Thoughts On The Love Of God And Edwards Pt. 2

A kind of love may arise from a false notion of God, that men have been educated in, or have some way imbibed; as though he were only goodness and mercy, and not revenging justice; or as though the exercises of his goodness were necessary, and not free and sovereign; or as though his goodness were dependent on what is in them, and as it were constrained by them. Men on such grounds as these, may love a God of their own forming in their imaginations, when they are far from loving such a God as reigns in heaven.

Those words were penned by Jonathan Edwards in 1746 and are still found true today. Too often the god that is often proclaimed from pulpits across the world is not the holy God of the heavens revealed in the Bible. The god of many today is nothing more than a man-made god who resembles man. He acts like a man, thinks like a man, judges like a man, loves like a man, caters to man like a man, fears man like a man, bows down to man like a man and on and on we can go. Men, specifically those that have the label "pastor," have trumped up such an image and stamped their fingerprints all over this "god"; have set him upon an imaginary throne, in an imaginary world with man right smack in the center. They have bowed to his idolatrous image and have tacked "God" onto this man-made creature and have expected all people to bow down in like manner.

If you have not noticed this article is highly polemical and if your are offended by this than you may wish to stop reading.

This "god" may even have the name "Jesus" or "Christ" stamped onto it. He is often presented as the most "loving" being. He offends no one, hurts no one, condemns no one, demands no submission, cares not to be feared; desires that his holiness to be synonymous with his "love." He died to set more of an example of "love" than anything else, he is uncertain of what he is going to with those that do not "follow" his example on earth of how to live a "good' and "abundant" life. He says in the bible that he will punish some but is conflicted and confused in himself because he is "love" and who is to say that in the end "love" may "win" and everyone enjoy his presence in bliss. He is a god that changes. He is no longer the monstrosity of the Old Testament that had nations and kings bow before him in fear and praise, confessing his greatness. No, no, no that was a different god, he has morphed into the god of the New Testament. He is not holy, holy, holy but "love," "love," "love."

This god has revealed himself in his word,- only the red letters (words of Jesus) of the bible and every other non -red letters that speak of his "love," "grace," and "compassion." Every other part can be rejected, ignored or subordinated to "love."

This god cares more about "relationships" than truth; truth being chiefly subjective and relative. This  god cares not if everyone does right in their own eyes. He tolerates just about everyone and every thing accept those that speak out against any that proclaim such a god.

As outlandish and silly as this seems the reality is that this is exactly the god that comes from many pulpits in America. It is a false god. Idolatry. A gross violation of the first four commandments. It is really worship of self.

Do not be fooled my friends. Such a god does not exist accept in the minds of blind men. Be warned that the triune God will judge all who bow down and proclaim the foreign god that claims His name. He is a jealous God- a consuming fire (Deut. 4:24. He. 12:28-29). He is holy, holy, holy! His is love. He mercies and is mos gracious; His ultimate love is found for all that are and will be in Christ. All spiritual blessings flow through Him and are received by those found in repentance and faith in Him. All outside of Christ will be consumed by the wrath of God. He is that holy, holy, holy!

We would be wise to observe the wisdom of Jonathan Edwards:

 Again, self-love may be the foundation of an affection in men towards God, through a great insensibility of their state with regard to God, and for want of conviction of conscience to make them sensible how dreadfully they have provoked God to anger; they have no sense of the heinousness of sin, as against God, and of the infinite and terrible opposition of the holy nature of God against it: and so, having formed in their minds such a God as suits them, and thinking God to be such a one as themselves, who favors and agrees with them, they may like him very well, and feel a sort of love to him, when they are far from loving the true God. And men's affections may be much moved towards God, from self-love, by some remarkable outward benefits received from God; as it was with Naaman, Nebuchadnezzar, and the children of Israel at the Red Sea.*

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods, which have not benefited those devoted to them. We have an altar from which those who serve the tent have no right to eat. For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy places by the high priest as a sacrifice for sin are burned outside the camp. So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood. Therefore let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured (Heb 13:7–13).


The God of the Old Testament is the same of the New Testament.

Soli Deo Gloria!

For His Glory,
Fernando


*Edwards, Jonathan (2009-06-09). Religious Affections - Enhanced Version (p. 94). Christian Classics Ethereal Library. Kindle Edition.

*Ibid, p. 95

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