The irresistible will of God.
I. THE FACT. The Jews were ready to believe that Egypt was a match for Babylon, and to hope that through the conflict of these two powers they might regain their liberty. Even if they were justified in thinking so from a calculation of the material resources of these great empires, Jeremiah reminded them that there were other considerations to be taken into account before the result could be predicted. It was the will of God that Babylon should conquer Jerusalem. Therefore, if the Chaldean army were reduced to a disorganized group of wounded men, Jerusalem would still succumb. The Jews had found that, while they were faithful to God, they were strong against hordes of enemies. They were to learn that when they had put themselves against God, the position was reversed, and the weakest foe could overthrow them. So it was true against them, as it had been on their side, that "a little one should chase a thousand." It has been the mistake of kings and of peoples to leave out of their calculations the chief factor of their history—to forget that God is ever working out his will through their cross purposes. Do we not make the same mistake in our private lives? If God is almighty, it follows beyond question that he must accomplish what he purposes, though to us there seems no means of doing so, and though he neither reveals the means nor in most cases the end, working them out "deep in unfathomable mines." Still, we know some things concerning God's will and the way he works it out; e.g. he always wills what is just and good; material events are largely beyond our control and under the influence of providence; moral influences count for much in history, and these are directly affected by the spiritual relations of God with the minds of men.
II. THE RELATION OF THIS FACT TO FATALISM AND TO NECESSARIAITISM.
1. The relation of it to fatalism. It must be distinguished from materialistic fatalism, which denies all will in nature; from pagan fatalism, which sets the decrees of the fates above the power of the gods; from Mohammedan fatalism, which ascribes every event to the will of God, but regards that will as the unfettered choice of an irresponsible despot. The irresistible power in providence as revealed in the Bible is a will, a Divine will, a holy will, that always works out purposes of justice, purity, and love.
2. The relation of this fact to necessarianism. If God's will is irresistible what room is there for our will? Must not that be necessarily bound by his will? This question arises from confusing two phases of the will of God. The phrase, "will of God," represents two things—
The first governs his actions, the second inspires his Law. Now, it is the first that is irresistible; the second is plainly resistible. All sin is nothing but man's rebellion against God's will, i.e. God's will in the second sense—what he wishes us to do. This is really no contradiction to what we know of the first will of God—what he purposes to do himself—because in his almighty will of action he chooses to give us free will containing the power of resisting his Law. Still, God's will to act must harmonize with his wilt in his Law for our conduct. If we resist the second will, we shall find ourselves in conflict with the first, against which all resistance is futile. Therefore true wisdom will lead us to do God's will where we are free in relation to it, that we may find ourselves in agreement with God's will where opposition means only failure and ruin.