Thoughts On The Love Of God And Jonathan Edwards

On  July 8, 1741 Jonathan Edwards preached what has become his most famous sermon- Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. Of course such a message would not sit well in many churches today. Might as well do as Dr. James White says, and hang a sign outside of your building with these words: "this church is part of the church shrinkage movement.'

Any sermon similar to that would not go over well in most congregations today. Immediate charges of "hell-fire and brimstone," "fundamentalists," "mean spirited," "coercion," "unloving," "spiteful" would come forth. The sentiment is that that is the God of the Old Testament while the God of the New Testament is much nicer and "loving."

But one can certainly read in the Old Testament how loving God is; the issue there reveals that love is not God's most revealed attribute. His holiness is. God's greatest desire is for His own glory both in judgment and salvation. Like wise in the New Testament we find people like Ananias and Saphira whose lives were taken directly by God for lying to Him (Ac. 5:1-6). Or one need simply to read all the warnings about hell from Christ. Even a superficial reading of the book of Revelation testifies that the God of the Old Testament is immutable and therefore the same God in the New. We come across passages like this:

Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, 16 calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?” (Re 6:15–17).

 Does not the above passage sound similar to this one found in Ezekiel 28:22-23:

Thus says the Lord GOD: “Behold, I am against you, O Sidon, and I will manifest my glory in your midst. And they shall know that I am the LORD when I execute judgments in her and manifest my holiness in her; for I will send pestilence into her, and blood into her streets; and the slain shall fall in her midst, by the sword that is against her on every side. Then they will know that I am the LORD.

Is there a very real reason for this consistency? Absolutely! It comes from what God says about Himself though His Word- "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever" (Heb 13:7–8).

One of the most troubling things is that, today, many Christians cannot give an account for this. Many seem to not even care about God's holiness revealed in the Old Testament. They would rather sit in John 3:16 (even though His holiness is found there in the damnation of those that reject Christ) or similar passages that speak of God's love and mercy. They implicitly and unknowingly present two different god's. One of the Old and one of the New, while they seem to be embarrassed and make apologies for the God of the Old Testament. It is very saddening and un-biblical.

There is only one God in three distinct and eternal persons- Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Again, the God of the Old Testament is the same God of the New. The second person of the triune God- Christ Jesus- took upon Himself humanity and completely satisfied and glorified the Father by providing and securing the redemption of all those whom that Father has given to Him ( Jn. 17:1-26).

Of course Jonathan Edwards was very well aware that God was revealing how infinitely holy, holy, holy He is in the Old Testament (and in the New). That all the judgment found there is to testify that God is perfect in every way and abhors all sin. People need to fear Him. Sinners need to look upon Him in submission and awe; in fear and trembling. Those Old Testament saints were looking  forward to the promise of the coming Messiah. In the New Testament we see God Himself breaking into His creation to restore redeem His people. We see the climatic point in history where Christ took the full judgment and wrath of the Father on the cross for all that flee to Him in repentance and faith. His resurrection secures our justification. Sin and death defeated by the King! All those acts of judgement in the Old Testament which were to direct our attention to the holiness and justice of God were but a glimpse of the fury of God in eternity yet for those in Christ it was poured upon Him in full. What love, oh what love!

Edwards's sermon Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God is a masterpiece. Ironically he was far more prone to preach on the "sweetness of Christ" than on the coming judgment of God. But since this sermon was so powerful (because it is true) it stands out from among his normal preaching. The key for Edwards, which we've been trying to point out, is that to really grasp the "sweetness of Christ" and His love, mercy and grace it must all be viewed thought the scope of His holiness. If you are in Christ read his words with the cross of Christ in mind; in sheer amazement gratitude and praise for Him. If your are not in Christ read these words knowing that this is your current condition. This is where you are now. Laugh, delude yourself that it is all a joke but it is the sheer truth of where you stand in God's hands:

The bow of God's wrath is bent, and the arrow made ready on the string, and justice bends the arrow at your heart, and strains the bow, and it is nothing but the mere pleasure of God, and that of an angry God, without any promise or obligation at all, that keeps the arrow on moment from being made drunk with your blood... The God that holds you over the put of hell, much as one holds a spider, or some loathsome insect over the fire, abhors you, and is dreadfully provoked: his wrath towards you burns like fire; he looks upon you as worthy of nothing else, but to be cast into the fire; he is of purer eyes than to bear to have you in his sight; you are ten thousand times more abominable in his eyes, than the most hateful venomous serpent is in ours. You have offended him infinitely more than ever a stubborn rebel did his prince; and yet it is nothing but his hand that holds you from falling into the fire every moment. It is to be ascribed  to nothing else, that you did not go to hell the last night; that you were suffered to awake again in this world, after you closed your eyes to sleep. And there is no other reason to be given, why you have not dropped into hell since you arose in the morning, but that God's hand held you up. There is no other reason to be given why you have not gone to hell, since you have sat here in the house of God, provoking his pure eyes by your sinful wicked manner of attending his solemn worship. Yea, there is nothing else that is to be given as a reason why you do not this very moment drop down into hell.

Oh that we would here more of this kind of preaching. That unrepentant sinners would be stripped bare of any self-confidence and self-righteousness and call upon the name of Christ to be saved. That people of Christ would fall down in worship and reverence for God in gratitude for the cross of Christ. That we would say along with the Apostle Paul, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith”(Ro 1:16–17).

Do not tell me that Jonathan Edwards knew nothing of the love of God. This very sermon is a testament to the fact that he did. His knew first and foremost that God is holy, holy, holy. He wanted unrepentant sinners to be convicted of their utter sinfulness that they are under the wrath of God and therefore in need of Christ. In short he was lovingly driving them to Christ. One does not flee from something to someone (Christ) unless they first see the danger that they are in. Hence the importance of that sermon.

Sadly many mock Jonathan Edwards and that sermon. Dr. James White writes:

Without a context such words can be used to make Edwards look like a maddened character from a Poe novel, and this is surely the purpose of many today as they seek to make any kind  of preaching of God's judgment on sin a sick novelty of past, unenlightened generations. But this is to distort grossly the truth about Edwards and all who, like him, preached the judgment of God with trembling heart and soul. A fair reading of Edwards's works shows him a mild and compassionate, often dwelling upon the "sweetness of Christ." He is taken in with God's love, His grace and mercy. Yet Edwards was a man of the Word. He knew what must be preached again today: God's love shines with its full and proper glory only when it is seen in its biblical context-against the backdrop of God's holiness and hatred of sin.*

It is true- This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Ac 4:10–12). 

Recommended reading: Sinners in the Hands of a Good God by David Clotfelter and The God Who Justifies by James White.

Soli Deo Gloria!

For His Glory,
Fernando


* James White, The God Who Justifies (Minneapolis: Bethany House, 2001), p. 46