Latest / Reformed Thinking / Safety, Fullness, and Sweet Refreshment in Christ (Isaiah 32:3) | Jonathan Edwards

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Safety, Fullness, and Sweet Refreshment in Christ (Isaiah 32:3) | Jonathan Edwards · Reformed Thinking

• 0:00
  Welcome to reform thinking. Usually when we talk about a
• 0:04
  medical diagnosis, there is a pretty clear expectation of
• 0:08
  precision. Right.
• 0:09
  Yeah, you want answers. Yeah, you break your arm.
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  The X-ray shows that jagged white line and the Doctor just
• 0:15
  points at it and says, well, there it is.
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  I mean, we are welcoming you to this exclusive deep dive today
• 0:20
  and we want to start with that idea of precision.
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  Because that physical precision is really comforting.
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  You know, we prefer things to be visible.
• 0:27
  We like them neatly categorized. Like if a bone is broken, the
• 0:30
  solution is straightforward. You put a cast on it.
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  But then you step into the invisible world of the human
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  soul, you step into our spiritual condition before a
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  holy God, and suddenly that X-ray machine is just shattered.
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  Yeah, it doesn't work anymore. No, it doesn't.
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  We look at our own internal land and the picture is murky.
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  I mean, we feel anxieties. We experience this intense,
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  insatiable thirst for happiness, and yet we struggle to pinpoint
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  the true source of that ache. Which brings us to the source
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  material for our deep dive today.
• 1:01
  Yes, our mission today is to look at how Jonathan Edwards
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  takes an ancient prophecy from Isaiah, specifically Isaiah
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  chapter 32, verse 3, and diagnosis that specific human
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  condition with surgical precision.
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  And he doesn't stop at the diagnosis, which is the best
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  part. Right, we are going to see how
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  He reveals Christ as the complete, all-encompassing
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  provision for the human soul. It's a staggering piece of
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  theology. It really is, and to set the
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  lens for this conversation, we will approach this text from our
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  shared Protestant Reformed perspective.
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  Grounded heavily in the Westminster Confession.
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  Precisely as we work through Edwards's text, we are going to
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  examine the mechanics of total depravity, penal substitutionary
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  atonement, and the absolute sovereignty of God and
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  salvation. Because for Edwards, these are
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  not abstract academic concepts to be debated in some dusty
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  classrooms. No, not at all.
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  They are the literal bedrock of human and rescue.
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  They are the actual mechanisms that make salvation possible.
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  I want you, the listener, to really consider your own
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  spiritual thirst right now. Think about your own anxieties,
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  because we all carry a heavy load of fear, whether we admit
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  it or not. We do, every single one of us.
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  And why should you care about an old sermon from Jonathan
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  Edwards? Because he offers a solution
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  here that addresses the intellect, the emotions, and
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  most crushly, the legal standing of the Sinner before a holy God.
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  And we are going to take our time today.
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  Yes, we are. We have a ground rule for this
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  dialogue. We are going to establish a
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  conversational rhythm of mutual respect and we are explicitly
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  ensuring that we never interrupt one another.
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  Right. We want to let each point
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  breathe. This requires A thorough,
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  unhurried examination of the text so we can truly understand
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  the mechanics of this rescue. So let's jump in.
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  The text begins with Isaiah chapter 32, verse 3.
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  And that reads And a man shall be as a hiding place from the
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  wind, and a covert from The Tempest, as rivers of water in a
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  dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.
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  The very first thing Edwards points out is the sheer shock of
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  that phrasing. I mean, think about it.
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  In the Old Testament, God is frequently called a rock or a
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  high tower, or a refuge. We are very accustomed to that
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  imagery. The Lord is my rock.
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  Yeah, exactly. Well, spot on.
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  But here Isaiah specifically prophesized that a man will be
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  this hiding place. That is an astonishing pivot for
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  a Jewish prophet to make. It really is, and what stands
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  out here is the theological necessity of the Incarnation.
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  Drawing on Reformed Christology, Edwards is pointing us straight
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  to the fact that the mediator had to be human, to stand in the
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  place of humanity, to fulfill the law that humanity broke, and
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  to bear the punishment that humanity deserved.
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  The Savior could not be an Angel.
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  No, an Angel wouldn't and work. And he couldn't simply act from
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  heaven in his divine nature alone either.
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  The law required human obedience and human suffering.
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  Therefore, this man spoken of in Isaiah is the Son of God
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  Incarnate. The divine and human nature is
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  united in one person. Yeah, to accomplish a very
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  specific legal rescue. Let's think about the mechanics
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  of that for a second. If the law was given to mankind,
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  then mankind must fulfill it. An Angel cannot obey on behalf
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  of a human because an Angel is not under the same covenantal
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  obligations. That makes total sense.
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  Edwards is zeroing in on the concept of federal headship
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  here. Just as Adam acted as the
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  representative for all humanity in the fall, another human had
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  to act as the representative in redemption.
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  Right. This is the doctrine of the two
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  atoms. The first man brought the storm
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  of God's justice upon the human race.
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  Yeah, he opened the door to the hurricane.
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  He did, and the second man, who is the Lord from heaven,
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  provides the shelter from that very storm.
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  And because he is fully God, his sacrifice possesses infinite
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  value. It is capable of absorbing an
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  infinite punishment. And because he is fully man,
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  that sacrifice is applicable to humanity.
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  Precisely. Edwards uses incredibly vivid
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  imagery to illustrate what this rescue looks like.
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  He paints a picture of a person caught in a furious, terrifying
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  storm. It's a powerful image.
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  He describes the wind and the rain beating violently,
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  impetuously, against the walls and the roof of a shelter.
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  It is just an overwhelming Tempest outside.
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  But the person inside is safe. Yeah, the person inside that
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  shelter remains totally untouched.
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  They are at peace. They are listening to the
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  Thunder roar, but they do not feel a single drop of rain.
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  That image of the storm is central to everything that
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  follows in this text. The shelter takes the beating so
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  the person inside does not have to.
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  But this brings up a practical question for you at The
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  Listener. I mean, we all face fears,
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  right? Absolutely.
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  Disease. Financial ruin.
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  Losing loved ones. So does Edwards mean Christ is
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  just a shelter from bad days? Like, is this a promise that if
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  you come to Christ, your earthly circumstances will suddenly
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  become smooth and painless? Not at all.
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  Edwards makes a massive distinction between temporal
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  fears and eternal fear. OK, unpack that.
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  Well, temporal fears are very real.
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  Sickness, danger, poverty. But Edwards argues that the
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  ultimate terror, the fear that should eclipse all others, is
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  the fear of God's wrath. He says that when a conscience
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  is awakened to its true state, it sees the black clouds of
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  divine justice, and he says those clouds are impregnated
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  with Thunder. Impregnated with Thunder.
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  That is a heavy phrase. It is the person realizes that
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  the great God is not reconciled to them, that they are guilty,
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  and that God is angry enough to condemn them forever.
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  Temporal storms can hurt the body, but this eternal storm
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  threatens the soul with absolute righteous destruction.
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  That is a terrifying realization, Edwards says.
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  It is a fearful condition to walk around to eat, drink and
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  sleep under the impending wrath of God.
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  Yeah, just going about your day while that storm gathers, right?
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  Because the greatest threat is not earthly trouble, but divine
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  justice. I mean, if you are standing in a
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  field and a massive tornado is bearing down on you, you do not
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  worry about a mosquito bite on your.
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  No, you're looking at the tornado.
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  The impending wrath of God is the tornado.
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  And that awakened conscience is something Edwards dealt with
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  constantly during the Great Awakening.
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  Oh, for sure. People were suddenly terrified
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  by the realization of their own guilt.
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  They were not looking for life advice.
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  They were looking for a way to survive the coming judgement.
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  Realizing that, our conversation has to shift to how this hiding
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  place actually works. I mean, how mechanically and
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  legally does this shelter actually shield the Sinner from
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  the wrath of God? And Edwards does not leave us
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  guessing on this. No he doesn't.
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  He provides 8 distinct pillars. 8 reasons why a terrified
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  conscience can find absolute legal and relational safety in
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  Christ. We really need to break down the
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  architecture of the shelter. Let's do it.
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  Because these 8 pillars showcase the bulletproof nature of
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  Reformed justification. Edwards systematically
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  dismantles every possible fear a trembling Sinner might have.
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  So what is the first pillar? Let's look at the legal
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  structure first. The first pillar is the
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  voluntary surety. Edwards explains that Christ
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  undertook this specific business before the foundation of the
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  world. He voluntarily put himself in
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  the stead of the Sinner. If justice has a claim against
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  the Sinner, Christ engaged himself to be responsible for
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  it. It was his own free act.
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  That speaks directly to the covenant of redemption, right?
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  The agreement made within the Trinity before time began.
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  Yes, absolutely. The Son was not drafted into
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  this role against his will. He willingly stepped forward to
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  be the guarantor of the Covenant.
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  That is correct, and that connects directly to the second
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  pillar, which is the Father's appointment.
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  God the Father chose the Son for this task, right?
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  The Father anointed him and sent him into the world for this
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  express purpose. I want to pause on this because
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  there is a common, almost cartoonish misunderstanding of
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  the the Trinity and popular theology today.
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  Oh, I know exactly what you mean.
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  Some people picture this angry, vindictive father who just wants
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  to destroy humanity and a loving, gentle son who steps in
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  to hold the Father back. They view the cross as the Son
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  absorbing the abuse of an out of control deity.
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  Which is completely false. Yeah, Edwards completely rejects
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  that. There's no friction in the
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  Trinity. The Father is the one who
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  appointed the shelter. The father designed the hiding
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  place. He is completely pleased with
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  the Sun's undertaking. That unity of purpose is vital
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  for the conscience. I mean, if the Father and the
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  Son were at odds, you could never be truly safe.
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  Right, you'd always be wondering who was going to win out.
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  Yeah, but because the Father appointed the Son, when you hide
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  in the Son, you are acting in accordance with the Father's own
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  design. You are not sneaking past the
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  Father, you are doing what he commanded.
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  That is so reassuring, and that leads to the third pillar, which
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  deals with the actual execution of the law, the course of
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  justice. This is the core of penal
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  substitutionary atonement. Yes, the justice of God and the
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  law of God are unalterable. Every requirement of the law
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  must be fulfilled. I think, Edwards says.
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  Heaven and earth would be destroyed rather than justice
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  failing to take place. Right.
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  But Edwards points out that justice has its complete,
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  unabated course upon the shelter.
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  Christ bears the stroke of justice.
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  The curse of the law falls fully upon him.
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  The penalty is not just waved away.
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  God doesn't simply decide to ignore the sin that would
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  violate His own holy nature. The punishment has to be
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  executed. I want to use an analogy to
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  clarify this mechanism because we often struggle to understand
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  how guilt can actually be transferred legally.
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  It's a tough concept for modern minds.
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  Think of it like a massive corporate acquisition.
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  You have a subsidiary company that is engaged in terrible
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  financial mismanagement. They have accrued billions in
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  toxic debt, and they are facing total liquidation.
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  The regulators are literally at the door.
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  OK, I'm tracking with you. Suddenly, a massive, infinitely
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  wealthy parent company steps in and formally acquires a
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  subsidiary. In doing so, the parent company
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  legally assumes all the liabilities of the subsidiary.
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  The regulators still get their money.
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  The fines are paid in full. The law is not bypassed or
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  ignored. The debt is completely satisfied
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  by the parent company out of its own vast reserves.
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  That's a great way to put it. So when the regulators leave,
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  the subsidiary is completely safe, not because the law was
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  broken, but because the law was fulfilled by another.
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  That illustrates the legal mechanism beautifully.
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  The law leaves fair room for the answering of a surety.
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  The debt is paid, the books are balanced, and justice is
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  satisfied. The storm hits the structure,
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  and the structure sure absorbs the impact.
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  The wrath is exhausted, which brings us to the fourth pillar,
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  and this shifts from the legal transaction to the value of the
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  sacrifice. This is the honor of God.
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  OK, break that down. Well, a wounded conscience often
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  fears that their sin is so vast and God is so affronted by it,
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  that His honor demands their personal destruction.
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  They think, you know, I have insulted the King of the
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  universe. He has to punish me to maintain
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  his dignity. Yeah, like my sin is too big for
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  the cross. Right.
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  But Edwards addresses that specific anxiety by arguing that
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  Christ's infinite dignity means his obedience honors God's
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  majesty far more than human sin ever dishonored it.
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  That is a staggering thought. Think about who is suffering on
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  the cross. It is not just a good man, it is
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  the Lord of glory. The Creator of the cosmos
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  subjects Himself to the Law. That act of submission brings
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  more glory and honor to the Father than the eternal
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  punishment of mere creatures ever could.
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  The majesty of the law is vindicated as the highest
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  possible degree. The value of the payment far
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  exceeds the sum of the debt. It is a massive display of God's
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  majesty that an infinite and eternal person would die to
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  satisfy the law. This completely neutralizes the
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  fear that your specific sins are somehow too great for the cross
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  to handle. It does.
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  Now the fifth pillar deals with our relational standing, not
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  just our legal standing. This is the beloved status.
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  OK, so we move from the courtroom to the family.
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  Exactly because the believer is united to Christ, they become
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  members of his body. They are, as Edwards says, his
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  flesh and his bones. Therefore, God the Father
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  accepts the believer, just as he accepts his own Son.
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  This really requires us to understand the doctrine of union
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  with Christ. When you take shelter in this
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  hiding place, you do not just stand near Christ, you are
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  grafted into Him. Yes, you are one with him.
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  If God the Father loves Christ infinitely and you are
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  intimately united to Christ, then God accepts you with that
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  same love. There is no jealousy or
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  hesitation on God's part. You are clothed in the perfect
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  righteousness of the Son. The Father looks at you and sees
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  the perfect record of Jesus. And the sixth pillar is perhaps
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  the most legally reassuring for a doubtful mind.
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  It is the idea of the resurrection as a receipt.
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  A receipt. I love that language.
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  Christ was in the hands of justice.
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  He was God's prisoner, held in the grave for the sake of our
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  debt. I want to spend some real time
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  on this point because the logic here is brilliant.
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  If Christ went to the cross as our substitute, and he entered
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  the prison of death to pay off our immense debt, how do we know
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  the payment was actually sufficient?
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  Right. How do we know it worked?
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  Yeah, how do we know the check cleared Heaven's bank?
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  Edwards argues that God raising him from the dead was the
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  equivalent of God opening the prison doors and handing over a
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  public receipt. It was God the Father publicly
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  declaring that the debt was fully settled.
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  Precisely if God was not completely satisfied with the
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  payment, He would have kept Christ in the chains of
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  darkness. Justice would have demanded that
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  the prisoner remain in the cell. Yes, the debt would still be
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  outstanding. But the very fact that the stone
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  was rolled away and Christ walked out is the empirical
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  proof that the law has absolutely no more claims
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  against him, and by extension, no more claims against those who
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  are united to him. The resurrection is the open
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  testimony that enough has been done.
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  That legal vindication transitions us to the 7th
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  pillar, the dispensation of safety.
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  God has given Christ all authority in heaven and earth to
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  distribute this salvation. The work of salvation is left in
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  His own hands. Why is that specific detail
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  comforting to the listener? Why does it matter that Christ
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  is the one distributing the safety?
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  Because he is the one who died to purchase it.
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  The person who paid the ultimate price for the medicine is the
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  one in charge of administering it.
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  That's good. He will not withhold it from
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  those who come to him because he already endured the agony to
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  secure it. He has absolute jurisdiction
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  over the Treasury of Grace. And that leads perfectly into
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  the final eighth pillar, which is Christ's disposition.
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  Even if he has the authority to distribute it, what is His
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  attitude toward dispensing it? That's a huge question for a
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  troubled conscience. Yeah, does he hand out salvation
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  begrudgingly with a frown, sighing at our constant
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  failures? Not at all.
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  His heart is full of compassion. Edwards reminds us that Christ
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  delights in gathering sinners like a hen gathers her chicks
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  under her wings. He wants to save us.
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  He does. It is a work he exceedingly
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  rejoices in. He is not a reluctant savior.
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  He's drawn to broken people. Think about the psychological
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  relief of this massive eight pillar framework.
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  If your salvation depended even a tiny fraction on your own
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  human effort, your anxiety would be constant.
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  You'd never rest. You would be forever wondering
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  if you had done enough or felt enough or repented enough.
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  Did I pray hard enough today? Did I mean it enough?
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  You'd be trying to build your own little umbrella in the
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  middle of a Category 5 hurricane.
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  That's a great image. An umbrella in a hurricane.
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  But because salvation depends entirely on the finished work of
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  Christ, these 8 unshakable pillars, the believer can, as
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  Edward says, stand still and see what the Lord will do.
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  The storm of wrath is entirely absorbed by the structure of the
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  hiding place. The legal standing is secure,
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  the debt is paid, the receipt is in hand.
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  The Father is pleased. The Son is delighted to save.
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  So we have established the absolute safety of the shelter.
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  The person inside is completely shielded from the storm of
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  divine justice. But the diagnosis of the human
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  condition does not end there. No it doesn't.
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  Because while the person inside the shelter is safe from the
• 17:09
  storm, they're still facing a completely different crisis.
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  They are dying of thirst. Surviving the storm is not
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  enough if you were starving inside the bunker.
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  This forces Edwards to address the next fatal threat.
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  This brings us to the second clause of Isaiah 32 verse 3,
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  where Christ is described as rivers of water in a dry place.
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  Rivers of water. Yes, Edwards uses the incredibly
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  harsh environment of the Arabian desert as a metaphor for the
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  fallen human condition. The storm of wrath was an
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  external threat. This dry place represents an
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  internal crisis. Let's unpack the psychological
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  insight Edwards brings to this text.
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  He observes that the soul of every single human being
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  necessarily craves happiness. It is an insuperable appetite.
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  It is universal. He argues that this craving is
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  shared by angels, humans, good people and bad people alike.
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  It flows directly from the essence of having an intelligent
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  nature. Right, it's just part of being a
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  rational creature. Exactly.
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  You cannot create a rational being that does not desire
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  happiness, because the very definition of misery is a state
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  that nature abhors. To have a mind is to seek
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  satisfaction for that mind. I want to use an analogy to
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  illustrate the sheer scale of this problem.
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  Think of the human soul as a vast, cavernous reservoir, like
• 18:26
  the Grand Canyon. I've got the Grand Canyon.
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  Think of all worldly pleasures, wealth, honor, physical
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  gratification, career success, the perfect family trying to
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  fill the soul with those things. It's like taking a tiny paper
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  cup, dipping it into a puddle and pouring it into the grand.
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  Canyon. He doesn't even make a dent.
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  No. You might feel a momentary
• 18:44
  splash of relief on the rocks, but the sheer capacity of the
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  reservoir demands something infinitely larger.
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  The vessel is not full, so the crazing never ceases.
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  That perfectly illustrates the reformed view of the fall,
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  specifically total depravity. Right, which we need to define
• 19:01
  carefully, yeah. Total depravity does not mean
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  that every person is as thoroughly evil as they can
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  possibly be in their actions. It means that every faculty of
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  the human person is corrupted by the fall, including our
• 19:12
  appetites. We want the wrong things.
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  Mankind is in a wretched state. Edwards compares us to the
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  prodigal son. We were once wealthy in our
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  father's house, where there was an infinite fountain to drink
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  from. But we departed, squandered our
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  wealth, and are now famished, craving the husks meant for
• 19:28
  swine. We continuously try to feed our
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  superior spiritual faculties with inferior finite material
• 19:35
  things. It is a mathematical
• 19:36
  impossibility. The soul is capable of
• 19:39
  understanding immense eternal things, and as the understanding
• 19:42
  enlarges, the desire enlarges. A finite object will never
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  satisfy an infinite capacity. Never.
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  You can acquire all the money in the world and your soul will
• 19:52
  still say, is this all there is? And that is the definition of
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  the dry place. The world offers no water that
• 19:58
  can sustain the soul. But the provision for this
• 20:01
  infinite thirst is Christ. He is the ever flowing river in
• 20:05
  that arid wasteland. And Edwards highlights 2
• 20:08
  specific aspects of Christ provision that finally fill that
• 20:11
  cavernous reservoir. The first aspect is His
• 20:14
  Excellency. Let's talk about His Excellency.
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  Well, Christ, Excellency is infinite, Edward says.
• 20:19
  The rational mind can study it for 10,000 years and never reach
• 20:23
  the bottom. Because he is God.
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  Yes, because Christ is God. His attributes, His wisdom, His
• 20:28
  beauty, His justice, His grace are without limit.
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  It is the only object adequate to the capacity of human
• 20:35
  understanding. That's amazing.
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  When the soul discovers Christ's glory, it realizes that before
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  it had been pursuing shadows, but now it has found the
• 20:42
  substance. It had been looking for
• 20:44
  happiness in a tiny stream that dries up in the summer, and now
• 20:47
  it has found an eternal fernal ocean.
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  The second aspect Edwards highlights is his manifested
• 20:52
  love. It's not just that Christ is
• 20:55
  excellent in a distant, unapproachable way.
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  Right, like a beautiful star that you can see but never feel.
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  Yeah, it is a dying love from a person of infinite dignity.
• 21:05
  It is a love that provides A literal bridge back to God the
• 21:08
  Father. This love gives the soul
• 21:12
  abundant contentment because it flows from the Creator of the
• 21:15
  universe directly to the individual.
• 21:18
  The soul knows it is cherished by the highest possible
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  authority. I want to address the listener
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  directly right now. Look at your own pursuits over
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  the last five years. Are you trying to satisfy an
• 21:29
  infinite spiritual faculty with a finite temporary career?
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  That is a piercing question. Are you putting the full weight
• 21:35
  of your soul's expectation on a finite human relationship?
• 21:39
  Are you demanding that your spouse or your bank account
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  provide the satisfaction that only an infinite God can
• 21:44
  provide? Because they can't.
• 21:45
  They will break under that weight.
• 21:47
  Because until while your soul drinks from the River of
• 21:49
  Christ's Infinite Excellency, you will remain restless in that
• 21:53
  parched wilderness, you will keep pouring paper cups into the
• 21:57
  Grand Canyon and wondering why you are still thirsty.
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  Once the soul does drink from this river, the immediate threat
• 22:03
  of death by thirst is resolved, the internal crisis of appetite
• 22:07
  is met, but the traveler is still in the desert.
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  Right, the environment hasn't changed.
• 22:12
  They have been wandering in this scorching wilderness for so
• 22:15
  long, they're utterly depleted. Their legs are giving out.
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  They need a place to lie down and find relief from the
• 22:21
  elements. Which logically moves us to the
• 22:24
  third clause in Isaiah. Christ is the shadow of a great
• 22:27
  rock in a weary land. I want you to picture the
• 22:30
  scorching Arabian sun beating down relentlessly on a traveler.
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  There are no trees, just miles of burning sand.
• 22:36
  Yeah, sand radiating heat upward in the sun, baking them from
• 22:40
  above. That intense, consuming heat
• 22:42
  represents the terror of an awakened conscience and the
• 22:45
  crushing heavy load of sin. Here is where Edwards makes a
• 22:48
  highly nuanced, distinctly reformed diagnostic distinction
• 22:52
  regarding the awakened but unregenerate Sinner.
• 22:55
  This is a crucial point. He points out that a person in
• 22:58
  this state who feels the heat of that sun is weary with sin, but
• 23:02
  they are not necessarily weary of sin.
• 23:05
  Wait. I need to push back on this, or
• 23:06
  at least get you to clarify it, because this sounds like an
• 23:09
  incredibly harsh standard to hold someone to.
• 23:11
  I know. It does.
• 23:12
  If a person is weeping, terrified of hell, begging God
• 23:16
  for forgiveness because they feel the crushing weight of
• 23:19
  their actions. Edwards is saying that is
• 23:21
  essentially A flawed repentance. Does an awaken Sinner not
• 23:25
  actually hate their sin? It sounds harsh, but it is a
• 23:28
  vital diagnostic truth about human nature.
• 23:31
  According to Edwards. The unregenerate person, even
• 23:34
  when terrified of hell, still loves the sin itself in their
• 23:37
  heart. They still want it.
• 23:38
  They still roll it under their tongue as a sweet morsel.
• 23:41
  Their core affections have not changed.
• 23:44
  What actually wearies them, what causes them such intense anguish
• 23:47
  and tears, is the guilt of the sin and the resulting obligation
• 23:50
  to punishment. So they are not grieving the
• 23:52
  fact that they offended a holy God, they were just terrified of
• 23:55
  the prison sentence. That is precisely it.
• 23:58
  They see the undeniable connection between their actions
• 24:01
  and God's wrath. They hate the hell that is
• 24:03
  attached to the sin, but they do not hate the filthiness or the
• 24:07
  rebellion of the sin itself. Their conscience is burdened
• 24:11
  with legal fear, not with true spiritual mourning.
• 24:14
  They are weary with the consequences of the heavy Lord,
• 24:17
  but if there were no hell, they would happily keep carrying the
• 24:20
  sin. That distinction completely
• 24:22
  alters how we view repentance. The burden is the terror of the
• 24:26
  consequences. The sun beating down on them is
• 24:29
  the heat of the law. So what is the solution for this
• 24:33
  exhausted traveller? How does the great rock
• 24:35
  function? Well, Christ steps in and 1st
• 24:38
  removes the guilt entirely by taking away the legal obligation
• 24:42
  to punishment. As we discussed with the 8
• 24:43
  pillars, He brings immediate peace to the conscience.
• 24:46
  The sun stops beating down. Right.
• 24:48
  The legal heat is blocked by the shadow of the rock, but he does
• 24:51
  not stop there. If he only removed the guilt,
• 24:53
  the person would just go back to loving the sin without fear.
• 24:55
  So he has to change their internal affections.
• 24:58
  Yes, as the Great Physician, he does not just remove the
• 25:02
  penalty. He actually implants a new
• 25:04
  principle of spiritual life. This is the doctrine of
• 25:07
  regeneration, the birth. He takes a person who is
• 25:10
  spiritually dead invigorates their fainting mind and turns
• 25:14
  them into a new creature entirely.
• 25:16
  He changes what they love and what they hate.
• 25:19
  Now they are truly weary of the sin itself.
• 25:23
  The removal of guilt and the implantation of this new life
• 25:26
  removes the very foundation of fear and inward tumult.
• 25:30
  It is like a bird escaping the snare of a Fowler.
• 25:33
  That's a biblical image too. Imagine the sheer panic of the
• 25:36
  bird caught in the trap, thrashing around, exhausting
• 25:39
  itself, waiting for the hunter to arrive.
• 25:41
  Then suddenly, the trap is broken by an outside force.
• 25:44
  The bird is free. The sky is open.
• 25:46
  The relief would be massive. The breathtaking realization of
• 25:49
  that freedom is what it feels like to sit under the shadow of
• 25:52
  the great Rock. The heavy load of legal guilt
• 25:55
  and the bondage to a corrupt nature are gone.
• 25:57
  But we must be realistic here. This initial rescue, as glorious
• 26:01
  as it is, does not mean the believer is instantly removed
• 26:04
  from the desert. Right, we are still here.
• 26:06
  The Christian life continues to be lived in a hostile
• 26:08
  environment. The world is still broken.
• 26:11
  This brings us to how the great rock functions for those who are
• 26:15
  already saved, the Saints who are weary while living in an
• 26:18
  imperfect state. Edwards outlines 3 specific ways
• 26:22
  Christ provides rest for God's people in this world.
• 26:26
  Let's look at those three ways. The first weariness Edwards
• 26:29
  addresses is being wearied with persecutions.
• 26:31
  Edwards traces the enmity between the world and the Church
• 26:35
  all the way back to Cain and Abel.
• 26:37
  Satan and his followers have always targeted God's people.
• 26:40
  It is a historical constant. Yeah, it never stops.
• 26:43
  Yet the provision of Christ is so substantial that martyrs
• 26:46
  historically found an internal calm in Him that allowed them to
• 26:49
  sing praises while enduring horrific physical torments.
• 26:52
  The outward storm of persecution could not disturb the internal
• 26:55
  peace granted by the Spirit. The Rock stood firm against the
• 26:58
  hostility of the world. The second way the believer is
• 27:01
  weary is being exercised with afflictions.
• 27:04
  This is the everyday weariness we all know.
• 27:06
  Bodily weakness, sickness, extreme poverty, the devastating
• 27:10
  loss of loved ones. You don't have to be a martyr to
• 27:12
  feel the exhaustion of living in a fallen world.
• 27:15
  No, not at all. Life is heavy.
• 27:17
  And in these everyday afflictions, Edwards highlights
• 27:20
  Christ's experiential knowledge. Christ is not a distant observer
• 27:25
  looking down from a comfortable balcony.
• 27:27
  He knows poverty. He had nowhere to lay his head.
• 27:30
  He lived it. He knows physical pain.
• 27:33
  He knows grief and wept at the tomb of his friend.
• 27:36
  Furthermore, he promises to be in the stead of all lost
• 27:39
  relations. He becomes mother, sister,
• 27:41
  brother to the believer. He's a compassionate high priest
• 27:44
  who has actually walked the scorching sands of human
• 27:47
  suffering. The third weariness is the
• 27:49
  buffetings of Satan. The enemy loves to cast in
• 27:52
  groundless scruples, dark clouds and intense doubts to hinder the
• 27:56
  Christian. He is the accuser of the
• 27:58
  Brethren, right? He tries to stir up old
• 28:00
  corruptions coming out the believers past sins and fill the
• 28:03
  mind with anguish to make them question their standing before
• 28:06
  God. But if we look at the absolute
• 28:08
  sovereignty of Christ, we remember that Christ has all
• 28:11
  things in heaven and hell under his feet.
• 28:13
  He is in control. Having been tempted and buffeted
• 28:16
  himself in the wilderness by the devil, he has the absolute
• 28:19
  authority to restrain Satan at will.
• 28:21
  He rescues the soul from the roaring lion.
• 28:24
  He sets a boundary that the enemy cannot cross.
• 28:27
  Think about how this alters our entire view of suffering.
• 28:31
  The rock does not magically teleport the traveler out of the
• 28:34
  desert. The Arabian desert is still dry,
• 28:37
  the world is still full of disease and malice, and the sun
• 28:40
  is still hot. The elements are still there.
• 28:42
  Rather, the rock provides a cool, unmovable shade within the
• 28:47
  scorching environment. It proves the superiority of
• 28:50
  internal spiritual joy over external circumstances.
• 28:53
  You can be in the middle of a weary land, surrounded by
• 28:55
  affliction, and still find sweet refreshment.
• 28:58
  The rest is found in the presence of the rock, not in the
• 29:01
  absence of the desert. As we synthesize the massive
• 29:04
  scope of what God has provided through this singular hiding
• 29:06
  place, we just have to marvel at the comprehensive nature of the
• 29:09
  remedy. It covers every single angle
• 29:11
  for. Every single deficit caused by
• 29:13
  the fall, God provided a specific corresponding answer in
• 29:17
  Christ. It is an overwhelming
• 29:19
  realization. Edwards lays it out with such
• 29:21
  precision. He really does.
• 29:23
  We were poor, bankrupt before the law.
• 29:26
  God provided gold, tried in the fire.
• 29:29
  We were naked, stripped of original righteousness.
• 29:32
  He provided white raiment to cover our shame.
• 29:35
  We were blind to our own danger, He provided I salve so we could
• 29:38
  see the storm. We.
• 29:38
  Were starving like the prodigal son.
• 29:40
  God provided a feast of fat things.
• 29:43
  We were slaves to our own corrupt affections.
• 29:45
  He provided absolute liberty. But the final astonishment, the
• 29:49
  point Edwards makes right at the close of his text, is that God
• 29:53
  did not simply give us commodities to fix our problems.
• 29:56
  Right. He didn't just give us stuff.
• 29:57
  He did not hand us a care package from heaven and send us
• 30:00
  on our way. He gave us Christ.
• 30:02
  Christ gave himself to be our clothing.
• 30:04
  He gave his own flesh to be our food.
• 30:06
  That is the core of it. We, by our own rebellion, turned
• 30:08
  ourselves out of house and home. So Christ became our actual
• 30:11
  habitation and dwelling place. The shelter is a person.
• 30:14
  I want you to let that sink in. This theological vision is a
• 30:18
  complete reorientation of where human safety, satisfaction and
• 30:21
  rest actually originate. It is not found in a change of
• 30:24
  circumstances. No getting a better job, finding
• 30:28
  a better location. And it is not found in a set of
• 30:30
  religious activities either. Checking off moral boxes to
• 30:33
  appease an angry judge. The diagnosis of our disease is
• 30:37
  total, reaching down to our legal standing and our deepest
• 30:40
  affections. But the provision of the cure is
• 30:43
  equally total. The X-ray might show a
• 30:46
  shattered, thirsty, terrified soul, but the prescription is
• 30:49
  not a list of tasks. The prescription is a person.
• 30:52
  Which leaves you with a final thought to consider on your own.
• 30:55
  If Christ is not just the provider of the bread, but the
• 30:58
  bread itself. If you not just the builder of
• 31:01
  the shelter, but the shelter itself, how does that alter what
• 31:04
  you ask for the next time you pray?
• 31:06
  Are you asking Him for a thing to ease your travel through the
• 31:08
  desert or are you asking Him for himself?
• 31:10
  Thank you for joining us for this deep dive into reformed
• 31:12
  thinking.