God’s eternal purpose is of His will. Now we need to see that God’s will is according to God’s good pleasure (Eph. 1:9). God’s good pleasure is His heart pleasure, which we may call the desire of His heart. Our God is living, loving, and purposeful. The living, loving, and purposeful God surely has a desire. Every living thing and especially every living person has a desire, a good pleasure. If we desire pleasure, then certainly God does also. Only something dead or nonliving has no such need. The more living we are, the more pleasure we need. The degree of our livingness determines how much pleasure we need. Because God is certainly the most living One, He surely needs the most pleasure. If we, as fallen sinners, require pleasure, then how much more does God, the living One, have a deep need for it. The book of Ephesians reveals that God needs pleasure; it reveals the desire of God’s heart. The biblical term for “the desire of God’s heart” is “the good pleasure of His will.” The good pleasure of God’s will is the desire of God’s heart.
Our God is living and loving. John 3:16 says, “God so loved the world.” Why did God love the world? He loved the world because out of the world He will have His good pleasure, His heart’s desire.
The eternal purpose of God is of God’s will according to God’s good pleasure, which He purposed in Himself. God’s purpose, God’s will, and God’s good pleasure are interrelated. The living, loving, purposeful God has a desire, which is His good pleasure. God had this desire, this good pleasure, in eternity past. Then within Himself He determined to accomplish something in order to have the fulfillment of His desire. This means that God’s desire became His determined intent to have what He wants. Therefore, the source of God’s eternal economy is actually God’s good pleasure. First, God had a pleasure, a desire. Then He determined to carry out this desire, and this became God’s will, what God wants. Hence, God’s good pleasure, His desire, comes first. Within Himself God purposed to carry out this desire, to get what He wants, and that became His will. What God wants is the church. From this we can see that the church is God’s good pleasure, God’s will, God’s purpose, and God’s oikonomia. Furthermore, all this is a mystery, a hidden, mysterious story. This indicates that the church is a great matter, for the church is God’s desire, God’s good pleasure. God’s will is to have the church, and He has purposed to carry out the desire to have the church which He wants. Therefore based upon His desire, will, and purpose, God made a plan, an oikonomia, a household arrangement, a household administration. Therefore, God’s economy is His planned administration to carry out His eternal purpose to have the church.
God had a desire, a good pleasure, according to which He has a will. Based upon His will, God made a purpose, a determined intent. He then made a plan to administrate His purpose, and this plan is to dispense Himself as life, life supply, and everything into His chosen people. This is the economy of God.
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