Latest / Reformed Thinking / When the Church Flourishes: Redemption in an Age of Peace | Jonathan Edwards

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When the Church Flourishes: Redemption in an Age of Peace | Jonathan Edwards · Reformed Thinking

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Welcome back to Reform Thinking. It's good to be here.
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Today we're doing another deep dive and this one, well, it's a
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big one. We're getting to eschatology.
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The End Times, Yeah. And specifically, we're looking
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at it through the eyes of Jonathan Edwards.
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That's right. Our main source is his work
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History of the Work of Redemption, and what's so
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compelling about it is that it's not just a commentary, it's more
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like a blueprint. A systematic one, yeah.
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He maps everything out, you know, from Christ's resurrection
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all the way to the final judgment.
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It's probably one of the most structured views you'll find in
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Reformed thought about how the latter days are actually
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supposed to unfold. And the structure he lays out is
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just fascinating. He splits the final age of the
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world into these two, well, these two completely distinct
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phases, right? First you get this long glorious
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period of peace and prosperity for the Church.
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He calls it the Kingdom of Heaven on earth.
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But then, and this is the surprising part, it's followed
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by this very short, very intense season of rebellion, the Great
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Apostasy. So our mission today really is
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to get into the nuts and bolts of that vision.
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Yeah, to unpack it. And we're going to structure our
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discussion exactly the way he did.
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We'll look at those two periods. So for anyone out there who's
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ever, you know, wrestled with apocalyptic texts or just
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wondered how historical reformed theology sees it all coming
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together? This gives you a map.
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It's a clear, scripturally grounded map.
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We're jumping into the time right after the destruction of
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Antichrist, but just before the very end of the world.
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OK, so let's start there. Let's unpack this first big
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section, what Edwards calls the principal time of the Kingdom of
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Heaven. The stage is set, Antichrist is
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defeated and the church is supposed to enter this long
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period peace. So where exactly are the
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boundaries of this era and why does he call it the principal
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time? Why elevate it like that?
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Well, the time frame is pretty fixed.
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It kicks off right after the final historical fall of
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Antichrist, and it ends, I mean, it ends moments before Christ
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appears in the clouds for the final judgement.
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But that word principal, that's the key.
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Edwards is very deliberate there.
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He knows and he says that the Kingdom of heaven was, you know,
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set up after Christ's resurrection.
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Right Pentecost was a huge. Moment.
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A massive moment and then you see another big step forward
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with Constantine when the official persecution stops.
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So those are glorious times for sure, but you're saying Edward
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sees them as not the main event? Exactly.
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He argues that this period we're about to discuss, this thousand
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year era, is, and he says it this way most properly, the time
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of the Kingdom of heaven on earth.
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So the Apostolic age, the peace under Constantine, what were
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they? Just precursors.
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Forerunners preparatory steps. They were, you know, setting the
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stage, maybe giving a little picture of what a true global
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success for the church might look like, but they just didn't
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have the scale. OK, but why that specific
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qualifier? Most properly, What makes this
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final age so much more real, I guess, than the outpouring of
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the Spirit at Pentecost? That seems like a pretty high
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bar to clear. It comes down to the scope of
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Old Testament prophecy. I mean, think about the language
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you get from Isaiah or Daniel or Jeremiah when they talk about
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the latter days. It's all about universal
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dominion, total peace. Right.
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And this kind of spiritual illumination that fundamentally
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changes the world. Edward's point is that those
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prophetic descriptions are just too high, too sweeping to really
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fit anytime before this one. So you're saying previous
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fulfillments were sort of partial incomplete?
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Incomplete. Yeah, they were localized.
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They were always checkered with persecution, with doctrinal
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confusion, with political corruption always creeping in.
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The Kingdom was there, but it was struggling.
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It was growing inside a hostile world.
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A profoundly hostile world. This latter day period, though,
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this is the main fulfillment. And he gives this really helpful
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analogy. He says the previous times were
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the seed time, the planting, the planting, the cultivating.
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You see the first little sprouts.
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But this glorious period, this is the harvest.
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That analogy changes everything. A harvest isn't just more
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growth. It's it's maturity, it's the
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goal, it's abundance. It's the full flourishing of the
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faith on a global scale, the glorious day of the Gospel.
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He's saying that if the seed time was about suffering and
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planting in tears, the harvest is about joy.
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It's about gathering in the fruit of centuries of Christ's
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work. It means the world itself
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finally becomes conducive to piety.
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Exactly. It's the time when Christ
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finally receives the full, visible reward of his suffering
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across the entire globe. That sets an incredibly high bar
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for what we're about to discuss. We aren't just talking about a
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revival. This is an established worldwide
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reality. That's right.
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And Edwards, you know, being the systematic thinker he was, he
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lays out eight specific characteristics of this glorious
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time, all drawn from Scripture. They paint a picture that,
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honestly, it really challenges our modern cynicism about the
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world. So where do we start?
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We start with intellectual and theological clarity, with light.
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OK, so the first characteristic light and knowledge, Edwards
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says. Our present time is basically
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darkness compared to what's coming.
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The first one is great light. The light will be so pervasive,
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so exceptional, it's described as if there will be, you know,
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literally no night, only day. Meaning no more periods of deep
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theological confusion, no spiritual dark ages.
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That's the idea, the kind of lethargy and ignorance that has
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so often plagued the church it it just ceases to exist.
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There's a consistency to the light.
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He pulls from Zechariah on this right, the line that says at
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evening time it shall be light. I always took that to mean,
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well, an absolute consistency. You don't have those spiritual
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ups and downs. The light doesn't fade.
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That's it exactly. The gospel light doesn't wane
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based on the political climate or the economy.
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It stays at this constant high intensity.
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And more than that, it's great. It's superseding.
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What do you mean by that? He says the spiritual light
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given to the church will so far exceed the glory of the sun and
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the moon that they will literally be ashamed.
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That's from Isaiah. That's incredible figurative
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language. So he doesn't mean the actual
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sun gets dimmer. No, no, he means that the moral
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and intellectual brilliance, the sheer glory coming from the
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Church, from its wisdom and holiness, it will make all other
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sources of glory look pale in comparison.
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All political splendor, all human achievement.
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It just gets eclipsed. It completely resets the world's
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priorities. Today we might see human
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ingenuity or great wealth as the pinnacle, but in the latter
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days, the light of divine truth will make all of that look,
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well, common. Dim, which flows right into the
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second characteristic, then universal illumination.
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He talks about the destruction of the veil.
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Yes, from Isaiah 25. The veil that is spread over all
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nations will be destroyed. And what is that veil,
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theologically speaking? It's the spiritual and mental
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blindness. It's the lack of access to
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truth, the misunderstandings of scripture, the false religions.
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It's everything that keeps the world in darkness right now.
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Destroying it means those barriers just fall down.
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Truth becomes universally accessible and just as
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important. Understood.
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And he applies this geographically, which for his
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time is really remarkable. He specifically calls out places
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he considered most ignorant, Africa, Ethiopia, Tartary and
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says they will be full of light. It just shows you how
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comprehensive this vision is. No corner of the earth is left
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out of the harvest. He had this incredibly hopeful
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view for the spread of, you know, genuine deep theology far
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beyond the old centers of Europe.
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There's a specific detail he includes that always gets me.
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It feels so far ahead of its time.
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He talks about his hope that many of the Negroes and Indians
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will be divine, and that excellent books, theological
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works will be published in what he called barbarous countries.
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And that detail is so central to what he's saying.
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It's not just about conversion, it's about elevation.
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It means access to the highest levels of intellectual and
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spiritual leadership is based purely on spiritual merit, not
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on race or geography. He's imagining a world where the
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centers of theological gravity could be anywhere.
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And this knowledge isn't just for the elite, right?
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That brings us to the next point about this light widespread
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understanding. Absolutely.
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The democratization of knowledge is total.
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He points to Jeremiah 31. All shall know the Lord, from
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the least of them unto the greatest.
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So ordinary people will be deeply knowledgeable in matters
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of religion. And we're not talking about just
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reciting catechisms. We're talking about a deep,
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experimental, systematic understanding of divine truth
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being common among all sorts of people.
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That would just change the entire dynamic of the church.
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You wouldn't need constant elementary instruction.
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Right, because the fundamentals are understood by everyone.
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It frees up the church to explore the deeper things of
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God. And that leads right to his last
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point on illumination, doctrinal clarity.
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Yes, the end of theological arguments.
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Well, maybe not the end of discussion, but the end of the
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confusion, he says. There will be a wonderful
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unraveling of doctrinal difficulties, those seeming
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inconsistencies that have plagued the church for
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centuries. They get cleared up.
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That would be a massive blessing considering the history of
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schism and division. It would be he uses this
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metaphor. Crooked things shall be made
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straight, and rough places shall be made plain.
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Imagine the most difficult debates in church history.
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Divine sovereignty and human responsibility, for instance,
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Those things that cause so much division today, he says.
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They'll be clarified. And it's clarity leads to new
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discoveries in Scripture. Yes, a deeper understanding of
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the truth that's already there. He connects this to the removal
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of the veil and the discovery of the Ark of the Testimony.
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From the Book of Revelation. That's right, from Revelation
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11. At the proclamation of Christ's
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Kingdom, the temple of God is opened in heaven, and the ark of
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His testament is seen. The Ark which was always hidden
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away in the Holy of Holies, almost never seen.
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Exactly. It represented God's presence
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and covenant truth, but it was shrouded in mystery.
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So for it to be revealed like that, it signifies that the
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mysteries of the faith, the things we only see dimly now,
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will be understood with a clarity and consensus that is
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just. While it's unimaginable for us,
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the whole system of truth just snaps into focus.
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So this first phase of the Millennium is marked by a
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global, pervasive, unprecedented understanding of truth.
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Now we shift from the intellectual to the moral.
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Yes, from the mind to the heart and society.
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We start with the third characteristic, great holiness.
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So it's not just that people know the truth, they live it.
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They live it consistently. Vital religion, he says, shall
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everywhere prevail and reign. It's no longer an empty nominal
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profession, which, let's be honest, Edward saw that as the
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norm in his own day. Here, holiness of heart and life
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becomes the standard. And this goes against the grain
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of so much of church history where the narrow way is found by
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few. He's saying this will be a
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massive exception of that rule. He even sites Isaiah.
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The people also should be all righteous.
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We have to be a little careful there.
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That doesn't mean every single person on the planet is
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genuinely saved, but it means that visible public wickedness,
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you know, flagrant time, open blasphemy, all of that is so
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thoroughly suppressed that the general appearance of the world
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is 1 of righteousness. True holiness becomes the
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governing norm for society. And the quality of this holiness
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is also raised the eminence of grace.
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Staggeringly so. Godly people will be numerous,
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and their grace will be extraordinary.
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Edwards points to Zechariah 12 here, which says he that is
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feeble among them at that day shall be as David.
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As David, that sets the bar for the average believer at the
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level of one of the greatest Saints in history.
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That's almost unbelievable. It implies a degree of constant
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communion with God and consistent victory over sin that
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makes our current experience look like spiritual infancy.
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And this holiness isn't just for Sunday.
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It seeps into every part of daily life.
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This is the part that really connects the spiritual to the
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material, isn't it? The sanctification of daily
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life. Holiness inscribed on
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everything. On common business, on your job,
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on the tools you use. This is where you get the idea
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of a consecrated economy. Every action is done to the
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glory of God. Commerce, crafts, household
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management, all the things we struggle to dedicated to God
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now, they will be entirely set apart for holy purposes.
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He cites Isaiah and Zechariah on this.
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The idea that merchandise and her hire shall be holiness to
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the Lord. The marketplace basically
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becomes a temple. And given Edwards Puritan
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background, he means that quite literally.
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It's the end of pursuing profit for selfish gain.
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The entire purpose of commerce shifts from covetousness to
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service. People make money not to hoard
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it or to feed their pride, but to expand the Kingdom, to fund
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charity, to glorify God. It completely reverses the usual
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order. Wealth and business are no
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longer seen as temptations to be managed, but as tools to be
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purified and used. It's a total consecration of the
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world's resources to Christ. And that leads perfectly into
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the 4th characteristic religion uppermost, the dominion of the
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Saints, right? Historically, the Saints have
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been the persecuted ones, ruled by wicked or indifferent men.
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Now that flips. The Kingdom is given to the
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Saints of the Most High God. That's from Daniel 7.
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They will live and reign with Christ 1000 years.
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So in this era, true piety becomes the main qualification
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for civil leadership. It does.
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Those who are prominent for vital religion are promoted to
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places of trust and authority. Vital religion takes over the
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palaces and Thrones. The highest levels of government
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are occupied by holy men seeking the common good and the honor of
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Christ. Which changes the very role of a
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ruler. He quotes Isaiah, Kings shall be
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thy nursing fathers, and their Queens thy nursing mothers.
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They use their secular power, their money, their influence,
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not for themselves, but specifically to advance Christ's
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honor and care for the Church. And this extends to all wealthy
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and powerful people, great merchants, nobles, they devote
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their wealth to Christ. He uses the image from Psalm 45
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of Tyre bringing a gift. Yes, Tyre, the great historical
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symbol of worldly commercial power and pride, now submits its
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economic might to Christ. Wealth stops being a source of
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corruption and becomes an engine for holy service.
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OK. So we've have light and
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holiness. What's next?
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Next is the relational change, which might be the most
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appealing part of this whole vision.
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Peace and love. Universal Peace.
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Total universal peace among nations.
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It completely replaces the constant state of war and
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conflict that has defined human history.
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This is the Swords into Plowshares era from Isaiah 2.
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Nations don't just sign peace treaties, they literally forget
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how to make war. It becomes an obsolete skill.
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And the change is physical to the instruments of war are
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themselves destroyed. Psalm 46 talks about God making
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wars cease breaking the bow, burning the chariot.
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The very tools of conflict vanish.
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All that energy and all those resources get redirected into
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peaceful, productive work. And this peace isn't just
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between nations, it goes all the way down to the societal level,
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the end of internal conflict. Exactly.
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Malice, envy, wrath, revenge, all of it is suppressed.
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People dwell in peaceable habitation, as Isaiah 32 says.
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Can you imagine the sheer emotional relief of that
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absolute security? Christian virtues like meekness
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and forgiveness, just. To the point that people in
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their basic disposition become like the Lamb of God.
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And what's really striking here is the vision of global unity.
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The entire world becomes one amiable society.
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Not just a political alliance, but a spiritual one.
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Yes, it's about mutual spiritual assistance.
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There's constant communication between all parts of the world,
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sharing knowledge, promoting the common good.
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Edwards even notes that the art of navigation, which in his day
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was so often used for greed and empire.
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Colonial exploitation. Trade wars.
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All of that, he says, even that will be consecrated and used for
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holy purposes, for mission and mutual encouragement.
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Global travel serves the Kingdom.
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So within this unity there must be abundant charity.
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Constant, abundant expressions of love through charitable
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deeds. Generosity becomes the norm, not
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the surprising exception. It's a world saturated with
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active, genuine benevolence. It's a powerful picture of moral
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renewal. Let's move to the last three
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characteristics. These seem to deal with
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structure, appearance and the temporal results of all this.
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That's right, the 6th characteristic is excellent
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order. After centuries of fighting
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about church government, the true government and discipline
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of the Church are finally settled and put into practice
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everywhere. So no more denominations.
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The need for them just disappears.
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The vision is that the whole world becomes essentially one
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church, 1 orderly, regular, beautiful society perfectly come
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packed together. It's a natural outcome of
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everyone knowing the truth and wanting to live it.
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The internal selfishness that causes schism and chaos is gone.
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And because of this perfect order and the holiness and the
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light, you get the 7th characteristic, beauty and
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glory. The Church appears in the
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perfection of beauty. This is a visible external
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glory. It is, he says the church will
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be covered with the robe of righteousness as a bridegroom
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decketh himself with ornaments. The goal is for the church to be
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the greatest image of heaven on earth, a tangible manifestation
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of Christ's rule. That's just attractive,
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irresistibly beautiful, and it's moral excellence.
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And all of this spiritual health leads to tangible physical
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benefits. The 8th characteristic, temporal
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prosperity. And this isn't the primary goal,
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but it's an natural result. When you're free from war and
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theft and envy and sloth, you're going to be prosperous.
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This includes things like better health and longer life.
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Yes, Zechariah 8 speaks of old men and women dwelling in the
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streets, leaning on their Staffs because of their great age.
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The stress and chaos and sin that caused so much disease and
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premature death are just reversed.
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This leads to ease quietness and a great increase in children.
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The streets are full of boys and girls playing.
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It's a picture of total domestic security and demographic health.
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And this prosperity isn't just a natural byproduct, it's
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amplified by a special, direct blessing from heaven.
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They'll build houses and live in them, plant vineyards and eat
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the fruit. There's that image from Micah 4
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of everyone sitting under their own vine and fig tree with no
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one to make them afraid. It's total security.
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The curse of Adam is dramatically curtailed.
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They reap what they sow and enjoy the full abundance of
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God's goodness. Edwards even says that the
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famous wealth of Solomon's day was just a faint shadow of the
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temporal prosperity of this era. And finally, all of this is
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marked by great rejoicing and duration.
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Yes, it's a time of everlasting joy.
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It's the church's great wedding day with Christ on earth, a time
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of unbroken spiritual festival. And, crucially, it lasts.
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It's not a short revival. This is a 1000 years. 1000
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years. It's an eternal Excellency, a
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joy of many generations. This is the established long
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term reign of righteousness where peace and light are just
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the reality for human society. So if we pull all that together,
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we have a Millennium of intellectual clarity, moral
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perfection, global peace, consecrated economies, and
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physical blessing. It's the closest thing to a
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restored Eden the world will see.
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That's a perfect way to put it. Which makes what comes next so
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hard to understand. If humanity lives for 1000 years
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in that kind of state, how is it possible for things to go wrong?
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Why the sudden shocking reversal?
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This is the dramatic hinge of the whole system.
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Right at the end of this long period of glory, you get a
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complete and rapid shift. Revelation 20 is clear.
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Satan must be loose for a little season after the 1000 years are
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up. So the external restraints on
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evil are removed just for a moment, and the capacity for
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sin, which was always there in the human heart, just.
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Erupts. It erupts.
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Satan goes out to deceive the nations in the four quarters of
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the Earth, Gog and Magog. And this isn't a small
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rebellion. No, the scale is massive.
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The number of enemies is as the sand of the sea to cover the
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breadth of the earth. We're talking about a majority
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of the world turning against the established Kingdom of Christ.
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Which means that after this glorious season, the world again
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becomes a scene of darkness and wickedness.
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And the scale of that wickedness is terrifying.
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Let's drill down on the cause of this because it's so
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counterintuitive. They were living in a near
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perfect world. Why choose rebellion?
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Edwards points the finger directly at prosperity.
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He says that mankind, after living so long in peace and
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security and wealth, begins to abuse their prosperity to serve
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their lust and corruption. They forget where the blessings
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came from. They forget it's the same old
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cycle from the Old Testament, magnified by the greatest
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privileges ever known. The blessings of the Millennium
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become the tools of rebellion. The perfect peace leads to
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spiritual softness. The perfect knowledge leads to
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intellectual arrogance. The wealth is diverted back to
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luxury and lust. The bottomless pit opens again,
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as he puts it. And a dreadful smoke darkens the
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world. The moral temperature just
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plummets, and the Church, which had covered the whole world, is
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suddenly reduced to narrow limits.
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Again, it shrinks back. Dramatically, and these huge
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armies of apostates immediately mount a powerful opposition.
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They gather for battle and they compass the camp of the Saints
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about and the beloved city. The church seems like it's about
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to be completely swallowed up. But here's the crucial nuance
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Edwards pulls out of the text. The prophecy says they will
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threaten and besiege the church, but God will not let it fall
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into their hands. So this is different from the
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time of Antichrist when the Saints were overcome.
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It's different. The church is pushed to the
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absolute last extremity. It's surrounded, outnumbered,
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facing what looks like certain annihilation.
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But it is divinely preserved right up to the very last
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moment. The day of the church's morning
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is not allowed to return. It's a state of agonizing
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tension, the final catastrophic test.
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That's right. And the circumstances of this
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test are what cry out for Christ's immediate appearance.
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Everything is now pointing to that final moment.
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So what are the factors that make his return so necessary
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right at that point? Well, the first is just the
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sheer wickedness of the sin itself.
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It's profoundly aggravated. This isn't the rebellion of
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ignorant heathens. These are people who are turning
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against Christ after enjoying the greatest light and the
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highest privileges imaginable. They saw God's goodness, they
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lived in his peace, they understood His truth, and they
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chose to reject it. That makes their choice uniquely
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evil, and Edwards makes this really sobering comparison.
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He says this apostasy is most like the apostasy of the devils
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who fell, even though they have the direct, unclouded light of
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heaven. To enjoy the Millennium and then
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try to destroy its source, that earns the swiftest possible
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judgment. And their wickedness is on full
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display. Open, scoffing blasphemy.
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This is the final fulfillment of Second Peter 3, the scoffers who
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come in the last days saying where is the promise of his
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coming? They're not just indifferent,
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they are aggressively contemptuous of the idea of
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judgement. Completely.
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They trample on the warnings, give themselves over to their
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lusts, and act like there are no consequences.
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It's just like the days of Noah and Lot and this contempt
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combined with their violent plan against the City of God.
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It just cries out for immediate vengeance.
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And we have to remember the population size here.
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The world is more full of people than it has ever been because
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1000 years of peace meant no wars, no great plagues to reduce
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the numbers. The world is at its peak
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population, and the major part of that population is made-up of
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these wicked, contemptuous apostates.
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So in terms of sheer volume of wickedness, the world is worse
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than it has ever been before. Edwards draws a stark conclusion
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from that If the Old World sin called for a flood of water,
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this sin calls for a deluge of fire.
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The judgment has to fit the crime.
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And finally, the circumstances of the Church itself call for
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Christ's return. They are surrounded, facing the
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last extremity. All earthly hope is gone.
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It's gone. Their distress is total.
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Their only hope is in God's direct intervention, and
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Providence has arranged it this way.
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The Church is preserved right up until the moment Christ appears
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in the glory of the Father. And that appearance is the final
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curtain. It's the end of conversion.
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The absolute end. Never again will a single soul
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be converted. Every single one of the elect
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whose names were written in the Book of Life will have been
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brought in. Not one will be lost.
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The Mystical Body of Christ is finally complete.
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Complete as to the number of its members.
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The work of redemption in that sense is finished.
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The purpose for which all the means of grace were ever
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instituted has been achieved. And the curtain falls on
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history, with the elect secured and their enemies gathered for
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judgement. So we've traced this incredible
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arc in Edwards vision. We started with the principal
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Kingdom of Heaven, this time of amazing light, holiness, and
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peace, and we followed it all the way to that great reversal,
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the final ultimate test of the Church.
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And that structured approach, you know, based so heavily on
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Scripture, it gives you a complete framework.
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And there's a strange comfort in it, isn't there?
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Even though the final challenge is massive and terrifying, the
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church's deliverance is guaranteed and it's
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instantaneous. I think what stands out the most
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to me in all this is the idea that 1000 years of unparalleled
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spiritual privilege, of peace and knowledge, it does not and
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cannot regenerate fallen human nature.
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That is a profoundly sobering thought.
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If the world's most glorious period, the harvest time, the
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absolute height of human blessing, still leads to the
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final and worst apostasy, what does that tell you about the
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stubbornness of the human heart, even when it's surrounded by
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every possible advantage? It forces you to ask where your
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hope is really placed. True peace and glory on Earth
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don't abolish sin, they only restrain it until that final
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appointed test. The failure of the Millennium as
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a permanent state shows that the final solution can't come from
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human effort, even consecrated effort.
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It can only come from Christ's sudden, glorious and decisive
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appearance. That's right, a heavy thought to
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leave you with, but one that grounds our hope not in the
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progress of the world, but solely in Christ's final
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triumphant return as judge and deliverer.
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Thank you for joining us for this deep dive into the latter
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days. Until next time.