what does god want for us

If we think of the great matter of salvation, we are told He has no pleasure in the death of the wicked; neither is it His will than any little children should perish (Matt. 18:14), for the Son of Man came to save them. Indeed, it is said, He is “not willing that any should perish” (2 Peter 3:9); and, again, He “desires that all men should be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim. 2:4). This salvation is in Christ Jesus, and is according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself before time began; and if it be written, “By grace ye are saved” (Eph. 2:8), we are also told in 2 Timothy 1:9, He “has saved us, and has called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace.” It is the same in regard to the wonderful relationship of sons into which the saved are brought by redemption—He “marked us out beforehand for adoption (or sonship) through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will” (Eph. 1:5, N.Tr.); and verse 9 tells us that the mystery of His will to centre up all things in Christ is also “according to His good pleasure.” From the start to the finish—from the first moment when this was purposed right on to the moment of its full accomplishment in glory—this has been kept always in view; and between the time when the design was divinely conceived and the time when its glorious attainment shall be universally seen, God has been ordering all after the counsel of His own will for the praise of His glory.

He repeats again the list of sacrifices, and then, in the ninth verse, our blessed Lord says, "Lo, I come to do Thy will, O God:" thus He puts these two in direct contrast; "He taketh away the first, that He may establish the second." He takes away the sacrifices under the law, that He might establish the blessed will of God; and that will is our salvation. Did you ever notice in the sixth chapter of John what God's will is? "This is the will of Him that sent Me, that of all which He hath given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. And this is the will of Him that sent Me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on Him, may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day." God's will is our eternal security, the present possession of eternal life by every believer in the Lord Jesus Christ; and that those so redeemed should be brought in resurrection into the presence of His own eternal glory.

For ourselves we desire to be taught exclusively by Scripture and not by any school of divinity. We are sure that God never meant to puzzle, to repulse or to discourage poor souls. God is love, His grace has brought salvation to all. “He wills not the death of a sinner.” “He wills not that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” “He will have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” Such is His gracious aspect toward all. Hence if any perish, it is not in pursuance of the will of God. But there is another side to this great question. Man is responsible. What mean those touching words of the weeping Savior, “How often would I have gathered you as a hen gathers her chickens under her wing, but ye would not!” And again, “Ye will not come to Me that ye might have life.”

The great truth stamped upon the opening verses of 1 Tim. 2 is that God is every man's sincere well-wisher. He desires all men to be saved, and to come to a knowledge of the truth. It is a lie of Satan that some persons come into the world marked out beforehand for eternal ruin. If this were true, every Gospel overture in Holy Scripture would be but a mockery and a sham. "As I live, says the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but rather that the wicked turn from his way and live" (Ezek. 33:11).

"Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in Him" (John 13:31). Now that His character as Judge of sin is vindicated in the expiatory death of His own Son, His love can freely go out to men on the express ground that they are ungodly, enemies, and powerless (Rom. 5:6-10). He is both able and willing to save the vilest, but not without acknowledgment of truth. Therefore He commands all men everywhere to repent and believe the gospel; also the saints, while walking as members of the one body of Christ, are called to walk in love toward all, and to testify the love that can save any by the faith of Christ. If men are lost, it is through their own will opposing the truth; it is not God's will, Who, desiring their salvation, gave His Son, and has now sent His own Spirit from heaven that the glad tidings might be thus declared to them in the power of God our Saviour.

Scripture has much to say of the will of God. There is that which God has determined to do for His own glory, and which will assuredly be accomplished, there being no one in heaven or on earth who has the power to hinder Him from doing exactly what He wills to do. How blessed it is that God has willed the blessing of men in spite of all that man is and has done. To secure this blessing for men the Son of God came into the world, saying, “Lo, I come to do Thy will, O my God.” From John 6:38–40 we learn that it was the will of the Father that the Son should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day, and that all who believe in the Son should have life eternal and that they should be raised up at the last day.

The Son of God came into the world to accomplish the Father's will, and to make it known to those the Father had given Him out of the world. For Himself, the Father's will was a delight, but it brought Him into untold suffering and sorrow; but He was prepared to pass through all that the cross involved so that His Father's will might be accomplished. But the will of the Father had infinite and eternal blessing for those who loved His Son, even as Jesus said, "For this is the will of My Father, that every one who sees the Son, and believes on Him, should have life eternal; and I will raise him up at the last day" (6:40).

We see, therefore, that we have in Heb. 10 these three great facts. (1) The will of God, which shows the Father's heart. He wished the salvation of the sinner, that he might take him as His child. (2) The work of the Son of God. That work secures the salvation which the heart of God desired for the sinner. This salvation is for everyone who will hear and obey the word of God; but we have also (3) the witness of the Spirit of God, which gives the assurance of salvation to the one who believes. The Holy Ghost witnesses to the sinner who has believed in the Lord Jesus Christ that his sins are for ever blotted out. What more does any one want? Only a heart to praise this triune God, who wills, works, and witnesses the present and eternal salvation of the feeblest believer in Jesus.

How wondrously these few words express the breadth of God's heart - of "God our Saviour, who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth!" The breadth of His heart, and the extent of His desire for all men in the present time. In passing I would just observe that the word here translated "will" - "who will have all men to be saved," etc. - signifies desire, wish, in the original, and not determination or decree. Were it the latter none could escape being saved. It is a different word from that used in verse 8, which has more the force of prescribe, or decree.

He wills that every soul that trusts the blood of His Son should be saved, but He is not willing that any should perish, for He desires that all should come (or go forward) to repentance.