While his most well-known sermon is about hell, Jonathan Edwards seems to me to be most eloquent, passionate, and happy when writing about heaven. Three examples: This, therefore, may be your consolation, that in heaven your heart shall be enlarged, you shall be enabled to praise him in an immensely more perfect and exalted manner […]
Read More Three contemplations of heavenJonathan Edwards explores one of the reasons an individual might be caught in a state of depression: If you live very much in spiritual darkness, and without the comfortable presence of God, it may be this is the cause. If you complain that you have but little sweet communion with God, that you seem to […]
Read More If you live in spiritual darkness…On Sunday morning, we are making our way through one of the most significant passages in the New Testament on the family and on marriage in particular. There is much to be gleaned from these words in Ephesians 5. And there is also much to be learned from the godly example of mature believers who […]
Read More Jonathan Edwards and marriageAt Christmas, many presents are unwrapped and on occasion (frequently?) the revelation of what is inside is met with disappointment. The gift did not meet expectations. Life seems to work that way for some people, too. The unfolding of days and the accumulation of years yields a product that is less than what was desired […]
Read More Happy with what you have received?When we speak of the attributes and nature of God, we are attempting to comprehend the incomprehensible. Finite beings have no categories for infinity as it relates to time (eternity), knowledge (omniscience), strength (omnipotence), space (omnipresence), morality (holiness and purity), authority (sovereignty), or anything else. Yet, the Lord has given us some ability to move […]
Read More God is InfiniteThis morning I read again the story of Jacob (meaning, “supplanter,” Gen. 27:36). He came out of the womb grasping his brother’s heel, and he spent his life grasping for things that were not his or manipulating circumstances so that they would be to his favor and liking. If you want your brother’s birthright, it […]
Read More Jacob, deceit, and graceIn this season of resolutions — before all our promises are undone by the realities of weak commitments — we do well to hear the words of Jonathan Edwards about resolutions and the need for them to arise from a quest for God’s mercy and grace, as well as our own heart desire for transformation: […]
Read More Resolved, like Jonathan EdwardsI’m not sure how long this book has been available, but the entire text of Day by Day with Jonathan Edwards is available on Google Books. I’ve been reading this book as part of my devotional reading this year and have found it to be very helpful and encouraging. The editor, Randall Pederson, has selected […]
Read More Day by Day with Jonathan EdwardsJonathan Edwards contemplated the reality that Christ has made a way available for us to have access to the Father: [God] sits on a throne of grace, and there is no veil to hide this throne and keep us from it. The veil is rent from the top to the bottom. The way is open […]
Read More The way to God is openFor the past three months, we’ve been growing in our comprehension of the will of God and how we are to make decisions in relation to it during our Sunday School hour. A couple of days ago, I came across this statement from Jonathan Edwards (“The Reality of Conversion”) that reaffirms what Lee was teaching […]
Read More Don’t perplex your mindRecently, Desiring God adapted the unabridged text of Jonathan Edwards’ Religious Affections into an electronic book. Download the EPUB file for free. And if you need the Kindle format, you can convert it with Calibre (both Mac and Windows versions are available), free conversion software which I’ve used successfully several times.
Read More Free Jonathan Edwards eBookThere are many significant events in the history of the world. Great men and leaders have risen and fallen. Great civilizations have been established and others destroyed. Great movements and developments and advancements have been made in language and science and knowledge. But the advent of Christ was the greatest event in all of history […]
Read More A greater eventDo you contemplate daily your dependence on Christ? Do the words of Paul resonate in your heart? Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God (2 Cor. 3:5) Are John the Baptist’s words sensible to you? “He must increase, but I must decrease.” […]
Read More Do you contemplate your dependance on Christ?It’s generally not a welcome sight. And it’s not something that is often seen in my neighborhood, nor probably in yours either. But in the neighborhood where my wife and I had our first apartment, it was not unusual to see a man diving in the dumpster outside our apartment for small bits of edible […]
Read More We are beggarsThe past few Sundays we’ve been considering what the life of the unbeliever is like. In many ways, this has been an incomplete consideration, for it has only contemplated what the life of the unbeliever is like now; we have not dwelt on what the life of the unbeliever will be like, because of what […]
Read More The future punishment of the unbelieving
Words of Grace 