02.59. God's Will, Pleasure, Purpose, Promise ...
59. GOD’S WILL, PLEASURE, PURPOSE, PROMISE, AND OATH.
It is the will of God to save all souls.
"I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; for kings and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior; who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time" (1 Timothy 2:1-6). "All that the Father gives me shall come to me; and him that comes to me I will in no wise cast out. For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this is the Father’s will which has sent me, that of all which he has given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which sees the Son, and believes on him, may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day" (John 6:37-40). This is not a will of desire merely, but of purpose, such being the meaning of the word thelo, as the following passages show:
"For as the Father raises up the dead and quickens them, even so the Son quickens whom he will" (John 5:21). "And Jesus put forth his hand and touched him, saying, I will; be you clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed" (Matthew 8:3). "The same day there came certain of the Pharisees saying unto him, get you out, and depart hence; for Herod will kill you" (Luke 13:31). "We will not have this man to reign over us" (Luke 19:14). A good being, a Father, could have no other will than the welfare of his children. His will is finally to be accomplished.
"But he is in one mind, and who can turn him? and what his soul desires, even that he does" (Job 23:13). "There are many devices in a man’s heart; nevertheless the counsel of the Lord, that shall stand" (Proverbs 19:21). "He does according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand, or say unto him what are you doing?" (Daniel 4:35). "Your people shall be willing in the day of your power" (Psalms 110:3). "Your will be done" (Matthew 6:10).
It is God’s pleasure that all shall be redeemed from sin and error.
"For you have created all things, and for your pleasure they are and were created" (Revelation 4:11). "As I live says the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked" (Ezekiel 18:23; Ezekiel 18:32). "Having made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he has purposed in himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even in him" (Ephesians 1:9-10).
God’s pleasure will be performed.
"I will do all my pleasure" (Isaiah 46:10). "So shall my word be that goes forth out of my mouth; it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it" (Isaiah 55:11). "The pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his (Christ’s) hands" (Isaiah 53:10).
It is God’s purpose to save all.
"Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he has purposed in himself; that in the dispensation of the fullness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him: in whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who works all things after the counsel of his own will; that we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ: in whom you also trusted after that you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that you believed, you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory" (Ephesians 1:9-14). The phrase, "all things," here employed, denotes "the universe," according to Professor Stuart, and Archbishop Newcome says the phrase means "all intelligent beings." God, then, purposes to unite in one, all intelligent beings, that is "the whole purchased possession." God’s purpose will be executed.
"The Lord of Hosts has sworn, saying, surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed so shall it stand - for the Lord of hosts has purposed, and who shall disannul it? And his hand is stretched out and who shall turn it back?" (Isaiah 14:24-27). "I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it" (Isaiah 46:11). "Who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began" (2 Timothy 1:9).
If God had no purpose he would not be God. If a bad purpose he would not be a father. He had a good purpose. It embraces the moral universe. It will be fulfilled in the holiness and happiness of all mankind. It is sometimes said that the Divine will is defeated.
"O, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you that killed the prophets, and stoned them which are sent unto you; how often would I have gathered your children together, even as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not! Behold your house is left unto you desolate" (Matthew 23:37-38). But such critics do not read the next verse:
"For I say unto you, you shall not see me henceforth, till you shall say, Blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord."
It was a postponement, but not a defeat, of the will of Christ. Thus God’s Will, Purpose and Pleasure are all invested in the work of universal redemption, and his will, purpose and pleasure will be accomplished, for they will remain eternally the same, inasmuch as he is "without variableness or shadow of turning" (James 1:17). God wills, and Christ wills universal salvation, the people shall be willing, and God’s will shall be done.
He has pledged his sacred promise to render all his offspring holy and happy. In the beginning he announced the temporal duration of sin, and the death of evil. "And I will put enmity between you (the serpent) and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; it shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel" (Genesis 3:15).
What is the serpent or man tempter?
"Every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed" (James 1:14).
Satan and his works are the lusts of the flesh, and are to be destroyed.
"For as much, then, as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same, that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil: and deliver them, who though fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage" (Hebrews 2:14-15). "For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil" (1 John 3:8). This promise he renewed to the patriarchs and confirmed to the apostles.
"In you shall all families of the earth be blessed" (Genesis 12:3). "In your seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed" (Genesis 22:18). "I will perform my oath which I swore unto Abraham your father, and I will make your seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and I will give unto your seed all these countries; and in your seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed" (Genesis 26:3-4). "And in you, and in your seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed" (Genesis 28:14). "You are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, and in your seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed. Unto you first, God, having raised up his Son, Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities" (Acts 3:25-26). "And the Scripture foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, in you shall all nations be blessed" (Galatians 3:8). "Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He says not, and to seeds as of many; but, as of one, and to your seed, which is Christ" (Galatians 3:16).
All the nations, families and kindreds of the earth are to be blessed with a gospel blessing, to consist in being turned away from iniquity, and the Universalist can plead the promise of God for his faith. "That anchor holds."
He will fulfill his promise.
"God is not a man that he should lie, neither the son of man that he should repent. Has he said and shall he not do it? or has he spoken and shall he not make it good?" (Numbers 23:19). "For what if some did not believe? Shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect? God forbid: yea, let God be true but every man a liar" (Romans 3:3-4). "For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him amen" (2 Corinthians 1:20).
God has confirmed his promise by an oath. He has sworn to redeem all mankind from sin and error.
"I have sworn by myself; the word has gone out of my mouth and shall not return, that unto me every knee shall bow and every tongue shall swear, surely shall say, in the Lord have I righteousness and strength" (Isaiah 45:23-24). "For men verily swear by the greater: and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife. Wherein God, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath: that by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us: which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters into that within the vail; whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made a high priest forever after the order of Melchisedek" (Hebrews 6:16-20).
Thus we have GOD’S AFFIDAVIT to plead in evidence of our faith.
Jesus is the appointed means to accomplish this end.
"My meat is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work" (John 4:34). "Your will be done" (Matthew 6:10), was his prayer. "God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved" (John 3:17). "We have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world" (1 John 4:14). "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me" (John 12:32).
God wills the salvation of all men.
"Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth" (1 Timothy 2:4). The will of God shall be done.
"He does according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What are you doing?" (Daniel 4:35). The will of God is law, alike in the spiritual as in the material world. It must ultimately be accomplished.
God purposes to save all men.
"Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he has purposed in himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of times, he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth, even in him" (Ephesians 1:9-10).
God’s purpose will be executed.
"My counsel shall stand and I will do all my pleasure" (Isaiah 46:10).
God promises to save all men.
"You are the children of the prophets and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, and in your seed shall all the kindreds or the earth be blessed" (Acts 3:25).
God will fulfill his promises.
"For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him amen, unto the glory of God by us" (2 Corinthians 1:20).
God makes oath that he will save all men.
"I have sworn by myself; the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, that unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear, surely shall say, in the Lord have I righteousness and strength" (Isaiah 45:23-24). And God will make good his oath.
"Wherein, God, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath; that by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us" (Hebrews 6:17-18).
Jesus will accomplish the work he came to do.
"He shall see of the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied" (Isaiah 53:11). "Wherefore God also has highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name; that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father" (Php 2:9-11).
WHAT GOD WILLS, HE PURPOSES; WHAT HE PURPOSES, HE PROMISES; WHAT HE PROMISES HE MAKES OATH TO, SENDS HIS SON TO ACCOMPLISH, AND JESUS DOES ACCOMPLISH.