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

Thoughts On The Love Of God And Adam and Eve

It hasn't been until the last two centuries that the love of God that, instead of His holiness helping define His love, His love has defined His holiness. In other words many Christians believe and present the notion that God is holy because of the way He loves. The idea says that God loves us the way no one else can and will. Therefore, in large, that is what makes Him holy.

It is true that God loves sinners in a way that only He can. But that is a far cry from understanding His holiness. It is one thing to say that God has infinite love and compassion on people that cannot be experienced elsewhere. But it is quite another to identify His holiness or His being in primarily (or only) those terms.

It has never been that way biblically and historically. Men have always had a difficult time understanding how an absolute holy God could love people of whom He says, "the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? “I the LORD search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds" (Je 17:9–10). 


Adam and Eve post fall were no different. Before the treachery, the great rebellion, the act of defiance they enjoyed the interaction they had with God. He loved them and they loved Him and interacted with Him. But after they sinned and betray their God we find that they fear Him. They attempt to hide from God in fear and terror:

Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. 

 And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. But the LORD God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself” (Ge 3:6–10 emphasis mine). 

Oh, something changed. Now they were hiding in fear of God. I believe it was genuine fear. Not as some assert that it was they were embarrassed only because they disappointed God. Although I believe that has some bearing but they really did now fear God. The act of sin changed everything. They (and all humanity with them) became "dead in their trespasses and sins." Their hearts, thoughts, emotions all effected by sin. They became corrupt. They defied their Maker. The One that loved and created them. He kept them in His presence and interacted with them. Then they become turncoats. Traitors. Committing evil against Him.

That is why they cowered in fear. They knew how infinitely holy He is. They know nothing evil or wrong resides in His being. He is pure, righteous, just and good. They on the other hand mad themselves the exact opposite.

What was God's  response? It wasn't just to brush it all aside and say, "don't worry I love you." No, His holiness takes precedence in the account. He immediately brings justice and pronounces curses on all guilty parties:

The LORD God said to the serpent,

“Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” 

To the woman he said, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.”

And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife
and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face
you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust,
and to dust you shall return "(Ge 3:14–19). 

Clearly the holiness of God is emphasized here. It is on display. He acted for His own sake. He brings swift justice and judgment so that we may know He is the Lord. God's concern is for His glory because He is, "holy, holy, holy." There is none, nor will ever be, any like Him.

After the display of His holiness in there judgement we see Him turn and act in love. After bringing curses upon them He then turns and provides a temporary atonement to foreshadow the ultimate atonement of Christ. A promise given back in the curse of the serpent (Ge. 3:15). They needed to be clothed (proof of the need for the imputed righteousness of Christ). We find God lovingly, graciously and mercifully providing it through through the killing of an animal and covering them with the skins. Of course this was to foreshadow the killing of His own Son to glorify His name in the salvation of His people; by washing them in His blood and clothing them with His righteousness (imputation).

Do you now see how much more God's love is meaningful viewed in light of His holiness? How much more glory He receives in lavishing it upon His sheep? How much more loved we are than the overly humanistic idea of what passes for "love?" How much more His love says about Him than us yet does not nullify the meaning of His love for us?

This is why we can plead to the stead fast love of God. Why we can at the same time plead that He do it for His own goodness. That it is about His glory but yet He glorifies His name in His love for us:

   Remember not the sins of my youth or my transgressions;according to your steadfast love remember me, for the sake of your goodness, O LORD! Good and upright is the LORD; therefore he instructs sinners in the way. He leads the humble in what is right, and teaches the humble his way.All the paths of the LORD are steadfast love and faithfulness,for those who keep his covenant and his testimonies. For your name’s sake, O LORD, pardon my guilt, for it is great (Ps 25:7–11 emphasis mine).

The problem we are encountering today is the notion of "self-love" from understanding God's "love" for us.
Here Alistair Begg notes:

Consider the preoccupation so many have with finding a church that will "meet their needs," matched by the feverish attempt of many churches to find out what their "customers" want and then to supply it. And what about the almost wholesale acceptance of the notion that learning how to love ourselves is the key to loving God and others? What the apostle Paul described to Timothy as an essential problem-"in the last days [people] will be lovers of themselves" (2 Timothy 3:1-2)-has come to be seen as a solution. How different this is from the perspective of John Calvin: "Man never achieves a clear knowledge of himself unless he has first looked upon God's face, and then descends from contemplating Him to scrutinize himself."*

The sovereign Lord is indeed, "holy, holy, holy" and his love must be understood in light of it. His holiness should not be understood in light of His love. May we say along with David, "For your name’s sake, O LORD, pardon my guilt, for it is great."


Soli Deo Gloria!

For His Glory,
Fernando

*Alistair Begg. Made For His Pleasure: Ten Benchmarks of a Vital Faith (Kindle Locations 74-75). Kindle Edition.

Thoughts On The Love Of God And The Apostle Paul

The fact that I can still say, even as a Christian, along with the Apostle Paul, "The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost" (1 Ti 1:15) does not make me feel less loved by God because I am reminded that I am what I am- a sinner saved by grace. It really makes me realize how much I am loved by the Almighty. If a godly man like Paul could say it, of course in different words, at the beginning of his Christian life, he certainly did not feel any less loved  by calling himself a sinner at the end of his earthly Christian life.

Why? Because he was confronted by the glory of Christ ( Acts 9:1-9). A glory that immediately laid him to the ground, blinded him and caused the men with him to go speechless. Saul of Tarsus came to encounter the holy God that he hated and persecuted. Like others- Abraham, Moses, Isaiah, James, John and Peter he was granted a special encounter with the living God and received a glimpse of His Majesty. He was able to say, in different words as we shall see, what Isaiah uttered in the presence of the thrice holy God, "And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!" (Is 6:4–5). And what Peter uttered in the presence of Christ, "But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord" (Lk 5:7–8). 


Paul encountered that same holiness and glory. He was humbled and laid waste by the holiness of Christ. A man who sought consolation is his own obedience, after that encounter and saw how vile he was, was able to write:

For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh— though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— (Php 3:3–9 emphasis mine).

Paul, it seems, had no problems being self-deprecating (even after being "accepted in the Beloved") after encountering the holiness of Christ. He is quite graphic. The word translated "rubbish" literally means  "dung," "refuse," or "excrement." Not a very flattering picture. But this is what happens when one understand the holiness of God. Of course he is not referring to his person per se. He is referring to everything he placed value in as his acceptance before God. He attributed everything to his own efforts. Today people go one step further and believe that just because God created them, then just by virtue of that, He must "love" them all with a sentimental "love." But the consistent biblical testimony of those that understood the holiness of God are statements like this:

“Dominion and fear are with God; he makes peace in his high heaven. Is there any number to his armies? Upon whom does his light not arise? How then can man be in the right before God? How can he who is born of woman be pure? Behold, even the moon is not bright, and the stars are not pure in his eyes; how much less man, who is a maggot, and the son of man, who is a worm!”(Job 25:2–6).

Of course what Bildad said was truth but his problem is he left no room for the love and mercy of God. We have reverted the problem. We leave no room for His holiness. We do not view ourselves in light of God's majesty. But when we do, we see how much God does love us. That is why many would ask God who is the son of man that you are mindful of him or like job, "What is man, that you make so much of him, and that you set your heart on him, visit him every morning and test him every moment?"(Job 7:17–18).We are the crown of his creation but the love of God says more about Him than it does us.

Paul certainly understood his unworthiness compared to God. At the same time Paul could confidently proclaim, "For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Ro 8:38–39 emphasis mine). He therefore knew what the love of God is. But lest you read a false view of God's love in the above passage-there is one little word, one little preposition that undercuts the modern worldly understanding of "love" in verse 39. It is the word "in." That is God's ultimate and highest love is not for all people. It is for those He lavishes it on "in Christ." My friends, not all are in or will be "in Christ." It is the same kind of love that was poured on Jacob and withheld from his brother Esau, who was "hated" by God (Ro. 9:13).

Sure go ahead and try to turn "hated" into "loved less." You still have the same objection that you are trying to avoid. That God, in some sense, did not "love" Esau in the same way He loved Jacob. And in the context it is in a salvific manner. Not, as some object, in simple reference to the blessing of nations. Let me foolishly try to use a human illustration (I'm aware that all analogies and illustrations break down at some point) to point something out. If my wife were to tell me that she loved all men the same way she loved me but that I was the only one that proposed to her and yet she still loves those men the same way she loves me. How would that make me feel "loved?" It wouldn't. How would it comfort  or console me? It couldn't.

When I look at Gods love, not just for me, towards sinners I am brought to my knees in tears. That God, in all His holiness, would love us when in all reality we deserve His hatred just like Esau. So it's, as has been pointed out before, that the struggle should not be why did God hate Esau? But why did He love Jacob? Of course God is love. Of that there is no doubt. But to understand this precious truth of God's love one must come to face His holiness. Then, like Paul, they can never be uncomfortable calling themselves sinners.The second a believer becomes uncomfortable being identified as a sinner is the moment they have taken amazing out of grace.

To wrap things up, a person must be confronted with the holiness of God before they will be amazed and comforted by His un -exhaustible love. Otherwise it is only the love of man they are mistaking for God's love.

As the "Good Doctor" said:

But let me come now to the third great attribute of God under this section of moral attributes, and here we come to the goodness or the love of God. You notice the order in which we are taking them—holiness, righteousness and justice, goodness and love. It is a dangerous and terrible thing not to put these attributes in the right order. People have often been guilty of that, and the result is that they have made shipwreck of their faith...

 God’s love is that attribute in God by which He is eternally moved to communicate Himself to others. The Scriptures make it quite clear that the love of God is something that communicates itself; God is eternal, and God is eternal love. That, incidentally, will be our introduction to the doctrine of the Trinity. The very fact that God is love is proof, in a sense, of the Trinity. Because God is eternal and eternal love, there must have been someone whom He always loved. That makes the doctrine of the Trinity an absolute necessity (emphasis mine).*

We will never know the depths of God's love for us. We can never separate ourselves from His love. We can never exhaust it. The cross of Christ is a public display of God's glory and His love for sinners. But we must never forget that one little preposition and the sphere of that love- "in Christ." Again, the love of God says more about Him than it does about us.

Soli Deo Gloria!

For His Glory,
Fernando


*Lloyd-Jones, D. M. (1996). God the Father, God the Son (74). Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway Books