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earth among men. In the "Lord's Prayer" (Matt. 6: 9-13; Luke 11: 2-4) the petition
"Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven" is to do with God's desire, not His purpose.
It was His desire that the Kingdom should come, and His wishes be carried out, but the
response of Israel was lacking, the coming of the Kingdom is yet in abeyance, and His
desires still ignored.
This thought is brought out in a comparison of II Pet. 3: 9 with I Tim. 2: 4. Peter,
referring to the appearance of scoffers who ask "Where is the promise of His coming?"
says in verse 9: "The Lord is not slack concerning His promise . . . . . but is . . . . . not
willing that any should perish . . . . .". The Lord does not determine, or purpose that any
should perish. Here, surely, is the answer to those who say there are those predestined to
damnation. This is not, says Peter, God's purpose. Writing to Timothy, Paul says "God
our Saviour . . . . . will have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the
truth". God desires to have all men saved. But God has given to man the freedom of
choice (not freedom of will, but the freedom either to comply with the desires of God for
man, or to refuse so to do), and He will not override that freedom. Speaking of the
sovereign will of God in Rom. 9:, Paul refers to Pharaoh (verse 17): "For the Scripture
saith unto Pharaoh, even for this same purpose (lit. `thing') have I raised thee up, that I
might shew My power in thee, and that My name might be declared throughout all the
earth". He continues in verse 19: "Thou wilt say then unto me, why doth He yet find
fault? For who hath resisted His will?"; who hath resisted His purpose? Had Pharaoh
complied with that request or not, it was God's purpose to shew forth His power and to
declare His name throughout all the earth, and nothing could prevent it. While Pharaoh
resisted God's wish, he could do nothing to resist God's purpose. "Surely the wrath of
man shall praise Thee" says the Psalmist (76: 10). If God's purpose could be resisted
and prevented by man, or any other being, there could be no assurance, no certainty, no
salvation.
With Israel's failure to repent and receive the Messiah, it seemed that Satan had
succeeded in resisting and preventing the fulfillment of God's purpose. But through His
foreknowledge, God was not found unprepared. He had planned to meet the eventuality.
In terms of our subject, this is made clear in Eph. 1: 9-11: Having made known unto us
the mystery of His desire, according to (or perhaps, `in harmony with') His good pleasure
which He designed (lit. `set before', hence to plan or design) in Him; unto the
dispensation of the fullness of times to sum up for Himself in one all things in Christ,
things above the heavens and things on the earth; in Him, in Whom we obtain an
inheritance having been marked out beforehand in harmony with the design (or plan) of
Him Who worketh all things in harmony with the purpose of His desire. God has made
known to us the (now) `open secret' (as Moffatt has it) of His desire which He designed
`before the foundation of the world' (verse 4), a design still in harmony with His desire,
and still well-pleasing to Himself. He had not been `caught out'. His desire for His
creatures left them a degree of latitude enabling them to frustrate His desire; but, as it
were, within the sphere of His desire is the `hard core' of His purpose which cannot be
frustrated, and it is in harmony with this `hard core' that he worketh all things. Hence,
upon the failure of Israel to conform to His desire for them, His purpose was continued in
the Church which is the Body of Christ.