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Sinners in the Hand of an Angry God | Jonathan Edwards · Reformed Thinking

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  Welcome back to the deep dive from reformed thinking.
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  This is where we breakdown essential source material,
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  turning dense research into, we hope, clear and actionable
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  knowledge. And today the source material
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  is, well, it's a big one. It's one of the most famous
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  pieces of American theological writing.
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  It really is. We're looking at Jonathan
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  Edwards iconic 1741 sermon Sinners in the Hand of an Angry
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  God. A sermon that's famous for being
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  fearsome. But when you actually study the
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  text, you see it's so much more than that.
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  That's right, it's not just rhetorical fire and brimstone.
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  No, not at all. It's a carefully, meticulously
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  architected theological argument, a systematic case
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  point by point. And that system is what we're
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  after today. That's our mission.
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  We want to understand the engine that's driving the sermon.
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  What's the logic behind the terror?
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  Exactly. The source material notes that
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  it was preached during the Great Awakening and was famous for the
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  remarkable impressions on many of the hearers.
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  But before we get to the effects, we have to get the
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  mechanics. We have to.
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  So the core question for us is this.
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  What did Edwards assert about the condition of the
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  unconverted? And, you know, how did his
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  specific reformed theological framework shape that terrifying
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  message? And that's a deep question.
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  This isn't just a simple summary.
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  To get it, we really have to see how he builds his case on very
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  specific theological reasoning. OK, so where do we start?
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  I think we need 2 main parts for this deep dive.
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  First, we have to set the stage. The historical and theological
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  backdrop is critical. His views on grace, the will,
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  all of that. All of that, and then, once
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  that's clear, we can move to Art. 2 Edwards's precise,
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  systematic argument for why the wicked remain out of hell for
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  any single moment. It's all about that sovereign
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  restraint. It's all about the sovereign
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  restraint of God. All right, let's set the stage.
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  Let's do it. Let's start with Edwards's
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  career in Northampton, MA. He's a young guy, graduates from
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  Yale very early, works as a tutor for a bit.
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  And then 1726, he goes back home.
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  In a sense, he returns to Northampton to assist his
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  grandfather, who is a huge figure in his own right.
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  Solomon Stoddard. The Solomon Stoddard And then
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  just three years later, in 1729, Stoddard dies and Edwards takes
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  over as the lead pastor. And this isn't a smooth, easy
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  transition, theologically speaking.
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  Not at all. This really sets up the core
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  battleground of Edwards entire early ministry.
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  He's stepping into a system his own grandfather built, and he
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  believes it's fundamentally flawed.
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  The issue is church membership, specifically who could take the
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  Lord's Supper. Exactly.
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  Stoddard had championed a practice.
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  It was even called Stoddardianism that really
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  loosen the requirements for coming to the table.
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  How loose are we talking? What was the actual policy?
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  Well, starters saw the Lord's Supper as a means of
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  regeneration. That's the key phrase.
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  A means of regeneration. So not something you do because
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  you're already a believer. Precisely.
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  His view was that if you were a person of good moral standing,
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  you know, living an outwardly upright life, you could
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  participate. And that participation, the ACT
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  itself, could be the very instrument God used to grant you
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  special grace. Right.
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  So church membership wasn't based on a credible profession
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  of faith or an inward spiritual transformation.
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  It was based on your visible outward morality.
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  And Edwards comes in and sees this as what?
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  A major. Problem.
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  A catastrophic problem. It moves the focus away from the
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  absolute necessity of a known internal work of the Holy
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  Spirit. It sort of puts the power back
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  into human hands, suggesting you can prepare yourself or do
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  something to get saved. That's the danger he saw.
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  And this is where Edwards really digs in his heels.
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  He starts stressing man's complete passivity in the work
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  of redemption. He's entirely dependent on God.
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  We see that in his 1731 sermon, God glorified in the work of
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  redemption. We do.
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  In that sermon, he argues that regeneration is an act where man
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  is totally passive. There's nothing you could do to
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  initiate it or contribute to it. So if Stoddard was saying come
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  to the table, prepare yourself and you might get converted,
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  Edwards is saying what? Edwards is saying the only
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  reliable measure of having received regeneration is what
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  happens after. The soul's spontaneous,
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  overwhelming attraction to the holiness and beauty of God.
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  Yes. It's not about just behaving
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  better. It's about a fundamental change
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  in what you love, what you delight in.
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  It's an experience of joy in divine things for their own
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  sake. And this whole doctrinal debate
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  is happening right as the Great Awakening is starting to surge.
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  The timing is incredible. He preaches sinners in the hand
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  of an angry God at Enfield on July 8, 1741, which is right in
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  the sick of this massive, widespread revival.
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  And the sources say the sermon was famous for its spiritual
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  effects. Those remarkable impressions on
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  many of the hearers we. Should probably pause on that
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  phrase. Remarkable impressions.
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  It doesn't just mean people felt thoughtful or, you know, a
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  little emotional. Right.
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  This wasn't just quiet contemplation, no.
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  At the height of the awakening, these impressions were often
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  intense physical manifestations. So people crying out.
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  Crying out, shrieking, fainting from an agonizing conviction of
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  their sin, or on the other side, bursting out with this
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  overwhelming, joyous assurance of salvation.
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  It was a very visible, very emotional phenomena.
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  And that visible emotion that created a whole new set of
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  problems for pro revival guys like Edwards.
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  It created huge tension because you had the old light critics,
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  the more skeptical, rationalist ministers, and they were just
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  dismissing all of this as enthusiasm.
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  Just dangerous emotional delusion, fleeting feelings with
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  no real biblical or rational basis.
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  Exactly. So Edwards found himself in a
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  difficult position. He needed a sermon that could
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  move the affections, yes, but it also had to satisfy the
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  intellect. He had to show there was a deep,
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  logical reason for this terror and this joy.
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  He. Had to demonstrate, using solid
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  reform doctrine, why the unconverted must feel this kind
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  of dread, and why true conversion, though it's a
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  supernatural event, was the only logical, sane response to the
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  reality of divine justice. So to build that case, he first
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  has to define what tools, if any, of the unconverted person
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  actually has. Right, and this brings us to his
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  really famous distinction between the two types of grace.
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  He lays this out in a divine and supernatural light.
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  Common grace versus special grace.
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  That distinction is the absolute linchpin of the entire argument
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  in Sinners. It draws a hard line between
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  what's naturally possible and what is supernaturally
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  necessary. OK, so let's break that down.
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  What's common grace? Common grace for Edwards is what
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  allows an unregenerate person to function in the world with some
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  degree of morality and rationality.
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  It acts on the mind. It assists the natural human
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  faculties. Yes.
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  It's what allows someone to read the Bible and understand the
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  doctrines intellectually. It allows them to be kind to
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  their neighbor, to show restraint, even to pray.
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  So it explains all the things that look outwardly religious
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  but aren't saving. Precisely.
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  It enables speculation. It can restrain the worst kinds
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  of wickedness in society. It is useful for this life, but
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  it cannot save. Because for salvation, you need
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  special grace. Which is an entirely different
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  order of operation. It's exclusive to the Saints, to
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  true believers, and it doesn't just act on the mind, it acts
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  directly on the heart. It's a new supernatural
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  principle that flows into the soul.
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  And it restores the human faculties to their original
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  design to love and delight in God.
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  He has that great illustration he uses to explain this, the one
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  about honey. Yes, the difference between
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  hearing about sweetness and actually tasting it.
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  Tell us about that. An unregenerate mind, which is
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  aided only by common grace, can have a speculative sense of
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  God's beauty. It can hear a description of the
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  sweetness of honey and rationally agree.
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  Yes, that sounds pleasant. They can understand the concept
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  of sweetness. I can understand the concept,
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  but only the sanctified person, the one who has received special
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  grace, attains the true experience sense of it.
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  They have the spiritual taste of the honey.
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  Without that spiritual taste, without that actual delight in
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  who God is, any religious feeling is just.
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  It's just speculation. It falls short.
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  It's insufficient for salvation because it's not a genuine and
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  love for God for his own sake. It's just an intellectual
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  appreciation of an idea. And this distinction then it has
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  to lead directly into his arguments against Arminianism.
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  Right, it's a collision course. Because if salvation requires
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  the supernatural taste that a person can't generate on their
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  own, then the whole Armenian idea of a free self determining
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  will must be wrong. It has to be.
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  Edwards spent a lot of his later career fighting Arminianism,
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  which was becoming really popular.
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  But the final decision for salvation on the individual's
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  inherent free will. The idea that the will is free,
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  sort of indifferent, able to choose equally between good and
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  evil. Edwards completely rejected
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  that. He didn't believe the fallen
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  will possess that kind of liberty, and he used the faculty
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  psychology of his day, borrowing from John Locke, to structure
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  his argument. How?
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  Did that work? What was his model of the soul?
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  He argued that the pre fall human soul had two main
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  motivational forces, first self love which is natural and 2nd
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  disinterested benevolence. Disinterested benevolence with
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  that. It's the ability to love God and
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  your neighbor purely for their own sake, not for what you get
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  out of it. And this benevolence is what
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  kept the will properly aimed at the highest good, which is God
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  Himself. OK so Adam had both self love
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  and this benevolence. What happened at the Fall?
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  According to Edwards, when Adam sinned, God withdrew that
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  supernatural inclination. He removed benevolence from
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  human nature. He took it away.
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  He took it away so. If benevolence is gone, what's
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  left to drive the will? Only self love and the
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  implication of that is just devastating for the idea of a
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  free will. Because human nature is now
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  fundamentally controlled by self love.
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  Which means all of our affections, all our desires, and
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  most critically, the will itself, are now inclined toward
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  inferior, selfish, or self-centered ends.
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  So even when an unconverted person does something that looks
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  moral or good. Edwards would trace it back to a
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  motivation of self regard, maybe a desire for a good reputation,
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  or a fear of punishment, or a hope for some kind of reward.
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  The will is not free because it's chained by its own
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  strongest inclination. Which is always its own
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  corrupted, self-serving nature. The will is always determined by
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  the strongest motive present to the mind, and for the fallen
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  person the strongest motive is always the inferior, selfish
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  one. So the whole Armenian idea of a
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  free will that can just choose God without any prior
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  supernatural intervention? For Edwards, that's a sheer
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  illusion. It's impossible.
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  The unconverted cannot save themselves because their
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  internal nature is fundamentally ruinous and and away from God.
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  And that premise, that inescapable reality, sets the
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  stage for the entire sermon. It's the foundation for
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  everything that follows. OK, so if the human will is
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  bound by corruption and needs a special grace that the
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  unconverted don't have, then their situation is, well, it's
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  perilous. Extremely perilous, and this is
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  where Edwards transitions from the deep theology to the direct
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  application. He uses his text Deuteronomy 32,
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  verse 35, their foot haul, Ely eyed in due time.
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  And who is he aiming this text at?
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  It's not just a general statement about humanity.
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  No, he's very careful about this.
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  He directs the threat not at, you know, pagans or atheists.
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  He aims it at the wicked, unbelieving Israelites.
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  The visible people of God. The visible people of God,
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  people who lived under the means of grace, they went to the
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  temple, they offered sacrifices, they practice the outward
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  morality. But they were still void of
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  counsel. They lacked that genuine
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  spiritual transformation, right? And this makes the message so
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  profound, profoundly personal for his New England
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  congregation. He's looking at people who look
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  and act religious, and he's telling them this text is about
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  you. You are the ones in danger.
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  That must have been shocking. It had to be.
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  He then takes that phrase, their foothold allied, and he breaks
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  it down into four specific conditions about their
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  destruction. He's setting up the immediate
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  reality of their danger. The first condition is constant
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  exposure. Yes, he says.
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  They stand in slippery places, and he's pulling that directly
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  from Psalm 73. It means they have no firm
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  footing, no stability, no grip whatsoever.
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  They're perpetually exposed to falling.
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  Always, at every single moment. And it requires A continuous
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  active outside effort just to keep them upright for one more
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  second. OK, so they're always exposed.
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  The second point is suddenness. Because the ground is slippery,
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  the fall, when it comes, will be completely unexpected.
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  You can't see it coming. You can't foresee if you'll be
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  standing or falling in the very next moment.
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  He quotes that Psalm again. Surely that did set them in
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  slippery places that corroded them down into destruction.
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  Only the speed of it makes all human vigilance totally
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  pointless. The Third Point, and this goes
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  right back to his doctrine of the will, is self initiation.
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  This is a crucial connection. They fall entirely of
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  themselves. What does that mean it?
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  Means they don't need an outside force to push them.
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  They don't need some accidental shove or a big earthquake.
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  They just fall on their own. Their own weight is enough.
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  The immense downward tending weight of their own sinful,
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  unregenerate nature is sufficient to cast them into the
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  pit, given the slippery ground they're already on.
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  So their destruction is something they earn and in a
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  sense, bring about themselves. It is intrinsically self willed
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  and self earned. Their nature tends toward ruin.
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  Which raises the obvious question, if their nature is
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  ruinous and their footing is slippery, why haven't they
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  fallen already? And that is his fourth point,
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  sovereign timing. The only reason they're still
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  standing? The only reason is that God's
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  appointed time has not come. Edwards asserts that the moment
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  God releases his restraining hold, the inevitable consequence
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  that intrinsic downward force of their own sin will immediately
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  carry them into destruction like.
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  Letting go of a heavy Rock You were holding up.
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  Exactly like that. The fall is immediate and
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  natural once the restraint is gone.
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  This systematic breakdown of the text, it leads him right to his
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  central terrifying thesis statement for the whole sermon.
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  It does. His core observation is this.
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  There is nothing that keeps wicked man at any one moment out
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  of hell, but the mere pleasure of God.
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  The mere pleasure of God. That phrase mirror must have
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  been so unsettling. What does he mean by God's
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  arbitrary will? He was using arbitrary in its
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  older theological sense, it means unconstrained, decided
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  purely by sovereign power. It's a will that is not limited
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  by any external obligation. So God isn't bound by anything
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  to keep them safe. Nothing.
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  The preservation of the wicked doesn't depend on their good
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  health, their moral efforts, the prayers of their family, or any
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  kind of covenant will promise. It depends only and absolutely
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  on the uncovenanted, unobligated volition of God.
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  So an unconverted person's continued existence is just.
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  It's an act of sheer terrifying contingency.
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  That's a perfect way to put it. Their life isn't protected by
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  law or justice or promise. It's safeguarded only by an
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  unexplained temporary act of divine forbearance.
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  And Edwards is showing that the natural man is already at war
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  with God, already deserving of hell right now.
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  Yes, presently. So any moment of continued life
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  is an act of pure grace that God that is not in any way bound to
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  continue for another second. And this observation becomes the
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  lens for the next section of the sermon.
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  It does. He then launches into his 10
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  systematic proofs, which are designed to dismantle every
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  single false sense of security a natural man might be clinging
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  to. OK, let's unpack this list.
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  These 10 considerations are really the rhetorical engine of
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  the whole sermon. They are.
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  He moves logically from God's attributes down to man's
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  failures, and he makes sure there is no safe place to hide
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  outside of special grace. Let's start with the first four,
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  which are all focused on God's internal relationship to sin and
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  justice. The first proof is simple, but
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  foundational power is sufficient.
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  God is able to. Do it.
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  He lacks 0 power to cast wicked men into hell instantly.
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  This is vital because if God were somehow limited or
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  constrained by man's strength, the threat would be meaningless.
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  And this is where he uses those stunning analogies to show the
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  absolute gap between the creature and the creator.
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  Yes, the wicked are like great heaps of light chats before the
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  whirlwind, or like dry stubble before a raging fire.
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  The point is their powerlessness.
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  Their absolute powerlessness. He says It is as easy for God to
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  do this as it is for us to crush a worm crawling on the ground or
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  descend just single slender thread.
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  The ease of it is the point. God doesn't need to observe
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  himself. Not at all.
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  And even if all unconverted man on earth combine their strength,
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  though hand join in hand, as he says, their collective power is
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  nothing against omnipotence. It's less than a piece of dry
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  stubble. OK, so God can do it easily.
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  That's proof one. What's proof 2 Proof. 2 is that
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  justice demands it. Not only can God do it, his very
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  character as a just God requires him to do it.
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  Exactly. Divine justice makes no
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  objection to their immediate damnation.
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  In fact, it's the opposite. Justice calls allowed for an
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  infinite punishment for their sins.
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  Why an infinite punishment? Because their sin is committed
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  against a being of infinite majesty and holiness.
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  The punishment has to fit the crime, and the crime is against
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  an infinite God. So justice is personified here
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  as an executioner ready to strike.
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  It is he calls the wicked grapes of Sodom and says Justice looks
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  at them and says cut it down, why Cumbrith hit the ground.
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  So the only thing holding back this sword of divine justice.
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  Is the uncovetted arbitrary hand of mercy.
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  It's this cosmic balancing act. On one side you have justice
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  demanding infinite payment. On the other, you have only
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  God's current on owed volition holding the scales level for
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  this one moment. Which leads to proof three.
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  They are already under sentence. Yes, this clarifies their legal
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  status. They aren't just candidates for
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  judgement in the future, they are legally condemned right now.
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  He quotes John 3.18. He that believes not is
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  condemned already. This is a critical point in
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  Reformed theology. The condemnation is immediate
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  upon the sin. The unconverted man, Edwards
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  says, properly belongs to hell. That is his place.
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  From thence he is. Wow, so that completely flips
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  the script. Jasmine isn't some far off
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  future event, it's a present reality.
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  It is their time on earth is just a temporary suspension of a
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  sentence that has already been handed down in the divine court.
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  A stay of execution. A stay of execution granted by
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  arbitrary Fiat. It means hell is their native
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  country, their natural state, and every day of their life is
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  lived as a fugitive from their rightful legal location.
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  The tension is exponential. And this flows right into proof
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  four. They are current objects of
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  Wrath. Right.
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  This counters the comfortable idea that God is sort of passive
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  or unconcerned about your sin until the day you die.
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  That is, anger is dormant. Edwards insists that's not true.
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  He says the unconverted are, in this present moment, the objects
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  of the very same anger that's being expressed in the torments
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  of hell. He even says God might be more
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  angry with some people on earth who are living at ease than with
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  some already in hell. He does because they're adding
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  to their sin every day while enjoying God's common grace.
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  The imagery he uses here is all about the active, immediate
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  state of this divine fury. The pit is prepared.
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  The fire is ready. The flames now rage and glow,
• 19:30
  The glittering sword is wet and held over them.
• 19:32
  The lack of an immediate strike isn't because God is unprepared
• 19:35
  or his anger is sleeping. It's purely his choice to
• 19:38
  restrain his hand from swinging an already sharpened blade.
• 19:41
  So after establishing that God's own character and justice demand
• 19:44
  their ruin, Edwards moves on to show that all the other forces,
• 19:48
  internal and external, are also ready for their destruction.
• 19:52
  He closes every door of escape, starting with proof 5 Satan's
• 19:57
  readiness. How does he frame this?
• 19:59
  He says Satan views the unconverted as his property, his
• 20:03
  goods, and he's quoting Luke's gospel there.
• 20:06
  The Devils are constantly watching them.
• 20:08
  He compares them to greedy, hungry lions.
• 20:10
  Yes, just waiting. They are being actively
• 20:13
  restrained by God's hands, and if God were to withdraw that
• 20:16
  hand for just one moment, they would fly upon their poor souls.
• 20:20
  So there's this spiritual battlefield, and the only thing
• 20:23
  protecting the soul from this ancient enemy is God's will.
• 20:26
  His singular volition hell opens its mouth wide, ready to swallow
• 20:31
  them up instantly if that protection is removed.
• 20:33
  The danger then turns inward with proof 6 internal hellish
• 20:36
  principles. Yes, the source of destruction
• 20:38
  isn't just external, it's intrinsic to the fallen soul
• 20:41
  itself. And this might be the most
• 20:43
  psychologically terrifying point of the whole 10 Why is that?
• 20:46
  Because he argues that hellish Prince, things like corruption
• 20:50
  and enmity against God, they already reign inside carnal men.
• 20:53
  They are the very seeds of hell fire.
• 20:55
  So hell is already inside them in seed form.
• 20:58
  Exactly. Sin, by its very nature is
• 21:01
  destructive. He describes the corruption in
• 21:05
  the human heart as being immoderate and boundless in his
• 21:08
  fury. And what happens if God lifts
• 21:10
  his restraint on that internal corruption?
• 21:12
  He says it's like fire pent up. If God's restraining hand were
• 21:16
  lifted, this internal chaos would immediately erupt into a
• 21:19
  blaze. It would turn the soul into a
• 21:22
  fiery oven, consuming it from within.
• 21:25
  So the unconverted person is literally carrying the fuel and
• 21:28
  the match for their own destruction inside them at all
• 21:31
  times. At all times, they don't need to
• 21:33
  be sent to hell. Hell is already dormant within
• 21:35
  their own nature, just waiting for God to let it ignite.
• 21:38
  That's a staggering thought, and this leads to the failure of all
• 21:41
  our external self-made protections, which is proof 7,
• 21:45
  no security and health. A healthy body, a strong
• 21:48
  constitution, the fact that you don't see any immediate means of
• 21:51
  death around you, none of that provides any security at all.
• 21:53
  He says men are constantly on the very brink of eternity and
• 21:56
  no matter what their physical state is.
• 21:58
  And this is where he brings in that powerful metaphor of the
• 22:01
  rotten covering. Tell us about that.
• 22:03
  He says unconverted men are walking over the pit of hell on
• 22:06
  a rotten covering, and that covering is filled with
• 22:09
  innumerable weak spots that they can't see.
• 22:11
  So at any moment they could just fall through.
• 22:13
  At any moment death's arrows fly unseen.
• 22:17
  At noonday, God has, he says, innumerable and inconceivable
• 22:21
  ways of ending their life without needing a miracle or
• 22:24
  even stepping outside the normal course of His Providence.
• 22:28
  A healthy man who feels safe is standing on nothing but a paper
• 22:31
  thin sheet over an inferno. And if health is no defense,
• 22:35
  then neither is human intelligence.
• 22:37
  Proof 8. Prudence fails.
• 22:39
  Exactly. Your own prudence, your worldly
• 22:42
  caution, your shrewd financial or life planning, none of it can
• 22:46
  secure you for a single moment. Not even the care of your family
• 22:49
  and friends. None of it.
• 22:50
  Because if human foresight and wisdom actually provided
• 22:53
  security, then wise and shrewd people wouldn't die
• 22:55
  unexpectedly. But they do.
• 22:57
  He quotes Ecclesiastes. How dieth the wise man as the
• 23:00
  fool? The point is that God is
• 23:02
  sovereign over the means of death.
• 23:04
  He can find the cracks in the armor of the wisest, most
• 23:06
  careful person. So all the confidence we place
• 23:09
  in our own worldly caution is just, it's just another layer of
• 23:14
  delusion. Which brings us to the logical
• 23:16
  conclusion in proof 9. All schemes of escape are vain.
• 23:20
  Right. Every natural man who hears
• 23:23
  about the threat of hell, he flatters himself.
• 23:25
  He thinks that his specific scheme, his private effort, his
• 23:28
  resolution to be better tomorrow, that will be the thing
• 23:31
  that allows him to escape. But Edwards dismisses all of
• 23:34
  that as nothing but a shadow. He argues that the huge majority
• 23:37
  of people who have died under the same means of grace in
• 23:40
  churches just like theirs are now in hell.
• 23:43
  And if you could talk to them, what would they say?
• 23:44
  They. 'D say they had plans to escape
• 23:46
  too. They had elaborate schemes, but
• 23:49
  destruction came suddenly. Death outwitted me, they'd say
• 23:52
  God's wrath was too quick for me.
• 23:55
  Their self contrived plans turned out to be thin air and
• 23:57
  empty shadows. There is no clever way to
• 24:00
  sidestep divine justice. None.
• 24:03
  And that leads to the final ultimate point that seals the
• 24:06
  argument. Proof 10.
• 24:08
  No promise of preservation. What does he mean by that?
• 24:11
  God is under 0 obligation to keep any natural man out of hell
• 24:16
  for even 1 moment. Because all the promises in the
• 24:18
  Bible. All promises of deliverance, of
• 24:20
  preservation, of help, they are reserved for those who are in
• 24:24
  the covenant of grace, and you only enter that covenant through
• 24:27
  Christ. So if a person has no interest
• 24:29
  in Christ, they have no claim on any of God's promises.
• 24:32
  None whatsoever. So even if the unconverted man
• 24:35
  performs religious duties, goes to church, prays, tries to
• 24:39
  repent, as long as he has not truly believed in Christ, God is
• 24:43
  not bound by any prior agreement or obligation to hold him up.
• 24:47
  The natural man's prayers have no security attached to them.
• 24:50
  That's right. So the summary is just
• 24:52
  inescapable. The unconverted stand condemned.
• 24:55
  They are hated by a just God, and they are resting on
• 24:58
  absolutely nothing but the uncovenuted, arbitrary patience
• 25:02
  of an incensed God. Every single supposed defense
• 25:05
  has been systematically stripped away.
• 25:07
  So with that logical case for immediate peril completely
• 25:10
  closed, Edwards then shifts his focus.
• 25:12
  He moves from why you're in danger to what that danger
• 25:15
  actually is. He does, and this is where the
• 25:17
  rhetoric and the imagery become incredibly visceral.
• 25:20
  He wants to make the reality of God's anger completely
• 25:23
  unavoidable. It's designed to terrify the
• 25:26
  affections, not just inform the mind.
• 25:28
  We have to start with the most famous image of all, the
• 25:31
  abhorrence, the spider. Yes, he says, God holds the
• 25:35
  Sinner over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider or
• 25:38
  some loathsome insect over the fire.
• 25:41
  The Sinner is viewed as worthy of nothing but being cast into
• 25:44
  the fire. And this isn't just dislike or
• 25:46
  disappointment, it's an intense, visceral disgust, he says.
• 25:50
  The Sinner is 10,000 times so abominable in God's holy sight
• 25:55
  as the most hateful, venomous serpent is in ours.
• 25:58
  And the choice of a spider is so critical.
• 26:00
  There, in the Great chain of being, insects were at the very
• 26:03
  bottom. They were seen as vile,
• 26:05
  worthless creatures. So by comparing the unconverted
• 26:07
  person to a spider, Edwards is placing them in the absolute
• 26:10
  lowest category of being. We're the only of immediate
• 26:13
  contempt and destruction. It communicates total
• 26:16
  insignificance and loathsomness in the eyes of infinite purity.
• 26:19
  And he reinforces this with another image, the spider's web.
• 26:23
  Right. The unconverted are heavy as
• 26:25
  lead, he says. There are constantly tending
• 26:28
  downwards because of the sheer weight of their sin.
• 26:30
  And they're supposed defenses, their health, their morality.
• 26:34
  They're all compared to a spider's web that would have
• 26:36
  absolutely no chance of stopping a falling rock.
• 26:39
  It's ridiculously inadequate. So again, it comes back to the
• 26:43
  failure of all human defenses against the overwhelming weight
• 26:46
  of their own sin. It does, and then he adds this
• 26:50
  cosmic dimension to it with the image of of the groaning
• 26:53
  creation. The whole universe is alienated
• 26:56
  from the Sinner, the entire created world, the sun, the
• 27:00
  earth, the air. It groans under the burden of
• 27:03
  the unconverted person's corruption.
• 27:04
  Because they're being forced to serve sinful purposes.
• 27:07
  Exactly. They have to unwillingly
• 27:09
  subserve these sinful goals, and it's against their nature.
• 27:12
  The world, Edward says, would literally spew you out if God
• 27:16
  didn't mercifully subject it to this burden.
• 27:18
  So the unconverted person has no friendly corner in the entire
• 27:21
  cosmos. Everything is against them.
• 27:24
  Everything. Then he moves to the preparation
• 27:26
  for judgement with the bow and arrow.
• 27:27
  The imagery here is so tense. It is the bow of God's wrath is
• 27:31
  bent, and the arrow is already on the string.
• 27:34
  Justice is straining the bow with all its might, and only the
• 27:37
  mere pleasure of an angry God is keeping that arrow for one more
• 27:41
  moment from being made drunk with your blood.
• 27:44
  It's an image of imminent release.
• 27:45
  It's ready to fly at any second. Instantaneous and fatal.
• 27:49
  And finally, there's the metaphor of the damned waters.
• 27:52
  This captures the cumulative nature of God's restrained
• 27:55
  anger. So the anger is building up
• 27:57
  overtime. Like great waters behind Dam,
• 28:00
  the longer the stream is stopped, the higher the water
• 28:02
  rises, the more pressure builds, and the mightier its course will
• 28:05
  be when it's finally released. And because judgement hasn't
• 28:08
  been executed yet, guilt is constantly increasing.
• 28:11
  Yes, they are treasuring up wrath.
• 28:13
  As Paul says in Romans, if God just withdraws his hand from
• 28:17
  that floodgate, the accumulated fiery floods will rush forth
• 28:21
  with omnipotent power and no strength, Not human, not even
• 28:25
  devilish can withstand it. It's not enough to show the
• 28:27
  fury, though. He has to define the quality of
• 28:30
  this wrath first. He asks whose wrath is it?
• 28:32
  And the answer is that it's the wrath of the infinite God.
• 28:35
  This is the point he stresses above all others.
• 28:37
  The fear of an earthly king is great, but it's nothing compared
• 28:41
  to this. Nothing.
• 28:43
  The most powerful human ruler is just a feeble, despicable worm
• 28:46
  of the dust. All the kings of the earth
• 28:49
  before God are as glass hoppers. He tells them to fear the one
• 28:53
  who, after killing the body, have power to cast into hell.
• 28:57
  The infinite nature of God determines the infinite
• 28:59
  magnitude of the punishment. Second, he talks about the
• 29:02
  fierceness of the wrath. He pulls this from the Book of
• 29:05
  Revelation, talking about the winepress of the fierceness and
• 29:08
  wrath of Almighty God. This is anger on a whole
• 29:11
  different level. It's as if omnipotence itself is
• 29:14
  enraged. That's the idea.
• 29:16
  It's the ultimate manifestation of God's almighty attribute in
• 29:19
  the act of punishing the poor worm who suffers.
• 29:22
  This will sink into an inexpressible, inconceivable
• 29:24
  depth of misery. And this fierce execution will
• 29:27
  happen without pity. 0 Pity. Once they are in hell, all
• 29:31
  compassion is gone. The mercy they are experiencing
• 29:34
  right now, the mercy that's keeping them alive, will be
• 29:36
  completely withdrawn. God's eye will not spare them.
• 29:39
  He won't moderate the punishment at all.
• 29:41
  Not at all, and far from pitying them, Edward says that when they
• 29:45
  cry out in their agony, God will laugh and mock.
• 29:49
  He will tread them under his feet like mire in the streets,
• 29:51
  crushing their blood so it stains his garments.
• 29:54
  It's a horrific image of divine contempt for the impenitent
• 29:58
  rebel. It's overwhelming, but why?
• 30:01
  Why this absolute, unmitigated display?
• 30:04
  This leads to the third characteristic, the purpose of
• 30:07
  display. Because God's design is kind of
• 30:10
  theological theater for the entire universe, He intends to
• 30:13
  show all of creation, angels and men two things.
• 30:16
  First, how excellent His love is for the saved, and 2nd, how
• 30:19
  terrible His wrath is for the lost.
• 30:21
  So the suffering of the damned is not just punishment, it's
• 30:24
  instructional. It's a spectacular, eternal
• 30:27
  demonstration of divine sovereignty.
• 30:29
  The infinite might, majesty, and terribleness of God will be
• 30:32
  magnified in the ineffable strength of their torments.
• 30:35
  And he says the damned will suffer in the presence of the
• 30:37
  holy angels in the Lamb. Yes, the glorified inhabitants
• 30:40
  of heaven will look upon this awful spectacle in order to
• 30:43
  adore God's great power. The suffering becomes an eternal
• 30:47
  sermon that increases the glory of God and the awe of the elect.
• 30:51
  Which leads inevitably to the final crushing point.
• 30:55
  Everlasting duration. It is everlasting wrath.
• 30:58
  If one moment of this is dreadful, the prospect of an
• 31:02
  infinite duration of it is meant to shatter the soul's ability to
• 31:06
  even comprehend it. He talks about a long forever, a
• 31:09
  boundless duration. They will have to wrestle with
• 31:11
  this merciless vengeance for millions of millions of ages,
• 31:15
  and yet they will know with perfect, despairing certainty
• 31:18
  that all of that time is but point to what remains.
• 31:22
  There is no end. There is no hope of it ever
• 31:25
  stopping. Because the crime was against an
• 31:26
  infinite God, so the sentence must also be infinite.
• 31:29
  That is the terrible logic of it.
• 31:30
  So after systematically taking away every piece of human
• 31:33
  security and painting this picture of inescapable, eternal
• 31:36
  terror, Edwards finally pivots. He turns to the immediate
• 31:39
  application for the people sitting right there in that
• 31:41
  meetinghouse. Yes, the danger is not a future
• 31:44
  tense thing. It is happening now.
• 31:47
  The unconverted man is hanging over hell by that one slender
• 31:51
  thread, and the flames of divine wrath are flashing all around
• 31:55
  it, ready to burn it apart. And since they have no interest
• 31:58
  in a mediator, there is nothing else for them to hold on to.
• 32:01
  Nothing at all, and he directly confronts their natural tendency
• 32:05
  to deny this. He calls it a current delusion.
• 32:08
  He says you, the person listening, you are probably not
• 32:11
  sensible of this danger. You're looking at your good
• 32:14
  health, your careful plans for your life.
• 32:16
  And he's just spent the whole sermon proving that those things
• 32:19
  are worthless defenses. He calls them nothing but thin
• 32:22
  air and empty shadows. He makes the threat just
• 32:24
  stunningly immediate. He says that destruction came
• 32:28
  suddenly upon people who are now gone right when they were saying
• 32:30
  peace and safety. And then he delivers the line
• 32:33
  that must have just silenced the room.
• 32:35
  He says it would be no wonder if some of the people hearing him
• 32:38
  speak right now. We're in hell before tomorrow
• 32:40
  morning. He personalizes the horror even
• 32:42
  more by talking about the case of the dead.
• 32:45
  He says think about the people you knew, the ones who sat with
• 32:48
  you in this church last week who seemed just as likely to be
• 32:51
  alive today as you are. Where are they now?
• 32:54
  They are now in extreme misery and perfect despair.
• 32:58
  And they are crying out, wishing for just one day's opportunity
• 33:02
  that the people listening still have.
• 33:05
  He's turning the present moment into this unique final window of
• 33:08
  chance before they join the despairing dead.
• 33:11
  But the sermon can't end on pure terror.
• 33:13
  It has to end with an appeal. It does, and he shifts the tone.
• 33:18
  He uses the religious fervor of the Great Awakening itself as
• 33:21
  the reason for hope. He says this is a day of mercy.
• 33:24
  This is a high watermark of God's activity.
• 33:27
  Exactly. Christ has flung the door of
• 33:29
  mercy wide open, and He's calling and crying to poor
• 33:31
  sinners. This season is unique because so
• 33:34
  many people are flocking to Him and pressing into the Kingdom of
• 33:37
  God. Including people who were just
• 33:39
  recently in the same miserable condition as the people he's
• 33:41
  talking to. Yes.
• 33:43
  The implication is that God is pouring out his special grace in
• 33:46
  unusual way. So to reject Christ now, when
• 33:49
  grace is so available, is an even greater sin.
• 33:52
  And he then aims pointed warnings at specific groups in
• 33:55
  the congregation who might be hesitating.
• 33:58
  First, he talks to the old. He warns them their case is
• 34:01
  extremely dangerous. After a lifetime of neglect,
• 34:05
  their guilt and the hardness of their hearts are extremely
• 34:08
  great. He even says they're generally
• 34:10
  passed over and left in this current revival.
• 34:13
  It's a sorrowful but stark warning.
• 34:16
  He tells them they need to wake throughly out of sleep
• 34:18
  immediately before it's too late.
• 34:20
  Then he turns to the young. And he warns them not to waste
• 34:23
  this precious season. He says if you neglect this
• 34:26
  opportunity now, while you see so many others your own age
• 34:30
  flocking to Christ, you'll soon end up just like those old
• 34:33
  people who wasted their youth and are now in a dreadful pass
• 34:36
  in blindness and hardness. And then he speaks directly to
• 34:39
  the children. He appeals to them by asking if
• 34:41
  they will be content to be children of the devil when so
• 34:44
  many other children around them are becoming the holy and happy
• 34:47
  children of the King of Kings. The peer pressure, if you will,
• 34:50
  is theological and intense. The final warning ties it all
• 34:54
  back to the urgency of this specific moment in the revival.
• 34:58
  Right to neglect this opportunity now, during this
• 35:02
  time, it increases the danger that you'll be given up to
• 35:05
  hardness of heart and blindness of mind.
• 35:08
  Edwards believed that God might be hastily gathering in his
• 35:11
  elect. And if you reject the Spirit's
• 35:13
  work now, when the spirit is working so visibly all around
• 35:17
  you, you risk being permanently blinded.
• 35:20
  You might be cursed to eternally remember this season of grace
• 35:23
  that you refused. This is the moment, he says,
• 35:26
  when the axe is in an extraordinary manner laid at the
• 35:29
  root of the trees. The opportunity, just like the
• 35:32
  danger, is immediate. It's now or potentially never.
• 35:35
  And so the final instruction is simple and urgent.
• 35:38
  Flee. Let everyone fly out of Sodom.
• 35:40
  Hasten escape for your lives. Look not behind you.
• 35:42
  Escape to the mountain. Least he be consumed.
• 35:45
  So when you analyze Edward's sermon systematically like this,
• 35:48
  it becomes so clear that Sinners in the Hand of an Angry God is a
• 35:51
  masterpiece of theological precision.
• 35:53
  It's not just raw emotional manipulation.
• 35:57
  Not at all. He establishes the immediate,
• 36:00
  constant peril of the unconverted, held up only by
• 36:03
  God's arbitrary will, and he supports that single point with
• 36:06
  meticulous arguments about man's total corruption, the bondage of
• 36:09
  the will, and God's irresistible justice and power.
• 36:13
  What really stands out is how he used that systematic, almost
• 36:16
  scientific logic to validate a spiritual experience.
• 36:19
  Right. He presented A reasoned,
• 36:21
  coherent case for why divine judgement isn't some random
• 36:24
  event, but the inevitable consequence of a just God
• 36:28
  releasing A corrupted nature that already deserves and
• 36:32
  intrinsically tends toward its own ruin.
• 36:34
  It's a striking, unflinching illustration of the Calvinistic
• 36:37
  view on human depravity and the ultimate supremacy of divine
• 36:40
  sovereignty. It really is.
• 36:41
  So that brings us to a final thought for you, the listener,
• 36:45
  giving Edwards a rigorous assertion that every natural
• 36:47
  man's effort for self preservation, their moral
• 36:49
  striving, their good health, their careful prudence, even
• 36:51
  their prayers outside of Christ, is nothing but thin air and
• 36:54
  empty shadows. What does it mean to view
• 36:56
  salvation entirely through the lens of singular sovereign
• 36:59
  mercy? When all human contrivance is
• 37:01
  eliminated, when you can't contribute anything at all, the
• 37:05
  reliance has to shift entirely to an act of God alone.
• 37:08
  That is the central enduring question that Edwards left his
• 37:11
  listeners with, and it's certainly one worth holding on
• 37:14
  to.