#28 On the Nature of God: HOW WAS HIS WILL ACCOMPLISHED?

Do you ever analyze how you get things done? How you run your business? Your Family? Manage daily life? Plan a vacation? Analyzing often reveals mismanagement, bullying, arguing, careful persuasion, confusion, or even acting unconcerned.

Ever think about how God got things done on this earth? Examining how God accomplished His will can reveal much of His nature and help us understand God better.

The Bible shows four ways that God’s wishes were made to happen and one way He communicates today:

  1. Sometimes God just did things by direct action. Creation was like that, Genesis 1:1:

“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”

No other agent was employed. God just spoke and His intellect and power caused it to happen. The same is true of the flood. God alone caused it, Genesis 7:10-12:

“… the waters of the flood came upon the earth… all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of the heavens were opened. And rain fell upon the earth forty days and forty nights.”

  1. Sometimes God spoke directly to mankind.

Moses is an example, Exodus 3:4-5:

“When the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” Then he said, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.”

God sent Moses to Egypt to bring the Children of Israel out of captivity. When he came again to Mount Horeb, God spoke directly and gave Moses the Old Law, Exodus 19:20 and 20:1-2:

“And the LORD called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up…

…And God spoke all these words, saying, “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt…”

God also sent angels to speak directly to people; for example, to Mary, Luke 1:26-27, 30-31:

“… the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin… And the virgin’s name was Mary…

…And the angel said to her, … “behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.”

  1. Sometimes, God allowed wicked people to carry out their wicked plans in order to accomplish His will.

The prophets had said that if the people did not repent of idol worship, they would be punished. When God’s patience wore thin, He allowed the Assyrians to end the northern nation of Israel, 2 Kings 17:6:

“In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria, and he carried the Israelites away to Assyria…”

In New Testament days, God allowed the wicked Jews to crucify Jesus.

  1. God gave the Apostles a guide to aid in preaching the gospel to the world.

Jesus had promised the Holy Spirit in John 14:16-17, and 26:

“And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth…

…You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.

…But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.”

This Helper, the Holy Spirit, fell on the disciples on the day of Pentecost, fifty days after Jesus arose from the grave, Acts 2:1-4:

“When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.”

The Holy Spirit insured that the apostles would preach exactly what God desired as they formed the church and preached the plan of salvation. God provides the plan of salvation today by the Bible, the inspired written word of God.

Peter explained how it happened, 2 Peter 1:20-21:

“…that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

The message of the prophets was inspired by God. Amos is an example. He uses a single phrase to emphasize that he spoke for God, Amos 1:3:

“Thus says the LORD:”

 Today, God instructs us concerning salvation only through the New Testament, Jude 3:

“Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.

After Bible days, no new information about how to be saved would be given because the faith had been delivered once for all.

In summary, God accomplished His will on this earth by direct action and speaking directly to people, by sending angels and prophets to speak, by allowing wicked nations and people to carry out His punishments, by sending the Holy Spirit as a guide for creating Christianity and  the plan of salvation and by the inspired word, the Bible. Today He speaks through the New Testament.

These methods of operation are part of the nature of God.

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