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The Eternity of Hell Torments | Jonathan Edwards · Reformed Thinking

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Welcome to Reformed Thinking, our deep dive where we take
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significant historical writings and theological insights and
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really try to distill them for you, our listener.
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We aim to make these deep ideas accessible, maybe even thought
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provoking. Today we're looking into a well,
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a truly central doctrine within Reformed theology.
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It's the eternal nature of punishment for the wicked,
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specifically as articulated by Jonathan Edwards.
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We've gathered some of his most striking insights and arguments
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on this subject. Our mission today to clarify
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what Edwards actually taught, why he saw it as consistent with
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God's character, which is often the sticking point, and what
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implications it carried for him and perhaps for us too.
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OK, let's unpack this. Is eternal punishment just
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examining divine qualities? So the first big question, and
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it's a common one, how does this concept, this idea of unending
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suffering for the wicked, how does that possibly stand
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alongside God's perfect qualities, particularly his
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justice and maybe even more pointedly, his mercy?
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Edwards knew people asked this. He tackles it directly.
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That's right. Objections often come right from
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there, don't they? Concerns about God's justice,
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God's mercy. It feels like a clash.
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But Edwards systematically lays out why he views this punishment
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as not just consistent, but actually fitting for God's
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divine nature, necessary even for it to be fully seen.
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And what's really interesting here is how his reasoning
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starts. It begins with the character of
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sin itself. OK, so not starting with hell,
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but starting with Sin and he makes a claim that really stops
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you in your tracks. Sin is an infinite evil.
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How does he possibly get to that point?
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Can you walk us through his thinking there?
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Yeah, it's a bold claim, but he builds it carefully, step by
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step. It starts with God's own nature.
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He begins with God, the sovereign of everything, right?
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Possessing infinite glory, infinite majesty, holiness,
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excellence, all infinite. Now, because God is infinitely
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glorious, He's therefore infinitely worthy of all
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possible love, honor, reverence, obedience from every creature,
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everything. Infinitely worthy implies an
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infinite obligation on our part then.
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Exactly. That's the connection.
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If God is infinitely worthy, then we as His creatures have an
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infinite obligation to give Him all that.
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Love Him completely, honor Him above all, obey Him totally.
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It's an obligation of infinite scope, simply because the one we
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owe it to is himself infinite. OK, I see the steps.
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Obligation comes from God's worth.
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Right. And from that premise, Edwards
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draws the really stark conclusion.
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If sin is basically the violation of that infinite
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obligation, then it logically follows that sin itself must be
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an infinite evil. It's not just a mistake or a
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minor infraction. It's an offense of infinite
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proportion because it's against an infinitely glorious God.
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A rebellion of infinite size, you could say.
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So sin as infinite evil and then he connects that directly to the
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punishment it deserves? What's that link?
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Precisely. If sin is an infinite evil,
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Edwards concludes, it deserves an infinite punishment.
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And for him, an infinite punishment really means an
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eternal punishment. There's no other way for it to
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be infinite in duration, so therefore such punishment isn't
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excessive. It's seen as no more than what
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sin justly deserves. He frames it as perfect
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proportion. Infinite evil requires infinite
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consequences. So from that viewpoint, the
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justice of eternal punishment isn't just defensible, it's
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almost mathematically logical, based on God's infinite worth.
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That's how Edwards presents it. He suggests the only way to
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really counter this is to somehow diminish God's infinite
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glory, which he believes is unreasonable.
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And this leads to quite an insight, doesn't it?
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He suggests that many objections against the eternal misery of
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the wicked. Well, they might seem powerful,
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but they often come from a failure to really grasp this
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infinite evilness of sin. People don't fully apprehend its
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odiousness, the provocation it represents against God.
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So the problem isn't God's justice, but our perception of
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sin. That's what Edwards argues.
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He talks about the carnal, senseless hearts of men who just
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lack a true spiritual sense of sins weight.
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They see sin only through its limited earthly effects, not its
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infinite offense against God. If we could truly see sin, as
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Edwards believes, it is, as abominable and provoking in a
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way that matches the dreadfulness of infinite misery,
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then the punishment wouldn't seem unsuitable.
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It would appear proportionate, fitting, deserved.
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If sin looked as hateful to us as eternal misery looks
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dreadful, he thinks, all the objections would just evaporate.
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That's a challenging perspective on how we view sin.
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Now let's fli to the other attribute that causes concern,
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God's mercy. People naturally ask how can a
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merciful God allow creatures to suffer without end?
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How does Edwards handle that? He takes it very seriously, but
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he's quite firm. He rejects the idea that God's
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mercy is some kind of weakness. He pushes back hard against
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thinking of mercy as just a passive feeling, a passion that
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stops God from letting justice run its course.
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He calls that an unworthy and absurd notion because, he
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argues, it suggests God is sort of overcome by a creature's
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misery, unable to bear seeing justice done.
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To Edwards, that implies A defect, not a perfection.
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In The Ultimate Judge, it would mean God is governed by
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sentiment, not by his sovereign will and perfect character.
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OK, so if mercy isn't a weakness that overrides justice, what is
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it in Edwards view? He points straight to Scripture.
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It represents God's mercy as free and sovereign, meaning it's
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not compelled, it's not earned. It's given entirely at God's own
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discretion, A deliberate choice of his will.
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It's not that God can't deliver sinners from misery because he
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feels too bad. It's at the glory of Divine
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Mercy lies precisely in its freeness, its sovereignty.
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God mercy to whom he chooses to show mercy.
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He's an obligated to show it to everyone, especially when his
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justice also needs to be satisfied.
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And that connects to another point Edwards makes right about
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suffering in this life if all misery were against God's
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nature. Exactly.
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Edwards points out that God clearly does allow and even
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ordain significant suffering and misery in this present life.
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Think of plagues, disasters, terrible afflictions.
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They happen. If misery itself in any form
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were fundamentally contrary to God's nature, then even these
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temporary sufferings would contradict his character.
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But they don't seem to. So the existence of misery, even
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extreme misery, isn't inherently incompatible with God.
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The real question then becomes about the duration and the
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purpose of that misery. And Edwards argues that when it
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comes to eternal punishment for sin, both are consistent with
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God's attributes. This brings us to a really
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significant step in his argument.
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He doesn't just say eternal punishment is not inconsistent
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with God's qualities. He argues these qualities
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actually require it. He says it's positively
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suitable, decent, and proper. How does he make that leap from
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allowed to required? Yes, that's a crucial move for
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Edwards. God's perfections, His infinite
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holiness, His justice, his hatred of evil.
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They don't just permit certain actions.
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They necessitate what is proper and fitting for God to do.
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It's about expressing who He is. So he elaborates.
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It's perfectly suitable that God should infinitely hate sin.
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Why? Because sin is an infinite evil,
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infinitely hateful in God's sight.
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His hatred has to be proportionate to the offense.
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Infinite hatred for infinite evil.
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Right. And if infinite hatred of sin is
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suitable and part of God's perfect character, then the
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expression of that hatred must also be suitable.
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Now hatred by its nature tends towards bringing about the ill
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or suffering of its object in proportion to the hatred's
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intensity. Therefore, infinite hatred,
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God's infinite hatred for sin, naturally tends towards the
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infinite I'll of its object, which for Edwards means God's
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perfections actually necessitate him executing an infinite and
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therefore eternal punishment on sin.
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Wow, so it's not just allowed, it's a manifestation of His
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perfection. Exactly.
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It's about God demonstrating his perfect opposition to infinite
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evil. This bolsters his view that the
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doctrine isn't just defensible against objections, but it's
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positively grounded in divine reason and God's own nature.
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The nature of punishment. Sensible misery, not
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annihilation. OK, so we've grappled with the
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justice of eternal punishment, according to Edwards.
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Now let's unpack its nature. There's this idea some have that
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eternal death just means you cease to exist.
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Annihilation. Edwards is firmly against that.
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Why? Absolutely.
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He rejects annihilation completely.
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His core reason is that annihilation doesn't involve any
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suffering, none at all. If the wicked just blinked out
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of existence, they'd feel no pain, no torment, no misery.
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But that flies in the face of numerous biblical descriptions
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of hell, which consistently depicted as a place of, well,
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extreme pain and conscious suffering.
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Annihilation means suffering no more than before you were born.
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And he also argues they wouldn't even know they were being
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punished, right. That's another key point.
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If punishment was annihilation, the wicked would never be aware
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of it happening. They couldn't apprehend God's
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justice and their punishment, or understand they received what
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they deserved. Yet Scripture seems clear on
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this. Think Deuteronomy 7 point.
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No God repays the wicked to his face, or Job 21 His eyes shall
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see his destruction. Ezekiel 22 Ye shall know that I,
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the Lord, have poured out my fury upon you, Edwards argues.
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It's only reasonable and fitting that the wicked should be fully
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sensible of their guilt, remember their missed chances,
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and clearly see God's justice of their condemnation.
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Annihilation prevents that awareness entirely.
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Makes sense. And he also uses the biblical
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idea of different degrees of torment to argue against
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annihilation, doesn't he? Yes, that's a very important
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piece of his reasoning. Scripture does teach clearly
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that the wicked will suffer very degrees of torment according to
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their specific deeds. Christ himself says it will be
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more tolerable for some cities than others based on the light
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they've rejected in Luke 12. There are many stripes and few
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stripes depending on knowledge and culpability.
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This whole concept of differing degrees of punishment just
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doesn't work with annihilation. If punishment is just ceasing to
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exist, there are no degrees possible.
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Everyone gets the same nothingness.
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The very idea of degrees of torment implies conscious
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experience and variation. OK, let's get into some of this
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specific, quite vivid descriptions Edwards pulls from
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scripture. To back this up, what are some
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key examples he uses for sensible misery?
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He brings forward several powerful texts.
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First, think about what's said about Judas in Matthew 26.
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It had been good for that man if he hadn't up and born, Edwards
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points out. If punishment were just
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annihilation, then non existence, not being born, would
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actually be worse than simply ceasing to exist later.
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But the text implies Judas's existence and punishment is
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worse than ever having existed at all.
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That strongly suggests ongoing suffering.
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OK, that's one. What else?
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Second, the descriptions of the wicked weeping and wailing and
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gnashing their teeth. That's not just poetic language
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for being unhappy. It implies actual existence,
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yes, but also active life, knowledge, activity, and being
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acutely, exquisitely affected by suffering.
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You can't weep or gnash teeth if you don't exist or feel
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anything. Third, Isaiah 33 says sinners
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will dwell with everlasting burnings.
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Edwards asks how can you dwell with something if you're turned
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into nothing? Annihilation isn't dwelling, and
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it can't be called burning if there's no existence, no
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feeling, no pain. Similarly, Revelation 20 talks
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about being cast into a lake of fire and brimstone, tormented
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forever and ever, having no rest day nor night.
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Edwards argues annihilation provides no dwelling, no
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burning, and certainly no torment.
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It would actually be a state of perfect rest from suffering the
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complete opposite of the text. That language is pretty stark.
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It is fourth. Consider the story of the rich
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man and Lazarus in Luke 16. The rich man is in hell, lifts
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up his eyes, being in torment, and he even talks with Abraham.
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This narrative clearly shows he wasn't annihilated.
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He had awareness, memory, felt pain, could communicate.
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It's a direct picture of conscious suffering after death.
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And he mentioned spirits in prison, too.
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Yes. Fifth, he refers to First Peter
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3.1 high about spirits in prison.
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This indicates for Edwards an initial state of misery for
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ungodly spirits even before the final resurrection and judgment.
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This concerns that even between death and judgement, spirits
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aren't annihilated, but are held in a state of suffering, which
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again points towards ongoing conscious experience, not
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cessation. And finally, he makes comparison
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with the suffering good people endure in this life, right?
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He does. It's a poignant point.
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He asked us to consider someone like Job.
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Job was righteous, yet he endured horrific physical,
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emotional, spiritual agony. Edward suggests Job, in his
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worst moments, would likely have chosen annihilation over that
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prolonged conscious suffering. So if God allowed such intense
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conscious suffering for a good man in this temporary life, then
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God's proper punishment for wickedness, which is meant to
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show his ultimate hatred of sin, must be a calamity far greater,
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not something less severe like mere annihilation.
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So annihilation would actually be less of a statement against
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sin than Job's suffering was. That's his point, yeah.
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For God's wrath to result in mere nothingness would be, in
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Edwards's words, a mean, contemptible testimony against
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sin. It would be a lesser
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demonstration of his abhorrence than what his own children
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sometimes endure for other reasons.
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It just doesn't fit the infinite gravity of sin against an
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infinite God. That ties very neatly into his
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arguments about the second death and the fate of devils, doesn't
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it? It does, quite powerfully.
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Eternal punishment is called the second death.
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In Revelation, Edwards connects this to the first physical
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death, which usually involves great pain and the separation of
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soul and body. He argues that calling
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annihilation the second death just doesn't fit.
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Annihilation has no pain, no suffering.
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It's so different from an arguably less terrible than the
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experience of physical death. Plus, how could it be the second
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death for devils who don't die physically like humans?
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Good point. And perhaps the most compelling
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connection Edwards makes here is that wicked humans will suffer
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the same kind of death as the devil's.
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Matthew 25.41 is clear. The punishment prepared for them
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is everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
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Now the devil's punishment is obviously not annihilation.
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Scripture shows him fearing torment by Christ, Luke 8.28,
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and describes him being tormented day and night, forever
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and ever in the lake of fire. Revelation 20 Point Nin.
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Edwards finds a genuinely baffling that people would
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contradict such plain scriptural teaching to argue for
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annihilation. The Bible, he insists, paints a
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consistent picture, ongoing conscious suffering for the
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finally impenitent. The duration of punishment
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absolutely without end. OK, so we've established that
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for Edwards, hell involves conscious suffering.
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Now the critical third piece, its duration.
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Edwards asserts this misery will be absolutely without end, Not
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just a really, really long time, but truly, unqualifiedly
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eternal. He strongly opposes views that
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it's just of a very long continuance.
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Yes, this is a point where Edwards is extremely precise.
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He actually starts by acknowledging that the word
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forever or related terms in Scripture don't always mean
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absolute, unending eternity. He's careful about that.
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He gives examples. Forever can mean as long as a
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man lives like that Hebrew servant whose ear was bored to
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serve his master, forever clearly meaning for the rest of
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his life. Or he points out, forever could
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refer to the duration of the Jewish state and church for
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certain Old Testament laws. They were called statutes
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forever, but they ended with the Old Covenant, or at its longest
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temporal meaning. It could signify as long as the
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world stands, like in Ecclesiastes 1.4, the earth
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abideth forever. It applies to the most enduring
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created things. So Edwards grants that context
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matters hugely for these words. But then he makes a crucial
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distinction when Scripture talks about punishment being
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everlasting. After all those temporal things
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are gone, the meaning changes. Exactly.
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That's the key distinction. When scripture describes
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punishment as everlasting after the entire created order
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dissolves, after the world, earth, mountain, sun, moon,
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stars have all passed away, then Edwards argues it can only mean
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absolutely without. End Quote.
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He looks at passages like 2 Thessalonians 1, where the
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wicked are punished with everlasting destruction when
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Christ comes in glory after the current heavens and earth flee
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away, when all temporal things are shaken and removed, what's
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left must be eternal, unshakable.
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So punishment described as everlasting in that post
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creation context must be absolutely endless.
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There's no remaining temporal framework to limit it.
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And he also looks at the strongest language the New
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Testament uses for eternity itself, right?
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He does. He points to phrases like
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forever and ever, that repetition used in Revelation 14
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and 20 specifically to describe the torment.
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He asks A pointed question. If this incredibly emphatic
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phrase forever and ever doesn't signify absolute eternity, then
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what phrase in the whole New Testament possibly could, given
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that the New Testament has to talk about God's eternity, the
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Saints, eternal life? If this is an absolute, then
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language itself fails to convey endlessness.
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That's a strong linguistic point.
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And maybe even more compelling is his observation about
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parallel usage. He shows that Scripture uses the
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exact same Greek words like ionios translated everlasting or
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eternal describe. I have three things, One, the
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duration of the punishment of the wicked to the duration of
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the happiness of the righteous, and three, the duration of God's
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own existence. Well, the same word for all
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three. The same words he cites Matthew
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25.46 directly. And these shall go away into
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everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal.
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Same word ionios used for both destinies.
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In the same breath, he also points to its use for the Saints
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reign in Revelation 22 and God's own eternal being in Revelation
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4. This parallel usage, Edwards
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argues strongly implies a consistent meaning of absolute
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endlessness across all three. If you argue for a finite
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punishment based on that word, you'd logically have to argue
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for a finite heaven or even a finite God, which contradicts
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core Christian belief. That's a very clear and powerful
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line of argument. But what about passages that
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seem conditional or talk about paying a debt?
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How does Edwards handle those like the uttermost Farthing
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passages? He tackles those directly.
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He refers to Matthew 5.26 and Luke 12.59 where it says the
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wicked won't be released till they have paid the uttermost
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Farthing. Now Edwards connects this back
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to his understanding of sin as infinite evil.
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If sin is an infinite evil deserving infinite punishment,
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then that uttermost Farthing, that infinite debt, can never
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actually be paid by a finite creature suffering even
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eternally. They can never pay the whole
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debt, not even a fraction proportional to the whole.
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Justice, therefore, can never be fully satisfied by their
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damnation because of the payment is inherently ongoing and never
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reaches its end. This, for Edwards, implies an
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endless duration. By necessity the condition till
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they have paid can never be met. So the condition itself proves
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the endlessness. In his view, yes.
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And then there's the sheer directness of some biblical
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statements. He finds incredibly strong
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evidence in texts like Mark 9.44 where Christ describes hell
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where their worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched.
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UN quote. Edwards argues with remarkable
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clarity here. If that room ever dies, or that
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fire is ever quenched, no matter how far off in the future, then
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the absolute negation dieth not is not quenched simply wouldn't
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be true. There's no middle ground, he
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says, between something not dying and it dying at some
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point. This stark absolute language for
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Edwards seals the case. It leaves zero room for anything
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less than absolute endlessness. But some have floated the idea
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maybe God threatens eternal punishment just to scare people
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straight, but he doesn't actually intend to follow
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through. Edwards calls that blasphemous,
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as you noted earlier. Why such a strong reaction?
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Because for Edwards, it strikes at the very heart of God's
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truthfulness. He argues it's fundamentally
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contrary to divine truth for God to positively declare something
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will happen which he simultaneously knows will not
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happen. Edwards sees these absolute
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threatenings as being like divine predictions of future
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reality, and God's perfect truth requires that his predictions,
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whether a blessing or curse, must come to pass.
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If an absolute threat signifies anything, it signifies the
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definite future occurrence of the thing threatened.
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If that future isn't real, how can the threat be a true
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statement from a God of truth? And he felt this implied God was
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using a kind of deception. Exactly.
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He found the idea that God would use a fallacy to govern the
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world, threatening eternally but not meaning it just to restrain
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sin, conveyed A deeply unworthy opinion of God and his
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government. It suggests a divine cheat that
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he implies even clever humans, cunning men, could figure out,
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thus undermining God's whole purpose.
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He was astonished that a respected figure like Archbishop
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Tillotson would suggest such a thing to Edwards.
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It implies God's plans aren't that deep if humans can see
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through them. It suggests human clever as
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could outwit divine strategy, which is just unthinkable for
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Edwards. God's word is his bond.
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His threats are real. That makes his position very
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clear. But what about those tricky
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examples people raise where it looks like God didn't fulfill a
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threat, like with Adam in the Garden or the city of Nineveh?
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How does Edwards explain those? He addresses both and draws
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careful distinctions. First Adam, God threatened.
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Thou shalt surely die. Does God fulfill it?
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Edward says absolutely yes. He explains death included
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immediate spiritual death, the loss of God's image, the Holy
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Spirit, original righteousness. Adam and Eve were spiritually
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dead, alienated from God right away.
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It also included temporal death. The process of decay and
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mortality began for them and all humanity, leading eventually to
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the grave. And ultimately, Edwards argues,
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the threatening was fully satisfied in Christ, who acted
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as mankind's substitute or surety.
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Christ bore the penalty of that death, fulfilling the demands of
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the law. So the threat was fulfilled just
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through a representative sacrifice.
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It wasn't a broken promise. OK, so Adam's threat was
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fulfilled, just perhaps in ways people don't always recognize.
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What about Nineveh? God threatened destruction,
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Jonah preached. They repented.
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God relented. Doesn't that look like an
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unfulfilled threat? Edwards distinguishes Nineveh
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sharply. He points out that the threat
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against Nineveh was explicitly conditional.
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It was a warning designed precisely to prompt repentance.
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He refers to Jeremiah 18, where God himself explains this
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principle. If a nation threatened with
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judgement turns from its evil, God will relent.
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Jonah was sent specifically to give Nineveh that chance.
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They took it, they repented, and so the conditional destruction
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was averted. Edwards contrasts this directly
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with the threatenings of eternal wrath against the finally
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impenitent. Those threats, he states, are
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positive and absolute. There are no implied conditions
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for escape after this life. The Bible, he argues, offers no
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hint of a second chance or conditionality.
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Once judgment is passed, the only opportunity to escape
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eternal wrath is now in this life, which is the designated
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time of trial and offered mercy. After that, the door is shut.
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Good ends obtained by eternal punishment.
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So if eternal conscious punishment is, in Edwards's
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view, a just and necessary reality, then the question
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becomes why? Why would God ordain this?
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Edwards believed God's actions always have purpose.
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What does he see as the good and significant ends achieved
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through this admittedly harsh reality?
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Right. This moves us from defense to
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purpose. For Edwards, everything
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ultimately serves God's glory. That's the highest good, the
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chief end of all things. God's actions are aimed at
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displaying and magnifying his own glory.
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So first, eternal punishment serves to vindicate God's
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injured majesty. Think about it.
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Sinners, through rebellion, effectively cast contempt on
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God's infinite majesty. They trample it under foot.
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God responds by vindicating and honoring that majesty, and now
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by showing that it is infinitely dreadful to condemn or offend
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it. The wicked in their eternal
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suffering will be made acutely aware that God is vindicating
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the majesty they despised. They'll see he's not negligible
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or contemptible as they treated him.
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Their everlasting misery becomes a public monument, if you will,
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to His insulted glory, proving his infinite worth and the
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infinite evil of defying Him. Vindication of majesty.
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OK, what else? Second, God glorifies His
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justice, specifically his vindictive justice, His
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righteous, active response against sin in the eternal
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destruction of the ungodly. This justice will appear strict,
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exact, awful and terrible, and therefore glorious.
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It displays God as the perfectly just ruler of the universe,
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whose standards are absolute and whose judgement against sin is
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unwavering. It's not just abstract justice,
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but justice visibly enacted, demonstrating God's perfect
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holiness and righteousness in his opposition to evil.
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This ties back to his earlier point.
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The punishment is just because it's proportionate and it's
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execution glorifies that very justice.
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OK, vindication of majesty, glorification of justice.
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Then he makes that really striking point about God's
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grace. He argues eternal punishment
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somehow indirectly glorifies God's grace towards the saved.
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How does that work? This is often a tough one for
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people. It is a difficult concept, no
24:25
doubt, but for Edwards it's a crucial part of the picture of
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God's multifaceted glory. He argues that the Saints in
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heaven will actually behold the torments, the damned.
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He cites passages like Isaiah 66.24.
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They shall go forth and look upon the carcasses of the men
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that have transgressed, and Revelation 14.10.
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The tormented suffer in the presence of the holy angels and
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in the presence of the Lamb. Edwards reasons that the
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glorified Saints, being part of that heavenly company, will also
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be present and witness this. Witnessing the suffering, how
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does that glorify grace? By contrast, by seeing the
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immense misery from which God has sovereignly saved them, a
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misery they themselves deserved by nature, being sinners too,
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and by seeing the vast difference God has made between
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their state and the state of others equally sinful, the
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Saints gain an immeasurably deeper, more profound sense of
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the wonder of God's grace to them.
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Every observation of the damn state, Edwards believes, will
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excite in them a lively and admiring sense of the grace of
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God that made them differ. He connects this to Romans
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9.2223 about God showing his wrath on vessels of destruction,
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partly so that he might make known the riches of his glory on
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the vessels of mercy. So it highlights the magnitude
25:37
of their own salvation. Precisely.
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It's not about finding morbid joy and suffering, but about
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gaining A heightened, overwhelming sense of gratitude
25:44
for their own completely unmerited rescue.
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It's intended to double the order of the love and gratitude
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of the Saints in heaven towards God.
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And connecting this to the bigger picture, it sounds like
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Edwards believes seeing Hell's torments will actually increase
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the happiness of the Saints forever.
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Not just their gratitude, but their actual joy.
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Yes, that is exactly what Edwards argues he believes.
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It won't just make them more aware of God's grace, but it
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will genuinely make their own happiness greater.
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It provides a more lively relish of their bliss, causing them to
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prize it more intensely. He uses the analogy a sense of
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the opposite Misery always increases the enjoyment of any
26:20
pleasure. If you've been terribly cold,
26:22
warmth feels much better. If you've starved, food tastes
26:26
incredible. So the Saints, seeing others of
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the same human nature plunged into such utter hopeless misery,
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will become vastly more sensible of their own incomparable
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happiness. And seeing God's character
26:35
displayed. Right.
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Seeing God's awesome character, His power, His dreadful majesty,
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His perfect justice and holiness so vividly displayed in the
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punishment of the ungodly, will cause the Saints to prize God's
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favor and love towards them infinitely more.
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They'll appreciate salvation in a way simply not possible
26:54
without grasping the depths of what they were saved from.
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This heightened appreciation for God's love, Edwards believes,
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directly translates into greater happiness in enjoying that love
27:03
forever. It allows God's full glory in
27:06
all its facets to be more completely perceived and adored
27:09
by His people. Application and exhortation.
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So bring this all down to earth. What does this mean for us, for
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the listener? And definitely doesn't leave
27:17
this as just abstract theology. He uses it like a mirror,
27:20
reflecting what he calls the folly and madness of the greater
27:23
part of mankind. What specifically does he
27:25
observe about how people live in light of these eternal
27:28
possibilities? He observes that most people,
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despite maybe intellectually acknowledging these things, live
27:33
primarily for what he calls present momentary gratification.
27:37
They chase fleeting earthly things with incredible energy.
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He points out how people, for just a small pleasure, or a
27:44
little wealth or a little earthly honor, which can last
27:47
but for a moment, are willing to risk enduring these eternal
27:51
torments. It's a terrible bargain.
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From Edwards's perspective. All these worldly pursuits
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become absolute trifles, lighter than air when weighed against
27:59
eternity. He echoes Christ's question,
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doesn't he? What does it profit a man?
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And he knows a kind of numbness. Exactly.
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He observes the remarkable carelessness and coldness with
28:10
which many hear about these eternal realities.
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Even if they say they believe them, they remain basically
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unrestrained and pursuing their immediate desires.
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He talks about a strange stupor and senselessness.
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Eternal misery is neglected, rarely thought about seriously,
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and certainly not with enough concern to actually motivate
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them to do anything significant to escape it.
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They just don't seem to think salvation is worth any real
28:31
effort or inconvenience. And, he points out, this
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carelessness persists despite how fragile life is.
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Absolutely. He uses that vivid imagery.
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People are hanging over eternal burnings by a thread.
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They have no lease on their lives.
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They know if that thread breaks, there is no remedy, no second
28:47
chances after death. Yet, he laments, they still
28:50
refuse to take significant pains for their salvation.
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They won't be diverted from amusing themselves with toys and
28:57
vanities. They often won't even listen to
28:59
those urging them to take care for their souls, he quotes
29:02
Ecclesiastes. Madness is in their heart while
29:05
they live, and after that they go to the dead.
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For Edwards, it's a profound, almost unbelievable disconnect
29:11
between belief and behavior, a deep spiritual blindness.
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OK, so given this grim diagnosis of humanity's usual state,
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what's Edwards's direct plea? What's his invitation to the
29:21
listener arising from this doctrine?
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His immediate plea is for serious consideration.
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He exhorts sinners, anyone potentially facing this, to
29:30
consider attentively how truly great and awful eternity is.
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He admits you can't fully comprehend eternity, it's
29:36
infinite, but you can become more sensible that it's not
29:39
something to be brushed aside or treated lightly.
29:41
He asks listeners to try and imagine it suffering extreme
29:44
torment, forever and ever, day and night, from one age to
29:47
another, from 1000 ages to another.
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Imagine constant agony, wailing and lamenting, groaning and
29:52
shrieking with 0 possibility of ease.
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No pity from God, no escape, no distraction, no mitigation, no
29:58
help, no change for the better. Ever.
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It's incredibly stark imagery. It is, he urges people to
30:04
contemplate the sheer dreadfulness of despair in that
30:07
state, knowing with absolute certainty you never, never shall
30:10
be delivered. Imagine wishing for
30:12
annihilation, wishing to be turned into a rock or an animal
30:15
just to escape the torment, but having 0 hope of it even after
30:19
millions of ages pass, knowing you're not one whit nearer to
30:23
the end. Edwards talks about the damned
30:26
facing 2 infinites constantly, an infinite God whose wrath they
30:30
bear their irreconcilable enemy, and the infinite duration of
30:33
their suffering. He even suggests their capacity
30:36
to grasp eternity and feel suffering might be enlarged in
30:38
hell specifically to increase their grief.
30:41
The torment won't distract them from eternity, it will fix their
30:44
minds on it with horrifying clarity.
30:46
So amid all this terrifying reality he paints, Edwards does
30:49
offer a way out, the ultimate escape.
30:52
The hope, According to him, is found in Christ.
30:54
How does he present Christo's role here?
30:56
Yes, thankfully, he doesn't leave people in despair.
30:59
He issues a passionate call to those still in a Chrysler state
31:03
to flee and embrace Him who came into the world for the very end
31:07
of saving sinners from these torments.
31:09
Edwards presents Christ as the perfect, divinely provided
31:12
solution to the infinite problem of sin.
31:15
He explains that Christ has paid the whole debt due to the divine
31:18
law, and he did this by exhausting eternal punishment
31:21
and temporal sufferings. Exhausting eternal punishment
31:24
and temporal suffering. How does that work?
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It's a central idea for Edwards. In His finite human life, death
31:30
and suffering, Christ bore the infinite weight and penalty of
31:33
sin. He effectively condensed an
31:35
eternity of deserved wrath into his suffering on the cross.
31:38
Because He's the infinite God man, His suffering had infinite
31:41
value. Therefore, justice is actually
31:44
satisfied in Christ. The demands of God's law against
31:47
sin have been fully met by Christ's substitutionary work.
31:50
This satisfaction is the ground upon which God can justly
31:53
forgive and accept all who trust in Him.
31:55
So salvation through Christ isn't ignoring justice, but
31:58
fulfilling it. Precisely, he presents salvation
32:01
through claced as perfectly consistent with the glory of
32:04
God. In fact, he argues, it's more
32:06
glorifying to God than if the Sinner suffered eternally in
32:08
hell. Why?
32:09
Because in hell the infinite debt is never fully paid, not
32:11
even proportionally. But in Christ justice is fully,
32:15
perfectly satisfied once and for all.
32:18
So the invitation is clear. For those who believe in trust
32:21
in Christ, they shall be safe from the eternal torments of
32:24
hell. And it's not just safety from
32:26
hell, but through Christ they also shall inherit inconceivable
32:29
blessedness and glory, which will be of equal duration with
32:32
the torments of hell. Just as the wicked face
32:35
everlasting punishment, believers receive everlasting
32:38
life. The choice is stark, the
32:39
consequences eternal, and the grace offered in Christ for
32:42
Edwards is beyond measure. Outro.
32:45
Well, we've certainly navigated some challenging, deeply
32:48
significant theological waters today, examining Jonathan
32:51
Edwards's arguments on the eternal reality of punishment
32:54
for the wicked. It is definitely a weighty
32:56
subject to consider. It forces us to grapple with
32:58
some profound aspects of God's character as justice, His
33:01
Holiness alongside His mercy, and also the nature of human
33:04
sin. It really does.
33:05
Edwards presents this intricate framework where all these divine
33:08
attributes are held in his view, in perfect balance, and it
33:11
culminates in this very striking call for people to really grasp
33:15
the seriousness of sin and maybe more importantly, the unique and
33:18
singular opportunity found only in Christ.
33:21
It's a perspective that definitely prompts some deep
33:23
thinking about one's own standing before a holy God,
33:26
doesn't it? Without a doubt.
33:27
So as you, our listener, go about your week, perhaps you can
33:32
ponder what this perspective on God's attributes might mean for
33:35
how you understand His whole story.
33:37
Creation, fall, redemption, consummation.
33:41
How does it shape your view of grace?
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Lots to think about. We really appreciate your
33:45
curiosity and your time spent with us on this deep dive.