Latest / Reformed Thinking / The Lion Who Is a Lamb: Glory United With Meekness (Revelation 5:5–6) | Jonathan Edwards

Transcript

The Lion Who Is a Lamb: Glory United With Meekness (Revelation 5:5–6) | Jonathan Edwards · Reformed Thinking

0:00
Welcome back to Reform thinking it is good to be with you again.
0:02
Good to be here. I am here with my friend and
0:05
colleague and as always, we are cracking open the books, looking
0:09
at the history of our faith and trying to get a better handle on
0:13
what we actually believe. We are two believers who stand
0:17
firm on the Westminster Confession, and we are convinced
0:21
that good theology is not just for the seminary classroom.
0:25
No, not at all. It is for the breakfast table.
0:27
It is for the commute. It is for real life.
0:29
That is the whole goal. We are not just dusting off old
0:32
books for the sake of, you know, nostalgia, right?
0:35
We do it because these older voices often saw things we have,
0:39
I think, stopped looking for. They had a way of staring at the
0:43
scriptures until the image became clear.
0:45
Well, we often just glance at it and move on.
0:47
We do. We're in a hurry.
0:49
Speaking of glancing and moving on, we have a source today that
0:51
I think is going to challenge a lot of assumptions.
0:53
OK, we are doing a deep dive into the works of Jonathan
0:57
Edwards. Now be honest when I say
0:59
Jonathan Edwards, what is the first image that hits your
1:02
brain? Oh, it's the spider.
1:04
It is always the spider. The spider dangling over the
1:07
pit. Right.
1:08
Most people, if they know Edwards at all, know him from
1:11
what? High school literature class.
1:12
Yeah, that's where I first heard of him.
1:14
They read sinners in the hands of an angry God.
1:17
They hear about the fire, the slippery slope, the wrath, and
1:21
they stop there. And they just file him away.
1:24
They file him away as this grumpy shouting puritan who
1:27
probably never smiled in his life.
1:29
Which is a tragedy, honestly, because while he certainly
1:32
preached on Wrath and he didn't pull any punches there, that is
1:36
such a small sliver of who the man was.
1:39
No, it is. It is like judging a grand
1:41
cathedral by looking at the gargoyle on the rain gutter.
1:43
That's a great way to put it. You are missing the stained
1:46
glass. You are missing the altar.
1:48
Edwards was arguably the greatest mind America ever
1:51
produced, but he was also a man deeply in love with the beauty
1:54
of God. So our job today is to look at
1:57
the stained glass. We're looking at a sermon titled
2:00
The Admirable Conjunction of Diverse Excellencies in Christ
2:04
Jesus. It's a mouthful.
2:05
Even the title sounds fancy. It sounds like a mouthful, but
2:08
but break it down. Admirable means something to be
2:11
wondered at. OK Conjunction means joining
2:14
together. Diverse excellencies means good
2:17
qualities that are different from each other.
2:19
So we are looking at how Jesus joins together things that,
2:24
well, usually do not go together.
2:26
Things that seem to contradict. And he anchors this whole idea
2:29
in a specific scene from the Bible, Revelation chapter 5.
2:32
Revelation 5 verses 5 and 6. This is the set up.
2:36
The apostle John is having a vision of heaven.
2:38
He sees God on the throne, and in God's right hand there is a
2:42
scroll or a book. Describe this book for us.
2:45
It is not a paperback. No, it's a scroll and Edwards
2:48
points out a few details. It is written on the front and
2:50
on the back, meaning it is full. No empty space.
2:53
There is no white space left and it is sealed with 7 seals. 7
2:57
being the number of perfection completion.
3:00
Correct. So this book represents the
3:02
eternal purposes of God. It holds the future.
3:05
It holds the outcome of history. It holds the final redemption of
3:09
the world. And it is locked down tight.
3:11
Super. And this creates a serious
3:13
problem in the vision. John reacts pretty emotionally.
3:17
He weeps, he says. I wept much.
3:19
Why the tears? Is he just curious about what's
3:22
in it? It is so much more than
3:24
curiosity. Think about it.
3:26
If that scroll stays sealed, history has no resolution.
3:31
Evil goes unpunished, suffering has no meaning.
3:34
God's people aren't vindicated. So if that book doesn't open.
3:38
That book doesn't open the Universe is just a random
3:40
sequence of tragic events with no conclusion.
3:43
John is weeping because it looks like there is no one worthy to
3:46
execute God's plan. It is a moment of total
3:49
hopelessness. He looks around.
3:51
Heaven, earth, under the earth. No one makes the cut.
3:53
No one, not Gabriel, not Moses, not David, no one has the
3:57
standing to take that squirrel from the hand of God.
3:59
But then one of the elders interrupts the crying and this
4:02
is the pivot point of the whole text.
4:04
The elder says weep not, and he makes an introduction.
4:08
He announces an arrival. He says, Behold, the lion of the
4:11
tribe of Judah, the root of David hath prevailed to open the
4:14
book. OK, so close your eyes and
4:17
imagine this. You're John.
4:19
You're crying. You hear a voice say look a
4:22
lion. You turn your head, expecting to
4:25
see a massive, roaring beast shaking his mane, teeth bared,
4:30
ready to tear things. Up.
4:31
You expect power. You expect a predator.
4:34
You expect majesty and ferocity. But when John actually looks,
4:39
what does the text say he sees? He sees a lamb, a lamb, and not
4:43
just a lamb standing there, a lamb as it had been slain.
4:46
He sees a small wounded animal. That swift hearing Lion, but
4:49
seeing Lamb, Yeah, that is the core of what Edwards is getting
4:53
at, isn't it? That is the whole argument that
4:55
visual shock is intentional. The Holy Spirit inspired John to
4:59
write it that way, to show us that Christ isn't just one
5:01
thing. He's not simple.
5:02
He is the conjunction. He's the meeting place of
5:05
attributes that seem like they should be enemies.
5:07
In our world, you are usually one or the other, Yeah, you are
5:10
the tough guy, the lion, the CEO who crushes the competition.
5:13
Or you are the lamb, the gentle soul, the pushover, right?
5:16
We categorize people. He is assertive, she is kind.
5:19
And we rarely see someone who is terrifyingly powerful and
5:23
incredibly gentle at the same moment.
5:26
But Edwards says Christ holds these diverse excellencies
5:29
together in perfect balance. Perfect balance.
5:32
Let's get into the specifics, then.
5:34
Edwards breaks this down into pairings.
5:37
The first one is obvious from the text The Lion and the Lamb.
5:40
Yeah, so think about the nature of a lion.
5:42
It is fierce. It has a voice that shakes the
5:45
ground. The king of Beasts.
5:46
Right. It represents sovereignty and
5:48
strength. It devours its enemies.
5:51
It's an image of judgement and royal authority.
5:54
And the lamb. The lamb is the complete
5:56
opposite. It is quiet, It is harmless.
5:59
It doesn't hunt. It is haunted.
6:02
Is prey. It is, Edwards notes, that a
6:04
lamb is good for food and clothing.
6:06
It exists to give of itself. It is a symbol of patience and
6:09
suffering and, of course, sacrifice.
6:11
So Christ is the Devourer and the sacrifice.
6:14
He is the King in the food. Precisely.
6:16
And if you have one without the other, you don't have Jesus.
6:18
What do you mean? Well, a lion without the lamb is
6:20
a tyrant, just raw power with no mercy.
6:23
And a lamb without the lion is a victim, just weakness, with no
6:28
authority to save. Christ is neither, He is both.
6:31
Edwards takes this animal metaphor and moves it into deep
6:34
theology. The next pairing he talks about
6:36
is infinite Highness and infinite condescension.
6:41
Now we need to define our terms here.
6:42
When he says Highness, he isn't talking about being tall.
6:46
No, he's talking about ontological status.
6:48
His being Edwards reminds us that Christ is the Creator.
6:52
He quotes Proverbs about ascending to heaven.
6:54
He talks about how the nations are like a drop in the bucket to
6:58
him. That is a wild image.
7:01
All of China, all of America, all of Rome.
7:03
Just a drop of water in a bucket.
7:05
It puts things in perspective. Edwards says.
7:08
That compared to Christ, all the kings of the earth are just
7:10
worms of the dust. OK, stop there.
7:12
The worm language. Edwards loves that word.
7:15
I feel like modern listeners recoil at that.
7:17
It sounds insulting. I get that reaction.
7:19
It sounds harsh years because we are obsessed with self esteem
7:22
right we. Don't want to be called worms
7:24
but. Edwards isn't trying to insult
7:26
humanity's value, he is trying to describe the scale.
7:29
Scale, yes, if you compare a single human to the being who
7:34
spoke the galaxies into existence.
7:37
Worm is actually a generous comparison.
7:41
The gap between infinite and finite is immeasurable, so.
7:45
He establishes that Christ is infinitely high.
7:47
He is at the top of the pyramid. He is above the pyramid.
7:50
He made the pyramid, but. Then comes the conjunction
7:52
infinite condescension. Usually the higher up you go on
7:56
the corporate ladder or the social ladder, the harder you
7:59
are to reach that. Is human nature, that is our
8:02
sinfulness. And Edwards uses a brilliant and
8:05
kind of funny analogy here. He talks about the bigger worm.
8:08
I love this part. Break it down for us, he says.
8:11
Imagine a worm on a dunghill. Lovely.
8:13
Image right? If that worm has a slightly
8:15
bigger dunghill than the worm next to him, or if he is
8:18
slightly longer, he starts to feel proud.
8:20
He puffs himself up. He thinks I am too important to
8:23
talk to that little worm that. Is us that is, totally us it is.
8:27
We get a promotion or a little fame or a bigger house and
8:30
suddenly we are too busy for the people we used to know.
8:32
We distance ourselves to protect our status.
8:34
But. Christ doesn't do that.
8:36
No, and this is the shock. Christ, who has the only
8:40
legitimate reason to be distant because he is actually
8:43
infinitely better than us, is the one who comes the closest.
8:46
He. Has sufficient condescension to
8:48
notice the lowest rank, Yes. He doesn't just notice them, he
8:51
Stoops to them. Edwards.
8:53
Lists who he pays attention to. It isn't just the kings and the
8:56
high priests. No, it's.
8:57
The beggars, it is the blind, it is the lepers.
8:59
He mentions little children. Suffer the little children to
9:03
come unto me and. In the ancient world, children
9:05
were what at the bottom of the social ladder, they.
9:08
Were seen as non persons in a way they had no status.
9:11
A king shouldn't waste his time with toddlers, but Christ
9:14
welcomes them and it goes. Beyond just being nice to them
9:17
so much. Further, he becomes.
9:18
One of them that. Is the ultimate condescension.
9:21
He doesn't just visit the worms on the dunghill.
9:23
He becomes a worm in the language of Psalm 22.
9:27
I am a worm and no man. Wow, he takes on the nature of
9:32
the creature he made and allows those creatures to spit on him
9:35
it. Is a stunning picture you have
9:38
the one who is worshipped by angels washing the feet of a
9:42
fisherman who is about to betray him that.
9:44
Is the admirable conjunction infinite height meeting infinite
9:48
lowliness OK? Let's move to the next pairing.
9:50
This one is heavy. Infinite Justice and Infinite
9:54
Grace this. Is the engine of Reformed
9:56
theology right here at Central? Also, we have to understand that
9:59
Christ as God is the Judge. He loves righteousness.
10:04
That means he has to hate sin, I think.
10:07
People struggle with that. They think, well, if God is
10:09
love, he just ignores the bad stuff or he just, you know,
10:13
sweeps it under the rug. But a?
10:14
Judge who ignores crime isn't loving, he is corrupt.
10:18
If someone hurt your family and the judge said, hey, I am a
10:20
loving guy, I will let him go. You would be furious.
10:23
You would. Scream for justice of.
10:25
Course God is the perfect judge, Edwards says he will by no means
10:29
clear the guilty his justice is perfect and has to be satisfied
10:33
so that. Creates A terrifying situation
10:36
for us because we are the guilty, right?
10:38
If we are looking at the line of justice, we should be eaten, we
10:41
should be devoured, but. Here is the conjunction he.
10:44
Is also infinitely gracious. He wants to save the Sinner.
10:47
He delights in showing mercy. So how does he do?
10:50
Both. How do you punish the crime but
10:52
save the criminal? That seems like a legal
10:54
contradiction you take. The punishment yourself, that is
10:56
the only solution. Edwards points out that Christ's
10:59
grace wasn't cheap, wasn't a wave of the hand.
11:03
It wasn't just forgiveness without payment.
11:05
It was an expensive grace he had to pay.
11:07
For it, he paid. With his own blood he satisfied
11:10
the justice that he loved so that he could extend the grace
11:13
that he loved. So he.
11:14
Wasn't turning one off to turn the other on, no.
11:16
Both were running at full capacity at the cross.
11:19
He upheld justice completely and showed grace completely at the
11:23
same time. So when?
11:24
We look at Jesus, we are seeing the judge who condemns sin and
11:27
the Savior who rescues the Sinner wrapped in the same
11:30
person. Spot on.
11:31
That's. It the next one Edwards mentions
11:34
is glory and humility. Now help me out here.
11:37
I always assume God is humble, but Edwards makes a distinction.
11:41
He says God the Father technically cannot be humble.
11:44
Why? It's a.
11:45
Definition issue. Humility, properly defined, is a
11:49
creaturely virtue, A. Creaturely virtue it means.
11:52
Knowing your place. It means recognizing that you
11:54
are small compared to God. It means submission to a
11:58
superior and God. Has no superior.
12:00
Correct. For God the Father to feel small
12:03
or subordinate would be a lie. It would be untruthful.
12:06
So God in his divine essence cannot be humble in that
12:10
specific sense. He is not a creature.
12:13
The. Christ, Christ.
12:14
Is the conjunction. Because he takes on human
12:16
nature, he can now perform the virtue of humility, and because
12:20
he is also God, his humility has infinite value.
12:24
So. He is the only person in the
12:25
universe who is worthy of all glory.
12:28
Philippians 2 equal with God and yet is the supreme example of
12:33
humility. Yes.
12:34
He is the king living in a stable.
12:36
He is the creature Creator submitting to death.
12:37
You see the highest glory and the deepest humility happening
12:40
in the same life at the same time.
12:42
It is. Mind bending.
12:43
When you really stop to think about it, it should.
12:45
Be It's meant to make a stop and wonder.
12:46
Let's hit. Majesty in meekness, OK?
12:48
So majesty is the lion's side, Edwards quote Psalm 45.
12:52
Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O most mighty warrior.
12:55
King this. Is the warrior Christ the one
12:58
who walks on water? The one who commands the storms,
13:02
the one who makes the mountains melt like wax.
13:05
Pure, terrifying authority and. Meekness.
13:08
I feel like that word gets a bad rap today it.
13:10
Does we equate it with weakness? Yeah, being a doormat, but.
13:13
That's not the biblical idea at all.
13:15
Edwards defines it beautifully. He calls it a calmness of spirit
13:20
in a tempestuous world. I like that.
13:22
Calmness in a storm it's. The ability to be insulted and
13:26
not lose your temper, to be reviled and not reviled back.
13:30
Think about Jesus at his trial. He has the power to melt the
13:34
faces off the soldiers hitting him.
13:36
That is majesty, right? He.
13:37
Could have called legions of angels, but he.
13:39
Stands there silent, taking the blows that is meekness.
13:42
So it's. Not the absence of power.
13:44
It is power under control, absolute.
13:46
Control the strongest person in the room being the calmest.
13:50
Edwards rattles off a few more rapid fire paradoxes.
13:53
I want to touch on them quickly because they add so much color
13:55
to this portrait. He talks about reverence,
13:57
inequality, this. Is the mystery of the Trinity
14:00
playing out in real time? How so?
14:02
You see Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane.
14:04
He is on his knees, He is praying, He is showing total
14:08
reverence to the Father, He is acting like a subordinate.
14:11
But. Theologically, we know.
14:12
We know. He is of the same substance as
14:14
the Father. He is equal in power and glory.
14:17
So you. Have the equal 1 showing
14:19
reverence to his equal. It is a beautiful picture of
14:23
love within the Godhead, submission and authority
14:26
coexisting perfectly then. There is worthiness and
14:29
patience. He was.
14:30
Worthy of only good. He deserved A ticker tape parade
14:34
every day of his life. That's what he was owed, right?
14:36
But he was patient with the worst evil.
14:38
People spit on him, they mocked him, they lied about him.
14:42
And he bore it, usually. The more worthy someone thinks
14:45
they are, the less patience they have for disrespect.
14:47
Oh. Yeah, the first thing you hear
14:49
is do you know who I am? Exactly.
14:51
Jesus knew who he was and that is what makes his patients so
14:55
stunning. He had.
14:56
Nothing to prove in. Sovereignty.
14:57
Resignation. He is.
14:58
The Sovereign Lord, He wills every Adam to move, yet He
15:02
resigns himself to the will of the Father not.
15:05
My will but thine be done right. He accepts the cup of suffering
15:08
that in a sense he ordained his God, but accepts as a man.
15:14
It's a mystery. It is.
15:15
Just layer upon layer. But let's shift gears.
15:18
Edwards moves from the person of Christ, who he is to the acts of
15:23
Christ, what he did right. He wants to show us that this
15:25
isn't just abstract theory. This happened.
15:27
In history you can. See the lion and lamb dancing
15:29
together throughout his whole biography starting.
15:32
With the incarnation, his birth, the.
15:34
Birth is a study in contrast. On the Lamb side, it is
15:37
incredibly low. The humility.
15:39
He is. Born to a peasant girl.
15:41
There is a detail Edwards notes about the offering Mary brings
15:44
to the temple. The turtle.
15:46
Doves, yes. In Leviticus, if you were
15:48
wealthy, you brought a lamb. If you were too poor for a lamb,
15:51
you brought 2 turtle doves. It was the poverty clause.
15:54
So. The Lamb of God was born into a
15:56
family that couldn't even afford a lamb.
15:58
The. Irony is just staggering.
15:59
And he is. Born in a stable.
16:01
Right. There is no room.
16:02
In the end, the important people have the beds.
16:05
The King of Glory gets the feed through.
16:06
He is a helpless infant wrapped in strips of cloth.
16:10
Total weakness, but. The lion is there too.
16:13
Oh. Absolutely.
16:14
While he is shivering in the hay, a new star appears in the
16:17
heavens, guiding the wise men. So the.
16:19
Cosmos is rearranging itself for him the.
16:21
Cosmos is paying attention. Angels are exploding into the
16:25
sky to tell shepherds about him. Wise men, kings from the east
16:29
are traveling hundreds of miles to bring him gold, frankincense
16:32
and myrrh, royal gifts. So.
16:35
He is a baby in a barn, but the cosmos is rotating around him
16:40
and. Edwards points out the purpose
16:41
of the birth. Why is he there?
16:43
He is there to conquer the roaring lion, Satan.
16:47
This baby is a weapon. Then we.
16:49
Look at his life. Yeah, the three years of
16:51
ministry. Same.
16:52
Pattern he lives like a lamb he has nowhere to lay his head
16:55
he's. Homeless, he.
16:56
Is he lives off the financial support of others he is
16:59
accessible eating with sinners, touching lepers, he washes the
17:02
disciples feet acting like a slave.
17:03
It's constant self giving but. Then.
17:06
He stands up in a boat in the middle of hurricane and says
17:09
hush and the wind stops. That is Lion.
17:12
That is the Creator speaking to his creation, the.
17:14
Transfiguration is another moment like that that.
17:17
Is the peek behind the curtain. For just a moment, on that
17:20
mountain, the human disguise becomes transparent.
17:23
His face shines like the sun, Peter.
17:25
James and John are terrified they.
17:28
Fall on their faces, they see the majesty, but then it fades
17:32
and he walks back down the mountain to die even.
17:34
His interactions with people show this mix.
17:37
He was lamb to the broken, but he was a lion to the fakers
17:40
that. Is a crucial distinction he was
17:42
gentle with the woman at the well, he was gentle with the
17:44
woman caught in adultery. He was a lamb to the herding and
17:48
the outcast, but the. Pharisees, the religious
17:51
hypocrites, he. Roared at them.
17:53
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees.
17:55
Hypocrites, he called them. A brood of Vipers.
17:58
He cleared the temple with a whip.
17:59
He wasn't. Nice to everyone, no?
18:01
He was good, and sometimes goodness looks like a lamb and
18:04
sometimes it looks like a lion. Now we get to the climax,
18:07
Section 3 in our outline. The sacrifice, the cross.
18:12
Edwards argues, and I think he is right, that the cross is the
18:16
single greatest display of this conjunction.
18:18
It is where the contrast is sharpest.
18:20
Walk. Us through the Lamb side first.
18:22
Well. Visually, it is total defeat.
18:25
It looks like weakness. He yields to the slaughter.
18:28
He doesn't fight back. He.
18:29
Allows them to nail him to the wood he is.
18:31
Humiliated. He is stripped naked.
18:33
He is bleeding. He is dying.
18:35
It's the picture of a helpless victim, Isaiah. 53 says he was
18:39
led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as the sheep before her
18:42
shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.
18:45
Silence. No calling down fire, no angelic
18:48
rescue. Just suffering.
18:49
Pure, unresisting suffering. But.
18:52
Edwards flips the script. He says that this moment of
18:56
dying was actually the greatest act of might in the history of
18:59
the universe. It is.
19:00
The lion acting through the Lamb.
19:01
Think about what is happening spiritually, not just
19:03
physically. He is bearing the wrath of God
19:06
against all the sins of all the elect for all time.
19:09
That is a. Weight that we can't really
19:10
comprehend, no. Edwards says if a mere creature
19:13
tried to bear that, they would be annihilated, they would sink
19:15
into nothingness. It required infinite strength,
19:18
the strength of the lion, to hold up under that burden and
19:21
not snap so his. Endurance was an act of might,
19:24
an incredible. Act of Might Edwards.
19:26
Gets a little graphic here about the physical toll.
19:28
He mentions the blood and water. He.
19:30
Does he references Psalm 22 again?
19:33
I am poured out like water and all my bones are out of joint.
19:37
My heart is like wax. It is melted in the midst of my
19:39
bowels. And Edward speculates about the
19:42
fermentation of the blood that. Is a weird word fermentation,
19:46
Yeah, What does? He mean by that it.
19:47
Is old medical language, but the idea is that the internal
19:51
pressure, the spiritual agony was so intense that it literally
19:55
changed the chemistry of his body it turned his blood to
19:59
water it broke his heart physically so he.
20:01
Didn't just die from nail wounds.
20:03
No, he died from the internal combustion of God's judgement,
20:06
meeting his soul and. Yet in dying, he wins.
20:10
This brings us to the Samson analogy, and I have to say this
20:13
is my favorite part of the sermon.
20:14
It is. So good.
20:15
It's such a powerful image. Edwards draws this parallel that
20:19
makes you want to cheer. Remind.
20:20
Us of the Samson story, OK. So Samson is the judge of
20:23
Israel, Incredible strength. But he gets captured by the
20:26
Philistines. They betray.
20:27
Him they gouge. Out his eyes they bind him in
20:30
bronze shackles. He is grinding brain in the
20:34
prison. He is a.
20:35
Mockery. The strong man is broken.
20:38
And the Philistines throw a massive party in the temple of
20:41
Dagon, their fish God. They bring Samson out to
20:44
entertain them. Look at this guy who used to
20:46
terrorize us. Now he is our clown, they think.
20:48
They have won. The enemy is neutralized.
20:51
Exactly. But Samson asks the boy, leading
20:54
him to put his hands on the pillars, and he prays and he
20:57
pushes. And the dead which he slew at
21:00
his death were more than they which he slew in his life.
21:03
The. Roof collapses, the temple is
21:05
destroyed, Dagon is crushed, Samson dies, but in dying he
21:09
wipes out the enemy leadership and.
21:11
Edward says this is Jesus. It is the perfect type.
21:15
Satan thought he had won. The world thought it had won.
21:18
They had Jesus captured. They had him killed.
21:20
They had him in the grave. The strongman.
21:22
Was bound but the. Cross was actually Jesus getting
21:24
his hands on the pillars of Satan's Kingdom death.
21:27
And sin, right? And when he bowed his head and
21:29
died, he pulled the whole house down.
21:31
He destroyed the power of death by dying.
21:33
He stripped Satan of his weapons.
21:35
Edwards. Uses another image here the hook
21:37
and the bait this is. An old idea goes back to the
21:40
church fathers. The idea is that Christ's
21:42
humanity, his flesh, was the bait.
21:46
OK, Satan is like a great sea monster leviathan.
21:49
He sees the bait. He thinks I can swallow this
21:52
man, I can kill him. So he.
21:53
Bites he. Bites.
21:54
He swallows Jesus into death, but he didn't realize there was
21:58
a hook inside the bait. The.
22:00
Divinity the. Deity of Christ and that hook
22:02
tore Leviathan apart from the inside, Edwards says.
22:06
Out of the ear came forth meet. By being swallowed, Christ
22:10
destroyed the swallower, that is.
22:11
Such a victorious way to view the crucifixion.
22:14
We usually think of it as sad, and it is sad, but it is also a
22:17
tactical strike. It is a.
22:18
Special OPS mission he infiltrated death to kill it
22:21
from the inside. So.
22:22
Christ dies, the temple falls, he rises and he ascends.
22:25
Now we are in Section 4. Where is he now?
22:28
He is in. Heaven, he is exalted.
22:29
He is the lion on the throne. But Edwards insists he is still
22:33
the Lamb. Revelation 5 again, I saw a
22:36
lamb, not. I saw what used to be a lamb,
22:39
no. He didn't shed his humanity when
22:42
he went up. He didn't unzip the human suit
22:45
and go back to being pure spirit.
22:47
He is still the God man. He still has the stars and.
22:51
Edward says he acts as a shepherd, yes.
22:53
He feeds his people, He leads them to living fountains of
22:56
waters and the most beautiful image.
22:59
God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.
23:03
A very tender act it. Is Edwards points out that this
23:06
is the act of a friend or parent the hand that rules the universe
23:10
is gentle enough to wipe a tear from a cheek the lion's power
23:14
used with the lamb's tenderness, but.
23:16
Then Edwards looks forward to the very end, the last
23:19
judgement. And this is where the lion and
23:21
lamb imagery gets intense. The.
23:23
Conjunction really splits here depending on who you are to the.
23:26
Wicked to. Those who rejected him, he is
23:28
the lion. And not just a lion, but an
23:30
angry lion. Edwards describes the kings of
23:33
the earth hiding in the rocks, screaming for the mountains to
23:35
fall on them. Why?
23:36
What are they trying to hide from to hide?
23:38
Them from the wrath of the Lamb, that.
23:40
Phrase Wrath of the Lamb is a paradox in itself.
23:43
Lambs aren't supposed to have wrath that.
23:45
Is what makes it so terrifying. If a lion attacks you, that is
23:48
nature, you expect it. But if a lamb attacks you, that
23:53
is unnatural. What does?
23:54
It imply it. Implies that patience has been
23:57
exhausted. It implies a fury that comes
24:00
from rejected love, which is the fiercest fury of all.
24:03
But to the Saints, to the. Saints, there is no terror.
24:06
He appears as the lamb. It is a wedding day.
24:08
Edwards use language of sweetness and invitation.
24:11
Come. Ye blessed it of my father, yes.
24:14
He clothes himself holy in love. He is the bridegroom coming for
24:17
his bride. It's a reunion, so.
24:19
We have walked through the theology, the history and the
24:22
future. Now let's land the plane.
24:25
Section 5 is application. Why did this matter to the guy
24:28
driving his car right now? Edward starts by helping us read
24:31
our Bibles better. He asks why are there so many
24:35
names for Jesus? Yeah.
24:36
The list is endless. He's.
24:38
The sun, the Morning star, the Rock, the Pearl, the man of war,
24:41
the bridegroom, the branch. When I just.
24:43
Pick one. Jesus is the boss.
24:45
Done. Because one metaphor can't hold
24:47
the conjunction. It's too big for one picture.
24:49
If you call him a rock, you get his strength, but you miss his
24:52
movement, right? If you call him a son, you get
24:54
his glory, but you miss his approachability.
24:57
You need the whole collage to even begin to see the full
25:00
picture. Edwards.
25:01
Mentions the botanical contrast, right?
25:03
He is a root out of dry ground that.
25:06
Sounds ugly, Withered. Humble.
25:09
Something you wouldn't even notice, but he's.
25:11
Also the tree of life in paradise and the Rose of Sharon,
25:14
the Lily of the valley. He's the most beautiful flower
25:18
and the toughest root. You need both to get it.
25:21
Then he pivots to encouragement for the Sinner and I think this
25:24
is the most practical part of the deep dive it.
25:26
Addresses the two main fears that keep people away from God.
25:29
What are they? Fear number one, I am too
25:32
broken. My sin is too big.
25:34
I can't be fixed that. Is the hopelessness I've gone
25:37
too far, Edward? Says look at the lion, because
25:40
he is a lion. He has infinite strength.
25:42
There's no addiction, no past, no crime that is stronger than
25:45
him. He is strong enough to save you.
25:47
But then. There's fear #2 OK.
25:49
He is strong enough, but he is scary.
25:51
He is holy. Why would he want me?
25:53
I am a mess. The.
25:54
Intimidation factor. God is too high, I'm too low,
25:57
Edward says. Look at the lamb.
26:00
Because He is a Lamb. He is willing to receive you.
26:04
He is approachable, He is lowly. And He.
26:06
Makes an argument from the greater to the lesser he.
26:09
Does, he argues, if he was willing to be spit on, if he was
26:12
willing to die for you while you were an enemy, Do you really
26:15
think he's going to turn up his nose at you now that you are
26:17
repenting that? Is a solid argument.
26:20
He has already done The Dirty work, he's already humiliated
26:23
himself. He isn't going to get proud now,
26:25
no. Way Edwards says he is a lion
26:28
for you to defend you, but he is a lamb to you to welcome you.
26:32
That makes. Him a safe place, a wall of fire
26:35
for protection, but a soft place to land beautifully.
26:38
Put the. Final application point is about
26:40
intimacy, the friend aspect we. All want a certain kind of
26:44
friend. Think about it.
26:45
We want a friend who is high up. We want to be friends with the
26:48
cool kid, the powerful person. It is an honor it makes.
26:52
US feel special. I know the senator, I know the
26:53
CEO, but. Usually those people are aloof,
26:56
they are busy. You can't call them at 2:00 AM
26:58
with a problem. So we also want a friend who is
27:01
accessible, someone who gets us, someone who is like us, but.
27:05
Usually the people who are like us can't really help us with our
27:08
biggest problems. They're in the same mess we are
27:11
in. Exactly.
27:12
We are stuck between wanting a powerful friend and a close
27:15
friend. Christ is the solution the.
27:17
Conjunction he is. The King of King's highest
27:20
dignity. It is the greatest honor in the
27:22
universe to know him, but he became a worm and a brother.
27:27
Highest accessibility Edwards. Uses the marriage imagery here.
27:31
It's not just a friendship, it is a union.
27:33
We. Become partakers of the divine
27:35
nature. We don't just watch His glory
27:37
from the cheap seats, we share in it.
27:39
He brings us into His family. This.
27:41
Leads to the final provocative thought Edwards leaves us with.
27:45
And I want to make sure we get this right because it is deep
27:48
water. It is.
27:49
Edwards argues that the incarnation, God becoming man,
27:52
actually achieved a greater intimacy for us than if the fall
27:55
had never happened. Wait.
27:57
So you are saying we are better off?
27:58
That sounds almost heretical in. Terms of closeness to God, yes.
28:02
Think about Adam in the garden. He was perfect.
28:04
He walked with God, but there was still a gap Creator.
28:07
And creature God. Was spirit Adam almost flesh?
28:10
There was an infinite distance in terms of nature.
28:13
OK. I see that but.
28:14
Now, because the second person of the Trinity took on flesh,
28:19
God has a human nature, and because we are united to Christ
28:23
by faith, we are brought into the very life of God.
28:26
So because he came down to our level, he.
28:29
Brings us up to his. Edward says we are brought into
28:32
the bosom of the Father through the Son.
28:34
So. A human being, Jesus, is sitting
28:37
in the middle of the Trinity, and because we are in him, we
28:40
are there too. In a way, we are.
28:42
Closer to the Father than the angels are.
28:44
Angels are servants. We are the bride.
28:46
The Incarnation bridged the gap in a way that nothing else
28:49
could. It is the ultimate, admirable
28:51
conjunction. It is a heavy.
28:53
And beautiful. It means the story of the Bible
28:55
isn't just a rescue mission to get us back to Square 1, back to
28:57
the garden. No, it's a promotion.
28:59
It is a massive promotion. It is.
29:01
Well, my friend, we have covered a lot of ground.
29:05
From the weeping of John to the lion and the lamb, to the
29:08
crushing of Dagan's temple to the wedding feast.
29:10
It is a. Sermon worth reading every year.
29:13
It resets your view of Jesus, I hope.
29:15
This deep dive has helped our listeners see that Jonathan
29:18
Edwards is more than just a sermon about a spider.
29:20
So. Much more he is.
29:21
A Guide to the Beauty of Christ. Amen.
29:24
To that. Thank you for listening to
29:25
Reformed Thinking. We will see you next time.