Eye-opening and awe-Inspiring

For anyone who wants God to see glorified above all else, this book is immensely satisfying.

Edwards spends a large part of the book proving, first by logic and reason, and then from countless Scripture passages, that God rightly demands his own glory above all else.

Then, for me, came a twist in the tail.

For me personally, as one who would gladly put God’s desire to glorify himself above God’s love for the saints, this was the twist:

If you’ll forgive me for badly paraphrasing Edwards, the fact that a fountain overflows is no indication of any lack in the fountain. The fact that the sun’s beams shine forth and the sun’s glory is reflected by the objects that are illuminated, in no way detracts from the glory of the sun.

If God’s love is a manifestation of his glory, then there must necessarily be those who are beloved and are on the receiving end of that love. If God’s mercy is a manifestation of his glory, then there must necessarily be those who are recipients of his mercy. And the necessary existence of the recipients of God’s mercy is an indication of an abundance in God, not a need in God that must be filled.

And what inspired me most of all is the realisation that Christ’s atoning sacrifice on the Cross, while being purely an expression of His unconditional love for all the saints and his desire for their eternal happiness, is at the same time purely an expression of his desire that he alone should receive all the glory for their salvation. The two are not contradictory or incompatible. We don’t have to choose between the chief end of the Cross being God’s glory, and the chief end of the Cross being God’s unconditional love for the saints. The two ends are one - the glory of God.

As Edwards, says, all these ends are the one end, and that end is the glory of God.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!