Latest / Reformed Thinking / Can Your Heart Endure God’s Judgment? (Ezekiel 22:14) | Jonathan Edwards

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Can Your Heart Endure God’s Judgment? (Ezekiel 22:14) | Jonathan Edwards · Reformed Thinking

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Imagine realizing that your soul's most basic desire, like
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that natural, inescapable craving you have to just be
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happy, is the actual engine that will be used to torture you
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forever. Yeah, that is an intense
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thought. Right.
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I mean, not some external device, but your own
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psychological design just turned completely against you.
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It's terrifying, honestly. It really is.
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Today we are looking at a 300 year old psychological master
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class in terror, and it forces us to confront what happens when
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the universe's absolute authority decides to, you know,
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stop delegating and just handle a rebellion personally.
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So welcome to reformed thinking. I am so glad you could join us
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on this deep dive today. Glad to be here and yet we have
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a lot of intense material to cover.
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We really do. We are examining A striking
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piece of theological rhetoric by Jonathan Edwards.
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It's based on a sermon he preached on Ezekiel, chapter 22,
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verse 14. Our mission today is to analyze
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Edwards central argument, which is that once a divine justice is
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set in motion against impenitent sinners, the resulting
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consequence is completely unavoidable.
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It's impossible to mitigate and impossible to tolerate.
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Yeah, and to really grasp the sheer gravity of what Edwards is
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arguing here, we have to situate ourselves in the immediate
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context of that text in Ezekiel. Right, because context is
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everything with this stuff. Spot on.
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So the source material opens with this really jarring image
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of God reacting to the sins of Jerusalem.
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If you look at the preceding verse, Ezekiel 2213, God is
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showing a staggering level of displeasure against the people's
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dishonest gain and their bloodshed.
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And the visual representation of this divine reaction is what
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anchors the entire sermon. The text literally says God is
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smiting his hand. OK, wait.
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When I hear the phrase smiting his hand, my mind immediately
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goes to like, human frustration. Yeah, sure, Because when we get
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angry, we slam a hand on a desk, or we clap our hands together in
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exasperation. It's a loss of control, right?
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But we are talking about an infinite omniscient being here.
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So how does Edwards interpret a human gesture like that being
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applied to the Creator? That is a crucial distinction to
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make. Edwards is very careful to
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unpack that anthropomorphism. He explains that when a human
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being smites their hands together, it usually happens
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when they are startled. You know, by seeing or hearing
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of some horrid offense. Right, like a shock to the
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system. Yeah, it's a visceral reaction
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to an intolerable injury that stirs their spirit.
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It animates them with high resentment.
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A person will rise up in wrath and smite their hands together
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as an expression of the intense heat of their indignation.
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I can picture that, yeah. But it signifies a firm,
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unyielding resolution to be avenged on whoever committed the
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injury. So Edwards argues that God is
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using this human expression to communicate something terrifying
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to our limited minds. So it's not a loss of control.
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For God, no, not at all. It is a declaration of focused,
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absolute resolution. It illustrates the magnitude of
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God's anger and His systematic preparation to execute a
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judgement that matches those heinous crimes.
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So it's a way of translating infinite justice into a language
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our nervous systems can actually understand.
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That is a great way to put it, yes.
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And the text provides a very Clear History of how it reached
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this breaking point. I mean, God didn't start by
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smiting his hands. He started by sending
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messengers, right? The Prophets.
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Yes, the historical reality of Jerusalem was that the prophets
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could do nothing with the people God had sent them one after
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another, generation after generation.
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But the people just didn't listen.
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No, they were too obstinate for those human messengers.
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They beat one prophet, they killed another.
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The people basically treated the divine warnings as empty noise.
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And why? Because the warnings came
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through frail human vocal cords. Which brings us to the
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terrifying turning point. Because the human prophets
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failed to correct the people, God steps in directly.
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He removes the intermediaries entirely.
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He does. God himself undertakes to deal
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with them. I mean, the Creator of the
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universe looks at a rebellion on a tiny speck of dust and decides
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to handle it personally. And this is where Edwards
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establishes his core doctrine. Since God is undertaken to deal
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with impenitent sinners, the entire nature of the conflict
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shifts. You are no longer dealing with
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the human institution. The stakes go infinitely higher.
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They really do. Edwards breaks down this divine
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takeover by outlining 4 specific implications of what happens
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when God decides to deal with obstinate sinners directly.
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OK, let's get into those. The first of these is the
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concept of a reckoning. That word carries so much
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weight. A reckoning it does.
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It makes me think of an auditor walking into a corrupt
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corporation, locking the doors and demanding the true ledgers.
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Because, you know, we live in a society that often views
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morality as fluid, or at least negotiable.
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Oh, absolutely. If you do something wrong, maybe
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you do something good to balance the scales.
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Or maybe enough time passes and people just forget about it.
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But Edwards is presenting a universe with an absolute moral
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Ledger, isn't he? He is Edwards argues that God
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will write himself in this world.
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God commands subjection. He strictly requires the
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performance of certain duties and forbids things contrary to
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His nature. But obstinate centers operate
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with a functional atheism. They have no regard for these
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commands. When God threatens, they despise
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the threatening. When God offers mercy, if they
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repent, well, they despise the mercy too.
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They just brush it all off. Yeah, and in Edwards framework,
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every single one of those acts is a debt incurred against
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infinite justice. They are continually plunging
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themselves deeper and deeper into moral debt, and the fatal
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flaw of human psychology here is that they imagine they shall
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escape the payment. They designed to entirely rob
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God of his due. I suppose that is the only way a
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person could sleep at night while carrying that kind of
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debt. You have to convince yourself
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the auditor is never coming. You have to live in denial.
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But Edwards says God has undertaken to write himself that
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all these actions are written in his book.
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Not one careless word is forgotten.
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Every single fraction of the debt must be paid.
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God will exact the very uttermost Farthing.
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That is the nature of an infinite reckoning.
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If God is wise enough and strong enough, He will have full
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satisfaction. He takes it as His part, as what
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belongs to Him by right of creation, to see Himself righted
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where He has been wronged. The moral universe will balance.
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It has to balance, and that brings us to the second
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implication of this direct intervention, which deals with
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vindicating His Majesty. Let's unpack majesty for a
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second, because that is a concept that feels a bit foreign
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to a modern listener. We don't live under absolute
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monarchs anymore, you know. No, we don't.
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If someone insults A politician or a leader today, it's just
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free speech. It's expected.
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But Edwards is talking about a category of being that demands
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absolute reverence, right? Correct.
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The concept of majesty here is tied to the infinite worth and
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holiness of God. Sinners despise His Majesty.
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They might hear intellectually that He is a great God, but they
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treat him with contempt in their daily lives.
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They trample his authority in the dust for years together.
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Yeah, and Edwards points out that God has not left the honor
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of His Majesty holy to the care of humans.
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If he had, it would be lost entirely.
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We would have ruined it. Oh.
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Completely. God does not leave His honor and
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His glory with His enemies. It is far too precious in His
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eyes to be neglected. He reserves the care of it for
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himself. He will see to it that his own
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injured Majesty is publicly vindicated.
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And the text explicitly connects this vindication to the Son of
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God. It does.
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Within this theological framework, the sending of the
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Son of God is the highest expression of divine love and
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authority. The text notes that sinners
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despise the Son and trample Him under their feet.
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So God intends to make the glory of His Son appear with respect
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to them. He will ensure that all the
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earth, all men and angels, all heaven and all earth shall see
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whether He is sufficient to magnify Himself openly upon
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those who currently despise Him. So it's very public.
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Yes, the vindication will not be done in a corner.
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The issue of things will be entirely open for the entire
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cosmos to witness. Wow.
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If God is intent on vindicating His Majesty, that naturally
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implies the sinners were actively attacking it like they
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were in a state of rebellion, right?
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How does Edwards conceptualize the actual mechanics of human
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rebellion? I mean, what does it look like
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for a frail human to rebel against the Almighty?
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Well, that is the third implication, subduing Rebellion.
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The hearts of sinners in this world are described by Edwards
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as very unsubdued. They conduct themselves proudly
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and contemptuously, very arrogantly.
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They sin with a high hand, practically saying through their
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actions, Who is the Lord? I know not the Lord, neither
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will I obey his voice. And Edwards uses a stark
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contrast here. He says they refuse the golden
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scepter of His grace, so they will be subjected to the force
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of the iron rod. Oh, I want to pause on that
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imagery because the golden scepter has a very specific
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historical and biblical resonance.
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It does. Like in ancient Persian courts,
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like in the story of Esther, you couldn't just walk up to the
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king if you approached uninvited.
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The penalty was death. Immediate death, yeah.
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The only way you lived was if the king extended the golden
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scepter to you. It was a symbol of unmerited
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pardon and grace. So Edwards is saying that God
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extends this golden scepter, A pardon that cost the life of his
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Son, and the Sinner essentially slaps it away.
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Yeah, I mean, it really gets to the theological core of what
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he's saying. To refuse the Golden Scepter is
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not just a passive lack of interest.
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It's not just saying no thank. It's an insult.
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It is an active, aggressive insult to the King's mercy.
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Therefore, the King takes up the iron rod and Edwards targets
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something very specific regarding this rebellion.
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He addresses individuals who cover their sin with a specious
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show. A fake exterior, yes.
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They put on the face of religion.
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They maintain a demure countenance of behavior, but
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secretly they have this rebellious spirit raining in
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their breasts, he says. They carry their swords under
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their skirts. I read that line about carrying
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swords under their skirts and it immediately made me think of a
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corporate environment. It's like an employee who
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constantly smiles at the boss. They say good morning, they nod
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enthusiastically during meetings, they look like the
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perfect, compliant team player. But in the background, they're
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actively sabotaging the company's servers.
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They were deleting files, changing passwords, causing
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absolute chaos while maintaining this perfectly pleasant outward
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appearance. They hate the company, but they
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love the paycheck. That is a highly effective way
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to conceptualize the hypocrisy Edwards is attacking.
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He is addressing the internal disposition, the core nature of
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the person, not just their outward societal behavior.
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Right. He argues that despite their
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fair show, they despise God. In their hearts.
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They have proud, stubborn, rebellious hearts that are ready
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to rise in opposition, to contend with him, to find fault
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with the way he runs the universe.
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Always complaining internally. Yes, this enmity works in them.
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Even while they sit in church and listen to the preaching of
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the Word, they never lay down the weapons of their rebellion.
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They keep the swords under their skirts.
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Always their refusal to yield their internal affections to
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ministers, to parents, or to divine warnings reveals a
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stubbornness that requires A forceful breaking.
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Those proud hearts which will not yield to the Word shall be
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broken by the force of His hand. They will go from slighting the
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Almighty to hating Him, but they will fear His wrath intensely.
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They will learn to their cost that His wrath is not something
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to be ignored. This internal stubbornness, you
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know, this ability to hear warnings and just brush them off
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leads right into the 4th implication of God's takeover.
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Edwards talks about rectifying judgments.
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Yes, the fourth point. In this world, sinners will not
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be convinced of the truth of divine things.
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Ministers spend their entire lives taking pains to convince
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them, but the effort seems in vain.
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Because people just don't want to hear it.
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Exactly. Human beings are prone to
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unbelief and functional atheism. Divine things never seem real to
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them. They dot the scriptures.
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They question whether there is any such place as hell treating
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it like a myth or a bugbear to scare children.
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A fairy tale. Yeah, they are constantly told
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of the vanity of earthly things, that wealth and status fade, but
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ministers might as well preach to the beasts of the field.
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The human mind is incredibly adept at filtering out
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inconvenient eternal realities. We see that today, perhaps more
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than ever, we distract ourselves with screens, with
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entertainment, with constant noise.
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Never a quiet moment. Right, so we never have to sit
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in silence and consider our mortality or our standing before
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a holy God. But Edwards says God has
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undertaken to cure this condition.
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How does the Almighty cure functional atheism?
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He cures it by harsh, undeniable experience.
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OK, God will make those threatening seem real.
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He will undertake to convince them effectually so that they
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will never doubt anymore forever.
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He will convince them of their folly and stupidity, and
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entertaining such dismissive notions.
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So the debate is over. Entirely, Edwards notes that
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God's work is perfect. He does not do things by halves.
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The atheism, the doubting, the ignoring of the vanity of
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earthly things, it will all be permanently cured by direct
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experience. The moment they cross the
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threshold of eternity, the debate ends.
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The reality of God becomes the most undeniable fact of their
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existence. If you are a listener placing
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yourself in this theological framework, a horrifying
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realizations starts to dawn on you.
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Oh Oh yeah, If God's intervention is absolute and
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he's personally stepping in to reckon the dead, vindicate His
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Majesty, subdue the internal rebellion, and cure the atheism,
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your mind naturally races to find an exit.
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You look for a way out. You look for a loophole.
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But Edwards anticipates the psychological reaction.
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He systematically dismantles every possible escape route a
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human mind might invent. This is the section on the
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futility of evasion. Edwards knows human nature.
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He knows that when a person is cornered, they try to slick
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away. He outlines 5 specific evasion
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tactics that sinners secretly harbor in their minds, and he
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crushes each one under the weight of divine omniscience. 5
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tactics. Let's go through them.
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The first tactic is the idea of just sneaking in.
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The text says there's no hope that possibly they may steal
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away to heaven even though they die unconverted.
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It is the idea of sneaking into an exclusive event through the
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kitchen, right? Like you bypass the bouncer.
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But heaven is not a physical location with an unguarded back
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door. It is the immediate presence of
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a holy God. Precisely.
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You can't sneak past omniscience.
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The second evasion tactic is deception.
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Faking it. Just putting on a mask.
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The text asserts there is no hope that they can deceive the
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Almighty by any false show of repentance and faith, hoping to
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be taken to heaven through a mistake.
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Edwards uses a vivid biblical phrase here.
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The eyes of God are as a flame of fire.
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They see everything. They perfectly see through every
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person. The inmost closet of the heart
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is all open to Him. You cannot forge a ticket of
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grace. You cannot deceive omniscience.
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The third evasion tactic is the one that fascinates me the most.
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From a psychological standpoint. It is the hope of escaping the
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threatened punishment by sinking into nothingness at death.
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Annihilation. Yeah, this one is heavy.
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The text mentions that many individuals upon their deathbeds
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actively wish for this. Why does the human brain process
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a threat so severely that non existence becomes the ultimate
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fantasy? That is a staggering reality to
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confront. Think about what it takes for a
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human being whose primary biological and psychological Dr.
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is self preservation, to suddenly crave the absolute
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cessation of their own existence.
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It goes against all our hardwiring.
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It does. The realization of impending
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divine justice, the sudden clarity of that infinite moral
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debt we discussed earlier, becomes so overwhelming that
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ceasing to exist entirely is vastly preferable to facing the
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auditor. Just delete me from the system.
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Yes, death, if it meant annihilation, would be nothing
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to them in comparison with facing the wrath of the
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Almighty. The human mind reaches for the
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ultimate escape hatch. If I do not exist, I cannot be
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punished. It is the final retreat.
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But Edwards shuts the door on that comfort.
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He says annihilation is impossible.
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The soul was created immortal. It retains its being and its
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perception forever. You cannot uncreate yourself to
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avoid the Creator. He removes the comfort of
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oblivion. The soul must remain aware.
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Terrifying. So what is the fourth one?
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The 4th evasion is slipping away unnoticed.
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The absurdity of this is something Edwards explicitly
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highlights. It's the idea that God, by
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reason of the multiplicity of affairs which he has to mind,
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will happen to overlook them when they come to die.
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Like he's too busy. Yeah, that their soul will slip
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away privately, hide in some secret corner of the cosmos and
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escape divine vengeance. We project our own limitations
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onto God. We treat God like a distracted
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manager running a massive corporation.
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We think the universe is so big there are billions of galaxies.
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Surely he will not notice little old me sneaking out the back
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door. We reduce the infinite to the
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finite to make ourselves feel safe.
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We really do. And finally, the 5th evasion,
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hiding in the crowd. The hope that they shall be
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missed in a vast multitude at the Day of Judgement.
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That they can hide in some cave or den, or blend into the crowd
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of the Saints at the right hand of the Judge going undiscovered.
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It is sheer absurdity when you really look at the premise, the
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text asks A rhetorical question. When did God ever undertake to
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do anything and fail? Never.
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There is no hope that God will alter his mind or repent of what
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He has said. He is on a human being with
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limitations, fatigue, or immutability.
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The omniscience of God makes evasion A logical impossibility.
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That is the crux of the argument.
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If an omniscient, omnipotent, immutable God has undertaken the
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task of dealing with you, vain are all such hopes of slipping
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away. If flight is impossible, human
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instinct naturally shifts. You realize you cannot run, you
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cannot hide, and you cannot cease to exist.
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The only other option in our biological hardwiring is to
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fight. Fight or flight and flight is
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gone. Right, you shift to bargaining
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or fighting back. So how does Edwards address the
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possibility of self-defense or finding relief once the
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judgement begins? This is where Edwards introduces
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the specific question from Ezekiel Can thine hands be
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strong? He outlines the total inability
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of sinners to improve their situation.
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Once condemned, it is the absolute impossibility of relief
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or rescue. The first point he makes is that
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they cannot overcome their enemy.
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They cannot deliver themselves through strength.
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God will gird himself with might to execute wrath.
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He will act the part of an enemy.
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An omnipotent enemy. Yes, those who live negligent of
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their souls act as if they suppose they shall be able to
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make their part good with God. They think their defiance has
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actual substance, but they will have no might to resist the
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omnipotence engaged against them.
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When physical strength fails in a conflict, human beings pivot
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to negotiation. We try to buy our way out.
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Edwards addresses that bargaining aspect next.
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He says they cannot appease him. They'll have no strength in
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their hands to abate the fierceness of his wrath.
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They will not be able to offer any satisfaction or procure his
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pity. Nothing to trade.
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Nothing at all. They will find no price to offer
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to purchase any favor or to pay any part of their infinite debt.
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I want to push back on this concept of 0 pity just on behalf
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of the listener. Sure, go ahead.
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Because in our human experience, in human conflicts, there is
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always a negotiation phase. Even in the worst, most corrupt
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prison systems on earth, there is a black market.
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There is a sympathetic guard you can manipulate, there is a
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warden you can appeal to. There is family on the outside
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sending letters. Always some angle to play.
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Right, But Edwards is describing a legal system where you cannot
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bribe the judge, you have no representation, the doors are
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welded completely shut, and the warden is flawless and
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unyielding. Is the total absence of pity or
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friendship meant to be taken literally, or is it a rhetorical
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device to show extreme isolation?
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Within Edwards framework, it is a theological absolute.
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It is not hyperbole. The text explicitly states they
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will have no friends to intercede for them.
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Literal isolation. Yes, this ties back to the
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concept of the golden scepter we talked about earlier.
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They have the offer of a mediator often made to them in
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this world. Christ was offered as the
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Advocate, but to refuse the mediator in this life means all
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offers of mediation permanently cease in the next I.
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See. If you reject the only defense
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attorney, you face the judge alone.
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None will befriend them, They will have no friend in heaven,
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and all in hell will be their enemies.
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No creature will have any capability to deliver them, nor
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will any ever pity them. The isolation is total and
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absolute because the time for grace has concluded.
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So there is no outside help and they certainly cannot break out
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on their own. No, they cannot find means to
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break prison and flee. Malefactors often find means to
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escape civil justice through ingenuity or brute force.
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Right, breaking out of jail. But this prison is beyond any
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finite capability or the United strength of all wicked men and
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devils combined to unlock. The text notes that Christ has
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the key, He shuts and no man opens.
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And the physical environment itself offers zero relief in our
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world. Even in intense suffering, you
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can find a cool breeze or a sip of water or a moment where the
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pain dulls. Edward strips all of that away.
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He says they will never find any resting place.
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No place of respite, no secret corner which will be cooler than
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the rest. No cooling stream or fountain.
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Not so much is a drop of water. Just constant exposure.
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Yes. No company to give them comfort.
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They will find no place where they can remain, rest and take
21:35
breath for one single minute. We have established A horrifying
21:38
scenario. A person can either run nor
21:40
fight. They cannot hide, they cannot
21:42
bargain, they cannot break out, and they have absolutely 0
21:45
allies. The only option left for the
21:47
human mind when faced with an unavoidable, unalterable
21:50
calamity is to brace for impact. And just take it.
21:53
To grit your teeth, fortify your mind, and take the punishment.
21:56
Can human resilience hold up under this immense pressure?
21:59
Edwards anticipates this final psychological defense, and his
22:03
answer is a resounding no. He argues that setting a
22:06
resolution to bear it as well as I can is entirely futile.
22:10
This brings us to his analysis of the total collapse of human
22:13
resilience. In this world, when we face a
22:15
chronic illness or a financial ruin or a massive loss that we
22:18
cannot shun, we brace ourselves. We fortify our spirits.
22:23
We use cognitive behavioral techniques.
22:25
While coughing up. We take up a firm resolution
22:27
that we will support ourselves under the trial.
22:29
We tell ourselves we are strong. But Edward says it will be
22:33
utterly in vain to think to do thus with respect to divine
22:36
justice. The torment will be immensely
22:39
beyond their finite strength. To illustrate this, he uses
22:42
incredibly visceral imagery. What kind of imagery?
22:45
He asked the listener to imagine a worm.
22:48
Now imagine that worm is about to be pressed under the weed of
22:50
a massive rock. A boulder is falling directly on
22:53
it. What will it signify for that
22:56
worm to collect its strength, to set itself to bear up the weight
22:59
of the rock, and to preserve itself from being crushed by it?
23:02
It is mathematically physically absurd.
23:04
A worm trying to bench press a falling boulder.
23:07
The worm strength is essentially 0 compared to the mass of the
23:11
rock. And that is his exact point.
23:14
What is the strength of man, who is but a worm, to support
23:18
himself against the fierceness of the Almighty's wrath?
23:22
When sinners hear of these torments, they sometimes think,
23:26
Well, if it comes to that, I will bear it as well as I can.
23:28
Like they can just muscle through it.
23:30
As if by clothing themselves with resolution and firmness of
23:33
mind, they could somehow support themselves.
23:36
But Edward says they will have no resolution, no courage at
23:39
all. The text says at the first
23:41
moment they feel it, their hearts will melt and be as
23:43
water. They will become like wax before
23:46
a furnace. Their.
23:46
Courage will vanish like a shadow in the twinkling of an
23:49
eye, and Edwards makes a brilliant point here to equalize
23:52
everyone. How so?
23:54
Well, in this world we have strong people and weak people.
23:56
But Edward says the stoutest giant and the feeblest infant
23:59
will have the exact same level of courage when facing infinite
24:03
wrath, which is to say 0. The Giant and the infant are the
24:06
same. Let a man be an infant or a
24:08
giant, It will be all one. They will not be able to keep
24:11
alive any courage, strength, comfort, or hope.
24:15
The infinite nature of the wrath flattens all human distinctions.
24:18
This raises a massive existential question.
24:21
The inquiry section of the text asks if they cannot shun it,
24:26
deliver themselves, or bear it, what becomes of them?
24:29
And the answer given is that they wholly sink down into
24:31
eternal death. Yes, I want to take a moment to
24:34
untack the physical analogy Edwards is drawing from here.
24:37
When a human body experiences extreme, unbearable pain, it
24:41
struggles, It pants, it groans, it goes into shock.
24:44
There are convulsions. Nature fights back.
24:46
Nature is loath to yield to the pain.
24:48
But eventually, if the pain is too extreme, nature yields.
24:51
The bodily system shut down, the person sinks down, and the body
24:54
dies. The pain ends, but what happens
24:57
to the soul which cannot die? How does a soul die or sink if
25:01
it cannot be annihilated? This is perhaps the most
25:03
chilling, psychologically devastating analysis in the
25:06
entire text. Because the soul is immortal, it
25:08
enters a state of continuous sinking.
25:10
Continuous sinking. It retains full perception but
25:14
loses all comfort, hope and fortitude.
25:17
It has no strength to deliver itself.
25:19
The horror is vastly disproportion to its strength.
25:23
Edwards points out that although it is infinitely contrary to the
25:27
nature and inclination of the soul to utterly sink, it will
25:30
sink. Because it has no choice.
25:32
It will totally sink without the least degree of remaining
25:34
comfort or courage. It's being and perception will
25:37
never be abolished, but the infinite depth of gloominess it
25:41
sinks into is what Edwards defines as eternal death.
25:45
It is the perpetual experience of dying, of yielding to
25:48
unbearable weight without the release of non existence.
25:51
To help the audience conceive of what this continuous sinking
25:54
feels like, Edwards uses a thought experiment, the fiery
25:58
oven illustration. Oh, this part is intense.
26:01
It is a masterful exercise in compounding agony through the
26:04
lens of time. Let's walk through that.
26:06
He asked the listener to imagine being cast into a fiery oven or
26:09
a great furnace. He notes that the pain here is
26:12
as much greater than accidentally touching a coal of
26:14
fire as the heat is greater. He asked you to imagine lying
26:17
there for 1/4 of an hour, full of quick sense.
26:20
The horror at the entrance of such a furnace would be immense,
26:24
and that single quarter of an hour would seem incredibly,
26:27
unbearably long. After enduring it for one
26:31
minute, the thought of enduring the other 14 would be
26:34
overbearing. And then, like a surgeon, he
26:36
scales it up. He forces the mind to grapple
26:39
with duration. Yes, he asked.
26:42
What if you knew you must lie there for 24 hours?
26:45
The despair would multiply. How much greater the effect if
26:48
you knew you must endure it for a whole year?
26:50
It's unfathomable and. Vastly greater still if you knew
26:53
you must endure it for 1000 years.
26:56
The anticipation of the future pain compounds the present
26:59
agony. You're not just suffering the
27:01
current moment, you are crushed by the weight of all the future
27:04
moments you know are coming. Because, you know, there's no
27:06
end insight. And then he delivers the final
27:09
crushing blow. How would your heart sink if you
27:12
knew you must bear it forever and ever?
27:14
That after millions of millions of ages your torment would be no
27:18
nearer to an end than it ever was?
27:20
The soul sinking under an infinite weight which it cannot
27:23
bear, knowing it will never end? That is the gloom of hell.
27:27
The sheer severity of this imagery is overwhelming.
27:30
I think any modern listener hearing this would instinctively
27:32
recoil. It feels wildly
27:34
disproportionate. Naturally, the modern mind says
27:37
I told a few lies. I was a bit selfish.
27:39
I ignored some religious rules. How does that equate to an
27:42
infinite, unending fiery oven? How does Edwards justify this
27:46
level of infinite severity? Edwards addresses that exact
27:50
sentiment directly. He knows his audience will feel
27:52
this punishment is disproportionate.
27:54
He argues that the punishment actually matches the offense
27:56
perfectly, but we are completely unable to see it because our
27:59
perspective is fundamentally flawed and biased flawed.
28:02
He addresses the listener, asking why is it that thy
28:05
wickedness does not seem bad enough to deserve this
28:08
punishment? And his answer is devastatingly
28:11
simple. Sinners view their own
28:13
wickedness favorably. They love their wickedness.
28:16
It appears lovely to them. They excuse it.
28:19
They rationalize it. They do not see the hatefulness
28:21
in it because they are the ones committing it.
28:23
We are the absolute worst judges of our own crimes because we are
28:26
looking through our own polluted, self justifying eyes.
28:30
Yes, but Edward shifts the perspective to whom the crimes
28:33
were committed against. They've trampled on divine
28:36
majesty. They've made light of the
28:38
Creator of the cosmos 1000 times.
28:41
It's about who was offended, not just the ACT itself, right?
28:44
Furthermore, they have rejected an equally infinite loving
28:46
grace. Edwards points out that the love
28:49
of God, his condescension and his pity, and sending his Son
28:52
into the world to suffer and die for rebellious creatures, is
28:55
every wit as wonderful and infinite as this inexpressible
28:59
wrath. The grace is just as massive as
29:01
the Wrath. Yes, and this mercy was held
29:03
forth and offered hundreds of times, but the Sinner would not
29:06
accept Christ. They trampled the unimaginable
29:10
benefits of His dying love under foot.
29:12
So the theological logic is airtight.
29:15
If you harden your heart against an infinite mercy and an
29:18
infinite dying love, you earn an infinite wrath.
29:21
That is the equation. You despise an infinite good.
29:24
You inherit an infinite loss. The scale of the punishment is
29:28
not determined by the length of the crime, but by the infinite
29:31
worth of the being who was offended.
29:33
Yes, Edwards asks A penetrating question.
29:37
Is it incredible that God should be utterly shame or other,
29:40
regardless of the sinner's welfare, to sink him into an
29:43
infinite abyss of misery? Is that shocking to you?
29:46
And it's flip side to that. He asks.
29:48
And is it not at all shocking that the Sinner should be
29:50
utterly regardless of the honor and glory of the Infinite God?
29:53
The severity of the punishment is merely a reflection of the
29:56
magnitude of the Creator. To illustrate the sheer comical
29:59
mismatch between the infinite creator and the rebellious
30:02
finite creature, Edwards uses rapid fire analogies in his
30:06
application. He wants to show how ridiculous
30:08
human pride actually is. He begins by talking about the
30:11
great Leviathans, strong, proud spirits of gigantic stoutness.
30:16
These are the most terrifying entities we can imagine.
30:18
Like sea monsters? Yeah, yet in the hands of the
30:21
Almighty, they're less than weak infants.
30:23
They are nothing. Their hearts will be broken and
30:25
they will sink. His point is, if the strongest,
30:29
most terrifying entities in the universe are like infants before
30:33
God, what is a frail human being with a lifespan of 80 years?
30:38
It puts it in perspective. He also uses the imagery of
30:40
briars and thorns. He does.
30:42
He says it is vain to set briars and thorns in battle array
30:46
against glowing flames. The points of the thorns, that
30:49
they might be sharp and prick a human finger, do absolutely
30:51
nothing to withstand a forest fire.
30:53
They just burn. The fire does not even notice
30:55
the sharpness, it just consumes the material.
30:57
And then he introduces the spider thrown into a fierce
31:00
fire. A spider is something humans
31:02
might find creepy or repulsive, but physically it is incredibly
31:06
fragile. When a spider falls into a
31:09
roaring fire, there is no long struggle.
31:11
It's instantaneous. It does not fight against the
31:14
fire. It immediately yields to the
31:16
force of the flames stretching forth itself as the fire takes
31:20
total possession of it, Edwards says.
31:22
To encourage yourself that you will bear hell torments as well
31:25
as you can is just as if a worm or a spider about to be thrown
31:29
into a glowing furnace should swell itself up and fortify
31:33
itself to fight the flames. It is absurd.
31:35
But the most striking image, the one that really cements the
31:38
absurdity of human defiance for me, is the thunderstorm analogy.
31:43
Oh, that's a good Edwards asks. What an absurd figure would a
31:46
poor weak man make, who in a thunderstorm should expect a
31:50
flash of lightning on his head, and should go forth, sword in
31:53
hand, to oppose it. The stream of brimstone would in
31:57
an instant melt his sword and drink up his life.
31:59
It is the ultimate category error.
32:01
Is akin to trying to punch a hurricane.
32:03
You are trying to use a physical finite tool, a sword or your
32:07
fists or your own psychological willpower to fight a localized
32:11
manifestation of an infinite force.
32:13
It doesn't work. The lightning doesn't pause to
32:15
duel the sword, it doesn't notice the sword.
32:18
It just melts the steel and vaporizes the man.
32:22
It perfectly captures the sheer irrational arrogance humans
32:26
display when trying to measure their might against the Creator.
32:30
If we look at why Edwards is stacking all these terrifying
32:32
metaphors on top of each other, we have to consider the specific
32:36
audience he was speaking to. Right, he had a target
32:39
demographic in mind. He is not preaching to Pagan
32:41
atheist who have never heard of the Bible.
32:43
He specifically addresses the people sitting in the pews of
32:46
his church. He calls them old soldiers.
32:49
Let's examine that phrase because it is brilliant
32:51
sociology. What does he mean by calling his
32:54
congregation old soldiers? He says to them, I suppose some
32:58
of you have heard all that I have said with ease and
33:00
quietness. It appears to you as great big
33:03
sounding words, but does not reach your hearts.
33:06
You've heard such things many times.
33:08
You are old Folgers, and have been too much used to the
33:11
roaring of Heaven's cannon to be frightened at it.
33:13
Wow, he's calling them out. He is talking to churchgoers in
33:16
18th century New England who are completely desensitized to
33:20
terrifying rhetoric. They have sat through sermons
33:23
about hell, judgement and divine wrath since they were infants.
33:27
It's just background noise to them.
33:29
Exactly. I mean, they just sit there easy
33:31
and quiet, letting the theological words wash over them
33:34
without any internal effect. They have built up a tolerance
33:37
to the warnings. So the entire sermon, all this
33:41
vivid imagery, the methodical dismantling of every hope and
33:44
escape route, the psychological horror of the fiery oven, it is
33:49
a highly calculated effort, very calculated.
33:51
He knows they're desensitized. He knows they're sitting there
33:54
in their Sunday clothes thinking, oh, another sermon
33:56
about wrath. I can handle this.
33:58
I've survived 100 of these. He is trying to shatter that
34:02
quiet, careless complacency before the actual reckoning
34:04
arrives. He is trying to Pierce their
34:06
armor. That is the pastoral motivation
34:09
behind the terror. He acknowledges his own
34:11
limitations as a human minister. He tells them, I cannot deal
34:14
with you. You despise what I say.
34:16
The attempts of men in this way of often proved vain.
34:19
He knows his words alone cannot save them.
34:21
So he points them to God's direct intervention.
34:24
But then he pivots back to the core doctrine of Ezekiel 22.
34:28
However God have undertaken to deal with such men as you are,
34:33
He warns them that God often let's ministers try their utmost
34:36
strength first to show ministers their own weakness and to let
34:41
the sinners demonstrate their obstinacy.
34:43
And then, and when all human effort fails, God takes the
34:46
matter into His own hands. And Edwards delivers that
34:49
haunting phrase, Your hearts will be broken with a witness.
34:53
It brings all these massive, heavy theological concepts down
34:57
to the listeners own personal reflection.
34:59
It forces you to ask where you stand right now.
35:02
That is the whole goal. Are you sitting easily, trusting
35:04
in a false escape route? Are you relying on a sword to
35:07
fight the lightning? The intention is to strip away
35:09
every illusion of self-sufficiency.
35:12
Edwards wants to make the listener realize that their only
35:14
hope is not innovation, not in resilience and not in fighting
35:17
back, but in yielding to the golden scepter of Christ's
35:20
mediation before the divine takeover happens.
35:24
Which brings us to the end of our discussion on Edwards's
35:26
stark, unyielding framework. We have walked through the
35:30
divine takeover, the absolute futility of evasion, the
35:34
impossibility of rescue, the total collapse of human
35:37
resilience and the airtight logic of infinite severity.
35:41
It's a lot to take in. It really is, but I want to
35:43
leave you, the listener, with a final thought to ponder based on
35:47
a very specific, easily overlooked line from the text.
35:50
Which line caught your attention?
35:52
Edwards notes as a passing psychological fact that the
35:54
nature of man desires happiness. It is the inherent inestapable
35:58
nature of the soul to crave and thirst after well-being.
36:02
If a person is under misery, they eagerly pants after relief,
36:05
right? This is a design of human
36:06
existence that cannot be altered.
36:08
We are built to seek out what is good for us.
36:11
We are built to seek light, comfort and joy it.
36:14
Is the core mechanism of our psychology.
36:16
We cannot stop wanting to be happy any more than we can stop
36:20
our hearts from beating. So consider the horror of this.
36:23
If this design for well-being is permanently thwarted, if all
36:27
relief is withholden, all strength overborn, and all
36:30
support utterly gone, but the desire for happiness remains
36:34
fully intact, does the soul's very design, its incessant
36:37
craving for good, become its chief engine of torment?
36:41
If you are inherently built to seek the light, what does it
36:44
mean to exist permanently with full awareness and perception in
36:47
what the text calls the blackness of darkness?
36:50
You are tortured by your own unfulfilled design.
36:52
That is a staggering reality to confront.
36:55
It suggests that the worst part of judgment is not just what is
36:58
inflicted upon you, but the unending realization of what you
37:01
have permanently lost. It is keep thinking, keep
37:03
questioning and keep seeking the truth.