Latest / Reformed Thinking / The Point of No Return (1 Thessalonians 2:16) | Jonathan Edwards

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The Point of No Return (1 Thessalonians 2:16) | Jonathan Edwards · Reformed Thinking

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Welcome to Reformed Thinking. Today we are initiating a a
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really rigorous deep dive into a staggering historical document.
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It is a text that forces us to confront the absolute
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sovereignty of God and the terrifying reality of human
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rebellion. We're looking at a sermon
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preached in May of 1735 by the New England theologian Jonathan
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Edwards. Right.
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And the title alone carries immense theological weight.
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It is called. When the wicked shall have
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filled up the measure of their sin, wrath will come upon them
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to the uttermost. Yeah, that is a heavy title.
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Edwards delivered this exposition based on 1st
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Thessalonians 2.16, right during a period of massive spiritual
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awakening in his town of Northampton, MA.
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So our mission for this deep dive is to unpack the
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theological claims Edwards makes about the strict divine limits
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God sets on human sin. Exactly.
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Wait. I mean precisely.
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We will examine the specific nature of divine wrath as
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Edwards articulates it, and we will consider the urgent,
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striking warnings he delivered to his congregation.
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We have the original text of the sermon in front of us and we're
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going to walk through it meticulously.
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We want to see how Edwards understands the intersection of
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God's patience, human obstinacy, and impending judgment.
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Well, to set the proper parameters for our analysis in
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this deep dive, it is crucial to establish that we are evaluating
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the arguments of Edwards through a strictly reformed theological
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lens. When we read the 1735 sermon, we
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are reading a text saturated with the doctrinal positions
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codified in the Westminster Confession of Faith.
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Right. So we have to approach this
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material recognizing the core tenets of God's absolute
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sovereignty over all things, the total depravity of fallen
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humanity, and the unyielding exactness of divine justice.
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Yeah, because Edwards does not view human history as a chaotic
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sequence of random choices. He views it as a precise,
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sovereignly ordained reality where even the rebellion of the
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wicked is measured, bounded, and utilized for God's holy
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purposes. As we investigate this text, we
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will see how these Reformed doctrines form the bedrock of
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his arguments. We will see a God who is
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entirely sovereign over the boundaries of evil, and a human
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nature so corrupted by the fall that its primary occupation is
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the constant accumulation of guilt.
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This is not a text that flatters human nature, but it is one that
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exalts the perfect justice and the astonishing patients of the
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Almighty. Before we get into the heavy
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details, we need to look at the biblical context Edwards uses as
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a starting point. He anchors his entire
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proposition in the words of the Apostle Paul in First
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Thessalonians chapter 2, specifically verses 14 to 16.
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Yeah, Edwards notes that Paul is offering a massive commendation
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to the Christian Thessalonians. He praises them because they had
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become followers of the churches of God in Judea.
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What makes this imitation so striking is that they were
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following the Judean churches not just in their faith, but in
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their suffering. Paul points out that the
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Thessalonians had suffered terrible things at the hands of
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their own countrymen, mirroring the specific type of persecution
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the Judean Christians endured under the Jewish religious
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leaders. The Thessalonians received the
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Word as the truth of God, and the immediate result was severe,
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violent opposition from their own neighbors and society.
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This historical reality of persecution is the gateway
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Edwards uses to discuss the broader concept of accumulated
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sin. The crimes of those persecutors,
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as detailed by the Apostle Paul and highlighted by Edwards, are
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chilling in their progression. Edwards draws attention to the
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list of wicked actions committed by the Jewish religious leaders.
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Yeah, Paul writes that they killed the Lord Jesus, They
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killed their own prophets, they actively persecuted the
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apostles, and in a final act of supreme malice, they forbade the
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gospel from being preached to the Gentiles.
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They were actively attempting to block the salvation of other
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nations. What Edwards draws from this is
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a terrifying theological reality.
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He states that God permitted these individuals to be so
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extraordinarily obstinate under the clearest preaching, under
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the greatest miracles of Christ and the apostles, for a specific
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reason. And that reason was so that they
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might fill up their sins. They were permitted to engage in
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this heinous wickedness to fill a predetermined measure.
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This aligns perfectly with the Reformed understanding of
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reprobation, where God in his inscrutable counsel leaves
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certain individuals to their own corruption.
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I want to pause right there because that phrasing is so
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jarring to modern years. The idea that God permitted them
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to engage in heinous wickedness specifically so they would fill
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up their sins sounds almost counterintuitive to how people
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talk about God today. Really does.
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It brings up a huge question about how God actually governs
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the actions of wicked people. Does Edwards think God is just
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sitting back and watching this cup of sin fill up on its own,
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or is there an active component to this?
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That is the crucial distinction to make when discussing Reformed
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theology. God is never the author of sin.
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The Westminster Confession is very clear that God ordains
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whatsoever comes to pass, yet He does so in a way that violence
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is not offered to the will of the creatures, nor is the
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liberty or contingency of second causes taken away.
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So when Edwards says God permitted them to fill up their
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measure, he is talking about a judicial handing over.
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God removes his restraining grace.
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He leaves the corrupt human heart to its own devices.
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Yes, and because the heart is totally depraved, it will
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naturally, willingly, and eagerly run toward maximum
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rebellion. God does not force them to sin,
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He simply stops holding them back, and their own wicked
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nature does the rest. They freely choose to kill the
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prophets and reject Christ, and in doing so they accomplished
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the sovereign decree of filling their specific measure.
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That concept of filling the measure is the very heart of
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this deep dive. Edwards connects Paul's words to
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the very words of Christ in Matthew chapter 23.
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You might recall Jesus speaking to the scribes and Pharisees,
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pronouncing woes upon them. He says, Wherefore ye be
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witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them
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which killed the prophets. Fill ye up, then, the measure of
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your father's. Christ is effectively telling
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them to complete the quota of rebellion that their ancestors
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started. It is a terrifying command.
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It is a judicial handing over of these men to their own wicked
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desires, just as you described. Edwards argues that there's a
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strict connection between the measure of a person's sin and
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the measure of their punishment. When the cup of sin is full, the
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cup of God's wrath is equally full and ready to be poured out.
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Edwards then takes this concept and applies the phrase wrath has
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come upon them to the uttermost in two distinct theological
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ways. First, he speaks of a national
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punishment. The historical context here is
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undeniable. A short time after Paul wrote
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those words to the Thessalonians, wrath did indeed
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come upon the nation of the Jews to the uttermost in the form of
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the terrible destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in 8070.
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This event brought about a great tribulation unlike any that had
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occurred since the beginning of the world.
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The horrors of that siege, the starvation, the absolute
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destruction of the temple, it was the highest degree of
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temporal punishment a nation could endure.
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God frequently judges nations in history when their collective
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measure of sin is full. We see this throughout the Old
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Testament, and Edwards sees the destruction of Jerusalem as the
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historical fulfillment of Paul's warning.
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I am glad you brought up the historical destruction of
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Jerusalem, because it helps ground these theological
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concepts in actual human events. But Edwards does not stop at
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national judgement, does he? He transitions this idea of
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uttermost wrath into something far more personal and permanent.
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He absolutely does. He applies this phrase to a
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personal punishment, which is the eternal reality of hell.
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God frequently disciplines or punishes men severely in this
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world, but it is only in hell that wrath comes upon them to
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the uttermost. This dual application shows that
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divine justice operates both in the historical timeline of
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nations and in the eternal destiny of individual souls.
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National judgments are horrific, but they are finite.
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They end. Buildings fall, empires
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collapse, and people die. But the personal punishment for
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a full measure of sin extends into an eternal state where the
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wrath never ceases. Edwards wants his congregation
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to see the physical destruction of Jerusalem as a faint shadow
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of the spiritual destruction awaiting the unconverted soul.
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What stands out so sharply in the analysis Edwards gives of
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that verse is his focus on the grammar.
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He zeroes in on the specific tense used by the apostle Paul.
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Paul writes The Wrath IS Come using a present tense for an
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event that at the time of the writing was still future.
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Edwards argues that this denotes absolute certainty.
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He explains the God who knows all things perfectly speaks of
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things that do not yet exist, as though they already were.
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For God, present things and future things hold equal
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certainty. It is a fascinating way to look
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at the text, treating a grammatical choice as a major
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theological statement about the nature of God's knowledge and
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decrees. It's a brilliant observation by
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Edwards. In Reformed theology, we speak
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of God's eternal decree. God does not look down the
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corridors of time to see what will happen and then react to
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it. He declares the end from the
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beginning. Therefore, when God determines
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that the measure of a nation's sin or an individual's sin is
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full, the subsequent judgment is so certain that it can be spoken
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of as a present reality even before the foreign drops of the
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storm begin to fall. This present tense also
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signifies the near approach of the judgment.
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It was just a hand. It was at the door, and indeed,
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the Roman destruction of Jerusalem followed shortly after
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Paul wrote those words. This grammatical detail
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underscores the absolute immutability of God's decrees.
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Moving into the first major doctrine of his sermon, which
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Edwards labels Proposition More, we encounter a concept that
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challenges many modern assumptions about free will and
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divine Providence. Edwards asserts that there is a
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certain specific measure that God has set to the sin of every
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single wicked person. To illustrate this, Edwards uses
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a vivid analogy from the natural world.
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He says that God speaks concerning the sin of man just
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as he speaks to the raging waves of the sea.
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Hitherto shalt thou come, and no further.
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Just as God governs the chaotic, violently surging tides of the
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ocean, keeping them within their appointed boundaries, He
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sovereignly governs the rebellious, surging tide of
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human depravity. A person's wickedness may seem
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out of control to our eyes, but it operates entirely within the
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strict boundaries ordained by God.
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That analogy of the sea is striking because it highlights
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the illusion of human autonomy. The waves of the ocean appear
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wild and untamed. They crash against the shore
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with incredible violence, seemingly doing whatever they
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please. Yet they never crossed the line.
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God is drawn in the sand. In the same way, wicked
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individuals believe they are completely free acting
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autonomously, rebelling against God on their own terms, but God
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is sovereignly orchestrating history.
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He allows them to send up to a very specific predetermined
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limit and not one fraction of an inch further.
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This is a core pillar of Reformed thought.
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God's sovereignty extends over all things, including the sinful
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actions of humanity, yet he remains entirely unstained by
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that sin. He bounds it, He directs it, and
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he uses it for his own glory, often to demonstrate His
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justice. Edwards takes this a step
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further by introducing the concept of vessels of wrath.
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Drawing directly from the imagery used by the Apostle Paul
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in Romans Chapter 9, he explains that the measure of sin is much
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greater for some individuals than for others.
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Some reprobates, he says, commit comparatively little sin in
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relation to others, and therefore they will endure A
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proportionally smaller punishment.
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There are many vessels of Wrath, but they are not all the same
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size. Some are smaller vessels
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containing comparatively little wrath, while others are massive
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vessels holding a far greater measure of divine fury.
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This addresses the reality of varying degrees of punishment in
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hell, corresponding precisely to the varying measures of sin
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committed on Earth. It is a perfect, terrifying
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symmetry of justice. The concept of varying degrees
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of punishment is often lost in modern discussions about hell.
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People tend to think of hell as a monolithic experience of
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suffering, identical for everyone there.
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But Edwards, following the clear teaching of Scripture, argues
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for strict proportionality. A person who lives a relatively
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quiet, outwardly moral life while rejecting Christ is still
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a vessel of wrath because they have rejected the gospel.
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But their measure of sin is much smaller than a brutal dictator
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who murders millions or a false teacher who leads thousands
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astray. The dictator and the false
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teacher are massive vessels. They are permitted to accumulate
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a colossal mountain of guilt, and their experience of divine
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justice will be proportionally more severe.
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God's justice is exact. He does not punish any
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individual 1° more than their specific sins require.
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This brings us to a staggering question, one that you as a
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listener have likely pondered when observing the world.
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Why does God let shockingly wicked people go on smoothly,
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sometimes for decades, without meeting any apparent hurt or
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judgment? We see individuals committing
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audacious crimes, living in blatant rebellion, and yet the
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heavens are silent. It is easy to look at a corrupt
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politician or a ruthless executive today and think, why
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is God letting them get away with this?
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Edwards gives a terrifying answer.
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He says God is not ignoring them.
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God is just waiting. He is intentionally staying
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silent to give them enough time to completely fill up their
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specific quota of sin. That is one of the most sobering
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truths in the entire sermon. Edwards references Genesis
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15.1's Teen, where God tells Abraham that his descendants
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will not inherit the land immediately because the iniquity
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of Amorites is not yet full. God was giving the Amorite
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nations hundreds of years of apparent peace.
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To the Amorites it probably looked like their gods were
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blessing them, or that the God of Israel was weak.
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But God was not giving them peace out of saving mercy.
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He was allowing them the time required to fill up their
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appointed measure of iniquity. It is a chilling realization
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that God's silence is not a sign of His absence, nor is it a sign
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of his approval. Sometimes his silence is the
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quietness of a judge watching a criminal build their own
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gallows. The Amorites were unknowingly
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constructing the very mechanism of their own destruction with
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every passing day of prosperity. That leads directly into
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Edward's discussion about what he calls the snare of blessing.
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This is perhaps one of the most unsettling points in the entire
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text. Edwards argues that prosperity,
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great intellectual light, and abundant societal advantages can
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actually act as a snare to the unconverted person.
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God allows these individuals to enjoy wealth, health, and a
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comfortable life so that they might have the occasion to sin a
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great deal more. By giving them these advantages,
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God is suffering them to fill up a much larger measure of sin.
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They use the very gifts of God, their resources, their
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influence, their intelligence to compound the rebellion against
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Him. In this view, earthly prosperity
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for the wicked is not a blessing, it is an anvil tied
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around their necks. We need to define what we mean
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by these blessings. In Reformed theology, we often
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refer to this as common grace. Common grace is the goodness God
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shows to all people, regardless of their spiritual state.
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He causes the sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends
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rain on the just and the unjust. He gives wicked people brilliant
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minds, artistic talent, successful businesses and loving
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families. But Edwards points out the
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horrifying flip side of this truth for the reprobate.
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Because their hearts are completely hardened, they take
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this common grace and weaponize it against God.
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A wealthy person has more resources to fund sinful
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endeavors. An intelligent person has more
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intellectual capacity to invent complex heresies or arguments
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against the truth. So God is giving them good
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gifts. But because of their own
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depravity, these gifts become the very tools they use to
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expand their vessel of wrath to a massive size.
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Wait, I want to make sure I'm getting this entirely clear.
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Are we saying that God gives them these good things with the
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specific intention that they will misuse them and increase
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their own punishment? Because that sounds like a very
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difficult pill to swallow for someone trying to reconcile this
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with the idea of a loving God. That is a fair reaction, and it
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touches on the deepest mysteries of divine Providence.
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Edwards would argue that God's primary intention in giving
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these gifts is to display his own goodness and patience.
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God is genuinely being kind to them in the temporal sense.
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However, God also perfectly knows exactly what they will do
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with these gifts. He knows they will twist them
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into idols. And in His sovereign justice, He
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has decreed that their wicked misuse of His kindness will
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function to magnify His justice when the final judgement comes.
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They cannot stand before God and say you were cruel to me.
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God will say I gave you wealth, health and peace for 80 years
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and you use every single day to spit in my face.
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The prosperity leaves them completely with that excuse.
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The fault lies entirely in the corrupt human heart that turns
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medicine into poison. We turn now to Proposition 2,
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where Edwards offers a stark diagnosis of the human condition
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outside of Christ. He states that while men
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continue in sin, they are actively, relentlessly filling
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the measure set for them. This aligns perfectly with the
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Reformed doctrine of total depravity.
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Edwards describes sinning not as an occasional slip or a
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temporary lapse in judgement, but as the lifelong vocation of
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the unconverted. It is the work in which they
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spend their entire lives. They begin this work in their
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childhood, and if they live to grow old, they continue in it
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without pause. They might change their earthly
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careers, they might alter their hobbies, they might switch from
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one business to another, but they never change from their
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primary occupation, the work of filling up the measure of their
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sins. Is the very first thing they set
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themselves about when they awake in the morning, and it's the
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very last thing they do before they fall asleep at night.
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The term total depravity is often misunderstood.
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It does not mean that unconverted people are as wicked
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as they could possibly be at every given moment.
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It means that every part of their nature, their mind, their
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will, their emotions is corrupted by sin and therefore
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they are completely incapable of doing anything that is truly
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pleasing to God. Because they lack the
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regenerating work of the Holy Spirit, every single action they
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take is tainted by a fundamental rebellion against their Creator.
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Even when they do things that look outwardly moral, like
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giving to charity or loving their children, they are doing
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it for their own glory or out of natural affection, not out of a
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supreme love for God. Therefore, as Edwards notes,
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their entire existence is a machine designed to produce
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rebellion. They are constantly on the
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clock, working tirelessly in the factory of their own
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condemnation. Edwards uses a biblical phrase
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that perfectly captures this relentless industry.
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He says they are treasuring up wrath.
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This comes from Romans chapter 2 verse 5, where Paul speaks of
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those who, because of their heart and impenitent hearts,
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treasure up for themselves wrath against the day of wrath.
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Think about what a treasurer does.
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A treasurer carefully collects, counts, and stores away wealth
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day after day. In the same way, the unconverted
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person is diligently hoarding up divine judgement.
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It is like an invisible spiritual credit card debt that
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compounds daily without the person realizing it.
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Every idle word, every selfish thought, every act of rebellion,
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adds another coin to the storehouse House of their own
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doom. It is an unceasing accumulation.
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That financial analogy is a brilliant way to view this.
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When a person is treasuring up wealth, they are adding to their
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stockpile coin by coin, dollar by dollar.
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They might not notice a huge difference from one day to the
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next, but over the course of decades it becomes a massive
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fortune. The unconverted person is doing
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this with God's wrath. They wake up.
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They ignore God. They live for themselves.
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That is another coin in the vault.
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They harbor bitterness toward a neighbor, another coin.
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They lie to protect the reputation.
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Another coin. Over 1020 or 50 years, this
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invisible vault becomes filled to the brim with highly
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combustible material and they have absolutely no idea what
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they're doing. They think they are just living
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their lives, but in reality they're constructing A towering
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monument of guilt. I have to pivot to the next
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point Edwards makes because this is where the text gets
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incredibly controversial. Edwards highlights an illusion
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of self righteousness. He talks about a gross mistake
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made by natural unconverted men regarding their religious
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activities. When these individuals read the
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Bible or say their prayers, they think they are not adding to
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their sins. On the contrary, they believe
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they are diminishing their guilt.
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They think that by performing these religious duties they are
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satisfying God for their past offenses and balancing the
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scales of justice. But Edwards asserts that instead
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of paying off their debt, they actually add to the measure of
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their sins by their very best prayers and by the religious
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services with which they themselves are most pleased.
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How on earth can praying or reading the Bible, things God
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commands, actually add to someone's sin?
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This is a devastating critique of human religion, and to
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understand it we must look at Chapter 16 of the Westminster
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Confession of Faith, which deals with good works.
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The Confession states that works done by unregenerate men, even
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if they are things God commands and are of good use to society,
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are nevertheless sinful. The reason is all about the
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motive and the mediator. True good works must proceed
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from a heart purified by faith. They must be done according to
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the Word of God, and they must be done to the glory of God.
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An unconverted person does not have a heart purified by faith.
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When they pray, they're usually praying out of self
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preservation, a desire to bribe God, or to soothe their own
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conscience. They are not praying out of a
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true love for Christ. So it is the motivation behind
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the action that poisons the action itself.
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They are using the prayer as a tool to avoid punishment rather
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than a genuine expression of worship.
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Precisely Furthermore, because these acts rely on works
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righteousness, they bypass the necessary mediation of Jesus
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Christ. An unconverted person thinks,
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Look at my good prayer, God, you owe me.
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That is an absolute insult to the Gospel.
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It is an attempt to earn salvation on human terms, which
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is a towering act of pride. They're essentially telling God
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that the blood of Christ is unnecessary because they can
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balance their own scales with their religious activities.
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Therefore, they're supposed good works actively increase their
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guilt because they are steeped in self-righteous pride and a
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rejection of the Savior. Edwards is stripping away every
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single hiding place the natural man has.
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Even their religion condemns them.
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Having established the boundaries of sin and the
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relentless nature of human rebellion, Edwards moves to
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proposition the Third. This is where the text becomes
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exceedingly heavy. He dedicates a massive portion
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of the sermon to a thorough breakdown of what happens when
22:17
the measure is finally full. He outlines 5 specific marks of
22:21
what he calls wrath to the uttermost.
22:23
He begins by noting the sudden end of divine restraint.
22:27
Currently in this life, God restrains his rough wind.
22:30
He holds back the full force of His justice.
22:33
Wicked men misinterpret this restraint, as the Scripture
22:36
says, because judgement against an evil work is not executed
22:40
speedily. Therefore the heart of the
22:41
children of men is fully set in them to do evil.
22:45
They mistake God's patience for apathy.
22:48
But Edwards warns that when the day of grace and patience ends
22:51
and the measure is full, judgement is executed
22:54
immediately. The concept of divine restraint
22:57
is fascinating. Edwards believed that if God
22:59
were to completely remove his restraining hand from humanity
23:02
right now, the world would instantly become a literal hell
23:06
on earth. Human beings would tear each
23:08
other apart without hesitation. The only reason society
23:11
functions, the only reason there is any peace or justice in the
23:14
world, is because God is actively holding back the full
23:17
tide of human wickedness and actively holding back His own
23:20
righteous fury. Against it.
23:22
But that restraint is temporary for the reprobate.
23:25
It is a dam holding back a colossal reservoir of water.
23:29
The unconverted person builds their life right at the base of
23:31
this dam, completely oblivious to the pressure building behind
23:34
it. And when that measure is full,
23:36
God simply removes the dam. The judgement is immediate,
23:40
overwhelming, and catastrophic. God will not bear with them a
23:43
single second longer. That brings us to the first of
23:47
the five marks of uttermost wrath.
23:49
No moderation. Edwards says that God always
23:52
lays A restraint upon himself in this world.
23:54
He does not let his arm drop on the wicked with its full weight.
23:57
But once the measure is full, all caution and all restraint
24:00
are removed. The wrath of God will be poured
24:02
out like fire. God will execute his fury with
24:05
such might that it will demonstrate exactly what His
24:08
justice entails. Edwards uses the phrase he will
24:11
exact of them. The uttermost Farthing, Every
24:14
single sin, every hidden thought, every secret action is
24:16
written in God's Book, and the Sinner must pay the entire debt.
24:20
The Sinner sealed over to this fate.
24:21
Immediately upon death, they are cast into hell and bound in
24:25
chains of darkness, waiting for the final judgement.
24:27
Furthermore, this wrath is without any mixture of good.
24:30
In this world, even the most wicked person enjoys sunlight,
24:33
good food, and physical comfort. In the uttermost wrath, all
24:37
earthly enjoyments and all mixtures of good are completely
24:39
removed. The phrase uttermost Farthing is
24:42
a financial term that signifies total, uncompromising bankruptcy
24:47
in human courts. A judge might look at a massive
24:49
debt and reduce it out of pity. They might allow a settlement
24:53
for pennies on the dollar. Edwards is stating clearly that
24:56
God does not settle for pennies on the dollar in his courtroom.
24:59
His justice is absolute. The lack of moderation means
25:03
there is no holding back. God does not strike a lighter
25:06
blow because he feels sorry for the condemned.
25:09
The time for pity was during the Day of Grace on Earth.
25:12
Once the line is crossed, justice is blind and unyielding,
25:16
and the complete removal of all good things is a terrifying
25:19
reality. Everything good in this world is
25:21
a gift from God. The taste of water, the warmth
25:23
of the sun, the feeling of rest, all of it comes from the
25:26
Creator. When a person is cut off from
25:28
God entirely, they're cut off from every single source of
25:31
comfort. There is only unmixed suffering.
25:33
The second Mark Edwards identifies is that this wrath
25:36
will be executed without any merciful circumstances.
25:39
We need to distinguish this from the first mark.
25:41
The first mark was about the intensity of the wrath.
25:44
The second mark is about the purpose of the suffering.
25:46
In this life, the afflictions and judgments God brands upon
25:49
people are attended with merciful circumstances.
25:52
There is a continuation of opportunity to seek mercy.
25:55
Earthly judgments act as warnings.
25:57
They are designed to awaken the Sinner to their danger, so they
26:01
might flee to Christ if someone loses their job or gets sick or
26:05
faces a natural disaster. Those are terrible things, but
26:08
they often drive people to their knees in prayer.
26:11
But Edwards points out that in hell, there will be no more
26:14
exercises of divine patience. That is a crucial distinction in
26:18
Reformed theology between divine discipline and penal wrath.
26:21
Earthly suffering always contains a thread of potential
26:24
mercy. It is God sounding an alarm.
26:27
But. Penal wrath, which is the wrath
26:29
of hell, has 0 remedial purpose. God is not punishing the
26:32
condemned in order to teach them a lesson so they can improve.
26:35
He is not rehabilitating them. The awakening that sinners will
26:38
experience after death will do them absolutely no good.
26:41
They will be entirely aware of their misery and the perfect
26:43
justice of God. But this awareness will not lead
26:46
to repentance or salvation. God will have no merciful design
26:49
in their suffering. It is a realm entirely devoid of
26:52
hope. The suffering is purely
26:54
retributive. It is simply paying the wages
26:57
earned. The third Mark Edwards presents
27:00
is truly horrifying in its imagery.
27:03
Wrath executed so as to perfect the work of ruin in this life.
27:07
Wrath is often executed in a way that causes great distress, yet
27:10
it does not complete a person's total ruin.
27:13
People survive famines, wars and diseases.
27:16
They rebuild their houses, they start new families.
27:18
But in the next World, the Wrath will utterly abolish all
27:22
welfare. The soul will be entirely
27:24
crushed. Edwards uses the analogy of a
27:26
worm trying to keep itself from being crushed under the weight
27:29
of a huge mountain. Let's just linger on that image
27:31
for a second. An 18th century farmer would
27:33
know what a worm looks like when a heavy rock is dropped on it.
27:36
The absolute fragility of the insect compared to the immovable
27:40
weight of the stone. The soul will have no strength
27:43
to keep itself from sinking into the abyss of despair.
27:46
Edwards was a master at using the natural world to illustrate
27:49
spiritual realities. The worm in the mountain analogy
27:52
is designed to crush human pride.
27:53
We think we are so strong. We build massive cities, we
27:56
split the atom, we conquer diseases.
27:58
We think we can handle whatever the universe throws at us, but
28:02
Edwards is saying that compared to the infinite holy wrath of
28:05
God, the strongest human being is nothing more than a fragile
28:09
worm. When that mountain drops, there
28:11
is no resistance. There is no pushing back.
28:14
The ruin is perfect and absolute.
28:17
Edwards also quotes the words of Christ in Matthew 21.44 to hit
28:21
this point home. But on whomsoever it shall fall,
28:23
it will grind him to powder. Earthly calamities leave
28:27
survivors. They leave broken pieces that
28:29
can be put back together. Final wrath leaves nothing but
28:31
perfect, absolute desolation of the soul's well-being.
28:35
The person is ground to powder, spiritually speaking.
28:38
The 4th mark of uttermost wrath is its eternal duration.
28:42
This is a doctrine that is highly offensive to the modern
28:44
mind, yet it is a non negotiable tenant of biblical orthodoxy in
28:48
the Reformed Confessions. Edwards draws a sharp contrast
28:51
between temporal distresses and eternal punishment.
28:53
Earthly sorrows, no matter how severe, have intermissions.
28:56
They admit of relief. People sleep, the pain abates.
28:59
Or at the very least, death eventually brings an end to
29:01
earthly physical suffering. You can only torture a human
29:04
body for so long before it expires, but the wrath executed
29:08
when the measure of sin is full has no end.
29:11
It stretches into a boundless eternity.
29:14
The modern aversion to the doctrine of eternal punishment
29:16
usually stems from a failure to understand the nature of God.
29:20
People argue that a temporary sin committed in a span of 80
29:23
years should not warrant an eternal punishment.
29:26
It seems disproportionate to them.
29:28
But Edwards states that this wrath will be of so long a
29:30
continuance that it will be impossible.
29:33
It should be longer, because nothing can be longer than
29:35
eternity. It is in an unceasing perpetual,
29:38
pouring out of divine justice, without any prospect of a
29:41
conclusion. In his other writings, Edwards
29:44
frequently points out that the inhabitants of hell never stop
29:46
sinning. Their hatred for God continues
29:49
to grow eternally, and therefore their accumulation of guilt
29:52
continues eternally, which means the punishment must also
29:55
continue eternally. They never reach a point where
29:57
they say I am sorry, I love you now they remain obstinate
30:01
forever. That connects perfectly to the
30:03
5th and final mark Edwards gives, which is a vital
30:06
theological clarification. Uttermost wrath is the full
30:10
accomplishment of the threatenings of the law.
30:12
Why must the punishment be so severe and eternal?
30:16
Edwards provides the answer we just touched upon.
30:18
Sin is an infinite evil because God is an infinite, eternally
30:23
holy being. Any sin against Him is a crime
30:26
of infinite magnitude. Therefore, the punishment God
30:29
has threatened against it is dreadful.
30:31
Edwards points out that earthly suffering, no matter how
30:33
extreme, never fully answers the demands of the law for even a
30:37
single sin. If a person were to suffer the
30:39
greatest agony possible on earth for their entire life, it would
30:43
not be the full wages of sin. The math of sin is based
30:46
entirely on the worth of the one offended.
30:48
If you punch a wall, you break your hand.
30:50
If you punch a dog, dog, you go to jail for animal cruelty.
30:53
If you punch the president, you go to federal prison for a very
30:56
long time. The action is the same, but the
30:59
severity of the crime increases based on the authority and
31:02
dignity of the one you assaulted.
31:04
God is a being of infinite majesty, infinite goodness and
31:08
infinite authority. Therefore, a crime against Him
31:11
requires an infinite punishment. A finite creature cannot absorb
31:15
an infinite punishment in a finite amount of time.
31:17
Therefore the punishment must stretch into Infinity.
31:21
Final uttermost wrath is the full payment of the deserved
31:24
wages. God reckons with the Sinner, and
31:27
recompenses the full exact completely deserves some into
31:30
their bosom. The law demanded perfect
31:33
obedience. The Sinner offered perfect
31:35
rebellion. Uttermost wrath is the law
31:37
balancing his books. Having laid out this massive,
31:40
heavy doctrinal framework, Edwards then pivots to the
31:43
application of the sermon. In the Puritan and Reformed
31:46
tradition. Theology is never left in the
31:48
abstract. It must be applied directly to
31:50
the conscience of the listener. Edwards turns his gaze upon his
31:53
own congregation in New England, and he uses a striking analogy.
31:57
He tells them they are living in Sodom.
32:00
He paints a picture of a dreadful storm of fire and
32:03
brimstone hanging directly over their town, with the clouds of
32:06
divine vengeance full and just ready to burst.
32:09
He wants them to feel the precariousness of their
32:12
situation. The measure of sin is filling,
32:14
the storm is brewing, and the restraint is about to be lifted.
32:17
Calling Northampton Sodom was a massive shock to the system of
32:21
his listeners. These were respectable church
32:24
going citizens. They were farmers, merchants and
32:26
mothers. They were not running wild in
32:28
the streets committing unspeakable atrocities.
32:31
But Edwards forces them to look at their spiritual state, not
32:34
just their civic behavior. If their hearts were unchanged,
32:37
if they were still treasuring at breath by relying on their own
32:39
self righteousness, then their tidy New England town was no
32:43
different in the eyes of God than the wicked city of Sodom.
32:46
The same clouds of vengeance were gathered overhead.
32:49
Edwards was a master at shattering the false security of
32:51
religious moralism. Edwards forces his listeners to
32:54
consider the extraordinary advantages under which they are
32:57
sinning. We have to look at the
33:00
historical context here to understand the weight of his
33:02
words. This sermon was delivered during
33:05
the First Great Awakening, right in the middle of a massive
33:08
outpouring of the Holy Spirit in Northampton.
33:10
Multitudes of people of all ages were converting to Christ.
33:14
Edwards notes that God was appearing among them in a more
33:17
remarkable manner than ever before in New England.
33:20
The usual hindrances to religion were gone.
33:22
The vain worldly talk, the bad company, the things had
33:25
vanished. Instead, they were surrounded by
33:27
good examples. They had neighbors who were
33:29
thirsty for their salvation, actively trying to persuade them
33:32
to flee to Christ. It is hard for us to imagine
33:35
what that town looked like in 1735.
33:39
The Taverns were empty, the churches were packed.
33:42
People were stopping each other in the street, weeping over the
33:44
state of their souls. This spiritual light was
33:47
blinding. Yet, astonishingly, some
33:49
individuals sat right in the middle of this revival,
33:52
surrounded by the greatest spiritual light imaginable, and
33:55
continued in their sin. They were entirely unmoved.
33:58
Edwards tells them that sinning under these extraordinary
34:00
advantages causes their measure to fill up at an unprecedented
34:04
rate. Rejecting Christ when you have
34:06
never heard the gospel is one thing.
34:09
Rejecting Christ when the Holy Spirit is moving powerfully
34:11
through your own family and neighbors is a crime of
34:14
astronomical proportions. They were actively resisting the
34:17
greatest display of grace their town had ever seen.
34:22
Edwards categorizes these individuals, addressing the
34:24
specific tragedy of wasted time. He speaks first to those who are
34:28
advancing in age. He recalls how they had
34:30
awakenings when they were children.
34:32
They felt the strivings of God's Spirit in their youth, but they
34:35
let the time pass. They became adults.
34:37
They had further awakenings, but they instituted mental
34:40
deadlines. They told themselves I will seek
34:42
salvation when I am married, or I will get serious about
34:45
religion when I am settled in the world, or I will repent when
34:48
I finish this specific business venture.
34:50
We still do this today. We bargain with God for more
34:54
time to enjoy our sin before we get serious.
34:57
Those mental deadlines are a common tactic of the unconverted
34:59
heart to delay dealing with God. It is a way of saying I know I
35:04
need to submit to you, but my current pursuits are more
35:08
valuable to me right now. Edwards points out the tragic
35:11
reality to these older members of his congregation.
35:14
Those self-imposed deadlines arrived, they got married, they
35:18
got settled. The circumstances changed just
35:21
as they planned. The time passed, and yet they
35:23
remained utterly unconverted. They blew right past their own
35:26
conditions for repentance. They thought a change in
35:29
circumstances would produce a change in their heart.
35:32
But the heart is desperately wicked without the regenerating
35:35
work of the Spirit. Arriving at a new stage of life
35:38
simply means you have a new environment in which to continue
35:40
filling up your measure of sin. He also addresses their habit of
35:43
ignoring providential alarms. Edwards details the specific
35:47
warnings God had sent them through Providence.
35:50
Some had seen near relatives die, standing by the bed and
35:52
watching them go into eternity. Yet the shock wore off and they
35:55
remained in sin. Others had been brought to the
35:58
brink of the grave themselves through severe sickness.
36:01
While lying on their sick beds. They were full of promises about
36:04
how they would reform their lives if God would just spare
36:06
them. But the moment their health
36:08
returned, their promises vanished.
36:10
The sick bed promise is a universal human experience.
36:13
When the terrifying reality of death is staring a person in the
36:16
face, they will promise God absolutely anything.
36:19
They will vow to go to church, to stop lying, to read their
36:22
Bible everyday. But Edwards notes that these
36:24
promises are born out of terror, not out of love for God.
36:28
The moment the fever breaks and the danger passes, the terror
36:31
evaporates and the promises evaporate with it.
36:34
Others had narrowly escaped death through dangerous
36:36
accidents. A falling tree.
36:37
A runaway horse. God spared them, giving them
36:40
further space to repent. Yet they use that extra time to
36:43
continue filling up the measure of their rebellion.
36:46
Every ignored alarm simply added to their guilt.
36:48
God was shouting at them through these providential events and
36:51
they were putting their hands over their ears.
36:53
Moving into the final sections of the text, Edwards directs the
36:56
attention of his congregation to the absolute majesty of the
36:59
judge they are provoking. He lists staggering descriptions
37:03
of Jehovah's might drawn from the Scriptures.
37:05
This is the God who made heaven and earth by his spoken word.
37:09
He is the one who commands the sun so that it does not rise,
37:13
and who seals up the stars. He shakes the earth out of its
37:16
place and causes the pillars of heaven to tremble.
37:18
He rebukes the sea and makes it dry.
37:20
Edwards wants to obliterate any casual view of God.
37:23
He is establishing that the being against whom they are
37:26
sinning possesses such awful majesty that no man could
37:29
survive the direct sight of it. Modern Christianity often
37:32
struggles with this. We love to focus on the tender,
37:35
fatherly attributes of God, and those are absolutely true and
37:38
beautiful. But we often ignore the
37:40
terrifying raw authority of the Creator.
37:42
Edwards forces his congregation to look the God who can snap the
37:46
pillars of the universe like twigs.
37:48
He wants them to realize the sheer absurdity of a tiny, frail
37:52
human being raising their fist and rebellion against the One
37:55
who speaks galaxies into existence.
37:58
If God can dry up the ocean with a rebuke, what will he do to a
38:02
rebel who has spent 80 years insulting his son?
38:05
Edwards applies this truth by looking at the spiritual realm.
38:08
He notes that the stoutest, most terrifying devils sink
38:11
completely and are crushed under the weight of this judge's fury.
38:15
If the demonic forces, which are vastly more powerful than we
38:18
are, are shattered by this wrath, what hope does a frail
38:21
human being have? Edwards makes a brilliant
38:23
psychological point here. He notes that sometimes in this
38:26
world, God gives a person's conscience just a tiny
38:28
microscopic glimpse of this wrath, and it causes the most
38:31
stout hearted men to cry out in absolute terror.
38:34
We see this occasionally when someone comes under severe
38:37
conviction of sin. Their conscience is awakened and
38:39
they get a tiny flash of God's holiness and their own guilt.
38:43
It is not even full wrath, it is just a warning shot.
38:47
Yet it is enough to make strong men weep in despair and lose
38:49
sleep for days. Edwards reasons from the lesser
38:53
to the greater. If a slight taste, a mere drop
38:56
of divine displeasure on the conscience, is so intolerable
38:59
that human nature is ready to sink under it, what will it be
39:02
when God opens the floodgates? What happens when the mighty
39:05
deluge comes pouring down without any mixture of mercy?
39:08
The logic is inescapable and utterly terrifying.
39:12
If a drop burns like fire, the ocean of wrath will be
39:15
unbearable. In a fascinating historical
39:18
moment, Edwards begins reading the signs of the times.
39:21
He speculated that the extraordinary work of God
39:23
happening in his era, the massive revivals of the Great
39:25
Awakening, might be a forerunner of a great revolution.
39:28
He acknowledged that the secret decrees of God are hidden, but
39:31
insisted that believers must determine the signs of
39:33
Providence. He draws on a biblical pattern
39:36
found in Deuteronomy 32 and Isaiah 65, noting that when God
39:40
brings about glorious times of revival and blessing for his
39:43
church, it is almost always accompanied by awful, sweeping
39:47
judgments for his enemies. Edwells was a keen student of
39:50
history and scripture. He noticed that God rarely moves
39:53
in a major way to bless his people without simultaneously
39:56
bringing the hammer down on those who oppose him.
39:59
The Exodus from Egypt is the classic example.
40:02
The glorious deliverance of Israel was simultaneous with the
40:05
catastrophic destruction of Egypt.
40:08
Edwards looked at the massive revival happening around him and
40:10
thought, God is gathering his people into the ark very
40:13
quickly. That usually means the flood is
40:15
about to start. He saw the outpouring of grace
40:17
in one area as a signal that the pouring out of wrath was
40:20
imminent in another. He saw the revival not just as a
40:24
blessing, but as a potential warning of impending historical
40:27
upheaval. Which brings us to Edwards final
40:29
urgent call. After laying out the terrifying
40:32
reality of the measure of sin and the uttermost wrath, he does
40:35
not leave them in despair. He issues a plea.
40:38
Haste, flee for your lives and get into the Ark.
40:41
The ark, of course, is Jesus Christ.
40:43
He is the only shelter from the impending storm of fire and
40:47
brimstone. Edwards promises that for those
40:49
who are hidden in Christ, there is absolute safety.
40:52
Even if the earth is removed, even if the mountains are
40:54
carried into the midst of the sea.
40:56
Those in the ark need not be afraid of evil tidings.
40:59
Their hearts can be fixed, trusting in the Lord.
41:01
This is where the grim, heavy theology of the Puritan sermon
41:04
bursts into the glorious light of the gospel.
41:07
Edwards has spent an hour systematically dismantling every
41:10
defense the Sinner has. He has shown them the storm
41:13
clouds. He's shown them the rising
41:15
floodwaters. And just when they're completely
41:17
devoid of hope, he points to the open door of the Ark.
41:19
Christ is the only one who was born the uttermost wrath on
41:22
behalf of His people. He drank the cup of judgement
41:25
down to the drugs on the cross. Therefore, anyone who abandons
41:28
their self righteousness and flees to him will never
41:31
experience a single drop of that penal wrath.
41:35
The law is satisfied, the books are balanced, the Ark is
41:38
entirely secure. To summarize the vast
41:41
theological territory we have covered in this deep dive, we
41:44
have seen the staggering reality that God sets a precise limit
41:48
for human sin. We have observed the relentless
41:51
daily industry of the unconverted heart as it
41:53
treasures up judgement. We have breaking down the
41:56
terrifying specifics of uttermost wrath.
41:59
We saw wrath without moderation, without mercy, designed for
42:02
total ruin, eternal and duration, and perfectly
42:05
fulfilling the demands of an infinite law.
42:08
And we have seen the urgent necessity of fleeing to the ark
42:11
of Jesus Christ before the measure is full.
42:13
Now I ask you, the listener, to consider your own position.
42:15
Think about the extraordinary advantages you possess today.
42:18
You have unprecedented access to the Bible in your own language.
42:21
You can pull up multiple translations on your phone in
42:23
seconds. You have access to faithful
42:25
preaching through thousands of sermons available online.
42:28
You have the historical knowledge of God's works
42:30
throughout the centuries. You know how the story ends.
42:33
Are these advantages leading you to gratitude and repentance, or
42:36
are they functioning as a snare, simply allowing you to fill a
42:40
larger measure of rebellion? Are you using the common grace
42:44
of technology and freedom to ignore the God who gave them to
42:47
you? That is a weight we all must
42:50
bear. I want to leave you with one
42:52
final thought to Mull over, building on what Edwards
42:55
presented, but looking directly at our current context.
42:58
If Jonathan Edwards believed that the prosperity, the
43:01
relative peace and the societal advantages of an 18th century
43:04
farming town in New England constituted a massive, dangerous
43:07
snare designed to fill up the measure of the wicked, how much
43:10
more should we question our own era?
43:12
We live in an age of unprecedented physical comfort,
43:15
total convenience, and endless digital distractions.
43:18
Are these modern luxuries acting as an invisible anesthetic?
43:22
Are they quietly lulling individuals into a false sense
43:24
of security, keeping them entertained and numb while their
43:26
measure of sin silently, day by day fills completely to the
43:30
brim?