of these things? God wants us to understand them. Paul speaks of "my intelligence in the mystery", Eph 3: 4. What God committed to a man who was on the one hand divinely selected, but on the other hand was prepared in the energy of love and committal to the will of God!

D.S. I wanted to ask about the different names used here of the Lord - "the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ", then "in Christ" and then "for adoption through Jesus Christ".

J.S. There is wonderful variety in these different names. "In Christ" would be the status we are given. Then "through Jesus Christ" - we think of the operations that are being carried on through that Man. I think it involves a connection with the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. How divine operations have proceeded through that Man!

J-n.M. Something of the scope of it would be seen in verses 9 and 10: "which he purposed in himself for the administration of the fulness of times; to head up all things in the Christ". It really points on to the world to come, to the place the assembly will have intelligently at the side of Christ in the opening up of what God's will involves.

J.S. Yes. The range becomes very extensive. As you say, it means the heading up of everything in Christ, the whole millennial scene, the assembly brought in with Him, then the many families that will be brought in. Then the assembly is right at the centre of things with Christ and you can look out from that vantage point on the whole universe of bliss. There is a vessel in which there is glory to God in Christ Jesus. All that lies in this realm of the will of God.

H.F. Will you say a word about the expression "the Beloved" in verse 6.

J.S. I think it is to convey to us the greatness of the favour. Think of the Father speaking about "the Beloved". What He would be to the Father! Then He has taken us into favour in such a One. How much it must mean, the One who was here for the will of God, who established a basis for the will of God to be brought in, what He must mean to God - the Beloved!

J.M. It is a title that is exclusive to Christ, it belongs to no other.

 

Grangemouth

17 November 1974

 

K EY TO INITIALS

A.A.B. A.A.Brown; H.F. H.Fentiman; A.G. A.Gillies; J.M. Jas.Munro; J.M-l. Jas.Mitchell; J-n.M. John Munro; T.M. T.Munro; D.S. D.Spinks; J.S. J.Strachan; J.S-s. J.Spinks; W.W. W.Wallace.

(All Grangemouth except J.S. - Dundee)