Friday, July 3, 2009
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Monday, June 22, 2009
37 Truths To Joy In The Whole Bible
(From http://lovetogod.com)
I was just reading through the book of Esther and came to the part where Esther had convinced King Ahasuerus not to kill all the Jews in all of his 127 provinces. When I read that I was relieved, thinking, "Oh good, they are going to call it all off, the Jews will live and rejoice." They did live, but the command was then given that instead the Jews should kill all who hated them in the 127 provinces. The Bible presents this as a good and glorious turn of events, but my pleasure in this Biblical story was temporarily aborted. I had forgotten some of the humbling (for sinners like us) yet glorious truths of the Bible. Fully acknowledging and accepting these truths is a prerequisite to understanding and loving the whole Bible. Parts of the Bible won't make sense or bring joy unless we accept these things.
I very much hope that none of this sours your opinion of me. I'm just trying to help us all. But, to quote Esther, "If I perish, I perish."
So, to understand and love the whole Bible we must...
1.Fully acknowledge in our hearts that God has eternally planned (or as the King, "decreed") everything that has or will ever come to pass in all of creation. He has never and will never "make up" new plans as history goes along. An infinite mind, with infinite wisdom, motivated out of infinite love, does not get it wrong "the first time." "For He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you." (1 Peter 1: 20)
2.Fully acknowledge in our hearts that while we see in Scripture that God sometimes changes His mind, even the change of mind was planned from all eternity. In history and in Scripture God sometimes addresses situations from the simple perspective of what a situation deserves, pertaining to justice. In these cases He has planned to view things narrowly, from a holiness versus sin perspective, because that is what God is: "holy, holy, holy." In His astonishing holiness He fully intends to punish. There is nothing deceptive about it. But God is more than holy. He is Love. He is Holy Love. And so in His great plan He plans for and allows the interplay of His holiness and love, His justice and grace. God is, after all, all about displaying Who He is. But in viewing things from the narrow perspective He does not thereby cease to have an infinite mind. Everything- even His own threats- takes place in the broad perspective of His sovereign, eternal, and completely unchangeable plan. As mentioned, He does not make things up as He goes along.
3.Fully acknowledge in our hearts that the Old Testament people were saved by believing in the promise of the One to come. They were not saved by sacrifices, but the sacrifices themselves were to be understood as pointing to the Sacrifice of the Lamb to come.
4.Fully acknowledge in our hearts that the Jewish nation of the Old Testament (the Old Covenant) was never saved eternally as a whole nation. They were saved and favored as a nation in regard to earthly and temporary things, but no individual Jew will be in Heaven who did not believe in the coming "pierced for our transgressions" King. Likewise, no Jew today is saved except by believing as Christians must believe. There are not two people of God. "For He is not a Jew who is one outwardly... He is a Jew who is one inwardly..." (Romans 2: 28, 29)
5.Fully acknowledge in our hearts that while God is absolutely sovereign, absolutely in control of all things in all creation, we as humans are also fully responsible for our choices. We choose or "will" evil in our hearts. God wills what is good in allowing us- in His absolute control- to will evil. He has the power and the right to work (sometimes by allowing) all things for His glory and the good of the church. We, on the other hand, never allow sin in our own hearts out of a desire for His glory and the good of the church. God is God, and we are not.
6.Fully acknowledge in our hearts that God created man and woman equal in glory and dignity with each other, yet with different roles.
7.Fully acknowledge in our hearts our own sinfulness and that of all of humanity. Our own sinfulness is greater than we can conceive.
8.Fully acknowledge in our hearts the horrible nature and consequences of sin.
9.Fully acknowledge in our hearts that sin is so horrible that we can't save ourselves. Christ had to pay the penalty for our sin, and die in our place on the cross, so that we could receive forgiveness.
10.Fully acknowledge in our hearts that sin is so horrible that there are no works, no performances, we can do to get God to accept us into Heaven. Jesus said He is the only Way to the Father, and that all we need to do is believe in Him as the God-man Who was crucified for our sins, and is now risen, and we will be saved.
11.Fully acknowledge in our hearts that believing in Christ is not a work or performance we do, but a gift from God that He enables us- by His Holy Spirit- to exercise.
12.Fully acknowledge in our hearts that while there are various kinds of belief in Christ, only the belief that has love for Christ at the heart of it is true belief. No mere intellectual belief connects us with Christ. There is a loving feeling in the heart and pleasure in God when we are truly believing in Christ.
13.Fully acknowledge in our hearts that just as Christ gives us salvation as a gift, He also gives us Spiritual gifts (note the parable of the talents) that we are to use and for which He will reward us. We don't earn the rewards. It is God rewarding- in us- His own works which He used us to perform.
14.Fully acknowledge in our hearts that in Heaven there will only be love and that every Christian will be as filled with love as they can possibly handle at the time. There could not possible be any jealousy of those who in heaven receive more rewards. Those who barely escape from the fire (1 Cor. 3) will be so filled with love that they will rejoice that others have received their just (gracious) rewards. Those who produced one hundred fold will be so humble that they will rejoice in the blessed company of those who were less faithful in this life. Each will receive his or her place, but all will be one perfectly happy, God-drenched, society.
15.Fully acknowledge in our hearts that for unbelievers to still be alive at this moment comes from the pure mercy of God, only.
16.Fully acknowledge in our hearts that apart from Christ we each deserve to be suffering in Hell at this very moment.
17.Fully acknowledge in our hearts that Hell is nothing short of everlasting conscious torment.
18.Fully acknowledge in our hearts that to die is simply fair, it is simply just, for we have all sinned against God.
19.Fully acknowledge in our hearts that this applies as much to children and infants as it does to scoundrels, for the essence of sin is a lack of perfect love for God, a love which is enabled by the Spirit of God. Infants too have inherited Original Sin.
20.Fully acknowledge in our hearts that God is able to save even the pre-born, as John the Baptist rejoiced in his mother's womb at the presence of the pre-born Jesus.
21.Fully acknowledge in our hearts that God is so infinitely Great and Worthy that it takes only one moment in time without love for God to justify our everlasting punishment in Hell, apart from Christ.
22.Fully acknowledge in our hearts that God's aim has always been and will always be to glorify Himself. He did not decree creation, the fall, redemption, and the eternal consummation out of loneliness, but as an overflow of His infinite joy in Himself. As Jonathan Edwards noted, a fountain pours forth because of its hyper-fullness, not because of its deficiency.
23.Fully acknowledge in our hearts that this Self-love is good in God, because He alone is infinitely worthy to be loved. He would sin against Himself if He did not infinitely love Himself. We were created to join Him in this love of Himself.
24.Fully acknowledge in our hearts that the love He has for Himself does not preclude the fact that He loves each Christian individually with a love that we could not possibly comprehend, and that He will spend eternity showering us with His goodness, grace, kindness, and innumerable and inconceivable blessings (See Ephesians 2: 7). He glorifies His own grace, goodness, and joy in giving these things to us, and at the same time it is with a love for each child more genuine than the very best earthly father could give his children.
25.Fully acknowledge in our hearts that God is so infinitely Great and Worthy that He did the right thing to decree the Fall of mankind and the demons, so that He might have the context to glorify Himself by displaying all the attributes of His perfection, including His glorious power in wrath, (see Romans chapter 9:17 and 22). He would have sinned against His own infinite worth had he not decreed the Fall and everlasting punishment of angels and men, for He would have failed to plan the display of His holiness and majesty, in its fullness.
26.Fully acknowledge in our hearts that God is so infinitely Great and Worthy that He has the right to choose some people for wrath, and others for grace, without asking His creatures beforehand or seeing who would be "worthy". None were ever worthy. Before either had done anything good or evil, it says in Romans 9, "Jacob I have loved," and "Esau I have hated."
27.Fully acknowledge in our hearts that being chosen by God gives one rights and privileges that are not fair... but are grace: undeserved and unearned. Again, fairness would be for them to eternally suffer in Hell.
28.Fully acknowledge in our hearts that being chosen by God is not reversible, that if true love for the Trinity is in our hearts, we will certainly inherit eternal life. Our pride would like to think we earn part of our salvation, if not all of it, but we must be humbled by the fact that Christ earned every ounce of salvation for the elect people of God.
29.Fully acknowledge in our hearts that if we are His children then there is nothing we can do to make Him love us more than He already does, and there is nothing we can do to make Him love us less than He already does.
30.Fully acknowledge in our hearts that our duty in this life is to get right with God through Jesus Christ: to love Him, believe Him, and obey Him.
31.Fully acknowledge in our hearts that getting right with God is not something we can do. We must plead with God for a new heart- He alone can grant it. As Luther said, "We are all beggars."
32.Fully acknowledge in our hearts that being chosen by God gives one rights to judge with Christ, in God's time, the whole world of unrepentant men and angels.
33.Fully acknowledge in our hearts that this right is sometimes manifested, especially in the Old Testament, by God commanding His people to kill and destroy those who are not the covenant people, including their children. Note the book of Esther in the introduction above.
34.Fully acknowledge in our hearts that while God gives a sort of general mercy to all while they live, those who were chosen for eternal wrath are fundamentally hated by God. It could not be otherwise if Hell is what He has predestined them to. (Again, see Romans 9.)
35.Fully acknowledge in our hearts that Jesus died on the cross for the chosen people only, not for those God hates and has predestined to Hell.
36.Fully acknowledge in our hearts that God is in Himself the very Holiness from which His commandments, threats, and promises derive, and that in being the Creator He has rights to do things that we may not do. He may kill (Cosmic Capital Punishment) when and how He pleases, for all have sinned against Him. He may bless as He pleases, for He is God. God, by virtue of being God- literally infinite in all perfections- may do whatsoever He pleases, and He does so.
37.Fully acknowledge in our hearts that in this life we are commanded to love all, because all are God's creatures, because we do not know before the Day of Judgement who are the elect and who are the reprobate, and because we were, "by nature no better than the rest."
The above is not meant to be a full theology, but a summary of things which I believe trip up most Christians today. I have not included things like Scripture's teaching on the Trinity, the Person and two natures of Christ, or the Christian relationship to government and society. Rather, I wanted to challenge us, or in many cases simply remind us, with a presentation of truths which directly challenge our pride. If we do not come- or come again- to joyfully receive these things into our hearts there will be many parts of the Bible which make us wince, cause us confusion, weaken our faith, and be far from sweet to our souls.
May God bless you as you read and meditate on His Word.
I was just reading through the book of Esther and came to the part where Esther had convinced King Ahasuerus not to kill all the Jews in all of his 127 provinces. When I read that I was relieved, thinking, "Oh good, they are going to call it all off, the Jews will live and rejoice." They did live, but the command was then given that instead the Jews should kill all who hated them in the 127 provinces. The Bible presents this as a good and glorious turn of events, but my pleasure in this Biblical story was temporarily aborted. I had forgotten some of the humbling (for sinners like us) yet glorious truths of the Bible. Fully acknowledging and accepting these truths is a prerequisite to understanding and loving the whole Bible. Parts of the Bible won't make sense or bring joy unless we accept these things.
I very much hope that none of this sours your opinion of me. I'm just trying to help us all. But, to quote Esther, "If I perish, I perish."
So, to understand and love the whole Bible we must...
1.Fully acknowledge in our hearts that God has eternally planned (or as the King, "decreed") everything that has or will ever come to pass in all of creation. He has never and will never "make up" new plans as history goes along. An infinite mind, with infinite wisdom, motivated out of infinite love, does not get it wrong "the first time." "For He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you." (1 Peter 1: 20)
2.Fully acknowledge in our hearts that while we see in Scripture that God sometimes changes His mind, even the change of mind was planned from all eternity. In history and in Scripture God sometimes addresses situations from the simple perspective of what a situation deserves, pertaining to justice. In these cases He has planned to view things narrowly, from a holiness versus sin perspective, because that is what God is: "holy, holy, holy." In His astonishing holiness He fully intends to punish. There is nothing deceptive about it. But God is more than holy. He is Love. He is Holy Love. And so in His great plan He plans for and allows the interplay of His holiness and love, His justice and grace. God is, after all, all about displaying Who He is. But in viewing things from the narrow perspective He does not thereby cease to have an infinite mind. Everything- even His own threats- takes place in the broad perspective of His sovereign, eternal, and completely unchangeable plan. As mentioned, He does not make things up as He goes along.
3.Fully acknowledge in our hearts that the Old Testament people were saved by believing in the promise of the One to come. They were not saved by sacrifices, but the sacrifices themselves were to be understood as pointing to the Sacrifice of the Lamb to come.
4.Fully acknowledge in our hearts that the Jewish nation of the Old Testament (the Old Covenant) was never saved eternally as a whole nation. They were saved and favored as a nation in regard to earthly and temporary things, but no individual Jew will be in Heaven who did not believe in the coming "pierced for our transgressions" King. Likewise, no Jew today is saved except by believing as Christians must believe. There are not two people of God. "For He is not a Jew who is one outwardly... He is a Jew who is one inwardly..." (Romans 2: 28, 29)
5.Fully acknowledge in our hearts that while God is absolutely sovereign, absolutely in control of all things in all creation, we as humans are also fully responsible for our choices. We choose or "will" evil in our hearts. God wills what is good in allowing us- in His absolute control- to will evil. He has the power and the right to work (sometimes by allowing) all things for His glory and the good of the church. We, on the other hand, never allow sin in our own hearts out of a desire for His glory and the good of the church. God is God, and we are not.
6.Fully acknowledge in our hearts that God created man and woman equal in glory and dignity with each other, yet with different roles.
7.Fully acknowledge in our hearts our own sinfulness and that of all of humanity. Our own sinfulness is greater than we can conceive.
8.Fully acknowledge in our hearts the horrible nature and consequences of sin.
9.Fully acknowledge in our hearts that sin is so horrible that we can't save ourselves. Christ had to pay the penalty for our sin, and die in our place on the cross, so that we could receive forgiveness.
10.Fully acknowledge in our hearts that sin is so horrible that there are no works, no performances, we can do to get God to accept us into Heaven. Jesus said He is the only Way to the Father, and that all we need to do is believe in Him as the God-man Who was crucified for our sins, and is now risen, and we will be saved.
11.Fully acknowledge in our hearts that believing in Christ is not a work or performance we do, but a gift from God that He enables us- by His Holy Spirit- to exercise.
12.Fully acknowledge in our hearts that while there are various kinds of belief in Christ, only the belief that has love for Christ at the heart of it is true belief. No mere intellectual belief connects us with Christ. There is a loving feeling in the heart and pleasure in God when we are truly believing in Christ.
13.Fully acknowledge in our hearts that just as Christ gives us salvation as a gift, He also gives us Spiritual gifts (note the parable of the talents) that we are to use and for which He will reward us. We don't earn the rewards. It is God rewarding- in us- His own works which He used us to perform.
14.Fully acknowledge in our hearts that in Heaven there will only be love and that every Christian will be as filled with love as they can possibly handle at the time. There could not possible be any jealousy of those who in heaven receive more rewards. Those who barely escape from the fire (1 Cor. 3) will be so filled with love that they will rejoice that others have received their just (gracious) rewards. Those who produced one hundred fold will be so humble that they will rejoice in the blessed company of those who were less faithful in this life. Each will receive his or her place, but all will be one perfectly happy, God-drenched, society.
15.Fully acknowledge in our hearts that for unbelievers to still be alive at this moment comes from the pure mercy of God, only.
16.Fully acknowledge in our hearts that apart from Christ we each deserve to be suffering in Hell at this very moment.
17.Fully acknowledge in our hearts that Hell is nothing short of everlasting conscious torment.
18.Fully acknowledge in our hearts that to die is simply fair, it is simply just, for we have all sinned against God.
19.Fully acknowledge in our hearts that this applies as much to children and infants as it does to scoundrels, for the essence of sin is a lack of perfect love for God, a love which is enabled by the Spirit of God. Infants too have inherited Original Sin.
20.Fully acknowledge in our hearts that God is able to save even the pre-born, as John the Baptist rejoiced in his mother's womb at the presence of the pre-born Jesus.
21.Fully acknowledge in our hearts that God is so infinitely Great and Worthy that it takes only one moment in time without love for God to justify our everlasting punishment in Hell, apart from Christ.
22.Fully acknowledge in our hearts that God's aim has always been and will always be to glorify Himself. He did not decree creation, the fall, redemption, and the eternal consummation out of loneliness, but as an overflow of His infinite joy in Himself. As Jonathan Edwards noted, a fountain pours forth because of its hyper-fullness, not because of its deficiency.
23.Fully acknowledge in our hearts that this Self-love is good in God, because He alone is infinitely worthy to be loved. He would sin against Himself if He did not infinitely love Himself. We were created to join Him in this love of Himself.
24.Fully acknowledge in our hearts that the love He has for Himself does not preclude the fact that He loves each Christian individually with a love that we could not possibly comprehend, and that He will spend eternity showering us with His goodness, grace, kindness, and innumerable and inconceivable blessings (See Ephesians 2: 7). He glorifies His own grace, goodness, and joy in giving these things to us, and at the same time it is with a love for each child more genuine than the very best earthly father could give his children.
25.Fully acknowledge in our hearts that God is so infinitely Great and Worthy that He did the right thing to decree the Fall of mankind and the demons, so that He might have the context to glorify Himself by displaying all the attributes of His perfection, including His glorious power in wrath, (see Romans chapter 9:17 and 22). He would have sinned against His own infinite worth had he not decreed the Fall and everlasting punishment of angels and men, for He would have failed to plan the display of His holiness and majesty, in its fullness.
26.Fully acknowledge in our hearts that God is so infinitely Great and Worthy that He has the right to choose some people for wrath, and others for grace, without asking His creatures beforehand or seeing who would be "worthy". None were ever worthy. Before either had done anything good or evil, it says in Romans 9, "Jacob I have loved," and "Esau I have hated."
27.Fully acknowledge in our hearts that being chosen by God gives one rights and privileges that are not fair... but are grace: undeserved and unearned. Again, fairness would be for them to eternally suffer in Hell.
28.Fully acknowledge in our hearts that being chosen by God is not reversible, that if true love for the Trinity is in our hearts, we will certainly inherit eternal life. Our pride would like to think we earn part of our salvation, if not all of it, but we must be humbled by the fact that Christ earned every ounce of salvation for the elect people of God.
29.Fully acknowledge in our hearts that if we are His children then there is nothing we can do to make Him love us more than He already does, and there is nothing we can do to make Him love us less than He already does.
30.Fully acknowledge in our hearts that our duty in this life is to get right with God through Jesus Christ: to love Him, believe Him, and obey Him.
31.Fully acknowledge in our hearts that getting right with God is not something we can do. We must plead with God for a new heart- He alone can grant it. As Luther said, "We are all beggars."
32.Fully acknowledge in our hearts that being chosen by God gives one rights to judge with Christ, in God's time, the whole world of unrepentant men and angels.
33.Fully acknowledge in our hearts that this right is sometimes manifested, especially in the Old Testament, by God commanding His people to kill and destroy those who are not the covenant people, including their children. Note the book of Esther in the introduction above.
34.Fully acknowledge in our hearts that while God gives a sort of general mercy to all while they live, those who were chosen for eternal wrath are fundamentally hated by God. It could not be otherwise if Hell is what He has predestined them to. (Again, see Romans 9.)
35.Fully acknowledge in our hearts that Jesus died on the cross for the chosen people only, not for those God hates and has predestined to Hell.
36.Fully acknowledge in our hearts that God is in Himself the very Holiness from which His commandments, threats, and promises derive, and that in being the Creator He has rights to do things that we may not do. He may kill (Cosmic Capital Punishment) when and how He pleases, for all have sinned against Him. He may bless as He pleases, for He is God. God, by virtue of being God- literally infinite in all perfections- may do whatsoever He pleases, and He does so.
37.Fully acknowledge in our hearts that in this life we are commanded to love all, because all are God's creatures, because we do not know before the Day of Judgement who are the elect and who are the reprobate, and because we were, "by nature no better than the rest."
The above is not meant to be a full theology, but a summary of things which I believe trip up most Christians today. I have not included things like Scripture's teaching on the Trinity, the Person and two natures of Christ, or the Christian relationship to government and society. Rather, I wanted to challenge us, or in many cases simply remind us, with a presentation of truths which directly challenge our pride. If we do not come- or come again- to joyfully receive these things into our hearts there will be many parts of the Bible which make us wince, cause us confusion, weaken our faith, and be far from sweet to our souls.
May God bless you as you read and meditate on His Word.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
qoute from Jonathan Edwards, The Religious Affections, Part III, Section III
And therefore it must needs be, that a sight of God's loveliness must begin here. A true love to God must begin with a delight in his holiness, and not with a delight in any other attribute; for no other attribute is truly lovely without this, and no otherwise than as (according to our way of conceiving of God) it derives its loveliness from this; and therefore it is impossible that other attributes should appear lovely, in their true loveliness, till this is seen; and it is impossible that any perfection of the divine nature should be loved with true love, till this is loved. If the true loveliness of all God's perfections, arises from the loveliness of his holiness; then the true love of all his perfections, arises from the love of his holiness. They that don't see the glory of God's holiness, can't see anything of the true glory of his mercy and grace: they see nothing of the glory of those attributes, as any excellency of God's nature, as it is in itself; though they may be affected with them, and love them, as they concern their interest: for these attributes are no part of the excellency of God's nature, as that is excellent in itself, any otherwise than as they are included in his holiness, more largely taken; or as they are a part of his moral perfection.
...
And therefore it is primarily an account of this kind of excellency, that the saints do love all these things. Thus they love the Word of God, because it is very pure. 'Tis on this account they love the saints; and on this account chiefly it is, that heaven is lovely to them, and those holy tabernacles of God amiable in their eyes: 'tis on this account that they love God; and on this account primarily it is, that they love Christ, and that their hearts delight in the doctrines of the gospel, and sweetly acquiesce in the way of salvation therein revealed.
Under the head of the first distinguishing characteristic of gracious affection, I observed that there is given to those that are regenerated, a new supernatural sense, that is as it were a certain divine spiritual taste, which is in its whole nature diverse from any former kinds of sensation of the mind, as tasting is diverse from any of the other five senses, and that something is perceived by a true saint in the exercise of this new sense of mind, in spiritual and divine things, as entirely different from anything that is perceived in them by natural men, as the sweet taste of honey is diverse from the ideas men get of honey by looking on it or feeling of it; now this that I have been speaking, viz. the beauty of holiness is that thing in spiritual and divine things, which is perceived by this spiritual sense, that is so diverse from all that natural men perceive in them: this kind of beauty is the quality that is the immediate object of this spiritual sense: this is the sweetness that is the proper object of this spiritual taste. The Scripture often represents the beauty and sweetness of holiness as the grand object of a spiritual taste, and spiritual appetite. This was the sweet food of the holy soul of Jesus Christ, "I have meat to eat, that ye know not of…. My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work" (John 4:32, John 4:34). I know of no part of the Holy Scriptures, where the nature and evidences of true and sincere godliness, are so much of set purpose, and so fully and largely insisted on and delineated, as the 119th Psalm; the Psalmist declares his design in the first verses of the psalm, and he keeps his eye on this design all along, and pursues it to the end: but in this psalm the excellency of holiness is represented as the immediate object of a spiritual taste, relish, appetite and delight, God's law, that grand expression and emanation of the holiness of God's nature, and prescription of holiness to the creature, is all along represented as the food and entertainment, and as the great object of the love, the appetite, the complacence and rejoicing of the gracious nature, which prizes God's commandments above gold, yea, the finest gold, and to which they are sweeter than the honey, and honeycomb; and that upon account of their holiness, as I observed before. The same Psalmist declares, that this is the sweetness that a spiritual taste relishes in God's law, "The law of the Lord is perfect…. The commandment of the Lord is pure…. The fear of the Lord is clean…. The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart…. The judgments of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether: more to be desired are they than gold, yea than much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb" (Psalms 19:7–10).
A holy love has a holy object: the holiness of love consists especially in this that it is the love of that which is holy, as holy, or for its holiness; so that 'tis the holiness of the object, which is the quality whereon it fixes and terminates. An holy nature must needs love that in holy things chiefly, which is most agreeable to itself; but surely that in divine things, which above all others is agreeable to holy nature, is holiness; because holiness must be above all other things agreeable to holiness; for nothing can be more agreeable to any nature than itself; holy nature must be above all things agreeable to holy nature; and so the holy nature of God and Christ, and the Word of God, and other divine things, must be above all other things, agreeable to the holy nature that is in the saints.
And again, an holy nature doubtless loves holy things, especially on the account of that, for which sinful nature has enmity against them: but that for which chiefly sinful nature is at enmity against holy things, is their holiness; it is for this, that the carnal mind is enmity against God, and against the law of God, and the people of God. Now 'tis just arguing from contraries; from contrary causes, to contrary effects; from opposite natures, to opposite tendencies. We know that holiness is of a directly contrary nature to wickedness: as therefore 'tis the nature of wickedness chiefly to oppose and hate holiness; so it must be the nature of holiness chiefly to tend to, and delight in holiness.
The holy nature in the saints and angels in heaven (where the true tendency of it best appears) is principally engaged by the holiness of divine things. This is the divine beauty which chiefly engages the attention, admiration and praise of the bright and burning seraphim; "One cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory" (Isaiah 6:3). And: "They rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God almighty, which was, and is, and is to come" (Revelation 4:8). So the glorified saints, "Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy." (ch. Revelation 15:4).
And the Scriptures represent the saints on earth as adoring God primarily on this account, and admiring and extolling all God's attributes, either as deriving loveliness from his holiness, or as being a part of it. Thus when they praise God for his power, his holiness is the beauty that engages them: "O sing unto the Lord a new song, for he hath done marvellous things; his right hand and his holy arm hath gotten him the victory" (Psalms 98:1). So when they praise him for his justice and terrible majesty; "The Lord is great in Zion, and he is high above all people: let them praise thy great and terrible name, for it is holy" (Psalms 99:2–3). "Exalt ye the Lord our God, and worship at his footstool, for he is holy" (ver. Psalms 99:5). "Thou wast a God that forgavest them, though thou tookest vengeance of their inventions. Exalt ye the Lord our God, and worship at his holy hill; for the Lord our God is holy" (verses Psalms 99:8–9). So when they praise God for his mercy and faithfulness; "Light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart. Rejoice in the Lord ye righteous, and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness" (Psalms 97:11–12). "There is none holy as the Lord; for there is none beside thee; neither is there any rock like our God" (1 Samuel 2:2).
By this therefore all may try their affections, and particularly their love and joy. Various kinds of creatures show the difference of their natures, very much, in the different things they relish as their proper good, one delighting in that which another abhors. Such a difference is there between true saints, and natural men: natural men have no sense of the goodness and excellency of holy things; at least for their holiness; they have no taste of that kind of good; and so may be said not to know that divine good, or not to see it; it is wholly hid from them: but the saints, by the mighty power of God, have it discovered to them: they have that supernatural, most noble and divine sense given them, by which they perceive it: and it is this that captivates their hearts, and delights them above all things; 'tis the most amiable and sweet thing to the heart of a true saint, that is to be found in heaven or earth; that which above all others attracts and engages his soul; and that wherein, above all things, he places his happiness, and which he lots upon for solace and entertainment to his mind, in this world, and full satisfaction and blessedness in another. By this you may examine your love to God, and to Jesus Christ, and to the Word of God, and your joy in them, and also your love to the people of God, and your desires after heaven; whether they be from a supreme delight in this sort of beauty, without being primarily moved from your imagined interest in them, or expectations from 'em. There are many high affections, great seeming love and rapturous joys, which have nothing of this holy relish belonging to 'em.
Particularly, by what has been said you may try your discoveries of the glory of God's grace and love, and your affections arising from them. The grace of God may appear lovely two ways; either as bonum utile, a profitable good to me, that which greatly serves my interest, and so suits my self-love; or as bonum formosum, a beautiful good in itself, and part of the moral and spiritual excellency of the divine nature. In this latter respect it is that the true saints have their hearts affected, and love captivated by the free grace of God in the first place.
From the things that have been said, it appears, that if persons have a great sense of the natural perfections of God, and are greatly affected with them, or have any other sight or sense of God, than that which consists in, or implies a sense of the beauty of his moral perfections, it is no certain sign of grace: as particularly, men's having a great sense of the awful greatness, and terrible majesty of God; for this is only God's natural perfection, and what men may see, and yet be entirely blind to the beauty of his moral perfection, and have nothing of that spiritual taste which relishes this divine sweetness.
(Jonathan Edwards, The Religious Affections, Part III, Section III)
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And therefore it is primarily an account of this kind of excellency, that the saints do love all these things. Thus they love the Word of God, because it is very pure. 'Tis on this account they love the saints; and on this account chiefly it is, that heaven is lovely to them, and those holy tabernacles of God amiable in their eyes: 'tis on this account that they love God; and on this account primarily it is, that they love Christ, and that their hearts delight in the doctrines of the gospel, and sweetly acquiesce in the way of salvation therein revealed.
Under the head of the first distinguishing characteristic of gracious affection, I observed that there is given to those that are regenerated, a new supernatural sense, that is as it were a certain divine spiritual taste, which is in its whole nature diverse from any former kinds of sensation of the mind, as tasting is diverse from any of the other five senses, and that something is perceived by a true saint in the exercise of this new sense of mind, in spiritual and divine things, as entirely different from anything that is perceived in them by natural men, as the sweet taste of honey is diverse from the ideas men get of honey by looking on it or feeling of it; now this that I have been speaking, viz. the beauty of holiness is that thing in spiritual and divine things, which is perceived by this spiritual sense, that is so diverse from all that natural men perceive in them: this kind of beauty is the quality that is the immediate object of this spiritual sense: this is the sweetness that is the proper object of this spiritual taste. The Scripture often represents the beauty and sweetness of holiness as the grand object of a spiritual taste, and spiritual appetite. This was the sweet food of the holy soul of Jesus Christ, "I have meat to eat, that ye know not of…. My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work" (John 4:32, John 4:34). I know of no part of the Holy Scriptures, where the nature and evidences of true and sincere godliness, are so much of set purpose, and so fully and largely insisted on and delineated, as the 119th Psalm; the Psalmist declares his design in the first verses of the psalm, and he keeps his eye on this design all along, and pursues it to the end: but in this psalm the excellency of holiness is represented as the immediate object of a spiritual taste, relish, appetite and delight, God's law, that grand expression and emanation of the holiness of God's nature, and prescription of holiness to the creature, is all along represented as the food and entertainment, and as the great object of the love, the appetite, the complacence and rejoicing of the gracious nature, which prizes God's commandments above gold, yea, the finest gold, and to which they are sweeter than the honey, and honeycomb; and that upon account of their holiness, as I observed before. The same Psalmist declares, that this is the sweetness that a spiritual taste relishes in God's law, "The law of the Lord is perfect…. The commandment of the Lord is pure…. The fear of the Lord is clean…. The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart…. The judgments of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether: more to be desired are they than gold, yea than much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb" (Psalms 19:7–10).
A holy love has a holy object: the holiness of love consists especially in this that it is the love of that which is holy, as holy, or for its holiness; so that 'tis the holiness of the object, which is the quality whereon it fixes and terminates. An holy nature must needs love that in holy things chiefly, which is most agreeable to itself; but surely that in divine things, which above all others is agreeable to holy nature, is holiness; because holiness must be above all other things agreeable to holiness; for nothing can be more agreeable to any nature than itself; holy nature must be above all things agreeable to holy nature; and so the holy nature of God and Christ, and the Word of God, and other divine things, must be above all other things, agreeable to the holy nature that is in the saints.
And again, an holy nature doubtless loves holy things, especially on the account of that, for which sinful nature has enmity against them: but that for which chiefly sinful nature is at enmity against holy things, is their holiness; it is for this, that the carnal mind is enmity against God, and against the law of God, and the people of God. Now 'tis just arguing from contraries; from contrary causes, to contrary effects; from opposite natures, to opposite tendencies. We know that holiness is of a directly contrary nature to wickedness: as therefore 'tis the nature of wickedness chiefly to oppose and hate holiness; so it must be the nature of holiness chiefly to tend to, and delight in holiness.
The holy nature in the saints and angels in heaven (where the true tendency of it best appears) is principally engaged by the holiness of divine things. This is the divine beauty which chiefly engages the attention, admiration and praise of the bright and burning seraphim; "One cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory" (Isaiah 6:3). And: "They rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God almighty, which was, and is, and is to come" (Revelation 4:8). So the glorified saints, "Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy." (ch. Revelation 15:4).
And the Scriptures represent the saints on earth as adoring God primarily on this account, and admiring and extolling all God's attributes, either as deriving loveliness from his holiness, or as being a part of it. Thus when they praise God for his power, his holiness is the beauty that engages them: "O sing unto the Lord a new song, for he hath done marvellous things; his right hand and his holy arm hath gotten him the victory" (Psalms 98:1). So when they praise him for his justice and terrible majesty; "The Lord is great in Zion, and he is high above all people: let them praise thy great and terrible name, for it is holy" (Psalms 99:2–3). "Exalt ye the Lord our God, and worship at his footstool, for he is holy" (ver. Psalms 99:5). "Thou wast a God that forgavest them, though thou tookest vengeance of their inventions. Exalt ye the Lord our God, and worship at his holy hill; for the Lord our God is holy" (verses Psalms 99:8–9). So when they praise God for his mercy and faithfulness; "Light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart. Rejoice in the Lord ye righteous, and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness" (Psalms 97:11–12). "There is none holy as the Lord; for there is none beside thee; neither is there any rock like our God" (1 Samuel 2:2).
By this therefore all may try their affections, and particularly their love and joy. Various kinds of creatures show the difference of their natures, very much, in the different things they relish as their proper good, one delighting in that which another abhors. Such a difference is there between true saints, and natural men: natural men have no sense of the goodness and excellency of holy things; at least for their holiness; they have no taste of that kind of good; and so may be said not to know that divine good, or not to see it; it is wholly hid from them: but the saints, by the mighty power of God, have it discovered to them: they have that supernatural, most noble and divine sense given them, by which they perceive it: and it is this that captivates their hearts, and delights them above all things; 'tis the most amiable and sweet thing to the heart of a true saint, that is to be found in heaven or earth; that which above all others attracts and engages his soul; and that wherein, above all things, he places his happiness, and which he lots upon for solace and entertainment to his mind, in this world, and full satisfaction and blessedness in another. By this you may examine your love to God, and to Jesus Christ, and to the Word of God, and your joy in them, and also your love to the people of God, and your desires after heaven; whether they be from a supreme delight in this sort of beauty, without being primarily moved from your imagined interest in them, or expectations from 'em. There are many high affections, great seeming love and rapturous joys, which have nothing of this holy relish belonging to 'em.
Particularly, by what has been said you may try your discoveries of the glory of God's grace and love, and your affections arising from them. The grace of God may appear lovely two ways; either as bonum utile, a profitable good to me, that which greatly serves my interest, and so suits my self-love; or as bonum formosum, a beautiful good in itself, and part of the moral and spiritual excellency of the divine nature. In this latter respect it is that the true saints have their hearts affected, and love captivated by the free grace of God in the first place.
From the things that have been said, it appears, that if persons have a great sense of the natural perfections of God, and are greatly affected with them, or have any other sight or sense of God, than that which consists in, or implies a sense of the beauty of his moral perfections, it is no certain sign of grace: as particularly, men's having a great sense of the awful greatness, and terrible majesty of God; for this is only God's natural perfection, and what men may see, and yet be entirely blind to the beauty of his moral perfection, and have nothing of that spiritual taste which relishes this divine sweetness.
(Jonathan Edwards, The Religious Affections, Part III, Section III)
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