Latest / Reformed Thinking / The Excellency of Christ (Revelation 5:5-6) | Jonathan Edwards

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The Excellency of Christ (Revelation 5:5-6) | Jonathan Edwards · Reformed Thinking

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So imagine holding the ability to vaporize a Galaxy with a
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single syllable. Oh wow.
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Right. But then, you know, choosing to
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let a group of corrupt politicians nail you to a piece
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of wood. Today's source material, which
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is a 300 year old text, it claims that this specific
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scenario isn't the story of defeat, it is the absolute
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highest display of supreme, unadulterated strength.
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That is such a wild. Thought it really is so welcome
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to reformed thinking. We are doing a deep dive into a
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text that takes extreme opposites and, well, insists
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they coexist perfectly in one single person.
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Yeah, We have a really fascinating sermon today.
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It was delivered in August 1736 by Jonathan Edwards.
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Yeah. And it is based on Revelation 5.
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So the mission of this deep dive into the sources is to unpack a
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breathtaking paradox. How utterly opposed qualities
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and excellencies exist perfectly in Jesus Christ.
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Right. And to grasp the gravity of this
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paradox, we have to establish the biblical contest of the
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source text. Yeah, we do.
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So the apostle John is experiencing a vision of heaven.
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In this vision, God is seated on a throne holding a scroll in his
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right hand, and it is sealed with 7 seals. 7 seals, yeah.
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And this scroll represents the hidden decrees of God.
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I mean it holds feature events, the destiny of the world, the
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final execution of justice, and the completion of history.
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So it is locked up tight. Completely.
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Locked up. And then a strong Angel shouts
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out with a loud voice, asking who is worthy to open the book
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and break its seals. And what happens?
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Dead silence. I mean, no one in heaven, no one
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on earth, no one under the earth is able to open it or even look
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at it. Wow.
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And John just begins to weep Much.
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Think about the emotional weight of that moment.
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History is stalled. The purposes of God are locked.
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Yeah, the redemption of the world is seemingly impossible.
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You know, because no creature possesses the worthiness to
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execute the plan. Right.
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And John's weeping represents the despair of the entire human
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race. Yeah.
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I mean, if that scroll stays sealed, yeah.
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Justice has never meted out. Yeah, Creation remains fractured
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forever. But then comes the dramatic
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twist. Yes, the twist.
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One of the elders approaches John and tells him not to weep.
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Why? Because the lion of the tribe of
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Judah has prevailed to open the scroll.
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So naturally, John turns right. He is expecting to see a
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terrifying roaring beast. I mean, a lion is a devourer.
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It destroys its enemies. Yeah, it is the king of the
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jungle. It represents supreme dominion
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and dread. But he doesn't see a lion, He
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looks, and right in the middle of the throne he sees a lamb, a
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lamb. And not just a lamb, but a lamb
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looking as though it had been slain, bearing the marks of
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deadly wounds. Which is just.
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It is such a shocking image. It is.
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We usually think of defeating an enemy by, you know, meeting
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force with superior force. If they bring a sword, you bring
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a bigger. Sword.
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That is how the world works. It reminds me of martial arts
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like Aikido. The strategy is entirely
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different. You don't block a strike with
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brute force, you yield. Oh, I see.
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Yeah, you take the opponent's aggressive, destructive momentum
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and you use that very momentum to throw them off balance.
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That makes a lot of sense. You defeat them by letting them
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overextend. The victory comes through an
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apparent yielding. That captures the mechanics of
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this text perfectly. I mean, the lion and the lamb
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are diverse creatures. 1 excels in majestic voice and might,
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while the other excels in meekness and, you know, yielding
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itself as a the sacrifice. Yet the text points out that
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these diverse excellencies wonderfully meet in Him.
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He conquered the enemies of God not by roaring and devouring,
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but by absorbing the lethal blow.
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He yielded to the strike of death.
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Yes, and by doing so, he used Death's own momentum to break
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its hold on humanity. Oh man.
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So we have to ask you, the listener, to consider this.
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What does it mean for you when infinite strength and supreme
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vulnerability meet in one place? How does that alter your view of
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the universe and the one who holds it together?
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Because Edwards takes this lion and lamb metaphor and applies it
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to the very nature of God. He really goes all in on.
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It he does, he starts by looking at the divine attributes
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themselves, specifically the clash between Infinite Highness
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and Infinite Condescension. Let us break down Christ's
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Highness first. As God, He is the Creator.
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He is the King of kings, Lord of Lords, higher than the heavens,
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and the highest angels. His knowledge has no bound.
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None. The text notes that all nations
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are as a drop in the bucket to him.
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All kings and Princess are as worms of the dust before him.
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He is entirely self-sufficient. He needs nothing from outside of
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himself to exist or to be fully satisfied.
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But then you contrast that with his condescension.
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He doesn't just tolerate the lower realms, he actively
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notices them. He really?
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Does he notices the most despised people, the beggars,
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the poor, the outcasts? He invites little children to
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come to him. He washes The Dirty feet of
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fishermen. Which is so completely backward
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from how we operate. Right, if we look at human
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sociology, we see a massive contrast.
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Usually when human beings gain a little more wealth or status,
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they distance themselves from others.
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Yeah, they move to gated communities.
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Exactly, we'll spot on. They fly private to avoid the
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crowded terminals. Edwards uses a very vivid,
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almost abrasive analogy here. He says if one worm is little
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exalted above another by having more dust or a bigger dunghill,
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he thinks highly of himself and expects others to keep their
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distance. A bigger dunghill.
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That is quite the image. It really paints a picture.
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Human nature naturally isolates itself when elevated, but
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Christ, who has infinite status, chooses to become a companion to
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the lowest. He exposes himself to shame.
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Yes to shame, to spitting, and eventually a shameful death for
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people who have absolutely no good deservings.
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Wait, hold on though, if he is this high and holy God, we run
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into a massive logical hurdle regarding justice and grace.
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OK, what is that? Well, if he is a strict judge
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who absolutely will not clear the guilty, how can he
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simultaneously offer grace to the chief of sinners?
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Right. The legal tension, yeah.
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Because if a human judge let's a serial killer walk free, Simply
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put, as the judge feels gracious, we don't call that
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judge loving. No, we call that judge corrupt.
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The judge needs to be impeached. So how does Edwards resolve this
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without making God look like a corrupt magistrate?
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The text explains the specific mechanism of the atonement that
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resolves this legal tension. The strict justice is satisfied,
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but not by sweeping the crimes under the rug.
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The law's demands are met in full.
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Christ himself stepped into the line of fire.
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He suffered the immediate fruits of God's wrath against sin in
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his own soul. I see the liability was
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transferred from the guilty party to the willing substitute.
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So the debt is actually paid, not just ignored.
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Precisely because that strict justice is satisfied completely
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by his own blood, it opens the floodgates for infinite grace.
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Wow. He can offer the greatest good
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to the most unworthy person not by ignoring their guilt, but by
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absorbing the penalty for it. Justice and grace are not
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competing variables in a 0 sum game.
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They are perfectly met in that one historical act.
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This raises a serious metaphysical issue, though.
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OK, well, condescension is one thing, but Edwards also talks
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about humility. Humility requires acknowledging
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you are lower than someone else, right?
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So if you are the supreme God, who do you acknowledge?
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It seems like a logical contradiction to say God the
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Father is humble because there is no one greater for him to be
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little before. You are identifying the core
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mystery of the hypostatic union right there, the.
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Hypostatic Union. Humility is a virtue strictly
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for created beings. God in His divine essence cannot
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be humble in the sense of acknowledging a superior.
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Because there isn't 1. Right.
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Yet in Jesus Christ we have two distinct natures in one person.
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He takes on a human nature. He assumes a created.
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Form OK, I follow. This provides the localized
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medium for him to demonstrate the greatest instance of
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humility in history. He lives in the family of a
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Carpenter for 30 years. He takes the form of a.
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Servant. He possesses equal honor with
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God the Father, worshipped by angels, yet has a human heart
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lowlier than any other. That is it.
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So that structural reality, 2 natures and one person explains
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the clash between majesty and meekness.
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It does because we are talking about the God who rides on the
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heavens. The text says His presence melts
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hills, earthquakes before him. He rebukes the sea and makes it
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dry. His eyes are a flame of fire.
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That is staggering majesty. And yet this is the same man who
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rode into Jerusalem on a donkey's cult, The man who stood
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completely silent while a ring of soldiers mocked him.
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Think about the restraint required there to possess the
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might to speak the universe out of existence and to use that
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mouth to say absolutely nothing while being falsely accused and
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physically beaten. It is unfathomable.
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That is transcendent meekness, a lion in majesty, a lamb in
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meekness. To a modern listener, though,
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standing silent while people beat you doesn't look like
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strength. That looks like victimization.
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Yeah, that is a common reaction. How did Edwards convince his
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audience this was actually a mystery?
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If someone punches you and you just take it, society calls you
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weak. Society evaluate strength by the
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capacity to inflict damage. Edwards evaluate strength by the
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capacity to exercise absolute self-control for the sake of a
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higher righteous goal. Oh, that is a huge distinction.
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Right. If Christ had spoken a word and
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destroyed his captors, he would have preserved his physical
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body, but he would have failed in His mission to redeem
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humanity. He would have.
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Lost the actual war. Yes.
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His silence was not the silence of powerlessness.
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It was the silence of sovereign restraint.
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He was holding back his own infinite might to accomplish the
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rescue of his enemies. That requires infinitely more
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strength than lashing out. This physical demonstration of
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meekness forces us to confront an even more difficult
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theological tension, which is when Jesus is kneeling in the
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dirt, sweating in the Garden of Gethsemane.
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He is displaying supreme reverence.
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He prays with postures of submission.
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But who is he reverencing if he is supposed to be God?
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The incarnational theology here is highly specific, and the text
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explicitly refutes the Aryan Heresy.
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Aryan Heresy. Yeah, Arias in the early
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centuries of the church taught that the sun was a created
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being, a highly exalted being, perhaps the 1st and greatest
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creation, but still a creature and under God, if you will.
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Edwards uses the Lion and Lamb paradox to shatter that idea.
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He argues for ontological equality combined with economic
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submission. Break those terms down for us,
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ontological versus economic. So ontological refers to His
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very being, His essence. In his divine essence He is
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exactly equal to the Father. He shares the identical divine
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nature. And economic.
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Economic refers to his role in the plan of redemption.
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He willingly takes on a subordinate role to accomplish
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salvation. In his human nature he owes and
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gives perfect reverence to God. In his divine nature he is equal
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to God. These things meet in no other
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person but Jesus Christ. Doesn't that just sound like a
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convenient theological loophole? How so?
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Well you say he is God but when he shows weakness or submission
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you just say oh that is his human nature.
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It feels like a get out of jail free card for any contradiction.
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I see what you mean. It would be a loophole if the
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two natures were kept completely isolated from one another,
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acting like two different people taking turns behind the steering
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wheel. But the text argues for the
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unity of the single person. The actions of the human nature
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and the actions of the divine nature are both attributed to
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the one person, Jesus Christ. I see it is the one person who
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is both the Supreme Lord of the universe and the obedient
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servant learning through suffering.
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Let's apply this to a modern relational example.
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When we are accused of something, if we are actually
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innocent, we immediately demand our rights.
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We get defensive. Oh, absolutely.
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We raise our voices to clear our names.
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If we suffer unfairly, we lose our patience almost instantly
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because we feel we deserve better.
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We. Feel entitled to vindication.
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Right now look at Christ. He was perfectly innocent.
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He never had a single wrong thought or action.
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He was deserving of infinite love from God and infinite
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respect from men. Yet He endured the most horrific
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evil, the physical and spiritual agony of the cross, without
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threatening anyone. He did not demand his rights.
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He took the suffering patiently committing himself to the judge.
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And his patience under that suffering highlights the tension
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between supreme dominion and perfect obedience.
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Christ is Lord of all by natural right.
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He is supreme over the universe. He gives the orders to the
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cosmos. Yes, yet he submitted to the
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commands of the Father. He was told to lay down his life
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and he did so perfectly. He decrees the end from the
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beginning, yet willingly subjects himself to the darkest
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event in history. We see this acutely in the
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Garden of Gethsemane, where absolute sovereignty meets
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perfect resignation. That scene is so intense.
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Here is the sovereign God, staring into the terrifying cup
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of God's wrath. The physical response of
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hematidrosis, which is sweating blood, shows the immense
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psychological and spiritual terror he was facing.
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Yeah, that is a real medical condition under extreme stress
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it. Is he was not merely afraid of
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physical death. Countless martyrs have faced
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physical execution with calm resolve.
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Christ was staring at the concentrated holy wrath of God
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against the sins of the world. He was about to drink the cup of
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divine fury. Yet, facing that he remains
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entirely resigned, he says, not as I will, but as thou wilt.
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So if these two natures coexist perfectly in the abstract realm
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of eternal theology, how does that materialize in 1st century
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Palestine? What do you mean?
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Well, the metaphysical reality has to take on physical flesh.
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How did the Lion and the Lamb show up in the historical
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timeline? Oh, I get you.
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We see the clash immediately in the circumstances of His
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incarnation. Look at the lamb aspect first.
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He is born to a poor young woman.
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We know she was poor because of the specific offering she brings
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for her purification. According to the book of
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Leviticus, a mother was supposed to bring a lamb for a burnt
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offering, but if she could not afford a lamb, she was permitted
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to bring 2 turtle doves. Mary brings the turtle doves.
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The Supreme Lord of the Universe was legally classified as
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impoverished under his own law. That is just wow.
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Oh, and he is born in a stable because the inn was occupied by
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people considered more significant by society.
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He is laid in a feeding through. The cultural stigma of that
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setting is immense. It is he enters the world in
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utter obscurity, feebleness and poverty.
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But simultaneously the Lion is roaring.
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How so? He is conceived not by human
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means, but by the Holy Ghost. While he is lying in that dirty
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Manger, the glorious hosts of heaven are splitting the night
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sky to sing to the shepherds. He was not just born to be poor,
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He was born specifically to conquer Satan, the roaring lion
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of hell. He came to subdue the mighty
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forces of darkness. Yes.
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The contrast continues throughout his entire earthly
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ministry. You know, think about his daily
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life as the lamb. He is homeless.
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He relies on the charity of his followers for his daily food.
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He treats his disciples not as underlings but his close
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friends. He washes their feet.
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He bears the constant reproaches and insults of the religious
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leaders with staggering patients.
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But then you turn the page and the lion is on full display.
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He demonstrates absolute dominion over nature.
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Like the storm on the sea? Yes, he is sleeping in a boat
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during a massive storm, exhibiting the physical
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exhaustion of a human lamb. Then he wakes up, speaks to the
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raging sea, and it instantly goes flat.
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That is the divine. Lion.
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He walks on the waves. He shows omniscience, knowing
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the secret hidden thoughts at the men plotting against him.
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The spiritual physics of his interactions with the demonic
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realm are really fascinating too.
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When he encounters the man possessed by a legion of devils,
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those devils tremble. They do not challenge him to a
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fight. Right, they fall down and bug
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him not to torment them. The demons recognize his
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ontological authority instantly. With a single word, he forces a
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whole legion to abandon their hold and cast them into a herd
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of swine. He proves right there that he is
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stronger than the roaring lion who seeks to devour.
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He holds absolute jurisdiction over the spiritual realm.
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Now all these historical events point toward one highly
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concentrated focal point, the crucifixion.
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This is where the tension reaches its absolute peak.
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The cross is the greatest act in the work of redemption.
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It is the moment where the lion and the Lamb are most vividly
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displayed at the exact same fraction of a second.
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The text offers a series of massive contrast regarding the
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cross, beginning with the clash between extreme humiliation and
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highest glory. The cross was the lowest point
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of his earthly life. It was a humiliating, degrading,
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naked execution reserved for the worst criminals of the Roman
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Empire. He was stripped of all
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reputation and dignity. Yet this very act of extreme
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humiliation is the specific reason the hosts of heaven sing.
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Worthy is the Lamb. It is His most glorious act.
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His lowest moment is the foundation of His highest
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praise. We also see the simultaneous
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display of His love to God and His love to enemies.
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How does that work? Well, on the cross, Christ is
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vindicating the Father's authority by suffering the
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penalty of the law. He is proving that God's law is
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holy and cannot be broken without consequence.
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He honors the Father more in that moment than any creature
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ever has in all of history. But the blood he is shedding to
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honor the Father is being shed for the very rebels who
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dishonored the Father. He's showing infinite love to
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God and infinite love to God's enemies in the exact same
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breath. Which brings to the visceral
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reality of defending justice by suffering justice.
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He stood up for God's justice. He refused to let sin go
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unpunished. But the way he defended that
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justice was by becoming the target of its terrible
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executions. The revenging justice of God
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spent all its force upon him. The text mentions the blood
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turning to water, referencing Psalm 22 where his heart melts
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like wax. Yes, he upheld the law by
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letting the law crush him. His absolute holiness never
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shone as brightly as it did in His obedience to go to the
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cross. It was the greatest act of
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obedience since the foundation of the world.
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Without a doubt. Yet he is apprehended in the
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dark. He is bound as a malefactor.
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He is subjected to a trial full of lies.
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He's given the death penalty reserved for the vilest
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offenders. He who knew no sin was made a
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curse. Look at the crowd, they're
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screaming away with him. Crucify him.
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They actually ask for Barabbas, a known murderer, to be released
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instead of Jesus. They treat him as if he is
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completely unworthy to even draw breath on the earth.
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Yet because he willingly subjected himself to that
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treatment, the angelic decree rings out that he is uniquely
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worthy of all exaltation, wealth, wisdom, and honor.
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The psychological weight of the betrayal adds another layer
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entirely. He experienced total abandonment
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from the people he loved most. Yeah, that had to be crushing.
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He was forsaken by the Father, not out of hatred for Christ's
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person, but out of holy hatred for the sins Christ was bearing.
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His closest friends vanished. The disciples could not even
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stay awake to pray with Him for one hour.
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Peter, the most vocal supporter, denied him with curses.
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And the men who were driving the nails into his flesh, he was
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actively praying for their forgiveness while they were
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torturing him. He suffered the worst from the
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hands of men while exercising the highest love toward those
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same men. Edwards uses some striking
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historical analogies to explain the final contrast being
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delivered to enemies versus achieving ultimate victory.
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Oh, these analogies are brilliant.
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Christ was completely handed over to the malice of wicked men
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and devils. It was their hour and the domain
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of darkness. Satan bruised his heel.
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But the cross was actually the weapon that ruined Satan.
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The Samson analogy illustrates the mechanics of this victory
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beautifully. Oh.
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Tell me about that. So Samson lost his eyes, lost
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his freedom, and was mocked by the Philistines in the temple of
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Dagon. He lived entirely defeated,
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right? But by pushing the pillars
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apart, he brought the roof down on Dagon's temple, destroying
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more enemies in his death than in his life.
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Christ yielding to the curse of the law was like pushing the
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pillars apart. He brought the Temple of
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Darkness down on the heads of his enemies.
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By dying, he broke Satan's legal right to accuse centers.
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The Jonah analogy operates on the same logic.
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The whale swallowed Jonah, thinking it had secured a meal,
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but Jonah was poisoned to the whale's stomach.
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The whale was violently sickened and had to vomit him out on dry
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land. The devil thought he had
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swallowed Christ up in death, but Christ's sinless nature was
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a deadly poison to the grave. Death could not digest him.
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He gave Satan a mortal wound from the inside out.
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What looked like total defeat being swallowed by death was
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actually the mechanism of complete and total victory.
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He appeared as a lamb in the jaws of a roaring lion, but in
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being slain he, as the Lion of Judah, destroyed the Devourer.
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In his greatest weakness, he displayed his most glorious
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strength. It is incredible.
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So does this paradox end after the resurrection?
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I mean we have seen the Lion and the Lamb on earth, but what
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happens when he is sins? Do we only get the lion now?
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Not at all. The paradox continues into his
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present reality. In heaven right now, He is
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exalted at the right hand of God.
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He's the King of the universe. He holds all authority, that is
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the lion. But the Book of Revelation still
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refers to him as a Lamb standing on Mount Zion.
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Even amidst the absolute authority of his exaltation, he
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acts as a lamb toward his Saints.
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He treats them with mildness. He leads them to living
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fountains of water. He intercedes for them with
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sympathy because he remembers what physical exhaustion and
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emotional betrayal feel like. Yes.
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He has not forgotten the pain of the human experience.
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He still bears the marks of his wounds in heaven.
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He is not a distant, untouchable monarch who cannot relate to the
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struggles of his subjects. But there is a future moment
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coming where the lion will be terrifyingly visible.
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The final judgement. The text paints A dreadful
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picture for the wicked there. It does.
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When he returns in the glory of his Father, the earth will
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tremble, the hills will melt. Kings, chief captains, the rich,
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the mighty, they will hide in caves and beg the mountains to
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fall on them, to hide them from the wrath of the Lamb.
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That phrase, the wrath of the Lamb, might be the most
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terrifying combination of words and scripture.
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It really is an intense paradox on its own.
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You expect wrath from a lion. A lion is supposed to tear and
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destroy. But when the gentle, silent,
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suffering lamb finally displays wrath, it means mercy has been
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entirely, irreversibly exhausted.
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The trembling and astonishment of that moment will be beyond
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human conception. Contrast that with how he will
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appear to the Saints on that exact same day.
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He won't be a terror to them. He will be completely clothed in
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sweetness. It won't be a day of dread.
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It is described as a wedding day.
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Yes. The believers will be invited as
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friends and family to inherit the Kingdom and reign with him.
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The Lion to the wicked, the Lamb to the Saints.
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So why does this matter for you? Listening right now, we're
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analyzing a 300 year old sermon about a theological paradox.
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How does this bump up against your daily life, your anxieties,
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your view of yourself? It matters because of who you
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are looking to for rescue. The text notes that Scripture
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uses dozens of different metaphors for Christ.
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Like what? A sun, a morning star, a rock, a
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Pearl, a rose, a Lily, a tree of life?
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Why so many? Because no single image, not
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even the lion in the lamb combined, can fully capture this
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conjunction of excellencies. There is a fullness in him meant
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to answer every single specific human need and fear.
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Let me ask you directly, are you afraid he isn't strong enough to
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save you? Maybe you look at your habits,
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your past, the absolute mess you have made of your life, and you
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think the chains are simply too heavy to break.
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A lot of people feel that way. Look at the lion.
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He is the mighty God. He commands the sea and casts
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out demons with a single syllable.
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He has enough might to break whatever is holding you.
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Or maybe your fear is entirely different.
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Are you afraid he won't stoop down to notice someone as messy
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or unworthy as you? Do you feel too insignificant
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for the creator of the universe to care about?
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Look at the lamb. Look at the one who stood silent
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while being spit upon, the one who washed dirty feet, the one
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who happily shares a meal with outcasts and beggars.
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The invitations extended in this text are astonishing.
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He says Ho everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the
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waters, and for the person who feels they have absolutely
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nothing to offer, no good deeds to trade, He says come buy wine
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and milk without money and without price.
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Your spiritual poverty is not a barrier, it is a strict
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prerequisite for entry. He stands at the door and
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knocks. Think about the restraint in
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that image. The sovereign God of the
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universe doesn't send a celestial SWAT team to kick your
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door down and arrest you as a rebel.
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No, He stands on your porch. He knocks.
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He waits for you to open. What more could you possibly
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want? A savior who is high enough to
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be God with all the authority of the universe, but low enough to
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be your brother. Someone who knows exactly what
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it feels like to be betrayed by friends, to be exhausted to the
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bone, to be in excruciating physical agony.
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This leads to the final theological triumph of the text,
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the promise of intimate friendship with the divine
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Christ is not exalted just to sit far away and be admired from
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a distance. Right, the whole point of the
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incarnation and redemption is union.
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He is the head and believers are the members of his body.
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His exultation doesn't separate him from his people, it brings
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his people up to share in it. He promises to grant them to sit
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with him on his throne. Because he took on human nature,
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we have a bridge to God. We have a brother who shares our
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exact biological makeup. But because he is a divine
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Person, being united to him brings us into the intimate
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family and Society of the Trinity itself.
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We partake in our finite measure of the Father's infinite love
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for the Son. We are brought into the inner
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household of God. Because Christ is human, we have
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access to Him. Because He is divine, that
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access brings us into the very heart of the Creator.
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Let's do a quick recap of the sheer magnitude of what we just
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covered. We started with John weeping
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over a sealed scroll in heaven, waiting for a terrifying beast
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to break the silence and seeing a wounded lamb instead.
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Yeah, quite the shock. We looked at a being who holds
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the entire cosmos together, yet allows his own physical hands to
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be nailed to wood. We traced this paradox from a
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duty stable with a poverty offering of turtle doves,
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through a life of calming storms and washing feet, to the horrors
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of the cross, where he suffered the law's absolute justice to
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open the floodgates of infinite grace.
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We saw him sapping Satan's Kingdom from the inside out like
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poison to a whale. And we looked ahead to a final
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day where he will be the terrifying wrath to the wicked
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and the sweet bridegroom to his friends.
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So here's a final thought to Mull over as you go about your
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day. Leave them with something good.
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We live in a culture that worships alpha personalities.
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Loud voices and the ruthless accumulation of leverage.
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We are told that strength means never backing down and never
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showing a vulnerability. Oh, constantly.
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But if the sovereign God of the universe executed his greatest
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victory not through brute force but through the ultimate
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vulnerability of a slain Lamb by absorbing the blow rather than
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throwing the punch, how does that completely upend our modern
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definitions of strength, leadership, and success?
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It changes everything. If you want true authority, must
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you always carry the marks of a lamb?
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Thank you for joining us on this deep dive into the source
27:49
material. That quiet, wounded physician
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was the undisputed champion all along.