Five discourses on the soul's eternal salvation in Vol I of the Works - Edwards - XIII - Fifth discourse commenced

Required reading

Five discourses on the soul's eternal salvation in Vol I of the Works by Jonathan Edwards - (Available from Amazon or free here) - Commence the Fifth Discourse (The excellency of Christ) by reading up to the Application.

My summary

Today we start our fifth discourse on "And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof. And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain" (Revelation 5:5-6).

Edwards notes the two appellations given to Christ of lion and lamb and then observes that there is an admirable conjunction of diverse excellencies in Jesus Christ.

Firstly Edwards shows that:

I. There is a conjunction of such excellencies in Christ, as, in our manner of conceiving, are very diverse one from another;

II. There is in him a conjunction of such really diverse excellencies, as otherwise would have seemed to us utterly incompatible in the same subject;

III. Such diverse excellencies are exercised in him towards men that otherwise would have seemed impossible to be exercised towards the same object.

Secondly Edwards observes how this admirable conjunction of excellencies appears in Christ's acts:

I. It appears in what Christ did in taking on him our nature;

II. It appears in the acts and various passages of Christ's life;

III. It appears in his offering up himself a sacrifice for sinners in his last sufferings.

IV. It is still manifest in his acts, in his present state of exaltation in heaven.

V. It will be manifest in Christ's acts at the last judgment.

What grabbed me

A truly wonderful reading today as we were reminded again of Christ's stooping to the lowest low and rising to the highest height.

This example struck me most: 

'Christ's holiness never so illustriously shone forth as it did in his last sufferings; and yet he never was to such a degree treated as guilty. Christ's holiness never had such a trial as it had then; and therefore never had so great a manifestation. When it was tried in this furnace, it came forth as gold, or as silver purified seven times. His holiness then above all appeared in his stedfast pursuit of the honour of God, and in his obedience to him. For his yielding himself unto death was transcendently the greatest act of obedience that ever was paid to God by any one since the foundation of the world.

And yet then Christ was in the greatest degree treated as a wicked person would have been. He was apprehended and bound as a malefactor. His accusers represented him as a most wicked wretch. In his sufferings before his crucifixion, he was treated as if he had been the worst and vilest of mankind; and then, he was put to a kind of death, that none but the worst sort of malefactors were wont to suffer, those that were most abject in their persons, and guilty of the blackest crimes. And he suffered as though guilty from God himself, by reason of our guilt imputed to him; for he who knew no sin, was made sin for us; he was made subject to wrath, as if he had been sinful himself. He was made a curse for us.

Christ never so greatly manifested his hatred of sin, as against God, as in his dying to take away the dishonour that sin had done to God; and yet never was he to such a degree subject to the terrible effects of God's hatred of sin, and wrath against it, as he was then. In this appears those diverse excellencies meeting in Christ, viz. love to God, and grace to sinners.'

At the cross we see both the humiliation and glorification of Christ simultaneously!

Next week's reading

Conclude the Fifth Discourse (The excellency of Christ).

Now it's your turn

Please post your own notes and thoughts in the comments section below.