
I finished reading a very good book, "The Will of God", Weatherhead.
This was very helpful to me in applying thought to the subject of the
will of God.

Weatherhead broke the will of God into three distinct parts;
intentional will, circumstancial will, and ultimate will.  He
(Weatherhead) also refuted the last statement (above) by Michael
Parkin above quite nicely.

Summarizing; _despite_ the failures of humankind, God's ultimate will
is never to be defeated.  God's intentions may be interfered with,
even temporarily defeated by the will of humankind, brought down by
circumstance.  His ultimate will (the reconcilication of all
humankind) will never be stopped.

Time after time, Weatherhead used the Cross as the best description of
this process at work.  His points, paraphrased, were 1) God's
intentional will was for Jesus, the Christ, to live out a full life
and perform the work of the Living God.  2) The failures, sins, and
deviousness of humankind frustrated God's intent for His Son.  3)
Despite the circumstance, God's ultimate will was revealed in the
Cross, as Jesus willingly ("not my will, Lord, but yours") died for
the redemption of all humankind.  The Cross was utterly triumphant,
overcoming even the most cruel of circumstances.


It was not the intentional will of God.  It was the circumstancial
will, thus enabling the victory of the ultimate will.



Right, intentional will.

(Just like the Jewish people

We know neither the time nor the place.  He will return as a thief in the night.

Peace.

Rob
