Latest / Reformed Thinking / Lessons Drawn from God’s Early Work of Redemption | Jonathan Edwards

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Lessons Drawn from God’s Early Work of Redemption | Jonathan Edwards · Reformed Thinking

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Welcome to Reformed Thinking. This is the show where we try to
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step back from the day-to-day and really look at some of the
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biggest ideas in theology and history.
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I'm your host, and today we're doing a deep dive that looks at
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history in a, well, a pretty remarkable way.
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Not as a series of random sort of disconnected events, but as
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one single carefully constructed story, a story that points
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directly to one person. We're trying to see the
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blueprint behind it all, you know, the necessary design.
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And for that, we're turning to Jonathan Edwards, a giant to say
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the least. Our source today is his
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incredible work, a history of the work of redemption.
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This was his attempt to chart God's design through all of
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history right from the very beginning.
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We're looking at his thoughts on that first major period,
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everything from the fall of man right up to the birth of Christ.
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And his main ideas. Well, it's pretty
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straightforward. He argues that every major
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historical shift, every prophecy, even the day-to-day
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civil transactions of this one tiny nation, they were all
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arranged by God to point history directly at Jesus Christ.
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So for you listening, what's our mission today?
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What are we hoping you'll walk away with from this classical
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reformed view? The mission is to really grasp
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the coherence of the entire Old Testament.
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As Edward saw it, It's historical necessity.
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We're going to unpack 8 key remarks he makes.
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These remarks are his argument for why the whole course of
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divine Providence, starting right after the fall actually
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proves the truth of Christianity, and, just as
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important, how this grand narrative structure establishes
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the divine authority of the Old Testament itself.
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We're looking for the architecture, you could say.
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OK, let's jump right into that main claim then.
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Edwards really doesn't pull any punches.
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He says Christ is the absolute predetermined center of all
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history. He kicks it off with this almost
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mechanical analogy for how time flows.
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He does, and it's such a powerful way to visualize it.
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He says that if you look at the course of things from the
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beginning of the world, all the big movements, what he calls the
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great dispensations of divine Providence, and a dispensation
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is just, you know, a major era or a specific way God governs
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the world, like the time of the patriarchs or the era of the
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law, Edwards says. If you just trace those
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historical lines accurately across time, you'll find that
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all of them, every single one, centers in Jesus of Nazareth.
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They converge. So it's not like they just
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happen to run in the same direction.
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They're all being pulled toward a single point that implies a
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really meticulous, non random process.
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He's not just talking about some vague spiritual theme here.
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He's talking about literal history, actual prophecies, all
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structure like a road map. Exactly.
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For Edwards, all the great acts of Providence, whether they were
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aimed at the Jews, who were, you know, meant to preserve the
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covenant, or at the Gentiles whose empires rose and fell, all
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of it, right down to the moment Christ was born, was explicitly
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pointing to Him, declaring who he was and why he was needed.
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It's a cumulative case then. It is.
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He sees. The evidence is so plain, so
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obvious, that this specific man, the one born in Bethlehem, who
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lived in Nazareth and Capernaum and was crucified in Jerusalem,
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that he must be the great Messiah.
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For him. To look at that evidence and
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deny it isn't just a difference of opinion, it's a failure to
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follow the data to its only logical conclusion.
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But of course, that immediately brings up the big objection, the
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one every skeptic raises. Maybe some clever people just,
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you know, contrived the whole thing.
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Maybe they retrofitted the history and the prophecies to
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make it look like everything points to Jesus.
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How does Edwards handle that charge?
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He has a really powerful reply, and it's rooted in just basic
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historical logistics. Common sense, really.
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Yeah, he asks. How could cunning men have
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possibly contrived things that point to Jesus centuries before
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he was even born? We aren't talking about vague
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predictions. We're talking about specific
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places, names, family lines, the very nature of his death, the
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kind of Kingdom he'd have, level of detail just overwhelming.
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The coordination alone to keep that story straight over
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thousands of years would be impossible for any group of
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people to manage. I mean, think about the
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instability of that part of the world.
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How could human cleverness let them foresee and point to events
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that were still ages and ages away?
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The time frame. That's the real killer for the
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skeptics argument. And Edwards grounds his whole
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response in one simple, undeniable historical fact.
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The Jewish people themselves had these Old Testament writings
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with all these specific prophecies long before Jesus was
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born. That fact is the ultimate
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historical firewall. OK, let's pause on that, because
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that really is the linchpin of his whole historical defense.
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You know, if you were a critic in the 18th century, you might
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think, well, maybe the early Christians just messed with the
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scrolls. Why does the fact that the Jews
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had them make that impossible? Because the Jews were and still
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are the rivals of Christianity when it comes to Jesus being the
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Messiah. Edwards points out that the
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Jewish people everywhere they were scattered in the world,
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held these writings in the highest veneration.
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They were the sacred oracles of God to them.
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They would never, ever have accepted these books from
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Christians, especially not as proof that Jesus was the
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Messiah, because that's the very thing they denied.
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If the books were a Christian forgery, the entire Jewish
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community would have immediately called them out as fraudulent.
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They never would have confirmed. Yes, these are the exact same
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books we've had for centuries. So the fact that a non Christian
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community, a community that completely rejected the
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Christian conclusion, preserved and venerated the Old Testament,
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serves as the ultimate proof against the idea of forgery.
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It proves the prophecies came before the events.
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It proves their origin had to be divine.
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Which leads right into his second major point, the argument
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from admirable harmony, the internal coherence of it all.
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Think about it. The Old Testament was written by
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dozens of different people, kings, shepherds, prophets,
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priests, over huge distant periods of time.
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They were separated by culture, geography, everything.
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And this incredible agreement, despite all that diversity, is
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what Edwards points to as proof of its divine authority.
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All these parts, written centuries apart, harmonize on
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one single event, the coming of Christ, an event that, as he
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says, no single human author could have possibly known
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without divine revelation. Just think about how improbable
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that is. If the Old Testament wasn't
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inspired, then this central idea of a coming Messiah, his
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specific family line, where he'd be born, the timing, the nature
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of his sacrifice, all of that would have been, in his words, a
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mere figment of their own brain. Just a cultural myth.
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And if it was just some vain imagination, how did it actually
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happen? How did that same figment come
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true, fulfilling all those details so exactly?
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And even more amazing, how did all those different authors,
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Moses, you know, 1400 years before Christ, David thousand
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years before, Malachi 400 years before, how did they all agree
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so precisely on the same figment?
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They never met, they lived under completely different political
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systems, and yet their stories all converge perfectly around
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the same future person. That is the ultimate group
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project challenge, isn't it? We can't get a small team in an
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office to agree on a single plan, let alone this.
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Right. This unity of purpose among such
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different people across more than 1000 years, all pointing to
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the same future event. Edward sees that as clear in
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certain evidence. The internal consistency of the
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Bible is its own defense against the charge that it's just a
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human invention. This brings us to a really
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common objection when you still hear all the time, Edwards
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tackles what a lot of people see as a major problem, the idea
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that the Old Testament can't be God's word because it's just so
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full of, you know, civil history, lists of kings, records
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of wars, government changes. It looks just like the records
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of any other ancient nation like Egypt or Babylon.
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Why would God's word be so clogged up with that kind of
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stuff? And that objection treats the
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historical parts of the Old Testament like they're just a
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local chronicle, no different from the annals of Rome or
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something. But Edwards says no, the case of
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the Old Testament histories is fundamentally completely
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different from all others. OK, So what sets it apart?
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What's the first major difference?
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1st, just the scope of its coverage is unique.
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This history, and this history alone gives an account of the
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origin of everything, the creation itself.
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And 2nd, it's the only history that traces a single connected
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story from that origin point all the way to the end of time.
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It gives you this idea of a grand overarching plan of divine
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Providence. No other human history even
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tries to do that. So it's the difference between,
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say, a history of a single battle versus a universal
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history of God's entire redemptive plan for humanity.
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It provides the context for our whole existence.
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Precisely. The Old Testament gives you a
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view of the whole series of big events in Providence, from the
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very beginning to the final consummation of all things.
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It shows you this glorious account of the wise and holy
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designs of the Supreme Governor, showing that nothing is random,
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everything is connected to a final goal.
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And a huge part of this is who the offers were.
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They weren't just court scribes writing things down.
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That's a critical point. Edwards reminds us that the
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writers of this history came with clear signs and testimonies
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that they were prophets directly inspired by God.
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This isn't just a human record of events.
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This is God's divinely guided revelation of his own actions in
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the world. So if you accept that premise
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that the authors are inspired, then objecting to a book being
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divine just because it contains history is, as Edwards calls it,
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a poor fancy. The real misunderstanding is
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forgetting the purpose of that history.
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These historical accounts contain the great events through
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which God carries on his work of redemption from one age to the
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next. So they are just as full of
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divine instruction and elements that reveal Christ and the
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gospel as the parts of Scripture that are purely prophetic or
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poetic. The history is the vehicle for
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the theology. If the work of redemption is the
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ultimate goal, then the history that shows the steps of that
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plan is the divine instruction. He uses a really simple but
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effective analogy about government records to make this
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point. He does.
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He argues that if plain reason, the light of nature, teaches
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every civilized nation to keep records of their government and
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their administrations, how much more should we expect that God
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would give the world a record of His dispensations?
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If the affairs of a small Kingdom are worth recording,
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surely God's actions are. That's compelling logic just
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based on comparative value. If a wise earthly king make sure
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a history of his reign is written, why would we think it's
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unbelievable that Jesus Christ would make sure his Church,
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which Edward sees as Christ's own nation, has a certain
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infallible history of his rule over them?
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The History of Israel is the divinely ordered royal chronicle
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of the King of Glory. And think about what would
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happen if we didn't have it. The absence of this history
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would be devastating. Without the Old Testament, we'd
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be completely ignorant of how God has dealt with mankind from
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the beginning. We'd know nothing of creation,
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nothing of the fall of man, nothing about how God first set
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up a church or how the light of the Gospel even began to dawn.
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We wouldn't know the reason God started going about this
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building the church, We wouldn't know how the foundation was
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laid, and the time periods the Old Testament covers are so
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ancient they're basically not recorded in any other reliable
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history on earth. If God hadn't given us this
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account, we'd be flying completely blind about the
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origin of His greatest work. And here's where Edwards
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introduces this incredible theological scale.
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He says that people who object to the historical parts of the
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Old Testament might as well object to Moses account of
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creation. Why?
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Because in the historical parts of the Old Testament we have the
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history of a work that is no less important than creation,
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the work of redemption. In fact, he argues, the work of
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redemption is the greatest of all of God's works of
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Providence. Wait, hold on.
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I need to stop there. For someone like Edwards, coming
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from a classical Reformed background, that is a massive
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theological claim. Why is the work of redemption,
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the greatest of God's works, greater even than the act of
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creation itself? Because creation shows God's
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power and His wisdom in making something from nothing, which is
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incredible, obviously, But redemption shows His power plus
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His justice, His mercy, His Holiness, and His patience.
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All of these attributes working together in perfect harmony to
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save a fallen, rebellious creature through the greatest
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possible sacrifice. Creation was a single act of
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command. Redemption required thousands of
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years of purposeful interaction, suffering, covenant, and finally
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the incarnation and death of His own Son.
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The moral character required for redemption makes it a higher
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display of God's complete glory. That really sets the scale,
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doesn't it? If redemption is God's
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masterpiece, then it absolutely demands A divinely inspired,
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detailed history. So Edwards is challenging the
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skeptic. What part of this Old Testament
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history could you possibly remove without breaking that
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thread, that series of events that carries his glorious work
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forward? And for him the answer is you
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can't remove any of it. And that leads us straight into
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his fourth major remark, where he really details the wisdom of
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God and how the Old Testament was put together.
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This is where he argues for the specific functional necessity of
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every single book and every historical section.
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So this isn't just about it being useful, it's about it
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being coherent. Every book has an irreplaceable
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job to do in advancing the redemptive plan, so let's start
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at the beginning. Genesis.
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Well, you have to have an account of creation of our first
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parents, original state, the fall, the world's decline, after
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that the flood, the origin of nations.
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It's absolutely necessary. Without that beginning, you
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don't understand the disease sin.
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And if you don't understand the disease, you can't possibly
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understand the necessity or the nature of the cure, redemption.
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And after establishing the problem, the solution needed a
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specific container, a specific vessel.
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So it was necessary to have an account of the Church's
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succession, which meant focusing on Abraham and his family.
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But why that one nation, Israel? Two reasons.
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First, to preserve true worship and true religion in a world
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that was just sinking into polytheism and corruption, to
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hold the line until the Savior came.
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But Edwards stresses that Israel wasn't just a container.
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The nation itself was typical. OK, that's a key term.
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What exactly does Edwards mean when he calls Israel the typical
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nation? He means that the whole nation,
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its religious structure, its history, its leaders, its laws,
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it was all designed to be a prefigurement of Christ.
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They were types or shadows of the greater realities that would
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come with the gospel. They were designed to
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foreshadow, under what he calls a veil, a sort of covering or an
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obscured view, all the future glories of the gospel.
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So the law isn't just a list of rules, it's a living prophecy.
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The sacrifice is the priesthood. Even the geography of the
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promised land. It was all pointing forward.
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Exactly. And because of that, the
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detailed accounts of Abraham's call, the slavery in Egypt, the
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dramatic journey to Canaan, and the forming of their civil and
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religious state, including the the specific law and the typical
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worship, all of it was necessary.
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These weren't side stories. They were the essential
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scaffolding designed to communicate gospel truth through
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physical objects and historical events.
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OK, so after that foundation is laid, the history has to then
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focus on the moments in Israel story that were, as he says,
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fullest of gospel mystery. So which figures and events
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really required the most attention?
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He points right to the need for an account of the external glory
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under David and Solomon. David in particular needed a lot
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of detail because his personal story is just so full of the
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gospel. David established the throne, he
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embodied the idea of the righteous king, he suffered
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unjustly, and he was the source of so much prophetic material in
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the Psalms. His kingship itself was a type
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of Christ's eternal kingship. And the significance of
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Solomon's reign usually boils down to 1 big building project.
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Yes, building the temple was necessary because the temple
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itself was full of gospel mystery.
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The structure, the Holy of Holies, the veil, the
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sacrifices, every single part of it prefigured Christ as the
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ultimate place where God dwells and as the ultimate sacrifice
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that tears the veil. And we didn't have the history
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of the temple being built and dedicated.
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We lose the physical context for understanding Christ's own words
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about destroying and rebuilding the temple in three days.
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Then the history has to cover the decline, the Kingdom
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splitting, the captivity, the succession of kings until
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Babylon their return. This doesn't sound very
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glorious, but he says it's essential.
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It's essential because it shows why God's direct intervention
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was necessary. The history of failure proves
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that the human means of preservation, the King's, the
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earthly temple, they couldn't hold up on their own.
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It sets the stage for the Messiah to arrive not just as
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another political king, but as a divine Redeemer who is needed to
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fix a total spiritual collapse. And this is where Edwards makes
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a fascinating point about the length of the text.
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Why are some periods covered in so much detail while others get
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just a quick summary? Edwards notes that the Old
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Testament history is very detailed and long, where the
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work of redemption required it to be Abraham, Moses, David,
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Solomon. Those are key moments for the
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covenant or high points of typology.
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But the history gets much shorter where there was less
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direct emphasis on that work. For instance, the long period in
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Egypt, the time of the Judges, or the reigns after Solomon that
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were less spiritually significant.
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So it suggests the authors weren't trying to be
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comprehensive in a modern historical sense, they were
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being theologically purposeful. The length of the story is
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dictated by the significance of the redemptive event happening
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in that period. It speaks to a kind of divine
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economy, you could say, and once that inspired history was
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finished after the return from exile, you needed a number of
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prophets to bridge that gap to the New Testament.
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And their job was what exactly? Their main job was to foretell
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the coming of the Son of God and to detail the nature and glory
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of His Kingdom in clearer and clearer terms.
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They were like harbingers to make way for Him, getting the
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people ready, building that expectation, and their
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prophecies had to be collected and kept in the church to make
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sure the preparation was continuous right up to the
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moment Christ was born. OK, let's move past the history
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and prophecy to the wisdom literature, Edwards says.
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The Psalms were necessary. Absolutely necessary.
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You need a book of divine songs that represents the true spirit
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of devotion that Christ's followers ought to have.
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The Psalms give you the raw inner emotional life of a
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believer in the Old Covenant, the faith, Hope, Lovejoy,
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resignation, humility, repentance, all the essential
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parts of a relationship with God.
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They teach us how to pray and how to feel toward God.
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Then you have Proverbs and Ecclesiastes.
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Why these specific kinds of books?
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These were needed to provide books of moral instruction for
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human life, rules of true wisdom, and prudence for how to
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conduct yourself in all kinds of circumstances.
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They established the ethical framework, the wisdom tradition
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that the gospel would later build on.
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They teach you how to live justly in the world while you're
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waiting for the Messiah. And the book that often causes
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the most confusion for people? The Song of Solomon, a book of
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very intense, poetic love poetry.
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Why is that essential to the story of redemption?
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It's essential to represent the great love between Christ and
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his spouse, the Church. It's adapted to the holy
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affections of a Christian soul, and it expresses that
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relationship using the highest human analogy we have marriage
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and passionate love. It gives us the language for
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spiritual intimacy and devotion that goes beyond just ritual.
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It ensures the believer understands that a relationship
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with God is deeply personal. And finally, he brings up the
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book of Job, which often feels like it stands alone, dealing
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with suffering and divine justice.
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Why is Job so critical to the structure of the Old Testament?
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Job is crucial for teaching you how to conduct yourself when
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you're under affliction. Edward sees the whole church as
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being in a militant state, always at war with sin, and
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entering heaven through much tribulation.
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So you need a divinely inspired, detailed example of suffering,
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debate, endurance, and final vindication.
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It normalizes suffering. Edwards even points out that Job
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was probably first given to the church while they were suffering
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in Egypt, and that the Apostle James uses Job specifically to
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comfort Christians under persecution.
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So Job not only deals with the problem of suffering, but it
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also gives us a glimpse of the ancient theology before the law
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was given at Sinai. Edward's conclusion is pretty
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definitive. Then.
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Every single part of the Old Testament Testament is useful
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and necessary, and you can't get rid of any of it without causing
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a huge loss to the church and breaking that narrative threat
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of redemption. And that takes us to Section 4,
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where Edwards starts to pull it all together.
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He affirms the one great subject of the entire Bible and then
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argues for why the Old Testament is so useful for believers
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today. He says that Christ and his
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redemption are the great subject of the whole Bible.
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Everything else is subordinate to that.
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The prophecies, the songs, the moral rules, they're all given
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insubordination to Him. Even the very beginning.
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The History of Creation is just an introduction, just setting
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the stage for the history of redemption which follows
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immediately after. The whole Bible, Old and New
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Testaments is filled with the gospel.
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The only difference between them is 1 of clarity or visibility.
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The Old Testament contains the gospel under a veil.
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It's seen through shadows, types, veiled historical events.
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But the New Testament contains it, unveiled so we can see the
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glory of the Lord with open face.
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The content is the same great truth, just the illumination has
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gotten brighter. And this view is so important
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for pushing back against that common idea that the Old
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Testament is out of date or that Christians don't really need it
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much anymore. Edwards calls that a very great
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mistake, and he says it comes from not observing the Old
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Testament's true nature and design.
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Right. If you see the grand redemptive
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design, the Old Testament suddenly appears full of the
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Gospel of Christ, and it perfectly illustrates and
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confirms the doctrines and promises of the New Testament.
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It gives you the essential context, the historical depth,
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and the prophetic confirmation for what the New Testament
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reveals plainly. And here's where the real
21:31
challenge is for the reader. Edwards argues that even the
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parts we tend to see as having the least divine instruction,
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you know, the dry historical lists, the genealogy is the
21:41
specific measurements for the Tabernacle.
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He says those these are actually minds and treasures of gospel
21:46
knowledge. And the reason we think those
21:48
parts have so little in them is simple.
21:51
We read them superficially. We only look at the top of the
21:53
ground and pass a quick judgement.
21:55
We never bothered to dig into the mind where we'd find it
21:58
stored with what is more valuable than silver and gold.
22:01
The fault isn't with the text, it's with our casual approach to
22:04
it. Can you give us a concrete
22:06
example of that? Let's say a listener opens up
22:08
One Chronicles, and they're hit with this long list of obscure
22:11
names in a genealogy. What gospel treasure is Edwards
22:14
telling us to dig for there? That's a great question because
22:18
that's the perfect example of superficial reading.
22:20
We see those genealogies and our first instinct is to skip them
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because they don't seem like more or lessons.
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But Edwards would say the genealogy is the proof of the
22:28
covenants continuity. Every single name on that list,
22:32
no matter how obscure, is a historical peg that holds up the
22:36
covenant line leading to David and then eventually to Christ.
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The whole purpose of that list is to assure you that God's
22:43
covenant promise of a Messiah was preserved through all those
22:46
messy human generations providing the legal and
22:49
historical right for Jesus to claim the title Son of David.
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The gold is in the names themselves.
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It's the infallible preservation of the line.
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So we're not mining for biographical details, we're
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mining for confirmation of the covenant, which is the engine of
23:02
redemption. That totally shifts the focus.
23:04
It does, and this view should change how we see the whole
23:07
Bible as this precious treasure. Edwards reflects on how little
23:11
we consider the privilege we have just possessing the Bible
23:14
that we can converse with it whenever we want, having access
23:16
to the mind of God in human language.
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It's a book that goes so far beyond any human writing.
23:22
It reveals God to us. It gives us a view of this grand
23:25
design, this glorious scheme of Providence, from the beginning,
23:29
in either history or prophecy. It reveals the great Redeemer,
23:33
his redemption, and all the steps God took to accomplish it,
23:37
from the first stone to the last.
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You know, we might prize a history that gives us a clear
23:41
account of some great earthly Prince like Alexander the Great
23:44
or Julius Caesar. We'll spend hours studying their
23:47
tactics and politics. But Edwards asks, shouldn't we
23:51
prize the history that God gives us of the glorious Kingdom of
23:54
his Son, Jesus Christ, the King of kings, and what he did for
23:57
the redemption of his chosen people?
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The comparative value is infinite.
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We should pay more attention to the history of the one who
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governs all things than to the histories of those he governs.
24:06
And that comparison of values leads right to this really
24:09
crucial point of application, the challenge of reading
24:12
inattentively. If the Bible is this incredible
24:14
treasure, why do so many of us miss it, treating gold like it's
24:18
common stone? Edwards puts the blame right on
24:21
the readers inattentive, unobservant way of reading the
24:23
scriptures. The Bible is the most
24:26
comprehensive book in the world, covering time and eternity.
24:30
But that's useless if we don't observe what he calls the drift
24:33
of the Holy Ghost. In it we have the map of God's
24:36
plan, but we refuse to read the key.
24:38
That lack of focus means we have to actively look for the
24:41
meaning, not just wait for it to jump off the page.
24:45
The psalmist Pray to God, enlighten my eyes that I might
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behold wondrous things out of your law, Edwards says.
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The Scriptures are full of wondrous things, but you need
24:53
that divine help and that focused attention to actually
24:56
see them. And he points to a specific
24:58
failure that we're still guilty of today.
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People read the stories of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph,
25:04
Ruth, David, and so on as if they were just the private
25:06
concerns of these particular people.
25:08
Just interesting biographies. We personalize the story without
25:11
connecting it to the much larger divine plan that's there to
25:14
serve. We tend to focus on David and
25:16
Goliath as just a nice story about an underdog winning or
25:19
Joseph's rise to power as a kale about perseverance.
25:23
But these seemingly private concerns are accounts of vastly
25:26
greater things with much bigger and more extensive significance
25:30
than we usually realize. Joseph being elevated to power
25:33
isn't just about him. It's the mechanism God uses to
25:36
make sure the covenant line survives A famine.
25:39
David becoming king is about establishing the eternal throne.
25:43
The infinitely great things in these histories are just passed
25:46
over without a thought, read as if they were written just to
25:49
entertain men's fancies or give a moral lesson to kids.
25:52
If the entire history of David is subservient to establishing
25:55
the line of the King of Glory, then yeah, reading it as just a
25:59
good adventure story is to miss the entire point.
26:02
It makes me wonder how many times I've read Genesis 5 and
26:04
just skipped the genealogy, essentially treating pure gold
26:08
as common stone like you said. And that analogy of neglect is
26:11
so powerful, Edwards uses 2 very relatable parables to describe
26:15
this common spiritual state. The first one is about the
26:17
treasure itself. A person who has a Bible but
26:20
doesn't observe what's in it is like a man who has a box full of
26:23
silver and gold but doesn't know it.
26:25
He thinks it's just common stones.
26:27
He's never any better off for having the treasure.
26:29
He might as well not have it at all, because his ignorance
26:32
completely nullifies his possession of.
26:34
It and the second one is about its use.
26:37
A person who has plenty of the best food stored up in his
26:40
house, nourishing life, giving food, but doesn't know it's
26:43
there, will never taste it, and he's just as likely to starve as
26:46
if his house were empty. The usefulness of the Bible is
26:50
completely dependent on the reader's focused attention and
26:53
observation. So what's the key practical step
26:57
Edwards would want us to take? Is it just rereading or is there
26:59
a specific interpretive lens we need to put on when we approach
27:02
these historical books? Edwards demands the interpretive
27:05
lens of Christological necessity.
27:08
The practical step is this Stop asking what does this story
27:12
teach me about being a better person?
27:14
And start asking, how is this historical event, this person,
27:18
or this law necessary for the existence, the identity, or the
27:21
work of the coming Messiah? When you ask that question, the
27:25
genealogy has become crucial. The Civil War has become tests
27:28
of the covenant. The ritual laws become shadows
27:31
of Christ. Perfection.
27:32
It means reading every single page as part of the one unified
27:36
story of redemption. And that brings us to Edward's
27:38
final, soaring conclusion, which uses this entire sweep of
27:42
history we've been talking about as the ultimate measure of
27:44
Christ status. It's an argument of just
27:47
staggering scale. It really is the ultimate.
27:49
So what of the whole thing bringing this 4000 year plan
27:52
into sharp focus? What all of this shows is how
27:54
great a person Jesus Christ is and how great His mission into
27:57
the world must have been, given that so much was done by divine
28:01
command just to prepare the way for His coming.
28:03
And how much preparation are we talking about, exactly?
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Edward says God spent 4000 years getting the world ready for him,
28:10
starting right after creation and the fall.
28:13
From age to age, God was accomplishing wonders, bringing
28:16
mighty events to pass. He often had to overturn entire
28:19
world powers, these massive empires and ancient cultures
28:22
just to maintain the necessary family line and make sure the
28:25
prophecies were set up correctly.
28:28
This shows you the necessity and the sheer scale of the
28:31
redemptive act. It was not a quick fix.
28:33
The scale of God's attention is truly staggering when you frame
28:36
it like that. The state of all mankind, all
28:38
the revolutions, all the changes in the world were ordered to be
28:41
subservient to this one great design.
28:43
From generation to generation, nations rose and fell, not by
28:47
accident, but according to the timeline needed for the
28:49
Messiah's arrival. Edwards uses this powerful, easy
28:53
to understand analogy to get across the weight of this fact.
28:57
Imagine you see these vast preparations being made for a
28:59
stranger who's coming to a country.
29:02
You see lots of people employed, huge public works being done,
29:06
the affairs of the entire country being rearranged just
29:09
for the entertainment of this one person.
29:11
You would naturally conclude he must be an extraordinary person
29:14
on very great. Business.
29:16
So if that's true for an earthly visitor, just consider the
29:19
person for whom the great God of heaven and earth, the governor
29:23
of all things, spent 4000 years preparing the way.
29:27
Surely this must be some great and extraordinary person, and
29:30
must be a great work indeed that he's coming to do.
29:33
The preparation is the measure of the person.
29:35
He brings it right back to a local immediate example of
29:38
preparation, the triumphal entry into Jerusalem.
29:41
When the crowds threw down branches and spread their cloaks
29:44
on the road, the whole city was moved and they cried out, Who is
29:46
this? And that was just because of the
29:48
immediate local preparation they saw happening on the road for an
29:51
hour or so. But Edwards argues that when you
29:53
consider the great things done in all ages, the covenants with
29:56
Abraham, the parting of the Red Sea, the rise and fall of
29:59
Babylon and Persia, all of it done to prepare the way for
30:02
Christ, we should be crying out with so much more intensity.
30:06
Who is this? What great person is this?
30:08
It leads you right to that question from Psalm 24.
30:11
Who is this King of glory? The 4000 years of history are
30:15
the ultimate evidence of the glory and necessity of the Son
30:18
of God. God showed this vast honor and
30:21
respect to this person, confirming He is greatly beloved
30:24
of Him and sent on a grand errand.
30:27
The entire Old Testament is a 4000 year drum roll for the
30:31
birth of the Redeemer. What a compelling way to
30:34
structure history. Edwards moves the Old Testament
30:36
from what can feel like a fragmented collection of ancient
30:39
books to one single coherent story.
30:42
We started by seeing how the internal harmony of the Old
30:44
Testament is evidence for its divine authority, with all of
30:47
history's lines converging on Christ.
30:49
Then we saw how he defends the Civil and war like histories,
30:52
arguing they're necessary records of Christ's rule over
30:55
his people, and that redemption is an even greater work than
30:57
creation. We detailed the necessity of
31:00
every single book, from the typological structure of the
31:03
law, the moral wisdom of Proverbs, the devotion in the
31:06
Psalms, and the example of suffering and Job showing that
31:10
you can't spare any part of the Old Testament without a loss.
31:13
We ended by using those 4000 years of global preparation as
31:17
the ultimate measure of Christ's magnitude.
31:19
This knowledge really demands that we approach the Bible not
31:22
as a collection of stories, but as a detailed map of God's one
31:26
singular, consistent plan. So if God spent 4000 years
31:30
orchestrating world history, the rise and fall of nations, the
31:33
survival of one specific people, the timing of prophecies, all to
31:37
prepare for one single event, consider the thoroughness of His
31:40
continuing work in every detail of your own life.
31:43
Now that Christ Christ has come, think about the precision He
31:45
brings to His present dealings with you, having already
31:48
completed the greatest work of all.