“Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of Me,) to do Thy will O God.” Hebrews 10:7
It is recorded in John’s gospel, just after the meeting of Jesus with the Samaritan woman, that the disciples urged the Lord Jesus to eat, as He must have been hungry. In answer to their request that He eat, Jesus responded, “I have meat (or food) to eat that you know not of.” (4:32) After a brief moment, He went on to clarify: “My meat (or food) is to do the will of Him that sent Me, and to finish His work.” (4:34) The Lord Jesus was always leaning forward, focused upon the goal of His mission, all the while keeping in communion with His Father. This is seen also at the beginning of His ministry, when, after being anointed by the Spirit of God at His baptism, He was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. It is there when Satan comes to tempt Him that He replies to the first temptation by declaring: “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.'” (Matt. 4:4) Christ was dominated by knowing the will of His Father and accomplishing that will. He was forward leaning, ever in the pursuit of doing all things that were pleasing to the Father, in order to bring down from heaven the greatest blessing upon those whom He came to save, and this to the glory of the Father. As bread was essential for Him to partake of for his daily sustenance, so the doing of the will of His Father was His spiritual bread, which exceeded the importance of the physical. And yet, the man Christ Jesus, God in the flesh, would become like all men in their physical existence, limited by that which was physical. He was “…touched with the feeling of our infirmities; …in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.” (Heb. 4:15) How then did Christ live, in the limitations of body and spirit as a man, and yet God, in order to one day declare, with the last drop of His life’s blood and strength, “It is finished?” He had accomplished the will of the Father, having obtained for all men a perfect salvation. He had dealt the terrible, staggering and eternal blow to the head of the serpent (Satan) that day, and at the same broken the power of sin in the individual sinner. He had made perfect provision for all of man’s sins, and finished the work so that now He could send the Spirit of God to dwell in the hearts of men, to fill and empower them, in order that they should rise up and prove His abounding grace and mercy, declaring to the world that He WAS, and IS God, man’s only Savior, and Security for eternity. But how did He do this, and how does it apply to the individual believer?
In the Gospel of John, the Lord Jesus, in speaking of the difference between His teaching and that of men, reveals how one can make the distinction. He said, “If any man WILL do His (God’s) will, he shall know of the doctrine (or teaching), whether it be of God, or whether I speak of Myself.” (7:17) When Christ began His ministry, He did so being absolutely committed to doing the will of the Father. Therefore, He would know the will of the Father revealed to Him by the Spirit, and this according to the Scriptures.
Secondly, at the moment of His anointing, when the Spirit came upon Him specifically for the accomplishment of His work, all the resources of the Father were given to Him, so that by His power and strength, Christ would be able not only to discern the will of God, but overcome every obstacle in the accomplishing of it.
The believer, complete in Christ, has received an anointing, that he should know and do the will of God.
Dear Father, Strengthen our wills today. In Jesus’ name, Amen.