Let us remember that just as

Paul can say:

`The foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is

stronger than men' (1 Cor. 1:25)

,

so we can continue `the mere wish of God is stronger than men', and His great

redeeming purpose will be carried to its glorious goal, without introducing such

a conception of the will of God as to make Him, of necessity the author of sin,

as such a conception must lead to if carried to its logical conclusion.  On the

other hand the fact that we have such words as `purpose', `predestination' and

`election' will effectively safeguard us from swinging over to extremes in the

matter of what the will of God really is.  The word thelema occurs seven times

in Ephesians; in six of these seven references, where God is the One Who is in

view, the word is translated `will', but in Ephesians 2:3 the same word is

translated `desire', when used of the flesh.  Ephesians 1:9 is not discussing

the mysterious nature of the will of God, but that His will contains some items

that were kept secret, not revealed until the appropriate time.  It was the

revealed will of God that Israel should accept their Messiah and, under the New

Covenant which He would ratify, become a kingdom of Priests, and the channel of

blessing to the Gentile world.  Nothing can be discovered in the Scriptures,

outside of Paul's epistles or the closing chapters of the Acts, to tell us what

God would do if Israel, the chosen channel, should fail, or whether He had any

plans made to cope with such an emergency.  Satan, the arch-enemy of truth, must

have felt that, having prevented the repentance of Israel, he had effectively

thwarted the Divine purpose.  This is where the wisdom of God becomes so

evident.  He had purposely kept as a secret hidden in Himself, what He had

planned, and what He would do, if Israel failed.  Of course seeing that He knows

the end from the beginning, we are but speaking in the manner of men, when we

use these terms of conjecture or surprise.  Before the overthrow of the world He

had chosen from among the outcast Gentiles, those who should be called into high

favour during such a period of rejection, but for His own wise purposes God had

refrained from making such a fact known to Prophet or Apostle, until Paul became

the prisoner of Christ Jesus for us Gentiles.  This `mystery of His will'

includes all the mysteries that form a part of the revelation made known through

Paul the prisoner, but the expansion of this must of necessity await the time

when the other references to mystery are before us.

Before going on to the next theme that awaits us, namely `The fulness of

times', we must note that the mystery of His will is said to be `according to

His good pleasure, which He hath purposed in Himself' (Eph. 1:9), and as these

words are an extension of the conception of `His will' and the mystery that

belongs to it, we must give them some attention.  The preposition kata

`according to' occurs twenty-four times in Ephesians and is found in every

chapter, being distributed as follows: in the doctrinal portion (Eph. 1 to 3:13)

it is found thirteen times, in the practical portion (Eph. 4 to 6) it is found

nine times, and in the great central prayer (Eph. 3:14-21) it is found twice.

The very presence of this word emphasizes the harmonious outworking of God's

purpose, it can be translated many times `in harmony with'.  So, the choice

before the foundation of the world, and the predestination to sonship, is `in

harmony' with the good pleasure of His will (Eph. 1:4,5).  If, as the

Westminster Confession of faith declares: