The title to this post is taken from a sermon preached by Jonathan Edwards to his congregation in 1734, that he titled “A Divine and Supernatural Light, Immediately Imparted to the Soul by the Spirit of God, Shown to be Both Scriptural and Rational Doctrine”. It is both an exposition of and commentary on the passage we looked at briefly in my last post, Matthew 16:13-16, with an emphasis on Matthew 16:17, wherein after Peter’s confession of Jesus as the Christ the Son of the living God, Jesus responds to him…, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.”
In this sermon, Edwards addresses how God overcomes the tragic and desperate condition of mankind’s fall in Adam, from a glorious being created in the image and likeness of God, living in and enjoying intimate communion with God as objects of His love, into the darkness and corruption of sin and death, cut off from the very life with God for which man was created, now objects of His wrath. God does so by sovereignly and supernaturally bringing men and women out of that darkness to a saving knowledge of His glory revealed in the person and work of God the Son, Jesus Christ, imparting to those He saves a real sense and apprehension of the divine excellency of God, to where we are able to (by faith) see, submit to and delight in God, being conformed to His glorious image as it is revealed in Jesus, wherein He becomes the object of our deepest love and source of our greatest joy (2 Corinthians 4:6) (Colossians 1:13) (Psalm 43:3-4).
The Bible presents mankind’s condition before God as one in which we are spiritually dead in our trespasses and sins, slaves to that sin, alienated from and actively suppressing the truth of God, having reprobate minds that are hostile to God, having deceitful and desperately wicked hearts filled with vile passions, displaying the nature and character of the devil, blinded by him to the glory of Christ, such that no one seeks after God or truly desires relationship with Him. And thus, we find ourselves under the wrath and judgement of God that has its ultimate consummation in the Lake of Fire, willfully ignorant of our dire and desperate condition (Ephesians 2:1) (John 8:34) (Ephesians 4:17-19) (Jeremiah 17:9) (Romans 1:26-31) (John 8:44) (2 Corinthians 4:3-5) (Romans 3:10-12) (Romans 1:18-23) (Revelation 20:12-15).
The Bible thus reveals this present world, our system of institutions and relationships as evil, existing and operating in opposition to and contradiction of God’s good plan for human flourishing and individual happiness (Galatians 1:4) (Genesis 1:31). It is a world that is shrouded in spiritual darkness (Psalm 107:10-11), under the spiritual influence of the evil one, the devil or Satan, a fallen, rebellious angel, who we are told in Revelation 12:9, deceives the whole world regarding the greatness, the goodness and the glory of God as creator and sovereign ruler over all of His creation.
Satan’s universal influence on the hearts and minds of men, women and children is acknowledged in 1 John 5:19, such that he is referred to in 2 Corinthians 4:4-5 as the god of this world/age, who through his lies, deceptions and spiritual manipulation has blinded our minds to the glory of God, and specifically to the glory revealed in the person and saving work of Jesus Christ, who came into the world as the Christ, the promised Messiah, the eternal Son of the Living God, who took on a human nature and body. He did so that through His sinless life, substitutionary death on a Roman cross and miraculous resurrection, He could justly save sinners from perishing under the wrath and judgement of God, granting them the gift of eternal life, the glorious life with God for which we were created, and lost because of sin, and in doing so display to this sin darkened world the glory of God, the infinite perfections of His being. (John 3:16) (Romans 6:23) (John 17:1-5).
And He did so on behalf of those who would believe on Jesus; who by faith would see the light of the knowledge of the glory of God – the excellency of God, the beauty of God, the magnificence of God, the majesty of God, the loving kindness of God in the person and work of Jesus – light that exposes to us the ugliness of our sin in light of the beauty of His holiness, as well as reveal to our hearts the justness of His judgement on our sin such that we turn from it and come to love Him as He deserves to be loved, trust Him as He deserves to be trusted, obey Him as He deserves to be obeyed, worship Him as He deserves to be worshiped, and ultimately be conformed to His image and likeness which is God’s ultimate purpose for those who do believe (2 Corinthians 4:6) (Romans 8:28-30).
The perplexing, even mystifying question this raises then, at least in my mind, is how?!! How will men and women who are spiritually dead, slaves to sin, with reprobate minds and wicked and deceitful hearts, having the nature and character of the devil, blinded by Him to the glory of Christ, overcome the spiritual darkness in our hearts and of this present evil world, such that we are able see, by faith, the light of glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, and be saved from God’s judgement, reconciled to God and restored to the glorious image of God in which we were created? What makes this even more perplexing is the fact that we are told in John 3:19, that we love this darkness, and who is willing to turn away from that which they love?
God acknowledges this most serious predicament in Jeremiah 13:23. Speaking through the prophet, God somewhat sarcastically inquires of the incorrigible, rebellious, sin corrupted people of Israel, Can (is it possible) the Ethiopian change his skin (color) or the leopard its spots? Then may you also do good, who are accustomed to doing evil.
The impossibility of a man or woman being able to do anything to save himself or come to saving faith in what God has done in Christ, is clearly noted by Jesus in His response to His disciple’s question regarding who then can be saved? He responds that with man it is impossible, but with God all things are possible (Mark 10:26-27).
And we will look at how God makes it possible, even certain, in my next post. (Hint: See title of this post.)
Grace and Peace ×