THE WILL OF GOD
[p. 35] THE WILL OF GOD
2 Chronicles 5:10; Hebrews 10:5-10; Ephesians 1:3-14
I ventured to suggest the reading of this scripture, dear brethren, because in the types we are considering in Chronicles we are brought to a point when the Spirit of God tells us that there was nothing in the ark save the two tables, suggesting that it is possible to reach a point spiritually when Christ is regarded only from the standpoint of the will of God. I thought that was the teaching of it for us. That is, that the will of God has been fully and permanently secured in Christ, and by means of Christ He is going to displace everything else; so that even those matters which are essential for us as regarded in the wilderness, and in responsible service, are no longer in view. The golden pot of manna and Aaron’s rod that budded are no longer found in the ark; they are there in Hebrews in the wilderness setting, but not in the ark when it is brought to rest — nothing remains there but the will of God. I read the New Testament scriptures to develop that.
It was evident that manna was the provision of grace for the wilderness, and we all know how essential that is from day to day; and the rod that budded was the token of Christ’s blessed priesthood, and we know our need of it, especially in any service Godward, for we could not possibly do without it. But the Spirit of God suggests a point when they both go out of sight and there is nothing but the will of God secured in complacency and eternal restfulness in Christ and through Christ. The passage suggests that point being reached by us, not the mere abstract thought that it is so, but that the saints come to the blessed reality of the moment when all that belongs to divine grace in the wilderness is left and another scene entered which is filled with something more blessed than anything belonging to the wilderness. I suppose it is normally reached in assembly privilege. There is a moment reached when the priesthood of Christ merges in His headship. In the millennial day He will be a Priest upon His throne, but there is no thought of His priesthood continuing in eternity, because priesthood contemplates contrary conditions where priestly support is needed. Of Aaron it was said, “He shall serve me in the priest’s office”. There is a moment when what is official ceases and what is permanent as to Christ remains. The moment is reached typically when priesthood [p. 36] ceases to function and the glory intimates that God is there in the supreme satisfaction of His love. God’s will is love, and He is determined to have His own way and to have a universe dominated by the will of God; and all that is going to fill that universe is a living reality to the saints at this moment. The saints are privileged to go in and see Christ in this relation, which is in relation to God, the pleasure of God being established eternally. It is the highest point of assembly privilege, and I would not say that it cannot be touched by lovers of Christ individually, but it is seen in connection with the temple, that is, with assembly privilege. It works out in God filling everything. We are held by headship, by the apprehension of Christ in headship; and if it is only reached for a brief moment it is not the less real.
The object in reading Hebrews 10 was to show how God detaches us from all that system of things that does not answer to His pleasure; while the passage in Ephesians 1 shows what were the purposes of good pleasure that lie in the will of God, into which we are brought by grace. The two put together give us an apprehension of what is the will of God.
It would help us, I feel, to consider that the incarnation stands in connection with the will of God. “Wherefore coming into the world he says, Sacrifice and offering thou willedst not; but thou hast prepared me a body. Thou tookest no pleasure in burnt-offerings and sacrifices for sin. Then I said, Lo, I come (in the roll of the book it is written of me) to do, O God, thy will ... . He takes away the first that he may establish the second; by which will we have been sanctified through the [p. 37] offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all”. It is the blessed result of the will of God brought in in its completion. It is not the will of God in connection with our circumstances (though the Scriptures do speak of that), or in relation to our movements in service and our practical conduct and what it is to suffer, etc. (that enters in incidentally and provisionally), but the will of God brought in by Christ refers to something far greater.
The first thing secured is the setting free of believers from the old system according to the law, the system of sacrifice with which the Hebrew believers as the people of God were familiar, and from every question connected with sins or sin. The will of God effectuated by the Son set us completely free from all that. “By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all”; it is an accomplished thing. And it is “by the will of God” — every Christian should accept that. We are set apart from every kind of religious system that does not please God — entirely; and we are perfected for ever. These things are in the will of God, and they have been effective in relation to the saints, so that we might be at liberty to be in the enjoyment of another scene which is filled with the blessedness of what is the outcome of the will of God. The allusion to Horeb reminds us of the time when God first made Himself known. It is good for us to assure our hearts of our footing with God — that we are on the footing that His will has been carried into effect by something outside ourselves altogether, and it happened through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all, and nothing can come upon our consciences. That is the Christian position. Coming into manhood He brought in the will of God, not in demand, but by securing the satisfaction of His will in love.
In Ephesians there are three marvellous statements: “the good pleasure of his will”, “the mystery of his will”, and “the counsel of his own will”. So we are brought in Ephesians 1 to what is typically set forth in 2 Chronicles 5: 10. There is nothing left but the will of God fully established in Christ and through Christ.
We have been considering the ark as setting forth the greatness of Christ personally, and in considering the tables we are brought to see what is in Him. He is greater than all He contains. It is really only the saints of the assembly who can look upon Christ in the holiest and see the will of God established in Him; so it belongs particularly to the present time — as we are seeking to know it now.
It is indeed “the surpassing glory”. The glory as seen in Ephesians goes back before the foundation of the world, and is connected with the saints being chosen in Christ. “That we should be holy and blameless before him in love; having marked us out beforehand for adoption (sonship) through Jesus Christ to himself”. But I am a poor sinner, you say. But this is the will of God; you must have what God is pleased to give, or nothing! The ten commandments are the necessary claim of love, and now the truth is clear we find it is in the will of God to satisfy His own love, and what He purposed before the world was to have a vast company before Him holy and [p. 38] without blame, in love. That is the will of God, and nothing can alter it. “The love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” — that gives us the ark. And this great thought of sonship is “according to the good pleasure of his will”. Making us accepted in the Beloved is a question of His will. What is His will? He wills that! In Christ and through Christ He has secured what He wills.
“The mystery of his will” refers to what is yet future. It belongs to a wider range than what is proposed in the good pleasure of His will, which has to do with the holy conditions of the saints. “Holy and without blame before him in love” (it is not what they ought to be, but what God’s will is that they should be), “marked out beforehand” for sonship, “accepted in the Beloved”; all that is the will of God and has actually come into effect. It is our privilege to see Christ in the holiest as having secured this for the good pleasure of God’s will and looked at apart from anything else. We turn round on to the mystery of His will, a much wider range of things. People are very stupid to call believers narrow-minded; there is nothing narrow here, but vast.
The mystery of His will comes out in verses 8 - 10. That is, we get an inner circle first upon which the will of God has put a most blessed impress; “holy and without blame before him in love”, and “marked out beforehand” for sonship. Then there is a wider circle which takes in everything in heaven and on earth. That is the mystery of His will; it is millennial; it is the administration of the fulness of times, not eternity. There is going to be a wonderful administration. Figures known on the world’s stage today are passing shadows; that is, they are things only here for a moment and they are going out. But Christ is going to be the centre in whom all will be headed up. It is a mystery now, because only the saints know it, but it is well known to them because God has made it known to us. Verse 8 supposes that the greatest capacity of intelligence belongs to the sons. If we are in this most blessed relationship, He looks for capacity in the sons so that His own wisdom and knowledge can be communicated to them — a wonderful thing! Paul prayed that the saints might be equal to it. It is one thing to see it, another to be equal to it. We can only arrive at that through prayer.
In Revelation 10 we read that “the mystery of God should be finished”, referring to the time when God’s will will be [p. 39] completed publicly. When things are manifested, they are no longer in mystery. We are privileged to go into the most holy place to see this all secured in Christ as much as it will be in a coming day — but only there can we see it.
Then, finally, there is “the counsel of his own will”, which refers to the inheritance. “In whom we have also obtained an inheritance, being marked out beforehand according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his own will”. He has taken away the first; all this is connected with the second. The whole will of God is now brought in; the place of the saints, then their immense outlook, and all things to be headed up in Christ, and lastly the thought of the inheritance. “We have ... obtained an inheritance”.
As far as I observe, believers are not so much taken up with the inheritance as they ought to be. We should have far more dignity about us if it were so. The inheritance shows us what we can be trusted with. The Holy Spirit is the earnest of it, and if He had His way He would make the inheritance a great reality to us. And seeing the inheritance would impress us with the wonderful trustworthiness of it, for we are to share with Christ what He is going to inherit.
“The good pleasure of his will” puts us into happy relations with God our Father who is above us; but the inheritance is beneath us, what we are put in possession of but are capable of taking up as joint heirs with Christ. All this great range of things is connected with the will of God and it must stand. It brings out the greatness of Christ that He is able to bring into this world all the blessed will of God and secure it on the ground of His death, so that the saints come into it and give God the praise and glory.
There is a moment when you are absorbed in the blessedness of the will of God; the Priest and the manna are no longer in view. Hebrews 10 really liberates us in order to come into this wonderful scene of divine pleasure, which brings the whole universe in as the inheritance of the saints. May we be enlarged, not only in the greatness of Christ, but in what He contains — enlarged in what is in the ark!