God Never Changes His Mind

God never changes His mind with respect to what He has purposed to do. God’s purposes are eternal, all of them. He purposes nothing anew. He decreed infinite ages back every act and every event, little and great, that ever comes to pass. And these events don’t grow out of conceit of any of His old purposes, and by thinking more upon the matter. Nor does He ever add to His purposes. He purposes nothing anew. Men purpose and form resolutions as they find occasion; they mend their designs and form them more perfectly by thinking longer upon them. But it is not so with God.

It is not with God as it is with man. Although man may have amassed a great treasure of knowledge, yet he cannot have in actual view but a few things at the same moment. Though there may be many things treasured up in the memory, and the mind may have a habitual knowledge of them, yet it actually sees and thinks of what it knows but now and then. But God has all things, every moment, as in actual view. There is no succession in His thoughts. He doesn’t sometimes think of one thing and sometimes of another; but everything and every circumstance was perfectly in His understanding and before His mind in actual view from all eternity-and is so still without one moments intermission.

-Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758), from a sermon entitled, God Never Changes His Mind [The Puritan Pulpit American Series: Jonathan Edwards; 2004, Soli Deo Gloria Publications]

Christ Baptized With Sufferings For Us

“Those last sufferings of Christ, were in some respect like a fire to refine the gold. For though the furnace purged away no dross or filthiness, yet it increased the preciousness of the gold; it added to the finite holiness of the human nature of Christ. Hence Christ calls his offering himself up, his sanctifying himself; John 17:19 ‘And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also may be sanctified through the truth.’ Hence he calls those last sufferings a baptism that he was to be baptized with. It was a baptism to him in two respects, as it purged him from imputed guilt, and as it increased his holiness by the Spirit of God, that gave him those terrible but sanctifying views. And so this is one way in which the Captain of our salvation is made perfect by sufferings; Heb. 2:10, 5:9, and Luke 13:22. Thus Christ, before he was glorified, was prepared for that high degree of glory and joy he was to be exalted to, by being first sanctified in the furnace.”

- Jonathan Edwards, Miscellaneous Remarks of Satisfaction For Sin, found in Works, volume 2, page 575

Edwards On Enoch

I’m teaching a Sunday School class at church on Old Testament saints and how they typify Christ. My first week is introduction on why it is important to study their lives looking at the faith that binds us to them in Christ. Since I’m using Hebrews 11 as my control text for the next six weeks as I work through a few of these faithful men, I’m going to be adding a short study on the life of Enoch as a part of the first class based on verse 5.

I have always been enthralled with the story of Enoch, after all, how many people have been translated that they would not see death? Only two in Scripture. Some have even died twice.

I found this helpful quote by Jonathan Edwards concerning what we see being accomplished by God, in the life of Enoch, for our encouragement, and for His glory.

“Now this translation of Enoch was the first instance that ever was of restoring the ruins of the fall with respect to the body. There had been many instances of restoring the soul of man by Christ’s redemption, but none of redeeming and actually saving the body till now. All the bodies of the elect are to be saved as well as their souls at the end of the world; all the bodies of the saints shall actually be redeemed: those that then shall have been dead, by a resurrection; and others that then shall be living, by causing them to pass under a glorious change. And before this there was a number of the bodies of saints raised and glorified at Christ’s resurrection and ascension, and before that was an instance of a body glorified in Elijah, but the first instance of all was this of Enoch, that we are now speaking of.”

-Jonathan Edwards, from The History of Redemption

Light Without, Darkness Within

Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
(Psa 139:23-24 KJV)

“The heart of man is full of sin and corruption, and that corruption is of an exceedingly darkening, blinding nature. Sin always carries a degree of darkness with it; and the more it prevails, the more it darkens and deludes the mind.- It is from hence that the knowing whether there be any wicked way in us is a difficult thing. The difficulty is not at all for want of light without us, not at all because the word of God is not plain, or the rules not clear; but it is because of the darkness within us. The light shines clear enough around us, but the fault is in our eyes; they are darkened and blinded by a pernicious distemper.
Sin is of a deceitful nature, because, so far as it prevails, so far it gains the inclination and will, and that sways and biasses the judgement.”

-Jonathan Edwards, from Christian Cautions

On Willing

There is scarcely a plainer and more universal dictate of the sense and experience of mankind, than that, when men act voluntarily, and do what they please, then they do what suits them best, or what is most agreeable to them. To say, that they do what pleases them, but yet not what is agreeable to them, is the same thing as to say, they do what they please, but do not act their pleasure; and that is to say, that they do what they please and yet do not what they please.

- Jonathan Edwards, Freedom of The Will

Mean Thoughts of God

It is from mean thoughts of God that you are not convinced that you have by your sins deserved his eternal wrath and curse. If you had any proper sense of the infinite majesty, greatness, and holiness of God, you would see, that to be cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, and there to have no rest day nor night, is not a punishment more than equal to the demerit of sin.-You would not have so good a thought of yourselves; you would not be so clean and pure in your own eyes; you would see what vile, unworthy, hell-deserving, creatures you are. If you had not little thoughts of God, and were to consider how you have set yourselves against him-how you have slighted him, his commandments and threatenings, and despised his goodness and mercy, how often you have disobeyed, how obstinate you have been, how your whole lives have been filled up with sin against God-you would not wonder that God threatens to destroy you for ever, but would wonder that he hath not done it before now.

-Jonathan Edwards, The Works of, Volume 2, From a sermon on divine sovereignty

Edwards’ sharp reproof cuts to the heart. Too often, most often, we think highly of ourselves while our perspective on God waxes cold with contempt because of our little thoughts of God. While it is true that we need to be saved, we need to be saved by God, not from ourselves, but from God Himself.

The Proper Use of Reason

Nothing is more certain than that there must be an unmade and unlimited being.

[Reason] is to determine that there is a God and that He is an infinitely perfect being and that the Scripture is His word.

-Jonathan Edwards

Infinitely perfect, I love that. That’s almost a paradox in itself. Perfection implies completeness as if to say God is contained, but the pre-qualifier infinitely tells us of God’s boundless perfection. God is not contained, but He is perfect. The perfection of God rests in  His constant immutability. It is impossible for the source of Light to cast a shadow.

Edwards’ boldness to demand the proper use of the tool Reason can be used as a springboard in reminding us to ask, “What are we here for?” Obviously, not for ourselves. Reason is the tool God has given us in understanding what He has revealed about Himself so that we may enjoy Him.

The Mediators Timing

As soon as man fell, Christ entered on his mediatorial work. Then it was that he began to execute the work and office of a mediator. He had undertaken it before the world was made. He stood engaged with the Father to appear as man’s mediator, and to take on that office when there should be occasion, from all eternity. But now the time was come. Christ the eternal Son of God clothed himself with the mediatorial character, and therein presented himself before the Father. He immediately stepped in between a holy, infinite, offended Majesty, and offending mankind. He was accepted in his interposition; and so wrath was prevented from going forth in the full execution of that amazing curse that man had brought on himself.
It is manifest that Christ began to exercise the office of mediator between God and man as soon as ever man fell, because mercy began to be exercised towards man immediately.  

-Jonathan Edwards, from A History of the Work of Redemption; The Works of Jonathan Edwards, Banner of Truth edition, two volume set

Defining Terms

Jonathan Edwards definition of the ‘Will’ :

“… the Will (without any metaphysical refining) is, That by which the mind chooses any thing. The faculty of the Will, is that power, or principle of mind, by which it is capable of choosing: an act of the Will is the same as an act of choosing or choice.”

- from ‘Freedom of the Will’