Answer: Before we look at the different aspects of Gods will as
revealed in the Bible, I think it is important to recognize that a
correct understanding of what the Bible teaches concerning the will
of God has to come from a correct understanding of the nature and
character of God. One cannot truly understand what the Bible
teaches about the will of God if they do not first recognize some
key aspects of Gods nature. For example we must understand that
God is sovereign and immutable (unchanging). We also need to
understand that He is omnipresent, omniscient and omnipotent. A
failure to understand these fundamental aspects of Gods nature or
character will lead to a misunderstanding of the different aspects
of Gods will as revealed in the Bible.
When speaking of Gods will many people see three different aspects
of it being revealed in the Bible. The first aspect of it is known
as Gods decretive, sovereign or hidden will. This is what you
refer to as Gods ultimate will. This aspect of Gods will comes
out of the recognition of Gods sovereignty and the other aspects
of Gods nature as mentioned in the first part of this response.
When theologians refer to this aspect of Gods will they are
acknowledging the fact that God sovereignly ordains everything that
comes to pass. In other words there is nothing that happens that is
outside of Gods sovereign will. This aspect of Gods will is seen
in verses like Ephesians 1:11 where it tells us that God is the one
who works all things according to the counsel of His will and Job
42:2; "I know that You can do everything, And that no purpose of
Yours can be withheld from You. This view of Gods will is based
on the fact that because God is sovereign, His will can never be
frustrated and we can be sure that nothing happens that is beyond
His control.
This does not imply that God causes everything to happen but
acknowledges that because He is sovereign He must at least permit
or allow whatever happens to happen. Again understanding this
aspect of Gods will is found in the fact that God is both
omnipotent (all-powerful) and omniscient (all-knowing). By
acknowledging these aspects of Gods character alone, it becomes
evident that if God is indeed omnipotent (all powerful) as the
Bible clearly teaches He is, then nothing could happen that would
be outside of His control. This aspect of Gods will acknowledges
the fact that even when God passively permits things to happen, He
must choose to permit them because He always has the power and
right to intervene and either permit or stop the actions and events
of this world. Therefore, insofar as He lets things happen, He has
willed them in this sense of the word.
While Gods sovereign will is often hidden from us until after it
comes to pass, there is another aspect of His will that is plain to
us. That aspect is what is known as His perceptive or His revealed
will. As the name implies this aspect of Gods will simply
acknowledges that God has chosen to reveal some of what His will
for us is in the Bible through His holy law and the multitude of
commands that He gives us to obey. The perceptive or revealed will
of God is Gods declared will concerning what we should do or what
God commands us to do. For example because of the revealed will of
God we can know that it is Gods will that we do not steal, that we
love our enemies, that we repent of our sins and that we be holy as
He is holy. This aspect of Gods will is revealed both in His Word
as well as in our conscience, through which God has written His
moral law upon the hearts of all men. The laws or commands of God
as found in the Scripture or in the heart are binding upon us;
therefore we are accountable when we disobey them.
Understanding this aspect of Gods will acknowledges that while we
have the power and ability to disobey Gods commends, we do not the
right to do so. Therefore there is no excuse for our sin and we
cant claim that by choosing to sin we are simply fulfilling Gods
sovereign decree or will. This is why that even though Judas was
fulfilling Gods sovereign will in betraying Christ, just as the
Romans who crucified Him were, their sins were no less evil or
treacherous and they were held accountable for their rejection of
Christ. (Acts 4:27-8 ) When God permits us to break His perceptive
or revealed will, we should not think of it as having His
permission to sin. His permission allows us the power to sin, but
does not give us right to do so. Even though in His sovereign will
God allows or permits sin to happen we are still accountable to Him
for that sin.
The third aspect of Gods will that we see in the Bible is Gods
permissive will or what might be considered to be Gods will of
disposition. This aspect of Gods will describes Gods attitude and
defines what is pleasing to Him. For example, while it is clear
that God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked it is also
clear that He most surely wills or decrees their death. This aspect
of Gods will is revealed in the many verses of Scripture that
indicate what God does and does not take pleasure in. For example
in 1 Timothy 2:4 we see that God desires all men to be saved and
to come to the knowledge of the truth and yet we know that Gods
sovereign will is that No one can come to Me unless the Father who
sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day. (John
6:44) Examples of God's preceptive or revealed will include Ezekiel
18:3; Matthew 6:10; 7:21; Ephesians 5:17; and 1 Thessalonians 4:3.
Some would also place in this category 1 Timothy 2:4 and 2 Peter
3:9. Examples of God's decretive or hidden will include James 4:15;
1 Corinthians 4:19; and Matthew 11:25-26.
If we are not careful it can become easy for Christians to become
preoccupied or even obsessed with finding the will of God for our
lives, but if the will we are seeking is His secret, hidden, or
decretive will, then we are on a foolish quest. The reason it is
foolish is that God has not chosen to reveal that aspect of His
will for us. What we should seek to know is the perceptive or
revealed will of God. The true mark of spirituality is when people
desire to know and live according to the will of God as revealed in
the Scripture, and that can be summarized as be holy for I am
Holy (1 Peter 1:15-16). Our responsibility is to obey the revealed
will of God and not to speculate on what His hidden will for us
might be. While we should seek to be led by the Holy Spirit we
must never forget that the Holy Spirit is primarily leading us to
righteousness and to being conformed into the image of Christ so
that our lives will glorify God. God calls us to live our lives by
every word that proceeds from the His mouth.
Living according to His revealed will should be the chief aim or
purpose of our lives. Romans 12:1-2 summarizes this truth as we are
called to present our bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable
to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed
to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind,
that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect
will of God. To know the will of God we should immerse ourselves
in the written Word of God, saturating our minds with it and
praying that the Holy Spirit will transform us through the renewing
of our minds so that the result is what is good, acceptable and
perfectthe will of God.
Recommended Resource: Knowing God by J.I. Packer.
[Extracted from gotquestions.org]
[icemoon, dun scold me for using the same
source again lar... 
]
