Latest / Reformed Thinking / Wicked Men Useful in Their Destruction Only | Jonathan Edwards

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Wicked Men Useful in Their Destruction Only | Jonathan Edwards · Reformed Thinking

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What if I told you that spending your entire life building
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hospitals, funding orphanages, feeding the hungry, and, you
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know, maintaining A flawless moral reputation might actually
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render you functionally useless? Yeah, like as useless as a
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rotting piece of wood. Right, welcome to Reform
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thinking. I'm so glad you decided to join
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us today because we are looking at a landscape of human value
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that completely up ends well pretty much every modern metric
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we use to measure a successful life.
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It really does. It is a massive shift in
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perspective. So our mission for this deep
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dive is to unpack a very specific, stark and frankly
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striking sermon by the 18th century theologian Jonathan
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Edwards. Yeah, and the title pulls
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absolutely no crunches. It is called Wicked Men, useful
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in their destruction only. Which is just a staggering
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title. We want to break down this
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terrifying but logically rigorous binary that Edwards
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presents to his congregation, and by extension, to you
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listening right now. Because he puts for this idea
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that human beings, much like a vine in a vineyard, possess only
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two possible destinies. You are either bearing fruit or
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you are burning in the fire. There is no third option.
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Right, no middle ground at all. There is no participation trophy
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for just showing up on earth and trying your best, and the
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extremity of that binary is what makes the tech so arresting to
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me. I agree, and what is so
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interesting is that Edwards does not start with some sweeping
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philosophical treatise on ethics.
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No, he doesn't. Or even some grand metaphysical
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speculation. He anchors this massive cosmic
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ultimatum on a single, highly specific agricultural metaphor
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from the Old Testament. You go straight to the Book of
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Ezekiel. Right, yes, chapter 15, verses 2
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through 4. He uses that to construct a
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framework of absolute utility utility.
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You see, the Puritans operated on this baseline assumption that
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every single atom in the universe has a designated end.
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Like a specific design implemented by the creator.
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Precisely. And to step outside of that
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design is an act of rebellion against the fabric of reality
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itself. So Ezekiel asks the seemingly
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simple question about forestry and agriculture.
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He says, Son of Man, what is the vine tree more than any tree or
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than a branch which is among the trees of the forest?
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Right. And the Prophet goes on to ask
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if you can take the wood of a vine to do any work, or even
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make a pin out of it to hang a vessel on.
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And the answer, biologically speaking, is a resounding no.
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I am intensely eager to see how he builds this, because the
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physical properties of a vine creates such a specific
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limitation. Yeah, think about the contrast
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Ezekiel is drawing there. Right.
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Like if you look at an oak tree or maybe a cedar of Lebanon,
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those trees produce timber. You cut down a mature oak and
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you have material that possesses inherent structural utility.
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You can actually build something with it.
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Exactly. Well, you can build a house.
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You can construct A merchant ship to cross the Atlantic.
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You can carve furniture that will last for generations.
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The wood itself has strength and rigidity.
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You can rely on an oak beam to hold thousands of pounds of
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weight. But a vine is biologically
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alienated from all of those characteristics.
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It is soft. It is pliable.
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It is inherently weak. A vine cannot even support its
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own weight, let alone the weight of a roof.
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Right. It has to creep along the ground
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in the dirt, or it has to cling to a trellis.
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The wood of a vine has zero utility for construction.
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Ezekiel makes the rather humorous point that you cannot
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even carve a small wooden peg out of it to hang a cup on.
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Because the peg would just snap under the weight of an empty
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cup. It is entirely useless.
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So taking that physical reality into the agricultural sphere,
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Edwards points out that this extreme physical weakness means
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the vine requires an astonishing amount of active, relentless
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care from the vine dresser. Yeah, the contrast with the oak
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tree continues here. Because if you plant an oak
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tree, you can just walk away. Right.
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You come back 50 years later to harvest the timber.
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The oak takes care of itself. But a vineyard demands constant
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intervention. You have to build a wall or
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fence it in to protect it from wild animals.
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You have to constantly dig around the roots to aerate the
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soil you. Have to bring in fertilizer.
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Yes, and you must meticulously prune it back.
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You are constantly cutting off the dead growth so the energy
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goes to the fruit. You have to physically prop it
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up and tie it to supports so the grapes do not rot on the damp
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ground. It is an Organism of total
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dependency. It consumes an enormous amount
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of the farmer's time and energy and resources.
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I think we need a modern analogy for this because we do not
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interact with agriculture as much today, you know.
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That is a great idea. Think about a highly specialized
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piece of delicate technology like a racing drone, or maybe a
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specialized microchip designed for one specific cryptographic
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calculation. OK, I am tracking with you.
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If you have a standard laptop, it does a bit of everything.
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It is like the oak tree. You can do word processing, web
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browsing, video editing, accounting.
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It has broad general utility. It is good for a lot of
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different things. Right, but a specialized
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cryptographic microchip does one thing.
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If it fails to do that one specific calculation it was
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built for, you are left with a piece of silicon that has no
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secondary use. You cannot use it as a
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paperweight because it is too light.
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You cannot use it to prop open a door.
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It is entirely useless for general tasks.
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If it does not do its specific job, it goes straight into the
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recycling bin. It is a hyper specialized
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instrument. And Edwards maps that hyper
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specialization directly onto the spiritual reality of mankind and
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specifically the visible church. Humans are not designed for
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general utility, are they? No, they are designed for a
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hyper specific function. Rather than listing off the
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dozens of times the Bible uses this metaphor, let's look at the
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mechanics of John chapter 15. Where Christ says I am the vine,
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ye are the branches. Spot on.
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The theological argument here is that the intense, relentless
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cultivation the vine dresser performs is a direct mirror of
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divine Providence. God fences his people in with
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laws and protections. He fertilizes the soil with
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prophets, teachers, and the written word.
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And he prunes through discipline.
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This massive expenditure of cosmic resources is directed at
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this weak dependent creature. Therefore, the inescapable
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conclusion Ezekiel and Edwards both draw is devastating.
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It really is. If a vine consumes all that care
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and still does not produce grapes, it is worse than the
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cheapest, ugliest tree in the uncultivated forest.
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Because a forest tree at least gives you crude lumber for a
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shed. Right, the barren vine gives you
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absolutely nothing. Which means the only logical
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destination for it is the fire, Ezekiel says The fire devours
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both ends of it and the middle is burned.
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It is a brutal, sobering image that completely strips away any
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sense of inherent self worth separated from purpose.
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The vine doesn't get to say, well, I have lovely leaves or I
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grew really long this year. If there are no grapes, the
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existence of the Organism is a failure.
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So if a vine's only value is fruit, what is bearing fruit
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actually mean for a human being in the grand scheme of creation?
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That is the big question, and to answer that, Edwards constructs
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A rigid, unyielding binary regarding human existence.
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He says that a human being can only be useful in one of two
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ways, actively or passively. Meaning you are either taking
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action to fulfill your purpose or you're being disposed of by
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your Creator to fulfill His purpose.
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Yes, if you do nothing and God does nothing with you, then your
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existence is a void and the God of the Puritans does not permit
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voids. In his universe, every single
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particle of matter will be utilized.
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So to explain what active usefulness looks like, Edwards
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lays out a hierarchy, a graduation of creation, tracing
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the flow of utility from the lowest elements all the way up
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to the divine. He starts at the very bottom,
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right in the dirt. You have inanimate objects like
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soil, Ross, minerals, water. Things with no life, no
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consciousness. Right, but their designated end
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is to support the next level up, which is the vegetative life.
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The earth and water subserve the plants, giving them a physical
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foundation to grow in and the raw chemical nutrients they need
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to survive. OK, so moving up the ladder, the
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vegetative life exists to sustain the sensitive life.
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The grass, the seeds and the fruit do not exist for their own
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sake. They exist to be consumed by the
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beasts and the birds. Right.
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The cows eat the grass, the birds eat the seeds.
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The plants fulfill their active purpose by surrendering their
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energy to the animals. And then the brute creatures
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labor for the rational life. They exist for mankind.
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They. Surrender their meat for food
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they give their hives and wool for clothing.
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They offer their physical strength to pull plows and carry
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burdens. So let's trace that The dirt
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transfers its utility to the plants.
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The plants transfer their utility to the animals.
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The animals transfer their utility to humans.
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And mankind is sitting at the very peak of this earthly
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pyramid. We are the highest creation in
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the lower world, possessing A rational and mortal soul capable
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of abstract thought and moral reasoning.
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So who does man answer to? Where does the energy go next?
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Edward states that the next step up from man is God himself.
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Therefore, man's entire business is directly with the Creator.
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Man was made exclusively for the glory of his Maker.
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All the lower levels of creation find their fulfillment in
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supporting the level above them. Pam, being at the absolute top
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of the physical chain, must direct his output upward into
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the spiritual realm. That vertical transfer of glory
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is the highest end now. I can hear people listening
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right now pushing back on this idea, and I want to voice that
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objection because it is the most natural human response.
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Go for it, someone might say. Look, I might not be a religious
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person. I might not direct my life
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toward glorifying A deity, But I am a dedicated parent.
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I provide a safe, loving home for my family.
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I volunteer at the local food. Bank.
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I pay my taxes, I help my neighbors, I contribute to the
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stability and flourishing of society.
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People will say I am actively doing good things on earth.
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Are you telling me that doesn't count as being actively useful?
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It is a very fair question, and Edwards anticipates that exact
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objection. He counters it by drawing a
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sharp philosophical distinction between subordinate ends and the
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highest end. OK, break that down for.
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Us A subordinate end is a goal that exists only to facilitate a
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further, greater goal. Edwards concedes that men were
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indeed made to be useful to one another.
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So being a good parent, a helpful neighbor, and a
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productive citizen, those are all legitimate design functions.
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Yes, but all of these horizontal relationships are strictly
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subordinate. There are inferior ends designed
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to create a stable environment so that the supreme vertical end
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glorifying God can be achieved. If a society is peaceful and
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fed, the people have the capacity to worship.
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Precisely so if you hit the subordinate goal but miss the
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main goal, the whole enterprise is consider a failure.
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It is entirely void. Edwards argues that a
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subordinate end is completely useless if the supreme end is
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not met. He uses several incredibly vivid
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analogies to make this logic inescapable, doesn't he?
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He really does. Let's look at the analogy of the
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house. Imagine you are building a
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magnificent home. You dig deep into the earth and
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lay a really strong stone foundation.
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The underpinning. Right, the underpinning, the
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subordinate end of that foundation is to hold up the
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walls and the roof. Then you frame the house and
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install beautiful expansive clear windows.
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And the subordinate end of the windows is to let in the
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sunlight and keep out the wind. So the Foundation is holding,
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the windows are shining, the individual components are
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executing their specific jobs. Florida State.
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Yet what is the highest end of the house?
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It is to provide a home for an inhabitant.
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It is built to be lived in. If the house is finished but it
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remains completely empty forever.
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If no one ever walks through the door, lights a fire in the
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hearth or sleeps in the bedrooms, and the entire
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structure was built in vain. The strong foundation is wasted.
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The clear windows letting in light are wasted because there
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is no one inside the rooms to benefit from the illumination.
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The subordinate ends function perfectly, but without the
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highest end the house is a total failure.
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He applies the same brutal logic to the farmer.
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A farmer goes out into his field.
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He works the dirt. He sows the seed.
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He uses fertilizer. He weeds the Rose.
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And the subordinate end of all that labor is to produce a
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massive, healthy crop. Let's say he succeeds
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brilliantly. The wheat grows tall, golden and
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heavy with grain. But the highest end of that crop
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is to feed the farmer and his family to sustain their lives.
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If a lightning strike starts a fire that sweeps through the
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field the day before the harvest and burns the entire crop to
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ash, the farmers labor was entirely in vain.
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The crop grew, the subordinate end was met.
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The stocks did what stocks are supposed to do, but the highest
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end was thwarted, rendering the entire agricultural process
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avoid. The most intricate analogy he
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uses to demonstrate this is the clock.
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Think about the internal mechanics of an 18th century
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timepiece. You have dozens of tiny brass
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wheels, gears and pinions inside the casing.
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One wheel meshes perfectly with the teeth of another.
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The mainspring provides constant tension.
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The gears turn with mathematical precision.
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And the subordinate end of each individual gear is simply to
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turn the next gear in the sequence.
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The internal mechanism is a marvel of engineering.
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The gears are doing exactly what they were designed to do.
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But the only reason those gears were forged, cut and assembled
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is to eventually move the hands on the face of the clock.
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Or to strike the hammer on the bell so that a human being in
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the room can know what time it is.
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If the motion of those perfect little gears never reaches the
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hands and the clock face is frozen at 12:00, the clock is
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broken. The entire apparatus is totally
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in vain. Even though the gears are
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helping each other inside the box.
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That is such a striking, devastating parallel to human
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society. We are the gears.
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We can help each other out. We can move each other forward.
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We can be good neighbors, helpful citizens, and loving
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family members. One gear turning, another gear.
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But if that horizontal motion never translates into the
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vertical purpose pointing to the glory of God on the face of the
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clock, then the entire human machine is broken.
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We are just spinning in a closed box, accomplishing nothing of
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eternal value. If men actively bring no glory
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to God, they are, as to their own activity, altogether
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useless. Regardless of how much they
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promote the benefit of their fellow gears.
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This logic forces us to address another natural objection.
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What about historical figures or even people operating today who
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clearly do not care about God, but their actions end up
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massively benefiting those who do?
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Like an atheist scientist who invents a medical cure that
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saves hundreds of thousands of lives.
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Yeah, many of the people saved by that cure go on to live long,
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fruitful God honoring lives. The scientist's invention
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directly facilitated the bearing of spiritual fruit.
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So is the scientist therefore bearing fruit?
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Edwards introduces A vital distinction here between
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accidental usefulness and designed usefulness.
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He concedes that a wicked man might be highly serviceable to
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the public. He might do things that greatly
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advantage good men, putting them in a position to bring forth
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fruit to God. But the critical factor is
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intention. This serviceability was not what
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the wicked man aimed at. It was not his conscious design
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to glorify God. Because his intention was not
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directed upward, he gets zero credit for the upward fruit that
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eventually results. Edwards argues that whenever
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this happens, no thanks are due to the wicked man.
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He's only the occasion of the fruit, not the designing.
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Cause The fruit that is brought forth is not his fruit.
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He compares these individuals to lifeless materials, which is a
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profoundly humbling demotion for anyone priding themselves on
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their societal contributions. He points out that a godly man
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needs timber and stones to build his house.
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He needs wool and flax to make clothes so he can stay warm
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while he goes to public worship. The timber, the stones, the
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wool, they are all necessary and useful.
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They help the godly man bear fruit.
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But you would never say the wood and the stones are bearing
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spiritual fruit. They're just dead objects being
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utilized by an active agent. He points to biblical history to
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back this up, specifically referencing Pagan kings like
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Cyrus and Artaxerxes. These were rulers of massive,
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sprawling empires who worshipped false gods and had no personal
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allegiance to the God of Israel. Yet God sovereignly used them to
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issue political decrees that allowed the exiled Israelites to
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return to Jerusalem, rebuild the city walls, and reconstruct the
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Temple. They were political instruments.
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They provided the funding, the timber, and the legal permission
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for worship to resume. They were tools in the the hand
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of the Almighty. They were acting out of
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geopolitical calculation, securing their borders and
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managing their vassal states. Right.
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They were not acting out of a desire to glorify the God of the
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Bible. Therefore, their usefulness was
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purely accidental as far as their own moral ledgers were
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concerned. They functioned like the timber
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and the stones. God used their political
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ambitions to achieve His supreme end, but the kings themselves
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were acting strictly on subordinate earthly motives.
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I have to pause here because this totally upends modern
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metrics for human value. Oh, absolutely.
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Today, we measure a person's worth by their visible impact,
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their resume, their philanthropic donations, their
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humanitarian awards, their technological innovations.
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We built statues to people who move society forward.
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But Edward steps in and invalidates all of that human
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achievement if the core hidden intention is not directed
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upward. He is arguing that you can
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eradicate a disease, you can feed an entire impoverished
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nation, but if your heart is not actively aligned with the
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Creator, your spiritual Ledger is completely blank.
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You are just a very helpful stone.
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You are a useful piece of timber.
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You have achieved nothing of eternal substance.
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This view demands absolute internal alignment with divine
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will. It eradicates any reliance on
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superficial morality or civic virtue as a means of justifying
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one's existence before the Creator.
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It is a terrifying standard because it bypasses the visible
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outcome and judges the hidden motive of the heart.
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If the motive is not the glory of God, the action is dead.
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So if these individuals are actively useless, if their good
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deeds do not count because their aims are earthbound and they are
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bearing no true fruit, where do they belong in the cosmic order?
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Edwards argues that an unfruitful person fundamentally
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does not fit anywhere in the universe.
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They're completely incompatible with both Earth and Heaven.
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The lease on their existence is fundamentally broken.
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Let's examine the Earth first. Why are they unfit to stay here?
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Well, Edwards points out that the earth, despite being fallen
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and corrupted, is still saturated with the streams of
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divine goodness. The sun continues to shine, the
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rain continues to fall in its season, the crops continue to
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grow and yield harvests. But the Earth.
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Earth is a temporary mixed state.
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It is a holding area. Edwards relies heavily on the
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Apostle Paul's theological framework in Romans chapter 8.
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Where Paul writes that the creation was subjected to
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vanity, not willingly, and that the whole creation groans and
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travails in pain together. The imagery Edwards uses to
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unpack the groaning is visceral. He looks at the physics and
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thermodynamics of the natural. World, he says the sun is in a
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constant, furious ferment, unweariedly running its course
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across the sky every single day. Bringing massive amounts of
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energy to give light and warmth to man so man can see the glory
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of God and survive to worship him.
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And the clouds are constantly laboring, circulating millions
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of tons of water from the oceans, carrying it over the
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continental land masses and dropping it as rain to grow
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food. The animals are giving up their
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lives, their meat, their labor to sustain human biology.
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Nature is functioning perfectly and it's assigned subordinate
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role. It is doing exactly what the
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creator designed it to do. It is supporting the physical
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existence of man so man can fulfill the highest end.
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But when aim is takes all that solar energy, all that fresh
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water, all that animal protein, and refuses to OfferUp gratitude
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and obedience to God. Nature is deeply grieved the.
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Creation is forced into bondage. It has to assist a rebel against
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its own will. It is like forcing A fiercely
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loyal soldier to carry ammunition and rations for a
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traitor who is actively firing on the king.
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That is a great way to put it. The earth hates it.
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The sun resents shining on someone who uses that light to
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sin. The ground resents yielding
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crops to fuel a body that refuses to bow.
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Edwards says the earth can scarcely bear wicked men for the
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short time they are here and is ready to violently spew them
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out. They are, in his antiquated but
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precise phrasing, cumbers of the ground.
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They take up space, they consume massive amounts of cosmic
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resources, and they offer absolutely nothing in return.
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Therefore, divine justice and divine wisdom demand that they
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cannot stay on earth forever. It would be a disparagement of
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God's wisdom to continually spend His bounty in vain on a
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barren vine. Since the Earth will eventually
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evict them, the natural human speculation is why not just send
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everyone to heaven eventually? Why not universal
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reconciliation? And Edwards systematically
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dismantles the idea that an unholy person could ever find
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peace, let alone joy, in heaven. He breaks the incompatibility
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down into 3 distinct categories, the company, the employments and
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the enjoyments. Let's talk about the company.
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If we drop an unregenerate mind into the company of heaven, you
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don't get harmony, you get an immediate, violently repulsive
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reaction. Because the original inhabitants
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of heaven are the angels and the glorified Saints.
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These are beings of absolute, unblemished purity who burn with
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a white hot love for God. To place a carnal, rebellious,
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self-centered human into that society would create a violently
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disagreeable union. They have absolutely nothing in
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common. The conversation, the motives,
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the entire frequency of existence would be alien and
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hostile to the unfruitful person.
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Building on not relational friction, consider the
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employments of heaven. What do the inhabitants actually
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do? They worship.
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They glorify God continually. If a person found going to a one
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hour church service on Earth tedious, if they found praying
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to be a boring chore, if they found reading the Bible to be an
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exhausting intellectual burden, why would they suddenly enjoy
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doing those exact same activities Florida State, and
22:12
unceasingly, for all eternity? Planting a barren dead tree in
22:16
the heavenly paradise makes no logical sense.
22:18
The soil of heaven does not magically change the nature of
22:21
the wood. It would still be barren, it
22:22
would just be barren in a nicer location.
22:24
The enjoyments of heaven are the final nail in the coffin for
22:27
this idea. The joys of heaven are intensely
22:30
holy and spiritual. The primary joy is beholding the
22:34
unshielded glory of God. Right.
22:36
And for a mind that only finds pleasure in earthly, physical,
22:40
selfish, or carnal things, the pure spiritual light of heaven
22:44
would not be experienced as joy. You'll be agonizing.
22:47
I think you had an analogy for this earlier.
22:49
Yes, I like to think of it this way.
22:51
Imagine taking someone who physically and psychologically
22:55
despises classical music. They hate the sound of the
22:58
violin, they load the cello. The temple gives them a
23:01
migraine. The entire genre irritates them
23:04
to their core. Got it?
23:06
Now imagine locking them inside a grand Symphony hall where the
23:09
world's greatest orchestra is playing Beethoven's Ninth
23:11
Symphony at full volume on a continuous loop.
23:14
Forever. That sounds intense.
23:16
They cannot leave the room. They cannot cover their ears.
23:18
To the classical music lover, that room is absolute paradise.
23:22
It is the height of aesthetic ecstasy.
23:23
But to the person who hates the music, that exact same room with
23:27
the exact same orchestra playing the exact same notes is literal,
23:32
inescapable torture. Exactly.
23:35
That analogy captures the psychological and theological
23:38
essence of Edward's argument perfectly.
23:41
The unmediated presence of God is the music.
23:44
If you do not have a renewed heart that loves the music,
23:47
being forced into the Symphony Hall of Heaven would be
23:50
unbearable. They cannot relish it, in
23:52
Edward's words, they would entirely nauseate it.
23:55
Heaven was designed as a palace for the king and a fitting
23:58
reward for the righteous. It was not designed as an asylum
24:01
for unrepentant rebels. To place the wicked there would
24:04
introduce chaos and confusion into God's perfect holy order.
24:08
So we have eliminated all the options.
24:10
They cannot stay on Earth because the creation is groaning
24:12
under their weight and will eventually vomit them out.
24:15
They are fundamentally allergic to heaven.
24:16
The atmosphere would suffocate them.
24:18
They have stubbornly refused to be actively useful by bearing
24:21
fruit. This brings us back to the
24:23
stark, terrifying binary Ezekiel laid out.
24:26
If a creature will not be actively useful, the creator
24:30
will ensure they are passively useful.
24:33
The unfruitful vine goes to the fire.
24:36
This brings us to the concept of passive usefulness and
24:39
destruction. Edwards argues that just as a
24:42
barren tree dried out and dead makes excellent fuel for a fire,
24:46
an unfruitful human will be utilized in their destruction.
24:50
God is sovereign and He will not be frustrated by His creation.
24:53
He will extract His designated use out of every single creature
24:56
one way or another. He references the Apostle Paul's
24:59
letter to Timothy where Paul talks about a great house having
25:02
vessels of gold and silver meant for honor.
25:05
But also vessels of wood and earth meant for dishonor.
25:08
The Master of the House has a specific use for the vessels of
25:10
Wrath. Edwards details three specific
25:13
theological ways God extracts utility from the destruction of
25:16
the wicked. The first method is by
25:18
glorifying His justice. We live in an an era that
25:20
focuses almost exclusively on the mercy and love of God to the
25:23
point of ignoring His other attributes.
25:26
But Edwards reminds his listeners that vindictive
25:28
justice, the righteous proportional punishment of moral
25:32
wrongdoing, is a glorious, essential attribute of the
25:35
divine nature. Just as mercy seeks an object to
25:38
shower with grace, justice requires an expression to
25:41
demonstrate its perfection. To support this, Edwards quotes
25:45
the Book of Revelation chapter 16, where the angels actually
25:49
sing praises to God specifically for his devastating judgment.
25:52
They cry out, Thou art righteous, O Lord, because thou
25:56
hast judged thus. It is a concept that feels
25:59
intensely foreign to modern sensibilities, the idea of
26:02
retributive justice being something so beautiful and
26:05
perfect that it prompts the angels to erupt and worship.
26:08
The second way God extracts passive utility is by glorifying
26:11
His Majesty and His infinite might.
26:13
He brings up the historical example of Pharaoh from the Book
26:16
of Exodus to illustrate this mechanism.
26:18
Why did God deal so severely with the ruler of Egypt?
26:21
God himself states to reason explicitly.
26:23
For this cause have I raised the up for to show in thee my power,
26:27
and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth.
26:29
The sheer dreadfulness of the plagues and the destruction of
26:33
the Red Sea showcases the infinite magnitude of the
26:36
Creator. Think about the mechanics of
26:38
human government. The majesty of an earthly king
26:40
is entirely supported by the fear and enforcement of his
26:43
laws. If a king issues decrees, but
26:47
those laws could be broken by the citizens with 0
26:49
consequences, the king possesses no actual majesty.
26:53
He is a figurehead. He's a joke.
26:55
The severity of the punishment must fit the infinite nature of
26:59
the one who was offended. If God's laws can be flouted
27:02
without a catastrophic response, then God's majesty is finite and
27:06
negligible. God's terrible, overwhelming
27:09
strength is a necessary component of His glory, and the
27:12
destruction of the rebel is the canvas on which that strength is
27:15
displayed. But the third way God extracts
27:17
utility from the unfruitful vine is the one that forces the
27:20
modern reader to really pause. Edwards argues that the
27:23
destruction of the wicked is passively useful because it
27:26
directly elevates the happiness and the gratitude of the Saints
27:29
in heaven. I have to stop and wrestle with
27:31
because as a modern reader, this is a staggering, intensely
27:34
difficult concept to swallow. It definitely is.
27:36
The idea that seeing someone else's punishment actively
27:39
increases your own heavenly joy feels abrasive.
27:43
It feels uncharitable. It clashes violently with our
27:46
sensibilities of empathy and compassion.
27:48
How can a loving St. look at a burning vine and feel joy?
27:52
It is jarring. It assaults our modern
27:54
anthropocentric view of the universe, but we have to follow
27:59
Edwards's theological logic, which is structurally airtight
28:02
within his scriptural framework. He isn't inventing this out of
28:05
thin air, is he? No.
28:06
He references passages like Revelation 14 and Isaiah 66,
28:11
which explicitly depict the righteous witnessing the final
28:14
judgement of the transgressors. The mechanics of this joy
28:17
require careful explanation. Right.
28:19
Why doesn't the sight of judgement make the Saints weep?
28:22
Why doesn't it ruin the mood of heaven?
28:24
Because of the principle of contrast, when the Saints in
28:26
heaven witnessed the execution of divine justice, they're
28:29
struck by a heavy, inescapable realization, which is they are
28:33
made of the exact same biological and spiritual
28:35
material as those who are perishing by nature.
28:38
They are no better. They committed the same sins.
28:41
They harbored the same internal rebellion.
28:43
They broke the same laws. They deserve the exact same
28:46
outcome. Precisely.
28:47
They look at the destruction and the thought that floods their
28:50
mind is that should be me. That is my rightful place.
28:54
The stark visual contrast of what they actually deserve
28:57
versus what they freely received turns their gratitude up to an
29:01
absolute maximum. It prevents them from ever
29:04
taking their salvation for granted.
29:06
It produces an ecstasy of praise for the free, unmerited grace
29:09
that reached down and rescued them.
29:11
So they are not rejoicing in the suffering itself.
29:14
They are not sadists. They are rejoicing in the
29:17
sovereign grace that made a difference between 2 identical
29:20
pieces of weak, useless vinewood.
29:22
One piece of wood is mercifully pulled from the fire, the other
29:25
is left in to burn, and one pulled out sings infinitely
29:29
louder because it can smell the smoke on its own bark.
29:31
The shadows in a painting make the light areas appear vastly
29:34
brighter. The dark, terrifying backdrop of
29:37
Divine Justice makes the brilliant colors of Divine Mercy
29:40
pop with infinite clarity and depth.
29:43
That is the Puritan understanding of cosmic justice.
29:47
The universe is a theater designed to display all the
29:49
attributes of God, and the contrast between the vessels of
29:52
mercy and the vessels of wrath achieves that display perfectly.
29:56
It is heavy. It is undeniable that he argues
29:59
it with sheer scriptural force, but it is an immense weight to
30:03
place on a congregation. Which means Edwards cannot just
30:06
leave it there as an abstract academic theological concept.
30:10
Turrets and sermons were never just lectures.
30:12
They were surgical instruments. He has to.
30:14
Pivot. He has to force the listener to
30:16
look in the mirror. That pivot is the application
30:18
section, often called the uses of the sermon.
30:21
Having established the cosmic architecture of utility, he
30:25
brings the entire massive weight of the argument down onto the
30:28
shoulders of the individual sitting in the Pew.
30:29
He. Begins the aggressive process of
30:31
humiliation and self examination.
30:33
He addresses the listener directly.
30:35
He says God will not be frustrated.
30:38
He will get His glory from your existence, either actively by
30:41
your obedient fruit bearing life, or passively from your
30:45
ruin as fuel for the fire. You get to choose the method of
30:48
your utility, but you do not get to choose whether or not God is
30:52
glorified by your creation. The house always wins.
30:56
And then he demands that the listener evaluate their own
31:00
fruit, and he sets the bar terrifyingly high,
31:04
systematically ruling out everything we normally count as
31:07
goodness. He strips away all the
31:09
superficial layers of civic religion.
31:11
He says going to public worship simply because it is the custom
31:14
of your town or your family that is not fruit.
31:18
Praying in your house just to maintain a reputation as a
31:21
religious upstanding person, not fruit.
31:24
Being sober, paying your debts and avoiding scandal just to
31:27
protect your business interests, not fruit.
31:30
Because none of those activities require a genuine supernatural
31:34
affection for God, they are entirely self-serving.
31:37
I have to highlight a specific quote here because it leaked off
31:39
the page when I was reading through the sources.
31:41
Let's hear it. Edwards is targeting people who
31:43
are highly diligent in their religious duties.
31:46
They read their Bibles, they attend church, they give to the
31:48
poor, but they do it purely because they are terrified of
31:51
going to hell. He looks at those people and
31:53
says there is Nair a devil in hell, but would gladly do the
31:57
same. It is a devastating
31:59
psychological critique. It shook me when I read it.
32:01
He is saying you are doing all these religious chores simply
32:05
because you want to avoid physical and spiritual pain.
32:08
Well, demons want to avoid pain, too.
32:10
If a demon could escape the fire by sitting in a Pew for an hour
32:14
on Sunday, they would do it in a hard.
32:16
Fear of punishment is not love. Doing things to save your own
32:20
skin is just another form of self preservation.
32:22
It brings no glory to God because it is not born out of
32:26
admiration for His beauty. It is born out of a desire to
32:29
use God as an escape hatch. If we push that logic further,
32:33
it forces the listener to grapple with their deepest, most
32:35
hidden motivations. Have you ever in your entire
32:38
life done one single thing purely out of a gracious
32:42
respect, delight and love for God Himself?
32:44
Or has every prayer, every good deed, every religious observance
32:48
been a calculated transaction for your own benefit?
32:51
And if you realize you haven't, if the diagnostic machine prints
32:55
out a receipt that says 0 active fruit, Edwards drives home the
32:59
absolute shame of that reality. He guides the listener to
33:02
reflect on the sheer scale of the investment God has made in
33:05
them. He said look at the endowment of
33:07
your nature. You are not a cow, you are not a
33:09
tree. You have a rational soul.
33:11
You can look. Back to the beginning of time,
33:13
through history. You can look forward to
33:14
eternity. You can contemplate the
33:16
architecture of the universe. Edwards notes that human
33:19
faculties make us akin to the angels.
33:22
We possess an astonishing biological and spiritual
33:25
machinery capable of grasping the infinite.
33:28
Yes, you have this incredible mental architecture, and to use
33:32
all of that processing power, all of that emotional depth, all
33:35
of that memory and foresight just to figure out how to eat,
33:38
drink, accumulate money, and gratify physical appetite.
33:41
It is a massive, embarrassing degradation.
33:44
It makes a human being less useful than a piece of timber.
33:48
An oak tree quietly and perfectly does what it was made
33:50
to do. A human endowed with 1000 times
33:53
more capacity actively rebels against its design and uses its
33:58
angelic machinery to chase dirt. He recounts all the means of
34:02
grace provided to humans to facilitate this fruit bearing.
34:05
It is like the Vine dresser spending his entire life digging
34:08
about the roots. God didn't just create humans
34:10
and step back. He sent prophets.
34:13
He gave us the written word preserved through centuries of
34:17
blood and fire. Then the unthinkable investment,
34:19
the incarnation of the Son of God.
34:22
The Creator of the cosmos took on human flesh, stepped into the
34:25
dirt, became a teacher, and laid down his life to make atonement
34:29
for the sins of the branches. He provided the sacraments, the
34:32
tireless labor of ministers preaching week after week.
34:35
The amount of spiritual fertilizer, blood and care
34:38
poured onto this human vine is mathematically incalculable.
34:41
And if after all of that cosmic effort, after the death of the
34:44
Son of God and the striving of the Spirit, the vine still
34:47
produces nothing but wild, bitter, self-serving grapes.
34:51
The shame of that unprofitableness is
34:53
overwhelming. You become a nuisance in the
34:55
creation. You are a black hole consuming
34:57
grace and emitting nothing. Which leads to his final, urgent
35:01
exhortation. Having broken down every
35:03
defense, he pleads with the congregation to bear fruit
35:06
before the axe falls. But he adds A crucial caveat.
35:10
He reminds them, and us that God does not actually need our
35:13
fruit. He is entirely self-sufficient.
35:15
In the book of Job, the question is asked, can a man be
35:18
profitable to God? The answer is absolutely no.
35:23
God is not lonely. He is not hungry.
35:25
He does not need our worship to sustain his ego.
35:27
So why demand the fruit with such severe consequences?
35:30
Because bearing fruit is entirely for your own profit and
35:34
joy, God has designed the physics of the spiritual
35:36
universe such that aligning with His will is the only way you
35:40
will ever taste true sweetness. You will find pleasure, peace,
35:44
and fulfillment in a holy life, and God has graciously attached
35:47
everlasting, unspeakable rewards to it.
35:49
He is literally commanding you to step into your own highest
35:52
happiness. Is inviting them to function
35:54
according to their design, which is the only place joy exists.
35:57
But he balances that gracious invitation with the grim,
36:00
unalterable alternative. If you remain unprofitable, the
36:04
lease expires, you'll be cut down.
36:07
He quotes Christ in John 15, describing how men gather the
36:11
withered branches and cast them into the fire.
36:13
He paints this final chilling picture of hell not just as a
36:17
place of fire, but as a place of absolute sensory and spiritual
36:21
deprivation. He describes it as the place
36:23
where nature finally stops laboring for you.
36:26
The sun will no longer run its unwearied course to shine light
36:29
on your face. The Earth will no longer grow
36:32
food for you to consume. The clouds will withhold their
36:34
reign. The ministers will stop
36:36
preaching to you. The Bible will be closed.
36:39
The Vine dresser puts away his tools, turns his back and walks
36:43
out of the vineyard. It is the place where God's
36:45
resources stop being wasted on the unfruitful.
36:48
It is the end of the line for the barren vine.
36:51
The universe ceases to support the rebel.
36:53
It is a heavy, heavy document, but the logic is a master class
36:57
in theological construction. It forces a complete ground up
37:00
re evaluation of what we consider a successful life.
37:03
It removes the comfortable middle ground we all try to live
37:05
in. We want to be decent people
37:06
without being devoted people. Edwards eliminates that
37:09
category. He takes away Gray area
37:12
entirely. You are either the house filled
37:14
with light and a divine inhabitant, or you are an empty
37:18
hollow shell waiting to be torn down for firewood.
37:21
Which brings me back to the thought we started with the
37:23
diagnostic machine. Right, if we plug our modern
37:26
lives with all our achievements, our bank accounts or societal
37:29
contributions into Edwards criteria, the readout is
37:33
brutally clear. Active fruit or passive fuel.
37:37
So I want to leave you with a lingering question to chew on
37:40
long after the audio stops today.
37:42
If the entire universe, the sun burning millions of tons of
37:45
hydrogen, the rain falling from the circulating clouds, the soil
37:48
turning over, the historical preservation of the scriptures
37:51
is laboring right now, this very second, to give you the
37:55
biological and spiritual energy to make a choice.
37:57
What specifically is the fruit that your life is manufacturing?
38:01
Are you building something that outlasts the fire, or are you
38:03
just gathering kindling? Thanks for joining us on this
38:06
deep dive. We will catch you next time.