The established will of God
To those
with a fair knowledge and understanding of grace should take heed to the Apostle
Paul’s admonition which states; “We then, as workers together with Him also
plead with you not to receive the grace of God in vain.” Because of His
fullness we have all received, and grace for grace: For the law was given
through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ” (2Corinthians
6:1; John 1:16-17).
The grace of God is reciprocal in
that it is intended to help us fulfill the established will of God which was
ordained even before the foundation of the world as it is written;
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed
us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose
us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and
without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by
Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the
praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved” (Ephesians
1:3-6).
The established will of God is for
humanity to be holy, blameless, and irreproachable in His presence, but how
could sinful man who cannot say I have no sin or, I have not sinned be blameless,
perfect and irreproachable before God? Until the advent of the second Adam this
was unattainable and what was in place was a substitute or a shadow of the
reality. Before the advent of the second Adam what was in store was, an earthly
tabernacle, the animal sacrifices and the Levitical priesthood which were all
symbolic, shadows and copies of the reality, thy all served the copy and shadow
of the heavenly things, as Moses was divinely instructed when he was about to
make the tabernacle. For he was told, "See that you make all things
according to the pattern shown you on the mountain."
But now, once and for all, Jesus
Christ the second Adam has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He
is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better
promises. Therefore, when He came into the world, He said: "Sacrifice and
offering You did not desire, but a body You have prepared for Me. In burnt
offerings and sacrifices for sin You had no pleasure.
Then I said, 'Behold, I have come
--- In the volume of the book it is written of Me --- To do Your will, O God.'
Previously saying, "Sacrifice and offering, burnt offerings, and offerings
for sin You did not desire, nor had pleasure in them" (which are offered
according to the law), then He said, "Behold, I have come to do Your will,
O God." He takes away the first that He may establish the second. By that
will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ
once for all” (Hebrews 10:5-10).
The apostle Paul’s final plea to
the church in Thessalonica was, “Finally then, brethren, we urge and exhort in
the Lord Jesus that you should abound more and more, just as you received from
us how you ought to walk and to please God; for you know what commandments we
gave you through the Lord Jesus.’
“For this is the will of God,
your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality; that each
of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor,
not in passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God; that no one
should take advantage of and defraud his brother in this matter, because the
Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also forewarned you and testified. For
God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness: Therefore he who rejects
this does not reject man, but God, who has also given us His Holy Spirit” (1Thessalonians
4:1-8).
The rationale for receiving the
grace of God is that we be righteous, holy and blameless before Him all the
days of our lives because, the oath which the Lord swore to our father Abraham
is to grant us that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might
serve Him without fear, In holiness and righteousness before Him all the days
of our life” (Luke 1:73-75).
But in order to achieve this goal
there is a protocol in place which has to be followed, a copy and shadow of the
reality was instituted before the advent of the second Adam, but since the arrival
of the second Adam he said; “Behold, I have come to do Your will, O God."
He takes away the first that He may establish the second. By that will we have
been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all
and every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same
sacrifices, which can never take away sins: But this Man, after He had offered
one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, from that
time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool. For by one offering He
has perfected forever those who are being sanctified” (Hebrews
10:9-14).
So the logical question for all
of us who have received the grace of God, are the established will of God for
His manifold graces being fulfilled in us and if yes how? Remember the foreordained
will of God is that we be holy, blameless and irreproachable in His sight.
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To be continued, stay tuned
With brotherly love
Lucius Joseph
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