Latest / Reformed Thinking / False Signs of Spiritual Revival | Jonathan Edwards

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False Signs of Spiritual Revival | Jonathan Edwards · Reformed Thinking

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Welcome to reformed thinking. So imagine walking out of your
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front door tomorrow morning and your entire town is in a state
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of, well, absolute unprecedented chaos.
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Total upheaval. Right.
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People are weeping openly right there in the streets.
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Your normal routine, I mean, the commute to work, the school drop
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off, the grocery shopping, it is all completely disrupted.
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You walk down to the town square and you see like a teenager just
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fainting on the grass and you hear your neighbor cry, dying
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out in actual physical agony, like they are in intense pain
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but nobody is even touching them.
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Which would be terrifying to witness.
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It really would. And everywhere you look, people
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are just arguing furiously about what is happening.
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So your first instinctual thought would probably be that
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you were looking at some terrifying wave of mass
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hysteria, right? Or maybe some kind of
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psychological contagion? Yeah, that would be the logical
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assumption for most of us. But what if someone turned to
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you right then and said no, this is a genuine movement from God?
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How would you judge that? Like what diagnostic criteria
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would you use to figure out if you were looking at a miraculous
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spiritual awakening or just a really dangerous social
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meltdown? I mean, that is a staggering
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thought experiment because when you frame it that way, it forces
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a person to look at their own internal biases.
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Absolutely. We have all these built in
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assumptions about how the world works and and more specifically,
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how God operates. And that is what we are digging
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into today for this deep dive because usually when we talk
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about diagnosing a situation, we expect precision.
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Right. We want clear answers, yeah.
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Yeah, if you break your arm, you go to the hospital, they take an
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X-ray and there is this jagged white line right on the film.
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The doctor points to it and says broken.
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It is binary clean. Very clean.
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We find immense comfort in things that can be seen and
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neatly categorized like that. But when you step into the world
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of human emotions, psychology and spiritual movements, that
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X-ray machine just shatters. It really does.
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You are looking at a landscape that is murky, confusing and
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highly controversial. It is the absolute definition of
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diagnostic Muddy Waters. Yeah, because you cannot put a
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spiritual awakening under a microscope, right?
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Or you cannot draw blood to test for conviction of sin.
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So to figure out how to evaluate this, we are looking at a
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classic historical analysis. Today we are turning to a man
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who lived right in the middle of one of these chaotic moments,
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Jonathan Edwards. A fascinating figure.
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He really is. We are going to look closely at
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his treatise on the distinguishing marks of a work
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of the Spirit of pride, but we are focusing on a very specific
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angle of his argument. The negative signs.
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Yes, the negative signs. Our mission for this deep dive
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is to uncover what criteria we should not use to dismiss a
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spiritual movement. Like what are the things that
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look alarming but actually do not disqualify A revival from
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being genuine? Well, context is everything when
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dealing with a historical document like this one.
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Edwards is writing in the 18th century, right in the epicenter
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of a massive historical event we now call the First Great
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Awakening. And this was not, you know, a
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minor ripple in a few local churches.
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Entire towns in New England were altering their behavior
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practically overnight. It was a massive societal shift.
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It was Taverns were emptying out.
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People were abandoning their normal secular entertainments.
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But with that massive shift came severe, harsh criticism.
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Skeptics, rationalists, even other established ministers.
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Yeah, they were looking at the sheer noise and the physical
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chaos of it all and concluding that it could not possibly be of
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God. They argued that God is a God of
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order and what they saw in the streets of Northampton and
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Boston was, well, disorder. So Edward steps in to defend the
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revival, but he doesn't just write a quick reactionary
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defense. He acts as a theologian and a
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philosopher trying to establish a proper diagnostic framework
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for the church. And his core thesis there is
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incredibly confronting. It really is, he argues, that
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human assumptions about how God should act or what polite,
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acceptable religion should look like are often entirely
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unbiblical. He takes aim right at our
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cultural comfort zones. He systematically dismantles the
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arguments of his critics by showing that their criteria for
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rejecting the revival are based on tradition and human
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preference, not on the actual text of Scripture.
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So let's unpack his first major point.
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He addresses the shock of the new The critics of his day were
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arguing that this movement must be false because it was being
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carried on in a way that was very unusual and extraordinary.
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They've never seen anything like it, so they just assumed it was
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dangerous. Edwards counters this by
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pointing out the severe limitations of our own
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historical memory. He argues that just because a
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specific congregation or a specific generation is used to a
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certain way of operating, that habit does not become the
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universal rule by which we judge God.
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He points out that God has always brought to pass new
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things, strange works that surprise both men and angels,
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the standard that we have to use as the rule of Scripture, not
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our local traditions or our comfortable routine.
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He actually takes a swing at human psychology here, doesn't
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he? He does, yeah.
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He notes that there is a great aptness in persons to doubt
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things that are strange. He specifically singles out
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older generations, suggesting that elderly persons might think
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that the only acceptable way for God to work is the way they have
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seen in their own day or the days of their fathers.
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Which is a very natural human defense mechanism.
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We associate the familiar with the safe and the precedented
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with danger. Right.
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If it is new, IT is scary. Precisely if something has never
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happened in our lifetime, our instinct is to view it with
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suspicion. But Edwards argues that if you
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use unusualness as a standard to reject a spiritual work, you
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would have been forced to reject the apostles in the 1st century.
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I want to pause on that because that is a massive claim.
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Are you saying that the early church would have failed the
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diagnostic test of these 18th century critics?
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Without a doubt, Edwards notes that the work of the Spirit in
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the apostles days was carried on in a manner that was altogether
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new to the religious establishment of that time.
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It was completely unprecedented. Yeah, think about the sudden
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changes, the vast extent of the work, the mighty effects on the
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masses the religious leaders in Jerusalem were completely
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blindsided by. It they didn't know what to do.
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They knew not what to make of it, and because it broke their
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theological and procedural paradigm, they assumed the
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apostles were out of their minds.
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We see that play out literally in the book of Acts when the
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Holy Spirit falls at Pentecost. The crowd hears them speaking in
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different languages, and the immediate accusation is they're
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drunk on new wine, right? They try to find a natural,
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familiar explanation. Drunkenness for a supernatural,
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unprecedented event. And Edwards pushes the argument
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even further into the prophetic text.
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He says we should actually expect things we have never seen
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before. How interesting.
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He brings up the prophecies of Scripture, specifically
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referencing Isaiah 66. The verse asks, Who hath heard
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such a thing? Shall the earth be made to bring
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forth in one day? Shall a nation be born at once?
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So he is saying sudden massive change is actually biblical.
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That is his point. As we move through redemptive
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history, the manner of God's work will occasionally be very
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extraordinary. We have not to limit God where
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He has not limited Himself in His Word.
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The logic there seems really sound.
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If the rules of Scripture do not explicitly forbid a certain
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method or scope of operation, we have no grounds to dismiss it
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just because it feels overwhelmingly new to us.
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He states that if the apparent change is very sudden, carried
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on with unusual swiftness, affecting huge numbers of
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people, including very young people, none of those unusual
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circumstances infringe upon the actual scriptural marks of a
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work of the Spirit. He even argues that a high
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degree of influence is a positive sign, not a -1.
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How so? Well, if the nature of the work
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aligns with the rule of scripture, then having a massive
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extraordinary degree of it just makes the conformity to the rule
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that much more evident. Meaning, if a small degree of
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sorrow for sin is a good thing, an extraordinary, overwhelming
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conviction of the dreadful nature of sin should not be
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viewed as a negative. It is just more of a good thing.
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That is his premise, but that extraordinary conviction leads
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directly into his next point, which is where things get
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intensely physical and where the skeptics usually have a field
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day. Right.
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He states that a work is not to be judged by any effects on the
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bodies of men. We were talking about tears,
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trembling groans, loud outcries, agonies of body or the feeling
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of bodily strength. This was the biggest stumbling
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block for observers of the Great Awakening.
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People were literally collapsing in the pews.
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They were crying out in absolute agony during the sermons.
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To a stoic, orderly culture, this looked like pure madness.
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But Edwards approaches this with a highly accurate understanding
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of human biology and psychology. He appeals to what he calls the
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laws of the union between soul and body.
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He starts by laying a biblical foundation, doesn't he?
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He does. He notes that the Scripture
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nowhere gives us a rule that either expressly or indirectly
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excludes such effects on the body.
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There is no verse that says if people faint it is not of God.
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But let me play devil's advocate here for a second.
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I know a lot of people listening are probably thinking about
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order. Like, I go to a traditional
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church. I like things decent and in
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order. We have a liturgy.
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We have a bulletin. If someone started screaming in
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the Pew next to me or collapsed on the floor, I would call an
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usher or a paramedic. How does Edwards square people
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literally passing out in the aisles with the biblical command
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for orderly worship? Are we supposed to just let
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chaos reign? That is the exact tension his
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critics raised. But Edwards asked them to look
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at the nature of humanity. The mind and the body are not
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isolated systems. They are intimately connected,
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right? If the mind experiences a severe
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shock, the physical frame reacts involuntarily.
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He uses a very practical non religious example to prove this
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point. The fear of war.
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I want to read how he frames this because it is brilliant, he
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says. When people's hearts are full of
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fear in a time of war, they are ready to tremble at the shaking
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of a leaf. They expect the enemy every
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minute, thinking now I shall be slain.
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And that is just a temporal threat, yeah.
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Edwards then scales that concept up to the eternal reality.
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He asked the reader to suppose a person saw himself hanging over
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a great pit full of fierce and glowing flames by a thread that
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he knew to be very weak. That is a terrifying mental
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image. It is, he sees, that multitudes
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have fallen in and perished. He has nothing to grab onto to
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save himself. What kind of distress would he
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be? In It is terrifying.
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Just a picture, he says. Would not he be ready to cry out
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in such circumstances? And then he applies it directly
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to the spiritual state of an unconverted person.
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If a person actually truly grasps that they are hanging
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over an infinitely more dreadful pit of hell, held only by the
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hand of a perfectly just and provoked God, it makes total
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sense that the physical frame just gives way.
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It is a matter of proportion. We understand in our everyday
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lives that a massive dose of earthly terror causes
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physiological failure. People faint when they get a
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terrible medical diagnosis. People lose motor control and
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cry out when they're in a car accident.
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Edwards is arguing that if the realities of heaven and hell are
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actually true, and if a person is suddenly given a clear,
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unfiltered apprehension of those realities by the Holy Spirit,
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the human nervous system simply cannot handle the load.
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I think about it like an electrical grid.
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If you take a system built to handle 100 volts and you
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suddenly pump 1,000,000 volts into it, the wires will melt,
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the Breakers will trip. That is a great way to put it.
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The human body is a low voltage system.
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We are wired to process earthly things, eating, sleeping,
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working, interacting with our families.
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We are not wired to process the unfiltered infinite realities of
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heaven or hell without short circuiting.
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The electrical grid analogy captures his point beautifully.
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The Breakers trip. And Edwards is careful to note
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that it is not just the terror of hell that trips the Breakers.
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It is also the overwhelming joy of salvation.
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He argues that a tree sense of the glorious Excellency of
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Christ and a realization of his dying love can be so
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overwhelming that it diminishes bodily strength.
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He notes the biblical principle that no man can see God and
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live. We can only handle a very small
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filtered part of the apprehension of the glory of
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heaven in our present frail biological frame.
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And to support this, he goes straight to the biblical text,
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bringing up historical precedents that the orderly
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critics of his day seem to have completely forgotten or ignored.
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This brings up an example that I want us to spend some time on
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because it involves A theological concept that might
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be unfamiliar to some listeners. He brings up the Queen of Sheba
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from the Old Testament. Yes, a classic example.
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She travels to see King Solomon, and when she sees the vastness
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of his wealth and his wisdom, the text says there was no more
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spirit in her. She essentially fainted and had
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her bodily strength taken away. And Edwards asked the listener
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if the Queen of Sheba fainted just looking at Solomon's
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earthly wealth, shouldn't the church faint at the glory of
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Christ? He is employing A typological
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argument there, which was a very common and robust way of reading
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scripture in his tradition. OK, let's hit pause on that.
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You use the phrase typological argument.
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For those listening who might not be sitting in a seminary
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classroom right now, what exactly is biblical typology?
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Are we just talking about a metaphor, or is it something
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more specific? A fair question.
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Typology is much more than a simple metaphor in the
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historical Christian understanding of Scripture.
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A type is a real historical person, event, or institution in
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the Old Testament that God sovereignly designed to
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foreshadow a greater spiritual reality in the New Testament.
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OK, the greater reality is called the anti type.
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So an example of that would be the animal sacrifices in the
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book of Leviticus. The physical lamb being
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sacrificed is the type, the shadow and Jesus dying on the
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cross is the anti type, the substance it was pointing to all
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along. Precisely.
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The Old Testament is full of these shadows.
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David is a type of the true king.
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The temple is a type of God dwelling with his people.
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So when Edwards looks at the story of Solomon and the Queen
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of Sheba, he is not just finding a neat illustration.
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He sees a deeper connection. Yes, he believes Solomon, in all
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his majestic glory and wisdom, was established by God as an
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earthly type of Christ. And the Queen of Sheba, who
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comes from a distant Pagan land to marvel at his glory,
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represents the Church brought from the utmost ends of the
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earth, from a state of being an alien and a stranger, to witness
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the glory of the Savior. So Edwards is reasoning from the
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lesser to the greater. If the Shatter, Solomon's
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literal earthly gold and food and architecture was enough to
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cause a foreign queen to suffer a physical collapse from sheer
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amazement, how much more should the substance cause a collapse?
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That is it. If a person gets a true glimpse
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of the unsearchable riches of Christ, their physical reaction
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should dwarf the Queen of Sheba's reaction.
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That is his exact reasoning. If the earthly type caused a
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biological failure, you cannot complain when the heavenly anti
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type causes a biological failure.
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But he doesn't stop with the Old Testament.
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He anticipates the objection that there are no instances of
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this chaotic bodily reaction in the New Testament.
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First, he argues that even if there were no New Testament
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examples, it wouldn't invalidate the phenomenon because reason
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and the natural laws of human biology account for it.
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But then he points out that the critics are actually wrong about
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the text. There are explicit examples in
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the New Testament. He points directly to the
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Philippian jailer in Acts Chapter 16.
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I want to break down that scene because it is so vivid.
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Paul and Silas are in prison. They are singing hymns and an
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earthquake hits the prison. Doors fly open.
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It is a dramatic moment. Very the jailer wakes up,
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assumes all the prisoners have escaped, and draws his sword to
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kill himself, knowing the Roman authorities will execute him
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anyway for losing the prisoners. Paul yells out.
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Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.
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And then the jailer comes in. The text says he called for
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lights, rushed in and came trembling and fell down before
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Paul and Silas. Edwards makes a very keen
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observational point here. He says the jailer's falling
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down was not a polite, designed posture of religious
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supplication. It wasn't a formal bow.
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Because he don't say anything to them at first, the text says he
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fell down and then brought them out and then asked sirs, what
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must I do to be saved? Edwards interprets that falling
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down as an involuntary biological response stemming
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from the same psychological shock that caused his trembling.
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He had just gone from the terror of imminent execution to the
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overwhelming realization of a supernatural rescue.
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He was in the utmost distress and amazement and his legs
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literally gave out. Edwards also brings in the
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Psalms to support this body soul connection.
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He mentioned Psalm 32 where Dave talks about his bones wasting
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away through his groaning all day long and his strength being
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dried up as by the heat of summer, all because of the heavy
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guilt of his sin. The critics might say, well,
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David is just being poetic. But Edwards argues that the
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psalmist would not represent his spiritual case with absurd,
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disconnected physical descriptions if that mental
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state of heavy guilt had no actual tendency to produce those
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physiological results. The poetry works because the
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biological connection is real. Yes, he also points to the
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disciples in a boat during a storm in Matthew 14.
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When they see Jesus walking on the water.
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They don't have a calm theological discussion about the
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hypostatic union. No, they panic.
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The text says they were terrified and they cried out in
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fear because they thought he was a ghost.
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Their fear of the supernatural produced a loud, involuntary
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vocal reaction, and he cites the spouse in the Song of Solomon
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saying I am sick of love, indicating a state of being
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physically overpowered by intense affection.
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What Edwards is doing here is systematically stripping away
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the stoic, hyper rationalistic lens of his critics.
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He addresses a very specific historical objection regarding
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the Quakers too. Critics were saying look at the
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Quakers. They tremble and shake, and we
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all know they are misguided enthusiasts.
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Therefore, any trembling must be a sign of demonic delusion or
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psychological manipulation. It is guilt by association.
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Yeah, and Edwards exposes it as a remarkably weak argument.
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He states that just because of false movement produces physical
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effects does not mean Saul of Tarsus did not legitimately
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tremble when he was struck blind on the road to Damascus.
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The existence of a false shaking does not disprove a true
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shaking. He delivers a crushing summary
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to this whole point. He says those who argue against
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a revival based on effects on the body proceed in the dark.
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They do not know what ground they are standing on.
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The root and course of spiritual things must be examined by the
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rule of God's Word, not by taking the pulse or examining
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the motions of the blood and animal spirits.
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You cannot diagnose the condition of a human soul by
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measuring a physical reaction. The physical reaction is just a
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byproduct of the mental apprehension of truth.
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Exactly. So if this mental apprehension
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of heaven and hell is causing people to cry out, tremble, and
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faint, it naturally leads to the next major controversy.
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This physical short circuiting doesn't just happen in private
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closets at home where nobody can see it.
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No, it is very public. It bursts out into the public
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square. It disrupts society.
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Which brings us to Edward's next point, the objection against
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public emotion and noise. Critics were highly offended
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that the revival was causing such a great deal of noise and
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commotion about religion. People generally want religion
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to be polite. They want it to be quiet,
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respectable and contained within a building on a Sunday morning.
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They wanted to be an entirely private affair.
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The cultural elite in Edwards Day viewed intense public
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displays of faith as vulgar. But Edwards argues that human
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nature makes it morally impossible for a large group of
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people to care deeply about something eternal without
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causing a visible, open stir in society.
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He actually says there's a great absurdity in men being only
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moderately moved by infinite concerns.
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If spiritual things are truly a matter of eternal life and
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death, how could a whole town be greatly affected by them without
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any noise or stir? The nature of man simply will
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not allow it. Think about it sociologically.
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Whenever a society goes through a massive shift, whether it is a
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political revolution, a devastating war, a sudden
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famine, or even a major cultural milestone, there is noise.
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There is open commotion, normal routine stop.
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People gather in the streets, they argue, they weep, they
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celebrate. To expect a society to suddenly
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awaken to the terrifying realities of hell and the
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glorious realities of heaven in total polite silence is to
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demand inhuman behavior. I think about it like a major
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sports championship. Imagine a city whose baseball
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team has not won a championship in 80 years.
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They finally win the final game. You would never expect that city
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to celebrate in total silence. No, never.
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You expect massive noise. You expect crowds gathering in
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the streets, strangers hugging each other, cheering, parades,
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traffic jams, people honking their horns all night.
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If a temporary, meaningless temporal victory causes that
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much visible commotion, why on earth would we expect a massive
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spiritual rescue? Operation Saving thousands of
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people from eternal destruction to happen quietly.
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The sports analogy fits the sociological reality perfectly.
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If the stimulus is massive, the societal response will be
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massive. But the critics in the 18th
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century had a theological counter argument prepared.
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Oh, it did. They quoted the words of Christ
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in Luke chapter 17 where Jesus says the Kingdom of God cometh
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not with observation. They use this specific verse to
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argue that true religion is internal, quiet, and invisible
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to the naked eye. That sounds like a strong
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biblical objection. How does Edwards dismantle it?
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He contextualizes the verse by looking at the surrounding text.
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He explains it. When Jesus said the Kingdom
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comes without observation, he meant that it will not
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consistent outward earthly royal pomp.
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Like military parades, right? It will not be set up like the
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Roman Empire, with a physical king sitting in a physical
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palace with visible armies. But then Edwards points to the
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very next verses in that exact same passage, where Jesus
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continues explaining the nature of his Kingdom.
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He points to verse 24. For as the lightning that
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lightneth out of the one part under heaven shineth unto the
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other part under heaven, so shall also the Son of Man be in
22:30
his day. Right.
22:31
Lightning is a lot of things, but it is not quiet, it is not
22:36
hidden, it is not polite, It glares in everyone's eyes, it
22:39
shines from one side of the sky to the other, and it is followed
22:42
by Thunder. Yeah, Edwards argues that this
22:45
indicates the setting up of the Kingdom of God will be a very
22:48
open and public event, glaring in the sight of the whole world.
22:52
He backs this up by looking at the history of the early church
22:55
in the book of Acts. The pouring out of the Holy
22:58
Spirit in the apostles days occasioned a massive stir
23:01
everywhere they went. Jerusalem, Samaria, Antioch,
23:04
Ephesus, Corinth. It was unavoidable.
23:07
The affair filled the known world with noise.
23:09
He quotes Acts 17 where the opponents of the gospel in
23:12
Thessalonica complained to the city authorities crying out
23:15
these that have turned the world upside down are come hit her
23:18
also. A quiet, purely private faith
23:21
does not turn the world upside down.
23:23
It does not provoke massive riots in the amphitheater in
23:25
Ephesus or cause the religious council in Jerusalem to panic.
23:29
The sheer volume of the public commotion is actually a
23:32
testament to the heavyweight of what is happening.
23:34
So the noise in the streets is one thing, but then Edwards has
23:36
to deal with what is happening inside the heads of the people
23:39
making that noise. Critics were pointing out that
23:42
people in these revivals were having intense mental imagery.
23:46
They were reporting ecstasies where they felt transported, and
23:50
they were having vivid visions of heaven or of Christ.
23:54
Skeptics use this to dismiss the whole revival as pure enthusiasm
23:58
or worse, demonic delusion. This section reveals one of
24:02
Edwards most advanced psychological insights.
24:05
Drawing heavily on the philosophy of his day regarding
24:08
how the mind acquires knowledge, he normalizes the function of
24:11
the human imagination. He states flatly that we as
24:14
physical creatures cannot think of things invisible without a
24:17
degree of imagination. If you try to fix your thoughts
24:20
on God or the realities of another world, imaginary ideas
24:24
will inevitably attend your meditations.
24:26
He challenges the reader directly on this point.
24:28
He says, I dare appeal to any man of the greatest powers of
24:30
mind, whether he is able to fix his thoughts on God or Christ,
24:34
or the things of another world, without imaginary ideas
24:37
attending his meditations. And when you think about it, he
24:40
is right. We cannot conceive of abstract
24:42
infinite realities without using sensory building blocks.
24:46
We picture blinding light. We picture a massive throne.
24:49
We picture a crown. We have to use sensory metaphors
24:53
to process non sensory realities.
24:55
And Edwards points out that the more engaged the mind is and the
24:58
more intense the spiritual affection, the more lively and
25:01
strong that imaginary idea will be.
25:04
The brain works overtime to supply imagery to match the
25:06
intensity of the emotion. This is especially true when
25:09
there is a sudden, violent change of mental state.
25:12
He talks about a person moving from extreme fear, that dread of
25:16
the pit of hell we talked about earlier, to an extremely
25:19
ravishing and delightful view of the joy of salvation.
25:22
That sudden emotional whiplash takes stronghold of the human
25:25
passions, and the imagination fires on all cylinders.
25:28
He defends the imagination as a necessary faculty given by God.
25:32
It is subservient and helpful to the other faculties when it is
25:35
used properly. Even suggests that God
25:37
condescends to the circumstances of human frailty, especially
25:40
dealing with people who might be less educated or more ignorant,
25:44
dealing with them as babes. Oh, that is interesting.
25:46
Yeah, he uses these strong outward mental representations
25:49
to instruct them, much in the same way God used physical types
25:53
and shadows in the Old Testament to teach Israel.
25:56
But I have to push back here because we are not just talking
25:58
about someone closing their eyes and picturing a bright light
26:01
while they pray Fairpoint. The text mentions people being
26:05
in a kind of trance or ecstasy, carried beyond themselves,
26:08
having their minds transported into a train of strong and
26:11
pleasing imaginations, almost like they are having a literal
26:15
vision of glorious sights in heaven.
26:18
In a reformed theological framework where we believe the
26:21
Canon of Scripture is closed and God is not, giving new prophetic
26:24
revelations, isn't defending these visions incredibly
26:27
dangerous territory? It is a vital distinction to
26:30
make, and Edwards is extremely careful here.
26:32
He acknowledges that people are highly apartment to lay too much
26:35
weight on the imaginary part of their experience.
26:38
They confuse what is merely biological and imaginary with
26:41
what is truly intellectual and spiritual.
26:43
Right. But his main point is that we do
26:45
not need to bring the devil into the account to explain these
26:48
ecstasies, nor do we need to assume they are true divine
26:53
prophetic visions like the Apostle Paul being caught up
26:56
into the 3rd heaven. So if they are not demonic and
26:59
they are not divine revelation, what are they?
27:01
They are just human nature under intense spiritual exercise.
27:06
He links it back to the physical frailty we discussed earlier,
27:09
the bandwidth linnet. When the whole soul is ravished
27:12
and swallowed up by a true biblical sense of the beauty of
27:16
Christ, the physical brain is intensely affected.
27:19
But just diverts energy. Exactly.
27:21
Your strength is entirely diverted from the external
27:23
senses. Yeah.
27:24
Meaning the person literally stops noticing the room they're
27:27
in, they don't hear the sounds around them, they lose physical
27:29
coordination, and the brain becomes wholly employed in a
27:33
train of delightful imaginations that correspond to their holy
27:36
frame of mind. So it is almost like a
27:38
spiritually induced waking dream.
27:40
The core emotional truth they're feeling, the love for Christ,
27:44
the relief of forgiveness is genuinely from the Spirit of
27:47
God. But the specific visual imagery
27:50
their brain constructs to represent that feeling, say
27:53
seeing Jesus sitting on a literal golden chair in the
27:56
clouds, is just the biological brain doing what brains do when
28:01
they are overwhelmed. That is a very precise way to
28:04
state his argument. He says the holy frame and the
28:07
spiritual sense is from the Spirit of God, but the
28:10
imaginations that attended are but accidental.
28:13
Therefore, there is commonly something in the details of the
28:16
visions that is confused, improper, or factually false.
28:20
That distinction is crucial. He's saying do not look at the
28:23
details of the vision and treat them as a new divine revelation.
28:26
Do not write down what the person saw and add it to the
28:29
back of your Bible. Right, because the vision itself
28:31
might be factually confused. But do not throw the baby out
28:33
with the bathwater. The underlying, overwhelming
28:35
love for Christ that triggered that mental state.
28:38
That is the genuine work of the Spirit.
28:40
If you judge the revival by the factual accuracy of a teenage
28:43
teenagers ecstatic vision, you will reject the revival.
28:47
But if you see the ecstasy as a natural biological byproduct of
28:51
a genuine spiritual awakening, you can accept the spiritual
28:54
work while gently correcting the person's interpretation of their
28:57
vision. You can pastor them through the
29:00
theology without denying their experience.
29:02
This visible loud commotion and these intense visible reactions
29:06
of ecstasy and fainting inevitably force other people to
29:09
watch. It is impossible to ignore your
29:11
neighbor collapsing in the street.
29:13
And that brings us to Edward's next point, the contagion of
29:16
example. Skeptics see this emotional
29:19
reaction spreading from person to person in a crowd.
29:21
And they say, see, this isn't God, it is just peer pressure.
29:25
It is contagious crowd psychology.
29:27
And Edward's response to the peer pressure argument is
29:29
essentially yes, it is socially contagious, and that is exactly
29:32
how God designed human society to work.
29:35
He states plainly it is no sign that a work is not from the
29:38
Spirit of God. That example is a great means of
29:41
it. He argues that God uses earthly
29:44
means to carry on his work, and human example is one of the
29:48
primary scriptural means of communication.
29:51
He provides A philosophical argument here about the language
29:53
of actions. Words are only useful insofar as
29:56
they convey ideas to others, but actions can signify things much
30:00
more fully and effectually than mere syllables.
30:03
There is a deep language there. Yes, a deep, visceral language
30:07
in human actions. He uses a rather intense example
30:09
to prove this. He says imagine seeing someone
30:12
in extreme bodily torment. If you see someone thrashing on
30:16
the ground in agony, screaming in pain, you get a much clearer,
30:19
more convincing idea of their suffering than if an unaffected,
30:23
indifferent bystander just calmly narrated to you that man
30:27
over there is experiencing a high degree of pain.
30:29
The visual evidence of the behavior bypasses our analytical
30:32
filter and go straight to the core of our understanding.
30:35
We feel their pain empathetically.
30:37
Edwards argues that the exact same dynamic applies to seeing
30:40
someone in the actual enjoyment of something excellent and
30:42
delightful, right. Their visible joy, their tears
30:45
of relief, communicate the reality of that joy far better
30:49
than a dull theological narration.
30:52
He argues that God condescends to human nature.
30:54
Here we are social, visual creatures.
30:57
We learn by watching each other. We take our cues from the herd.
31:01
Even those highly educated rationalists who boast of their
31:04
strength of reason are intensely influenced by the actions and
31:07
examples of others, whether they admit it or not.
31:10
It is unavoidable. But let me raise a skeptical
31:12
question on behalf of the listener.
31:13
How do we separate genuine spiritual influence from mere
31:17
crowd psychology? I mean, yawning is contagious.
31:21
We know that panic in a burning bottom is contagious.
31:24
Just because the panic spreads from person to person rapidly
31:27
doesn't mean the threat is real. People can Stampede over a false
31:30
alarm. Wait, I think I might be
31:32
answering my own question without analogy.
31:33
You are. Let's look closely at your
31:35
analogy of a burning building. The contagious nature of the
31:37
panic is the mechanism of transmission.
31:40
But the mechanism of transmission does not invalidate
31:42
the reality of the threat. If a building is actually on
31:45
fire, the fire is real. The visible reaction of Person A
31:49
running in terror from the flames is what alerts Person B
31:52
to the reality of the fire. Person B's reaction validates
31:56
the invisible threat that they haven't even seen yet.
31:59
So just because someone begins to weep over their sin because
32:02
they saw someone else weeping over their sin, it doesn't mean
32:05
their repentance is fake. It means the first person's
32:08
example acted as the alarm bell that woke them up to a reality
32:12
they were previously ignoring. Edwards does add a pastoral
32:15
caveat here, though. He acknowledges that religious
32:18
affections raised merely by the contagion of example might prove
32:21
flashy and soon vanish. He references A theological
32:25
concept known as the Stony ground hearers.
32:27
Let's clarify that term for our listeners.
32:29
Stony ground hearers is a reference to a parable Jesus
32:31
told right? Yes, the parable of the sower
32:34
Jesus describes seed falling on different types of soil.
32:37
The seed that falls on Stony grounds springs up quickly with
32:40
great joy, but because it has no deep root, it Withers and dies
32:44
as soon as the sun comes up or tribulation hits.
32:46
Edwards acknowledges that in a massive revival, many people
32:50
will get swept up in the emotion of the crowd, the Stony ground
32:53
hearers, and their faith will not last.
32:56
But he insists that for many others, affections moved
32:59
initially by example become abiding, rooted and proved to be
33:03
a genuine saving work. He looks at biblical history to
33:06
back this up, noting that there was never a time of great
33:09
revival where human example didn't play a massive role.
33:12
He points to the Thessalonian church in the New Testament.
33:15
Paul writes to them and says that their faith sounded forth
33:18
and became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and
33:21
Achaea. Their visible transformation was
33:23
the catalyst for other regions. He anticipates A theological
33:27
objection from his fellow ministers who might argue that
33:30
the preaching of the Word of God is supposed to be the principal
33:32
means of salvation, not human example.
33:36
His answer is very nuanced. He agrees that the Word of God
33:38
is indeed the principal means, but example is what makes the
33:41
Word visible and applied. He says all the visible
33:44
reactions in the crowd are unintelligible without the Word
33:47
of God to instruct the mind as to what they mean.
33:50
But the Word is held forth and made urgent by the example.
33:52
He gives some great biblical models of this contagion of
33:55
example. He points to the Old Testament
33:58
story of Ruth. Ruth is a Moabite woman.
34:01
Her mother-in-law, Naomi, an Israelite, decides to leave Moab
34:04
and return to Israel. Ruth sees Naomi's life, her
34:07
sorrow and her steadfastness. And Ruth is so moved by Naomi's
34:11
example that she says Your people shall be my people and
34:14
your God, my God. That is beautiful.
34:16
Edwards calls Ruth a great type of the church, leaving her false
34:19
gods to trust the God of Israel, entirely provoked by the visible
34:23
example of another person. He also mentions an incredible
34:26
prophecy in Zechariah chapter 8 which speaks of a future time of
34:30
massive spiritual awakening. The prophecy says that 10 men
34:33
from all nations and languages will take hold of the skirt of a
34:36
Jew and say, we will go with you, for we have heard that God
34:40
is with you. We have heard that God is with
34:41
you. They are drawn because they see
34:43
the visible evidence in the lives of others.
34:46
The example is the magnet. But while Example is a powerful
34:49
engine for spreading a movement, we have to acknowledge a dark
34:52
reality. This movement is spreading among
34:55
deeply flawed, sinful human beings.
34:57
You were true. When thousands of messy, corrupt
35:00
humans catch this contagion, it creates an absolute mess.
35:05
Which takes us to Edwards's next major section, dealing with the
35:08
messiness of the multitude. This is where Edwards proves he
35:11
is not naive. He is a staunch defender of the
35:14
revival, but he is not blind to the ugliness, the pride, and the
35:17
chaos that accompanies it. He groups several negative signs
35:21
together here to deal with the inevitable fallout of mass human
35:24
involvement in the spiritual awakening.
35:26
He starts by addressing great imprudences and irregularities
35:29
and conduct. Critics look at the unwise
35:31
behavior, the lack of discretion, the chaotic
35:34
meetings, and they argue God is a God of order.
35:36
This movement is highly disorderly, therefore it cannot
35:39
be the work of God. And Edwards replies with a harsh
35:42
but necessary theological truth. The end for which God pours out
35:46
his Spirit is to make men holy, not to make them politicians.
35:50
That is a phenomenal line not to make them politicians.
35:54
Meaning God isn't trying to make these newly omic and people
35:57
shrewd, socially acceptable diplomatic managers of public
36:01
perception. Exactly the point.
36:03
You are dealing with a mixed multitude.
36:06
You have the wise and the unwise, the young and the old,
36:09
the educated and people with very weak natural abilities.
36:13
When you place all of these different temperaments under
36:17
vehement, intense spiritual affections, of course they are
36:20
going to behave imprudently. Yeah, that just makes sense.
36:23
Edwards points out a basic psychological fact.
36:26
Very few people know how to conduct themselves with perfect
36:29
propriety under strong emotions of any kind, whether temporal or
36:33
spiritual. It requires a great deal of
36:35
discretion and steadiness of mind, which the vast majority of
36:38
people simply do not possess. He states that 1000 imprudences
36:41
will not prove a work to be not of the Spirit of God, even if
36:45
there are things prevailing that are highly irregular and
36:47
contrary to the rules of God's Word.
36:49
Which sounds shocking at first. It does.
36:52
He accounts for this by pointing to a core tenet of Reformed
36:55
theology, the exceeding weakness of human nature, and the
36:59
remaining darkness and corruption of those who are the
37:01
subjects of saving grace. Total depravity doesn't vanish
37:05
entirely the moment a person is converted.
37:08
The old nature fights the new nature.
37:10
To prove that a true church can be an absolute mess, he takes us
37:14
back to the New Testament, to the poster child for messy,
37:18
irregular churches, the church at Corinth.
37:20
Oh, the Corinthians. If any modern orderly critic
37:24
visited the 1st century Corinthian church on a Sunday
37:27
morning, they would run out the door screaming.
37:29
Let's detail their mess for a second.
37:31
It was a disaster. Edwards notes that Corinth was
37:33
celebrated by Paul for partaking largely in the outpouring of the
37:36
Spirit. They had extraordinary,
37:38
miraculous gifts. Yet look at their daily conduct.
37:42
They had manifold imprudences. They had sinful irregularities.
37:45
They had strange confusion at the Lord's Supper.
37:48
People were literally getting drunk at the communion table
37:51
while others went hungry. They had indecent public
37:54
worship, with people interrupting each other and
37:56
speaking over each other. They had jarring contentions and
37:59
factions fighting over which teacher they followed.
38:02
Some were even denying the bodily resurrection.
38:04
It was chaos. Yet despite all of that massive
38:08
irregularity and sin, the Apostle Paul still opens his
38:11
letter by addressing them as the Church of God.
38:14
The presence of massive irregularity and human
38:16
foolishness did not nullify the reality of the Holy Spirit's
38:19
underlying presence in that congregation.
38:22
Edwards pushes the point even further.
38:24
It is not just the laypeople who mess up and act imprudently.
38:28
The leaders do it too. He brings up the Apostle Peter.
38:31
Peter's a great, eminently, wholly inspired apostle the
38:34
rock. Yet Peter was guilty of a great
38:37
and sinful error in his public conduct at Antioch, which Paul
38:40
recounts in Galatians chapter 2. Let's outline what happened at
38:43
Antioch. Peter was eating and
38:45
fellowshipping freely with the Gentile believers.
38:48
But when a group of strict traditionalist Jewish believers,
38:52
the circumcision party, came from James, Peter withdrew from
38:55
the Gentiles out of fear of what the traditionalists would think,
38:58
right. He separated himself, and his
39:00
example LED other Jewish believers, even Barnabas, into a
39:03
hypocritical division of the church.
39:06
Paul had to confront Peter publicly to his face because he
39:08
stood condemned. That is the historical event,
39:11
and Edwards argues from it forcefully.
39:14
If a great pillar of the Christian Church, one of the
39:16
chief foundations, a man who walked with Christ, could be
39:19
guilty of such fearful irregularity and hypocrisy, why
39:23
are we surprised when lesser instruments, young ministers in
39:26
the 18th century who do not have Peter's extraordinary Apostolic
39:29
inspiration, fall into error and imprudence during a massive
39:33
revival? A specific error Edwards
39:35
mentions, which is so common in revivals, is the tendency of
39:38
newly awakened people to severely censure others as
39:41
unconverted. It's a very specific kind of
39:44
spiritual pride. Yeah.
39:45
A young person gets a little bit of zeal.
39:47
They feel the fire of the spirit, and suddenly they set
39:50
themselves up as the judge of everyone else's soul.
39:53
They look at the older, quieter minister and declare him dead
39:56
and unconverted because he isn't shouting as loud as they are.
39:59
Edwards analyzes the psychology of the spiritual pride with
40:02
devastating accuracy. He says this censoriousness
40:06
comes from a lack of apprehending the vast latitude
40:09
the Spirit uses in his operations.
40:11
God works differently in different people.
40:13
But more significantly, it comes from remaining corruption where
40:17
human spiritual pride finds a secret, socially acceptable vent
40:21
under the disguise of holy zeal. He notes that lukewarmness is
40:25
abominable and true zeal is an excellent grace, but zeal needs
40:29
to be strictly watched and guarded because human pride and
40:32
human passion love to mix with it unobserved.
40:35
The person thinks they are being holy, but they are actually just
40:37
being arrogant. He cites historical examples of
40:40
this out of control zeal. He mentions the early Christians
40:43
fighting viciously over unclean meats.
40:45
He mentions the Constantinian era.
40:47
Let's clarify the Constantinian era for context.
40:50
This is when the Roman Emperor Constantine legalized
40:53
Christianity in the 4th century, right?
40:55
The Church went from being violently persecuted to being
40:58
the favored religion of the empire, and Edwards notes that
41:02
during this transition, the zeal of the Christians turned into a
41:05
degree of improper severity and persecution against heathenism.
41:10
When they got power, their zeal became punitive.
41:13
And Edwards doesn't spare his own theological camp either.
41:17
He notes that in the Protestant Reformation, zeal frequently led
41:20
to improper severity, specifically naming the great
41:23
John Calvin. It is a phenomenal concession
41:25
for a Reformed theologian to make.
41:27
He is saying look at our theological heroes, look at
41:29
Calvin, look at the early Church Fathers.
41:31
They had true zeal, but it was heavily mixed with human
41:34
severity, blind spots, and error.
41:36
Which leads right into his next major point, the presence of
41:39
errors in judgement and actual delusions of Satan intermixed
41:43
with the work. Critics were observing the
41:45
revival and saying that because some people were believing false
41:48
doctrines or following impulses they incorrectly thought were
41:52
divine revelations, the whole revival must be a demonic
41:55
counterfeit. Edwards responds by adjusting
41:57
their theological expectations. He says we cannot expect the
42:01
Spirit of God to be given now in the 18th century in the same
42:04
infallible manner as he was given to the apostles to write
42:07
Scripture. He operates from the conviction
42:09
that the Canon of Scripture is closed.
42:12
So people will experience the influence of the Holy Spirit
42:15
illuminating their minds to understand the Bible, but they
42:18
will not have infallible doctrinal guidance downloaded
42:20
directly into their brains. They're still prone to
42:23
misinterpreting things. And Satan will absolutely take
42:26
advantage of that vulnerability. Edwards argues that the presence
42:29
of delusions of Satan is not an argument against a genuine work
42:32
of God, any more than the presence of false miracles in
42:35
Egypt proved that Moses wasn't sent by God.
42:38
He brings up Jonathan John Bruce.
42:40
Let's make sure everyone understands that reference.
42:43
Who are Janus and Jambras? They are traditionally
42:46
understood to be the Egyptian magicians who opposed Moses in
42:49
the Book of Exodus. When Moses threw down his staff
42:52
and it became a snake, they used their dark arts to make their
42:56
Staffs become snakes. When Moses turned the Nile to
42:59
blood, they used secret arts to counterfeit that plague.
43:03
They wrought false miracles by the power of the devil, right
43:06
alongside the true miracles of God.
43:08
Exactly. The devil counterfeiting the
43:10
work does not mean the work of Moses was fake.
43:13
Edward states a theological paradox here that is crucial for
43:17
any observer of a revival to grasp.
43:19
The same person can be the subject of the genuine
43:21
influences of the Holy Spirit, and yet in some specific areas
43:25
be LED away by the delusions of Satan.
43:28
He says grace dwells with so much corruption.
43:30
In the present state. The new man and the old man
43:33
subsist together in the same person.
43:35
The Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of the devil remain for
43:37
a while together in the same heart, fighting for territory.
43:40
It is the messy reality of the Christian condition.
43:42
Many godly people expose themselves to woeful delusions
43:45
because they lay too much weight on internal impulses.
43:48
They get a strong feeling and they treat it as an immediate
43:51
revelation from God, directing them where to go or what to do,
43:54
rather than testing it against Scripture.
43:57
And sometimes those delusions lead to total moral collapse,
44:01
which is the next major objection Edwards tackles.
44:05
What happens when people who were thought to be genuinely
44:07
converted fall away into gross theological errors or scandalous
44:12
moral practices? This is the ultimate weapon for
44:15
a skeptic. A prominent leader of the
44:17
revival falls into a massive moral scandal, or a vocal,
44:21
dramatic convert apostatizes and renounces the faith.
44:24
The critic points to the scandal and says, see, I told you the
44:27
whole movement is a sham. It's all fake.
44:29
But Edwards argues that the existence of counterfeits does
44:31
not prove that nothing is true. In fact, he argues that such
44:34
things are always to be expected in a time of great spiritual
44:37
reformation. Let's consider the listener here
44:39
who might be trying to process a scandal in their own modern
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church context. If Satan is actively producing
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counterfeits and prominent leaders are falling into
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scandalous sin, how is a regular everyday Christian supposed to
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trust the movement at all? Why not just become a cynic?
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Think of it like a financial system.
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If you find counterfeit $100 bills circulating in your city,
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does that mean the central bank is fake?
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Does it mean the entire concept of currency is a lie?
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No. No.
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Finding counterfeits actually proves the real currency holds
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tremendous value. Counterfeits only exist because
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the genuine article is worth copying.
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If the spiritual revival had no value, if it wasn't damaging his
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Kingdom, Satan wouldn't bother minting fake conversions and
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orchestrating scandals to discredit it.
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That analogy clarifies the dynamic perfectly.
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The existence of the fake proves the value of the real, and
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Edwards points out that church history is filled with these
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counterfeits. He notes that in the apostles
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days, instances of this were innumerable.
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Some believers fell into gross heresies and vile practices.
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Some were even teachers and officers in the church, endowed
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with miraculous gifts as mentioned in Hebrews chapter 6.
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He brings up the most devastating example possible,
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Judas Iscariot. Judas was one of the 12.
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He was constantly united with truly experienced disciples.
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He was treated by Jesus as a disciple.
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He was sent out to preach the Kingdom, and he was endued with
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miraculous gifts to heal the sick and cast out demons.
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Jesus knew his heart from the beginning.
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But Jesus acted as a minister of the visible Church, not
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rejecting him publicly until Judas's scandalous practice
46:13
exposed his internal treason. Edwards highlights the Judas
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narrative to give a warning to the critics.
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Do not act the part of the omniscient judge.
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We judge by visible fruits, but we cannot see the heart.
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If a Judas sneaks into the leadership of a revival, it is a
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tragedy, but it does not mean the other 11 apostles or frauds.
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It does not mean the gospel they are preaching is fake.
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He also mentions Nicholas, one of the original 7 deacons chosen
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by the church in Acts chapter 6. The Church chose him because he
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was looked upon as a man full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom.
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Yet historical traditions suggest he likely became the
46:49
head of the Nicolaitans, A vile heretical sect mentioned in the
46:52
Book of Revelation that Jesus says he hates.
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A spirit filled leader spawned a heresy.
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And Edwards pulls from the Protestant Reformation again,
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noting how men who initially seemed to join the reformers
47:04
fell away into absurd errors. He quotes a writer named Anthony
47:07
Burgess who noted that the early reformers faced bitter conflict
47:11
not just from traditionalists on the outside, but from wild
47:13
enthusiasts on the inside who pretended to be more enlightened
47:16
than the reformers themselves. These enthusiasts were radical
47:20
sectarians. They called those who stuck to
47:22
the clear teaching of Scripture litorists or vowelists, claiming
47:26
that the reformers had the dead letter of the text, but they
47:29
themselves have the living spirit.
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These wild enthusiasts caused massive divisions.
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They made the Reformation look abominable to the watching
47:37
world, and they even attacked Martin Luther, claiming he
47:40
preached A carnal gospel because he wouldn't endorse their chaos.
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Edwards notes that in England during the time of Oliver
47:47
Cromwell, and even in the purest early days of New England, these
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kinds of enthusiastic breakouts happened.
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The devil constantly sows tares among the wheat, but the devil
47:57
sowing tares in the field is no proof that the true wheat isn't
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growing gloriously alongside it. The messiness of the multitude
48:04
is a guarantee humans are deeply flawed, remaining corruption is
48:07
real, the devil is highly active, and the stakes of the
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conflict are infinitely high. Which brings us to the final,
48:13
and perhaps most controversial objection Edwards tackles.
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Because the stakes are so infinitely high and the threat
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of eternal judgement is real, the men tasked with leading this
48:25
movement must speak with a corresponding level of absolute
48:28
urgency. Critics were highly offended by
48:31
the preaching style of the awakening ministers.
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They argue that the revival was promoted by ministers insisting
48:37
very much on the terrors of God's holy law, and doing so
48:41
with a great deal of pathos, earnestness and loud volume.
48:44
We call it fire and brimstone preaching today.
48:47
Modern listeners generally despise it.
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They view it as manipulative, abusive scare tactics.
48:52
They want a polite, intellectual Ted talk style discourse on
48:55
morality and self improvement. But Edwards argues from the
48:58
foundational premise of the biblical text, if there's really
49:01
a hell of dreadful and never ending torments, and if
49:04
multitudes of people are in imminent danger of falling into
49:07
it because they lack a sense of its terribleness, why is it not
49:10
entirely proper to take great pains to make them sensible of
49:13
it? He operates on sheer logic here.
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He says, if I am in danger of going to hell, I should be glad
49:19
to know as much as possibly I can, of the dreadfulness of it.
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The Minister does the listener the greatest possible kindness
49:26
when he sets forth the misery and the danger in the liveliest,
49:30
most terrifying manner he is capable of.
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He uses a devastatingly simple analogy of a temporal calamity
49:36
to prove this point. He addresses the heads of
49:38
families directly. He says if you saw one of your
49:41
children in a house all on fire, in imminent danger of being
49:44
consumed in the flames, but the child was insensible to the
49:47
danger, maybe they were playing or sleeping and they were
49:49
ignoring your calls, would you go on speaking to them in a
49:52
cold, indifferent, conversational manner?
49:55
The answer is obvious to any parent.
49:57
You would cry aloud, You would scream, You would represent the
50:00
danger in the most lively, terrified manner you were
50:03
capable of. You would physically grab them
50:05
if you had to, he says. If you stood outside a burning
50:07
house. And spoke in an ordinary calm
50:09
tone of voice about the flames. The people around you would
50:12
think you were bereft of reason. Nature itself teaches men
50:15
otherwise. Let's expand on this analogy.
50:18
Because it is so relevant to how we communicate danger our daily
50:21
lives. Think about how a doctor
50:23
communicates. If a doctor sits you down and
50:26
calmly tells you about a fatal disease you have, that calm tone
50:30
seems professional because the threat, while deadly, is
50:34
internal and long term. You have months to process it.
50:38
But if you are walking across a busy intersection and a speeding
50:40
truck is about to hit you and a bystander on the curb just
50:43
casually remarks, excuse me, Sir, you might want to consider
50:46
taking a step backward. That bystander seems
50:49
psychopathic. The vocal urgency must match the
50:52
physical, immediate threat that is precisely Edward's.
50:55
Point He argues that preaching about the realities of hell in a
50:58
cold, indifferent manner is an act of contradiction of the
51:01
message he returns to his earlier philosophy.
51:04
Actions have a language. If a preacher's words say this
51:06
Interstate is infinitely dreadful, but his behavior and
51:09
his tone of voice contradict those words, showing he doesn't
51:12
actually feel the weight of what he is saying, he defeats his own
51:14
purpose. The congregation will invariably
51:17
believe the tone over the words. They will sit in the Pew and
51:20
think well. The minister says I am in danger
51:22
of eternal torment, but he looks like he's reading a grocery
51:25
list, so it must not be that big of a deal.
51:27
I don't mean to panic. Edwards does add a necessary
51:30
theological. Balance here deeply rooted in
51:33
his Reformed understanding of salvation.
51:36
He says the law only should not be preached.
51:39
The main work of ministers is to preach the gospel of grace.
51:42
Christ is the end of the law for righteousness.
51:45
If a minister insists so much on the terrors of the law that he
51:49
forgets his Lord and neglects to offer the gospel, he misses the
51:52
mark entirely and leaves people in despair.
51:55
But the sequence of the preaching is.
51:57
Vital The Law is to be preached to make way for the gospel.
52:00
The Law is the schoolmaster. He notes that the preaching of
52:03
the gospel of grace is likely to be entirely in vain without
52:07
first waking people up to the terrors of the Law.
52:09
You cannot offer a cure to someone who does not believe
52:12
they are sick. You cannot offer a pardon to a
52:14
man who does not believe if he has committed a crime.
52:17
He defends the earnestness, the loud.
52:19
Volume and the intense affection in speaking is beautiful because
52:22
it becomes the nature and weight of the subject.
52:25
He acknowledges there can be indecent boisterousness, a
52:28
preacher yelling just for the sake of yelling, where the
52:30
matter and manner don't match or they're just putting on a
52:33
theatrical show. But he staunchly defends the
52:36
concept of frightening people, the polite critics of his day
52:39
said. It is unreasonable to fright
52:41
persons to heaven, and Edwards responds with brilliant.
52:44
Clarity. I think it is a reasonable thing
52:46
to endeavor to fright persons away from hell.
52:49
They stand on it's very brink. They're completely senseless of
52:51
their danger. The word fright is commonly used
52:54
for sudden causeless fear, like a jump scare.
52:57
But a just fear where there is good reason and massive danger
53:01
should not be dismissed as a mere scare tactic.
53:04
It is a rescue tactic. It is an incredibly sobering.
53:07
Argument. It strips away all our modern
53:09
cultural pretenses about how religion is supposed to look and
53:13
sound. It demands that we align our
53:15
emotional and physical response with the actual theological
53:19
realities we claim to believe on paper.
53:21
If we believe the creed, why do we act like it's just a polite
53:24
social club? Which brings us to the
53:26
culmination of. All these negative signs.
53:29
Edwards has methodically dismantled the skeptical,
53:32
rationalist framework of his critics.
53:35
He has shown that a movement that is unusual, physically
53:38
overwhelming, loud, messy, socially controversial, and
53:42
driven by terrifyingly urgent preaching is completely
53:45
compatible with human nature reacting to actual divine truth.
53:49
Let's recap the main takeaways for the.
53:51
Listener drawing this all together based on Edward's
53:53
meticulous analysis, If you were looking at a genuine work of
53:56
God's spirit in your own day, you should not dismiss it just
53:59
because it is vastly unusual or breaks your traditional
54:02
paradigms. You should not dismiss it
54:04
because people are. Physically collapsing, trembling
54:07
or crying out under the weight of conviction.
54:09
You cannot dismiss it because it is.
54:10
Publicly noisy, disruptive to society, or because participants
54:15
have vivid, ecstatic imaginations as their brains try
54:18
to process the glory of God. You cannot write it off as mere
54:21
peer. Pressure.
54:22
Just because it spreads socially through the visible example of
54:25
others, you cannot dismiss it because it is.
54:26
Undeniably messy, filled with imprudent behavior, chaotic
54:31
meetings and zeal mixed heavily with human pride.
54:34
You cannot dismiss it because. There are theological errors,
54:38
people following delusions, or even prominent leaders and
54:41
converts falling into moral scandals and counterfeits.
54:44
And finally, you cannot dismiss it because.
54:46
The preachers are intensely emotional, loud and driven by
54:50
desperately urgent, terrifying warnings about the wrath of God.
54:53
It is a massive paradigm shift. It forces us to completely
54:57
reevaluate how we judge spiritual fruit, and it leaves
54:59
us with a highly provocative thought to Mull over.
55:02
I want you, the listener to look.
55:03
Closely at your own an internal criteria for what constitutes
55:07
acceptable or proper religion. Ask yourself an honest question.
55:11
Are your standards actually based on the messy, chaotic,
55:14
vibrant and dangerous reality presented in the pages of
55:17
scripture? Or are your standards just based
55:20
on your own cultural comfort zone, your desire for order and
55:23
a preference for polite society? That is the real challenge
55:27
Edwards poses. To every generation, if the
55:29
Spirit of God swept through your city today, bringing loud
55:32
crying, people fainting in the grocery store, Mass of public
55:35
disruption and absolute terrifying urgency, would you
55:39
have the biblical discernment to recognize it?
55:41
Or would you be the first person to write a blog post rejecting
55:44
it simply because it was too loud and broke your neat,
55:47
orderly categories? We all like the idea of a clean
55:49
X-ray. We want the binary neat lines
55:51
that tell us exactly what is happening without any mess but
55:54
the reality of a corrupt. Human soul colliding with the
55:58
infinite glory and terror of a holy God is not a clean X-ray.
56:03
It is an overwhelming biological, sociological and
56:07
psychological short circuit. It is those diagnostic Muddy
56:10
Waters we talked about at the very beginning of the hour and
56:13
what Jonathan Edwards is telling us from.
56:15
Across the centuries is this do not be afraid of the mud.
56:18
The mud just means the living water is actually moving.
56:21
A staggering way to look at it. Thank you for.
56:23
Joining us for this deep dive. On reformed thinking, keep
56:26
examining the text, keep challenging your own cultural
56:28
assumptions, and we will see you next time.