Latest / Reformed Thinking / Why God Created the World to Share His Goodness | Jonathan Edwards

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Why God Created the World to Share His Goodness | Jonathan Edwards · Reformed Thinking

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What if I told you that every single Galaxy, every shifting
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tectonic plate, every sudden change in the weather, and even
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the, you know, minor frustrating inconveniences in your day,
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we're all meticulously engineered for one highly
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specific emotional response? Wow.
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Yeah. I mean, what if the entire
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machinery of the universe was spinning for a single focused
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reason, and that reason directly involved you?
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It sounds almost arrogant when you first hear it phrased that
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way. I mean, right?
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For sure. We are conditioned to think of
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the universe as cold or indifferent and just vast, so to
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suggest that it has a mechanical, laser focused
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theological purpose feels like a massive paradigm shift.
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Welcome to Reformed thinking. I'm so glad you're here with us
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today. Yes, thanks for tuning in.
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If you are listening right now, yes, you, the learner who loves
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to figure out how all these massive theological concepts
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actually fit together in the real world.
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Well, we have a fantastic mission for our time today.
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We really do. We are taking a deep dive into a
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highly specific, fascinating section of Jonathan Edwards
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work, a dissertation concerning the end for which God created
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the world. It is such a dense text, but so
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rewarding. It really is.
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We are going to unpack his scriptural arguments that prove
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communicating good to His creatures was a primary direct
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aim of God when He spoke reality into existence.
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Right. And to set the baseline here we
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have to look at our theological framework.
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OK, let us set the stage. As adherence to the Westminster
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Confession, understanding God's chief aim and creation is
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central to reform thought. We're all familiar with the very
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first question of the short of catechism.
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You know what is the chief end of man?
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Right, and the answer is burned into our brains.
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Man's chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.
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Spot on, but Edwards turns the diamond slightly and flips the
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camera around. I love that imagery.
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Thanks. He asked the inverse question.
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What was God's chief end? Why did he do any of this?
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OK, let's unpack this, because getting into the motives of the
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divine feels like walking on sacred and sometimes very
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confusing ground. It does.
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It can feel intimidating. But Edwards does not just
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speculate, though. He goes straight to the text.
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Yes, he does. He builds his case by showing
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that communicating good to creatures is something that is
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inherently pleasing to God for its own.
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And to prove this, he creates a stark contrast between how God
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executes justice and how God shows mercy.
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It is such a helpful contrast too.
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You really build a watertight case.
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Edwards points out that these two actions, showing mercy and
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executing wrath, are treated very differently in Scripture
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regarding how God actually feels about them.
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Right. For instance, he brings up
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Deuteronomy chapter 28 verse 63 which mentions the Lord
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rejoicing over the wicked to destroy them.
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That is a tough first to read. It is.
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He also references Ezekiel chapter 5 verse 13 where God
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says his anger will be accomplished and he will be
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comforted. I mean, when you read those
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verses in isolation, it paints a very severe picture.
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It does paint a severe picture, but Edwards is quick to point
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out that executing wrath is a distinct, separate type of
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action from showing mercy. How so?
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Well, when it comes to executing wrath, it is spoken of as
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something God proceeds to with backwardness and reluctance.
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That is an interesting phrase. The misery of the creature is
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not agreeable to him on its own account.
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Edwards pulls from Lamentations chapter 3, verse 33.
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Oh, I know that one. Yeah, which explicitly states
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that God does not afflict willingly nor grieve the
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children of men. That phrase backwardness and
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reluctance is just so striking. It really refrains things, does
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it not? Completely.
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It shatters the caricature of the angry deity sitting in the
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clouds, just, you know, itching to throw lightning bolts at
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people who mess up. Precisely.
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And he follows that up with Ezekiel chapter 18, verse 32 and
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chapter 33, verse 11. What do those say?
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Both of those verses state emphatically that God takes no
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pleasure in the death of the wicked.
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He says Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways, for why will you
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die? You can hear the pleading in the
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text. You really can.
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Then you contrast that reluctance with the verses about
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mercy. Nehemiah Chapter 9 verse 17 says
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God is ready to pardon. I love that.
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Micah Chapter 7 verse 18 says He retaineth not his anger forever
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because he delighteth in mercy. Think of a master surgeon.
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OK, I am tracking with you. Let's say a patient comes in
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with a severe infection and amputating a limb is the only
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way to save their life. That amputation is a necessary,
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just and good action. The surgeon will carry it out
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Florida State. But the surgeon steps into that
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operating room with heavy reluctance.
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They do not take pleasure in the act of cutting off a limb.
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No, of course not. They do it because the situation
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demands it to eradicate the disease.
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But handing a healthy, healed child back to their parents in
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the recovery room? Oh wow.
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That is an action the surgeon delights in purely for its own
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sake. The surgeon rejoices in the
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healing directly. That is a brilliant way to put
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it. That is the exact contrast
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Edwards is drawing here regarding God's disposition.
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What's fascinating here is how this impacts reformed theology
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as a whole. Go on.
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Sometimes, from the outside looking in, critics characterize
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Reformed thought as focusing exclusively on a stern,
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punishing deity. Yes, they definitely do.
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They see the doctrines of predestination or total
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depravity and assume the system produces a cold religion.
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Which is a huge misconception. It is, but Edwards, using the
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very text of Scripture, shows that God's justice is necessary
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for His Holiness, but His mercy is His inherent delight.
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I. Love that word delight.
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Notice the pacing in the text. He is ready to pardon.
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He is slow to anger. The eagerness is completely
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asymmetrical. Yes, asymmetrical is the perfect
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word. He executes justice because he
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is holy and must deal with sin, but he runs toward mercy because
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that is what he genuinely enjoys doing.
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I am so glad you highlighted the pacing.
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Slow to anger versus ready to pardon.
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It is such a stark difference. It changes how you view God's
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daily interactions with us. He is not tapping His foot
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waiting for you to fail. He is eagerly leaning forward,
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ready to show grace. That is a very comforting
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thought. Which leads us to the next
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massive theological step in Edwards argument.
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Where does he go next? If God delights in mercy this
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much, how does that shape the actual mechanism of our
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salvation? Like how does it shape the work
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of Jesus Christ? Well, Edwards addresses this
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head on. He argues that redemption is
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driven by direct love. Direct love.
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Yes, it is not just a subordinate stepping stone to
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some other distant goal. He looks at verses we all know,
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like John 316, where God so loved the world that He gave His
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only begotten Son a. Classic.
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Or Ephesians chapter 2 verse 4, which talks about the great love
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wherewith he loved us, right? Edwards says that if our good
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was entirely diverse from God's goal, if we were just pawns on a
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chess board being moved around to accomplish a completely
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unrelated objective, then God's love would not be truly directed
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at us. That makes sense.
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His love would terminate strictly on that other distant
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goal. Wait, hold on, let me push back
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here because this feels like a spot where a lot of solid, well
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meaning believers might get tripped up.
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OK, let's hear. In Reformed circles, we are
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taught from day one that God does everything for his own
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glory. Absolutely.
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That is the highest aim of the universe.
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So does Edwards saying God acts strictly for our good contradict
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that? That is a very common concern.
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If His love terminates on us, are we saying we are more highly
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valued than God's own glory? Because that sounds like we are
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placing humanity on the throne instead of God.
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That is a brilliant question, and it is the precise tension
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Edwards resolves. How does he resolve it?
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He is very careful here. Edwards argues that if our good
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was only a subordinate stepping stone, then God's love wouldn't
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truly be directed at us, must terminate on us to be true love.
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He cites Galatians chapter 2, verse 20, where Paul says the
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Son of God loved me and gave himself for me.
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The synthesis Edwards provides is breathtaking.
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He says doing things for mercy's sake is mathematically and
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theologically identical to doing them for his name's sake.
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How does he prove that they are identical?
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He goes to the Psalms. Edwards references Psalm 25 in
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verse 7. David asks God to remember him
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for thy goodness sake. Right, I know that one.
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Then just 4 verses later in verse 11, David says, For thy
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name's sake, O Lord, party, mine iniquity.
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Oh wow, I see. Edwards is showing that God's
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glory and the communication of good to his creatures are not 2
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competing goals. They are not in a tug of war.
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That is a relief. The communication of good is the
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manifestation of His glory. They are one in the same
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mechanism. So if I am hearing you
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correctly, the centuries old debate between God does it for
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his glory and God does it out of love for us is a false
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dichotomy. Yes, and we're just saying they
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are the wait. They are the very same thing.
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Yes. You do not have to choose
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between God doing something for His glory and God doing
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something because He genuinely loves you.
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That is huge. His glory shines the absolute
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brightest when He is pouring out His goodness on His people.
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God is glorified by loving you. That is a massive paradigm
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shift. It completely removes the cold
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transactional view of God. It really does.
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It means I don't have to wonder if God is just using me to get
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glory for Himself. In some detached way, His glory
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and my joy are locked together. And we see this perfectly
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illustrated in how Christ reacts to the salvation of his people.
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Tell me more about that. Edwards brings in Isaiah chapter
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53 versus 10 and 11. This is the famous suffering
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servant passage. Yes, very famous, says Christ
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shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied He
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rests in the salvation of his people as the prize he aimed at.
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That is beautiful. He enjoys the result of his
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extreme agonies. He is satisfied by looking at
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us. Yes, Isaiah chapter 62 verse 5
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compares it to a bridegroom rejoicing over a bride.
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What a picture. 79 chapter 3 verse 17 says He will rejoice
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over thee with joy, He will rest in his love, He will rejoice
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over thee with singing. This implies Christ has his
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delight most truly and properly in obtaining the salvation of
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His Church is what he rejoices in directly.
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It is not a means to an end. No, we are the end, he rejoices
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in. He rejoices over us with
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singing. Think about the mechanics of
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that. It is hard to wrap your mind
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around. A bridegroom doesn't stand at
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the altar, watch his bride walk down the aisle and think, I am
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so glad I am doing this because it fulfills a legal obligation
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and enhances my public reputation.
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Right, that would be. Terrible.
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No. His heart is pounding, he is
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smiling, he is overwhelmed with direct, focused love for the
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person in front of him. That is the imagery Scripture
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uses for Jesus. If.
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We connect this to the bigger picture.
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It changes everything about how we view the physical world.
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How so? Because this immense, direct
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love is not just a spiritual concept floating in the ether,
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right? Edwards takes this principle and
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applies it to cosmology, to astronomy, to the dirt under our
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feet and the stars over our heads.
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Here's where it gets really interesting.
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It does. Edwards argues that God uses the
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whole creation in his government for the good of his people.
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The physical universe is involved in this.
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Absolutely. Edwards points out that Christ
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is seated at the head of the universe specifically to promote
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the happiness of the Church. That is a huge statement.
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He cites Ephesians chapter 1 where Christ is made head over
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all things to the church. He also looks at Mark chapter 2,
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verse 28. Well, I mean what that says.
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Christ says the Sabbath was made for man.
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Edwards deduces from this that if the Sabbath was made for man,
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we may argue that all things were made for man, because the
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Son of Man is made Lord of all things.
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Oh, I see the logic. There the sun, moon, and stars
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are declared works of continuous mercy in Psalm 136.
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Think of the universe not just as a chariot, but as the inner
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workings of an infinitely complex Swiss watch.
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Oh, I like that analogy. When you look at a Swiss watch,
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you see hundreds of tiny deers. Some are spinning clockwise,
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some counterclockwise. Why?
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Some are large, some are microscopic.
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Very intricate. They might even look like they
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are grinding against each other, but every single tooth on every
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single gear is precisely calculated to push the hands of
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the clock forward toward one exact minute.
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Yes, according to Edwards, based on Psalm 136, the physical
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universe is that watch. That is a phenomenal way to
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visualize it. The gears, the weather, the
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shifting of nations, the daily trials, the Sun ruling ruling by
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day, the moon ruling by night are all ticking forward to
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secure the ultimate good of God's people.
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Edwards uses a similar mechanical concept when he
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references Deuteronomy chapter 33, verse 26.
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What does that verse say? It speaks of the God of Jesharin
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who writeth upon the heaven. Edwards connects this to
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Ezekiel's vision of the massive intersecting wheels.
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Right, the wheels within wheels. He describes the whole universe
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as a machine or a chariot, which God has made for his own use.
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So God is driving this chariot. Yes, God sits in the heavens, in
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the inferior part of creation, this visible universe with all
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its continual changes and revolutions.
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These are the wheels of the chariot.
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So the physical laws of nature are the wheels, yes.
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God's Providence directs all these constant revolutions,
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alterations, and successive events for one specific
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destination. Which is.
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Moses tells us for who's sake God moves the wheels of this
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chariot, the salvation of his people.
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That is staggling. The physical construction of
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reality was purposed for the communication of divine
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goodness. Edwards points out that this was
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the plan from the very beginning.
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From the very foundation. He references the sentence
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pronounced on the righteous at the day of judgement.
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Inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the
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world. God in all His works and laying
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the foundation of the world and ever since the foundation of it,
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has been preparing this Kingdom and glory for them.
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It makes you look at a sunrise completely differently.
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It really does. It is not just the earth
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rotating on its axis. It is a daily delivery of mercy
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specifically tailored by the Creator for you.
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It is a gear in the watch turning.
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That is a beautiful thought. But we have to pause here.
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We have to be honest. Life isn't just beautiful
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sunrises and starry nights. The Gears of that watch
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sometimes feel like they are crushing us.
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Yes they do. The universe contains severe
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realities, sharp edges, violence and devastating events.
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It is a broken world. Which leads us to Edward's most
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sobering argument. We have to look at how the harsh
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doctrine of judgment fits into this chariot.
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This is where Edwards tackles a very challenging aspect of
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Reformed doctrine. It is definitely a heavy topic.
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He states that even God's judgments on the wicked in this
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world, and also their eternal damnation in the world to come,
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are geared toward the happiness of God's people.
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Wait, I have to stop you there, OK, You are saying, Edwards
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argues that the damnation of the wicked is explicitly designed to
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make the saved happier. I know it is a lot to take in.
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That sounds incredibly cruel to modern ears.
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It sounds almost sadistic. How does he justify that
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logically without making God sound like a monster who
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tortures people just to give the elect a better view?
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It is a heavy, difficult concept and your reaction is exactly why
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we need to walk through the scripture carefully here.
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Please do. Edwards does not invent this
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idea. He pulls it directly from the
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text. He goes to Isaiah chapter 43,
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verses 3 and 4. OK.
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What does Isaiah say? God says I gave Egypt for thy
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ransom, Ethiopia and Saba for thee.
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Since thou has been precious in my sight, thou has been
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honorable and I have loved thee. Therefore will I give men for
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thee, and people for that life. So in a historical context, God
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is stating that He will hand over entire nations to
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destruction as a ransom for the safety of His chosen people.
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Yes, the judgements in this world are works of mercy to His
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people, rescuing them, preserving.
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Them OK, I can see that. God dismantling the Egyptian
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empire was an act of severe judgement on Egypt, but it was
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the exact mechanism of salvation for the Israelites.
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It's trapped in slavery. OK, I can see that in a
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historical geopolitical sense, defeating an oppressor saves the
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oppressed. But what about eternal
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judgement? How does someone suffering
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eternally benefit anyone? For that, Edwards turns to
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Romans Chapter 9, verses 22 and 23.
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Paul's letter to the Romans. Yes, Paul writes.
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What if God, willing to show his wrath and make his power known,
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endured with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to
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destruction, and that he might make known the riches of his
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glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had a four prepared
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unto glory? That is a dense passage.
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Edwards argues that the last verse is directly connected to
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the previous one. The destruction of the wicked
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has a specific architectural purpose.
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Yeah, making known the riches of his glory on the vessels of
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mercy. So the.
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Vessels of Mercy, the Saved see the fate of the vessels of
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wrath, and that interaction changes something in their
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comprehension. This raises A crucial question.
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How exactly does this mechanism work psychologically and
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spiritually? Yeah, how does it?
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How does judgement benefit the Saints?
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Edwards argues it is about the mechanics of human perception.
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OK, a finite human mind cannot fully comprehend infinite race
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in a vacuum. It requires contrast.
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Contrast. That makes sense.
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Seeing justice executed gives the Saints a higher degree of
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happiness by providing A striking, undeniable sense of
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the value of their own salvation.
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Because they realize what they actually deserve.
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Precisely when they see absolute, unvarnished justice
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executed, they gain a clearer relish of God's free grace.
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They see what they were spared from.
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Yes, they realize the magnitude of the misery they were spared
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from seeing the reality of the alternative highlights the sheer
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staggering volume of the mercy they received.
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That is a heavy thought. Think about a freezing, brutal
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Blizzard. OK, I am picturing it.
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You appreciate the warmth of a fire inside your home much more
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when you can look out the window and clearly see the deadly storm
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raging outside. Wow.
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Yes, the severity of the storm does not make you cruel for
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being inside. It makes you overwhelmingly
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grateful to the person who built the house and pulled you out of
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the snow. The mechanism of contrast that
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makes sense. It is very powerful.
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It grounds the joy of salvation in a true, sobering
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understanding of what we were saved from.
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We aren't just given a mild upgrade in life like getting
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bumped to 1st class on a flight, right?
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We are pulled from a burning building and understanding the
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heat of the fire is the only way to fully grasp the love of the
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firefighter who ran in to get us.
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And this ties perfectly into the Apostle Paul sweeping statement
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in First Corinthians chapter 3, verses 21 through 23.
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What does Paul say there? Paul tells the Corinthian church
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all things are yours. Whether Paul or Apollo's or
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Cephas or the world, or life or death or things present or
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things to come, all are yours. That is a massive list.
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Notice how completely exhaustive Paul's terms are there.
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Life, death, things present, things to come, The world.
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There is nothing left out of that list.
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Nothing, Edwards says this proves that God's goodness to
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his people is the end of creation, since the whole
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creation in all its parts is spoken of as belonging to them.
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So everything is for us. Every work of God without
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exception is utilized for the benefit of the elect.
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Even the hard things, even death, even judgement, all are
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yours. That is staggering.
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Every single atom, every historical event, every moment
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of suffering or joy is meticulously managed by God to
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maximize the good He communicates to His people.
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So what does this all mean for us on a Tuesday morning?
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That is the big question. We have covered massive
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cosmological realities here. We have talked about the
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architecture of the universe, the Gears of a Swiss watch, the
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heavy reality of eternal judgement, and the inherent
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delight God takes in showing mercy.
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We have covered a lot of ground. How should a listener apply this
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to their daily actions? We cannot just leave this as an
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abstract theological thought experiment.
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Edwards does not leave it as an abstract thought experiment
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either. I'm glad.
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To hear that he brings it all the way down to the ground level
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of our daily moral conduct, he explains a final logical
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deduction. What is the deduction?
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If God's chief aim and all he does is the good of His
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creatures, then this must also be the chief aim of all moral
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agents. Oh wow.
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We are called to reflect the character and the aims of the
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God who made us. So if God's highest goal is
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communicating good, our highest goal should be communicating
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good. We are supposed to mimic the
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machine. Yes, Edwards goes straight to
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the moral law to prove this. Romans chapter 13, Galatians
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chapter 5, and James chapter 2 all repeat the exact same core
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mandate. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as
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thyself. Yes, the scriptures explicitly
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state that this love is the fulfilling of the.
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Law, right, if you. Want to know what it looks like
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to align your life with the moral architecture of the
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universe? It looks like loving your
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neighbor. It almost seems too simple after
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talking about spinning Chariots and galaxies.
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Just, you know, love your neighbor.
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It does seem simple, but its implications are staggering.
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How so? Edwards points out that the Holy
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Ghost expresses himself this way consistently throughout
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Scripture. If the good of the creatures is
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1 end of God and all he does, then it makes sense that he
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requires moral agents to regulate all their conduct by
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that same end. That tracks logically.
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We see this modeled by the heroes of the faith.
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The prophets of old regulated their conduct for the good of
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God's church. The apostles did the same.
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Can you give an example? Edward cites Paul in Second
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Timothy chapter 2 verse 10, where Paul says I endure all
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things for the elect's sakes, that they may also obtain the
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salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.
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Paul endured imprisonment, beatings, shipwrecks,
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starvation, all of it so he could communicate good to the
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elect. He did.
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He was mirroring God's own motivation.
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He was acting like a gear in the watch.
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Precisely. Even the angels operate on this
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principle. The Angels.
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Yes, Edwards references Hebrews chapter one, verse 14, which
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describes angels as ministering spirits sent forth to minister
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for them who shall be heirs of salvation.
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So even the heavenly host is doing this.
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The entire spiritual hierarchy, from the prophets to the
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apostles to the angels in heaven, is entirely focused on
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the welfare of God's people. That is an amazing thought.
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Every Christian is supposed to be employed for the good of the
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Church, just as each particular member of a physical body is
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employed for the good of the whole body.
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This synthesizes the whole concept so beautifully.
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Let's make this highly practical for the listener.
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Yes, let's do that. Your daily acts of loving your
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neighbor, whether it is bringing a hot meal to a sick friend,
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showing patience to a Co worker who is driving you crazy, or
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forgiving a family member who wronged you.
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These are not arbitrary rules you have to follow to earn
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points with a distant deity. No, they are not.
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They are a direct mimicking of the very reason God spun the
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stars into existence. When you act for the good of
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others, you are aligning your actions with the engine of the
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universe. You are stepping into the
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chariot. It elevates our daily mundane
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moral choices. They are no longer isolated
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random events, right? They become active participation
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in the divine nature and the divine aim.
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You are functioning as a conduit for the exact same goodness that
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God Himself delights in communicating.
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We have covered so much heavy, brilliant ground today.
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We really have. We started with the realization
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that God does not punish with the same eagerness that he shows
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mercy. He delights in mercy purely for
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its own sake. While justice is a necessary
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action executed with reluctance, we move to the understanding
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that Christ's love for us is direct and personal.
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We are not just a stepping stone to some other distant goal, but
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the very object of His joy, like a bridegroom rejoicing over a
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bride. His glory and our good are the
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same thing. And we expanded that to see the
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universe itself functioning as a massive, intricate machine of
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grace, where every revolution of the Earth and every star in the
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sky is maintained for the benefit of the Church.
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Swiss Watch. Yes, the Watch.
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We grappled with the sobering reality that even justice and
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judgement are utilized by God to magnify the grace given to to
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His people, increasing their joy by showing them the true weight
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and reality of their salvation through the mechanism of
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contrast. And finally, we saw that our
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call to moral virtue, our call to love our neighbors, is simply
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the call to mirror this divine aim in our own lives on a
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Tuesday afternoon. It is a stunning, cohesive
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vision of reality from Jonathan Edwards.
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Before we sign off, I want to leave you, the listener, with a
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final thought to Mull over. What is that?
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We've established that every revolution of the earth, every
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weather pattern and every historical event is actively
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steered by God for the absolute good of His people.
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Yes. The universe is a chariot driven
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explicitly for your benefit. If that is true, how does that
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alter the way you view your most difficult current trial?
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That is a great question. If the entirety of creation is
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managed to secure your joy and salvation, what does that say
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about the purpose of your present struggles?
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They are not random. They are gears turning for your
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good. That is a phenomenal question to
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carry into the rest of your week.
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Thank you for joining us for this deep dive on reformed
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thinking. We hope this has given you clear
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insight and plenty to chew on. Until next time, keep seeking,
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keep studying and take care.