History of the Work of Redemption Vol I of the Works - Edwards - XVIII - Period III continued

Required readingHistory of the Work of Redemption in Vol I of the Works by Jonathan Edwards (Available from Amazon or free here) - Read Part VIII of Period III.

My summary.

Today Edwards describes the success of redemption when the Christian church shall be in a state of peace and prosperity.

Firstly he speaks of the prosperous state of the church through the greatest part of the period. It will be a time of heaven on earth, when prophecies of the Old Testament are fullfilled. A time of:

(i) knowledge;

(ii) holiness;

(iii) religion;

(iv) great peace and love;

(v) excellent order in the church;

(vi) beauty and glory in the church;

(vii) temporal prosperity;

(viii) rejoicing.

Secondly Edwards discusses the great apostacy at the close of this period:

(i) A little before the end of the world, a great part of the world shall fall away from Christ and his church;

(ii) Those apostates shall make great opposition to the church of God;

(iii) Now the state of things will seem most remarkably to call for Christ's immediate appearance to judgment.

What grabbed me

I liked the description of the very end of the age: 'And though the church shall be so eminently threatened, yet so will Providence order it, that it shall be preserved till Christ shall appear in his immediate presence, coming in the glory of his Father with all his holy angels. And then will come the time when all the elect shall be gathered in. That work of conversion which has been carried on from the beginning of the church after the fall through all those ages, shall be carried on no more. There never shall another soul be converted. Every one of those many millions, whose names were written in the book of life before the foundation of the world, shall be brought in; not one soul shall be lost. And the mystical body of Christ, which has been growing since it first began in the days of Adam, will be complete as to the number of parts, having every one of its members. In this respect, the work of redemption will now be finished. And now the end for which the means of grace have been instituted shall be obtained.—All that effect which was intended, shall now be accomplished.'

Not one of Christ's sheep will be lost on that day.  

Come Lord Jesus!

Next week's reading

Read Part IX of Period III.

Now it's your turn
Please post your own notes and thoughts in the comments section below.