God’s will vs. Jesus’ will?
By Elizabeth Prata
“For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. “This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day. “For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.” (John 6:38-40).
The word of God is so rich, isn’t it? Let’s focus on what Jesus said about His will and the Father’s will.
First, we see that Jesus has a will independent of the Father. He said ‘not my will.’ In no way are the members of the Trinity at odds with each other, Jesus is making the statement here that He is 100% submitted to the will and plan of the Father. But the other indication is that they are one Being in essence but three separate persons. And those persons, God, Jesus, Spirit, do have independent wills.
Gill’s Exposition on verse John 6:38 says,
It is readily granted that they are not one and the same person; they are two distinct persons, which sending, and being sent, do clearly show; but then they are one in nature, though distinct in person, and they agree in will and work. Christ came not to do any will of his own different from that of his Father’s; nor do these words imply a difference of wills in them, much less a contrariety in them, but rather the sameness of them. (Gill’s Exposition on verse John 6:38).
As interesting and mind-bending as that is, let’s take a look at what the will of Jesus IS. From The Will of Christ! at GraceGems, by William Nicholson, 1862:
The will of Christ refers,
1. To the place of happiness. “Where I am.” This, doubtless, refers to Heaven, the dwelling-place of the great King. There he sits at the right hand of God, angels, etc., being made subject unto him. It is there, that his divinity shines through the humanity with ineffable brightness, and there he is beheld in all the moral grandeur of the only begotten Son of God!
It is a Heaven of unspeakable grandeur. It is a house, in which there are many mansions. It is a building of God — it is a kingdom — it is an inheritance. The gates of the celestial city are pearls; its streets are pure gold; it has no need of the sun, Revelation 21:21, 23, 25. Of the glory and beauty of every other part of the universe, compared with the magnificence of Heaven, it may be truly said, that “even that which was made glorious, has no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excels.”
It is a Heaven of perfect purity. The “Holy One of God” dwells there, and no sin can exist where he resides. It is the “habitation of his holiness.” Revelation 21:27. O glorious Heaven, where sin will never enter to contaminate!
It is a Heaven of perfect happiness — of pure, boundless, and unmingled delight. Sin will be forever excluded; and as sin is the great source of every kind of misery, there will never be the least apprehension of the happiness of Heaven being interrupted.
It is the Heaven of immortality. The inhabitant will never say I am sick. Death will never depopulate that kingdom. Revelation 21:4.
In this glorious place, Jesus designs his people to dwell. There he lives and reigns. “Father, I will those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory!”
“Him who overcomes I will make a pillar in the temple of my God. Never again will he leave it. I will also write on him my new name!” Revelation 3:12
“To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne!” Revelation 3:21.
end William Nicholson
The Thanksgiving holiday here in the United States is coming up. There is much to be thankful for. When I ‘count my blessings’ I usually thank Jesus for the things He has given me; my car, apartment, job, friends… but He is so much more than the ‘thing-deliverer’. During this season of thanks, let us focus on who Jesus is, His attributes, and His person to cultivate a right perspective of the second Person of the God-head.
