There is no greater subject that one could study than that of learning what God's will is. Why? Because man has a soul, and this soul will eternally exist somewhere. Jesus said that those that do the Father's will would enter the eternal home in heaven and those that do not obey will be banished from His presence and spend eternity with the devil and his angels (Matthew 7:21-23; 25:31-46). The fact of the matter is that the scriptures over and over emphasize the need to obey God's will.
Someone might ask, "What is God's will?" To answer this we might ask, "How do you know what anyone desires or what anyone's will is?" The answer would be, "They must tell us." That is exactly right. One must tell you what their will is for you to know it. I do not know what my wife's will is, unless she tells me. My two little boys do not know what their daddy's will is unless I tell them. So God, the Father, must make His will known to us. Has He done this? Yes! The Hebrew writer says, "God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the father by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son" (Hebrews 1:1-2).
We are told "God has spoken" in the past to the fathers and prophets. We see this early in Genesis. God spoke to Adam saying, "Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it" (Genesis 2:16-17). The Lord's will was clear. Adam and Eve could eat of every tree, but the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Did Adam and Eve understand this? Yes! The serpent came to Eve and ask about the eating of the fruit of the trees. Eve responded by saying, "We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die" (Genesis 3:2-3). Yes, Eve understood because God made His will known to Adam. Even though Adam and Eve understood God's will they disobeyed. Due to their disobedience, God put them out of the garden. Later, God gave His law (His will) to Moses in Exodus 20 and following. Moses made known this law (God's will) to man. They intended to keep it, but failed over and over again. One example is the command God gave on the transporting of the ark of the covenant (Numbers 4). In verse 15, we are told that no one was to touch it lest they die. Later when the ark was being transported, "and when they came to Nachon's threshingfloor, Uzzah put forth his hand to the ark of God, and took hold of it; for the oxen shook it" (2 Samuel 6:6). Did God make known His will? Yes. Surely, Uzzah understood this. But he must have reasoned that God would not want the ark to fall to the ground and be broken into many, many pieces. Therefore, Uzzah steadied the ark with his hand. What was God's reaction to this? "And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah; and God smote him there for his error; and there he died by the ark of God" (2 Samuel 6:7). God has in the past made His will known by the fathers and prophets and He expected His will to be obeyed.
The Hebrew writer says that "God has spoken" in the past through the fathers and prophets, but now speaks through His Son. The Lord's will is now given by Jesus Christ, and His words are our standard of judgement. Notice what Jesus said before he went to the cross. "He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day. For I have not spoken of myself: but the Father which sent me, gave me commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak. And I know that His commandment is life everlasting: whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak" (John 12:48-50). Jesus makes it clear that God's (the Father's) will is being spoken through Himself and that this will be the standard of judgement for men. Jesus then before His death told His disciples that the Comforter would guide them into all truth, and bring to their remembrance all that He had taught them (John 16:13; 14:26). Why? So they could make God's will made known to men as they preached and wrote in the first century.
So to understand God's will we must look to the gospel of Christ and see what He taught. We must understand that this is God's will today and to please Him we must obey it. We cannot go back to the commands God gave to the fathers, or the prophets for our justification. Why? Because Christ said he fulfilled the law; brought it to an end (Matthew 5:17-18). Doing the Lord's will is doing what he commanded. The question may be ask, "Why don't you use instruments of music in worship to God? The answer is the law of Christ says nothing about using mechanical instruments of music in worship, but it does tell us to sing and make melody in your hearts unto the Lord (Ephesians 5:19). Or, the question may come, "Why do you teach that one must be baptized to be saved?" The answer is because the law of Christ teaches that (Mark 16:16; Acts 2:38). We must ever be impressed with obeying and doing God's will in all things.
Obedience to the will of God is one of the cardinal principles set forth in the scriptures. Let us learn the lessons of those in the past that God wants His will followed, and not be among those that have not obeyed when Jesus comes again (2 Thessalonians 1:7-9).
~In Gospel Power, Anderson, Alabama, 2/21/99.