It must be acknowledged that the Visible Church is today in a very weakened state. If we compare it to a city, as Scripture does, then its walls are largely broken down. As the walls of Jerusalem in Nehemiah’s day were lying in heaps of rubble, and the city depopulated, so the Church as a whole today is very much weakened and deserted.
Some will question such an assertion, but even a cursory look at our national Churches should leave us in no doubt that Biblical religion is in a low state. When leading churchmen in the Church of England have, for example, publicly denied the virgin birth of Christ, and an ex-moderator of the Church of Scotland has expressed support for these views, we are forced to conclude that the walls and bulwarks have crumbled. The pure doctrines of the faith are a principal defence of the Church, a wall and bulwark of Zion. Have they not crumbled when these doctrines are not maintained and proclaimed as they once were? The watchword of the Reformation, Scripture Alone, is regarded as an irrelevance by many ministers, and is cast into the dustbin of history. The basic principle that the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are the only rule to direct us what we are to believe and how we should live, is discarded.
The fact that ministers and office bearers in various Churches can speak and live contrary to the Scriptures in a variety of ways without fearing that they will be dealt with by church courts, shows that another bulwark has crumbled. When Scriptural discipline according to the requirement of the divine Head of the church will not, or cannot, be exercised, a principal bulwark is demolished. The Church that throws aside “the keys of the kingdom” need not be surprised when it finds itself unable to control subversive elements within it. Many professing Christians think that Church censures are an outdated and offensive imposition, but, as Robert Shaw says in his commentary on The Westminster Confession of Faith, “Church censures are necessary for vindicating the honour of Christ and His religion; maintaining the purity of His worship; reclaiming offenders; deterring others from like offences; removing contagions from the Church; and preventing the wrath of God, which might justly fall upon the Church if they should suffer the seals of His covenant to be profaned by notorious and obstinate offenders.” Behind the departing of the glory from Israel in the days of Eli, the high priest, was his failure to discipline his wicked sons, and his allowing them to continue in the priesthood. How great was the fall of the walls of the Church of that day.
If we have a warm heart and a kind eye for the cause of Christ, we will have many a sigh and cry when it is low. If the fact of the broken-down walls of Jerusalem caused godly Nehemiah to weep and pray and fast, much more should the crumbling defences of our Churches cause us to cry to the God of heaven. And as Jerusalem was no less dear to Nehemiah on account of its ruined condition, but rather the reverse, so the cause of Christ is not despised by the godly when it is in a weakened and ruined state, but rather is more in their thoughts than ever. It is very significant, as Psalm 102:14 shows, that even the stones and dust of Zion were precious to the godly:
“For in her rubbish and her stones
thy servants pleasure take;
Yea, they the very dust thereof
do favour for her sake.”
And there is no clearer way of showing our love for Zion than praying for it – praying that the Lord will build up His Zion. The wonderful promise is that the Lord will yet build up His Church and manifest His majesty. “When the Lord shall build up Zion, he shall appear in his glory,” Psalm 102:16. But prayer is connected with the promise, as the next verse shows; “He will regard the prayer of the destitute, and not despise their prayer.” Well does the Lord know the low state of His Church, but he has directed us to come to Him with our complaints about it, and our petitions for it. “Thus saith the Lord God; I will yet for this be inquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them,” Ezekiel 36:37. What will He do for them? The previous verse tells us, “Then the heathen that are left round about you shall know that I the Lord build the ruined places.” Prayer, above everything else, is the duty laid on believers.
Of course, God uses men as His instruments for building the Church. That wise master builder, the Apostle Paul, did a building work by preaching the truth and maintaining order in the Churches. While it is necessary to pray, it is not enough to pray. The Lord’s servants are sure that their duty to cry to the Lord in no way diminishes their responsibility to be “always abounding in the work of the Lord” in other ways. Again and again Nehemiah prayed to the Lord, but he also pressed on with building of the wall; and he urged others, “Come, let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, that we be no more a reproach.” May we have the same response as those whom Nehemiah addressed: “Let us rise up and build. So they strengthened their hands for this good work.” Nehemiah 2:18.
We can be certain that our endeavours to further “this good work” will meet with opposition, as surely as did the efforts of Nehemiah and his companions. But despite all their troubles at the hands of their enemies they persevered and succeeded. The wall was built “even in troublous times”.
But when all is said and done, the builders of Zion’s walls have to say, as it were, “Except the Lord build the walls, they labour in vain who build them.” And so we are brought back to the precious fact that the building of the walls is essentially the doing of the Lord. “The Lord doth build up Jerusalem: he gathereth together the outcasts of Israel,” Psalm 147:2. It has been a sweet, consoling truth to the godly down through the ages that the divine Head of the Church, Jesus Christ, has pledged His power for the building and preservation of His Church. “Upon this rock I will build my church,” He declares, “and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” Therefore, as we sadly look upon the crumbling walls and demolished bulwarks, we must also expectantly look unto the Lord; and to Him we must earnestly cry as David did:
“Shew kindness, and do good, O Lord,
to Sion, thine own hill;
The walls of thy Jerusalem
build up of thy good will.” (Metrical Psalm 51:18)
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SermonGlorious Grace
Jonathan Edwards*
(Slightly edited to obviate some obscurities in punctuation, vocabulary and syntax. – Editor)
“. . . And he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shouting, crying, Grace, Grace unto it!” Zechariah 4:7
THE mercy of God is that attribute which we, the fallen, sinful race of Adam, stand in greatest need of, and God has been pleased, according to our needs, more gloriously to manifest this attribute than any other. The wonders of divine grace are the greatest of all wonders. The wonders of divine power and wisdom in the making of this great world are marvellous; other wonders of His justice in punishing sin are wonderful; many wonderful things have happened since the creation of the world, but none like the wonders of grace. “Grace, grace!” is the sound with which the gospel rings. “Grace, grace!” will be that shout which will ring in heaven forever. And perhaps what the angels sung at the * See footnote on next page birth of Christ – of God’s good will towards men – is the highest theme that ever they entered upon.
In order to understand the words of our text, we are to take notice that the scope and design of the chapter is to comfort and encourage the children of Israel, now returned out of their Babylonish captivity, in the building of Jerusalem and the temple. It seems they were very much disheartened by reason of the opposition they met with in the work, and the want of the external glory of the former temple before the captivity. The priests and the Levites, and the chief of the fathers, wept aloud as the rest shouted at the sight, as you may see in Ezra 3: 12, “But many of the priests and Levites, and chief of the fathers, who were ancient men, that had seen the first house, when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, wept with a loud voice, and many shouted aloud for joy.” You may see a full account of their great oppositions and discouragements in the fourth and fifth chapters.
The prophets, Haggai and Zechariah, were sent on this occasion to comfort them under those discouragements by foretelling the glories of the gospel that should be displayed in this latter house; glories far beyond the glories of the former, notwithstanding the former far exceeded in external glory. “Who is left among you that saw this house in her first glory? and how do ye see it now? is it not in your eyes in comparison of it as nothing? Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, saith the Lord; and be strong, O Joshua, son of Josedech, the high priest; and be strong, all ye people of the land, saith the Lord, and work: for I am with you, saith the Lord of hosts: according to the word that I covenanted with you when ye came out of Egypt, so my spirit remaineth among you: fear ye not. For thus saith the Lord of hosts; Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land; and I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come: and I will fill this house with glory, saith the Lord of hosts. The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the Lord of hosts. The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the Lord of hosts: and in this place will I give peace, saith the Lord of hosts.” Haggai 2:3 – 9.
See also, in the third chapter of this book of Zechariah, at the eighth verse, “Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, thou and thy fellows that sit before thee: for they are men wondered at: for behold, I will bring forth my servant, the BRANCH.” And the same subject is continued in this chapter, even the glorious grace of the gospel, which was to be manifested by Christ in this temple.
* Jonathan Edwards (1703-58) became pastor at Northampton, Massachusetts in 1727. An awakening began in his congregation in 1735. Because he insisted that conversion was a necessary qualification for partaking of the Lord’s Supper, he was dismissed from his pastorate in 1750 after a two year contest with those who opposed him. He became the pastor of a small congregation at Stockbridge, and a missionary to the Housatonic Indians. At Stockbridge he wrote his famous treatises on the Will and Original Sin, among others. He was installed as President of the College of New Jersey, at Princeton, in 1758, but died of smallpox some three months later. See the issue of November 1996 for a biographical sketch of this eminent servant of Christ.
More particularly, it is continued in our text: “And they shall bring forth the headstone with shouting, crying, Grace, grace unto it.” The headstone is that which entirely crowns and finishes the whole work, signifying that the entire gospel dispensation was to be finished in mere grace. This stone was to be brought with repeated shouting or rejoicings at the grace of God, signifying the admirableness and gloriousness of this grace.
The doctrine of our text is that the gospel dispensation is finished wholly and entirely in free and glorious grace. There is glorious grace in it; grace shines in every part of the work of redemption; the foundation is laid in grace, the superstructure is reared in grace, and the whole is finished in glorious grace.
If Adam had persevered in obedience, he would have been made happy by mere bounty and goodness; for God was not obliged to reward Adam for his perfect obedience any otherwise than by covenant, for Adam by standing would not have merited happiness. But yet this grace would not have been such as the grace of the gospel, for he would have been saved upon the account of what he himself did, but the salvation of the gospel is given altogether freely. “And if by grace, then it is no more works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then it is no more grace; otherwise work is no more work.” Romans 11:6.
That we may give you as full explication of this doctrine as we can, we shall: First, show that free grace shines forth in the distinct parts of this wondrous work of redemption; Second, speak a little of the gloriousness of this grace.
I. As to the first, that every part of this great work of redemption was performed of mere grace, notice:
First, it was of free grace that God had any thoughts or designs of rescuing mankind after the Fall.
If there had not been an immense fountain of goodness in God, He would never have entertained any thoughts at all of ever redeeming us after our defection. Man was happy enough at first, and might have continued so to all eternity, if he would; he was not compelled to fall. If he had not willfully and sinfully rebelled against God, he would never have been driven forth like an unworthy wretch, as he was. But although God had been so overflowing in His bounty to him as to make him head over the lower creation and ruler of all other creatures, and had planted a garden on purpose for his delight, and would have fixed him in an eternal happiness only on the reasonable condition of his obeying the easy commands of His Maker; but yet notwithstanding all, he rebelled and turned over from God to the devil, out of a wicked ambition of being a god himself, not content in that happy state that he was in as man. And so he rebelled against God’s authority. Now who, but God of boundless grace, would not have been provoked after this to leave man as he was, in the miserable state into which he had brought himself by his disobedience; resolving to help him no more; leaving him to himself and to the punishment he had deserved; leaving him in the devil’s hands where he had thrown himself when he was not contented in the arms of his Creator? Who, but One of boundless grace, would ever have entertained any thoughts of finding out a way for his recovery?
God had no need of us, or of our praises. He has enough in Himself for Himself, and neither needs nor desires any additions of happiness. And if He did need the worship of His creatures, He had thousands and ten thousands of angels; and if He had not enough, He could create more. Or, He could have glorified His justice in man’s eternal ruin, and have with infinite ease created other beings, more perfect and glorious than man, eternally to sing His praises.
Second, as to every part of redemption being performed of free grace, it was especially of rich and boundless grace that He gave His only Son for our restoration.
By our fall, we are cast down so low into sin and misery, so deeply plunged into a most miserable and sinful condition, that it may truly be said, although all things are infinitely easy to God with respect to His omnipotency, yet with respect to God’s holiness and justice, God Himself could not redeem us without a great deal of cost, no, not without infinite cost; that is, not without the presence of that which is of infinite value, even the blood of His Son.
This was absolutely necessary in order to our redemption, because there was no other way of satisfying God’s justice. When we were alienated, it was come to this: either we must die eternally, or the Son of God must spill His blood; either we, or God’s own Son must suffer God’s wrath; one of the two: either miserable worms of the dust that had deserved it, or the glorious, amiable, beautiful, and innocent Son of God. The fall of man brought it to this; it must be determined one way or the other, and it was determined by the strangely free and boundless grace of God, that His own Son should die that the offending worms might be freed, and set at liberty from their punishment, and that they might be made happy. Here is grace indeed; well may we shout, “Grace, grace!” at this.
The heathens used to reckon that an only son slain in sacrifice was the greatest gift that could be offered to the gods. This they used sometimes to offer in times of great distress. But we have a stranger thing than that declared to us in the gospel; not that men sacrificed their only sons to God, but that God gave His only Son to be slain, a sacrifice for man. God once commanded Abraham to offer his only son to Him, and perhaps the faith and love of Abraham may be looked upon as wonderful: that he was willing to perform it. There are few that would do it in these days; but if you wonder at that, how wonderful it is that, instead of Abraham offering his only son to God, God should give His only Son to be offered for Abraham, and for every child of Abraham. Certainly, you will acknowledge this to be a wonder not to be paralleled.
And besides, God did not do this for friends, but for enemies and haters of Him. He did not do it for loyal subjects, but for rebels; He did not do it for those that were His children, but for the children of the devil; He did not do it for those that were excellent, but for those that were more hateful than toads or vipers; He did not do it for those that could be any way profitable or advantageous to Him, but for those that were so weak, that instead of profiting God, they were not able in the least to help themselves.
God has given even fallen man such a gift that He has left nothing for man to do that he may be happy, but only to receive what is given him. Though man has sinned, yet God requires no amends to be made by him; He requires of him no restoration; He requires no penance in order that men be forgiven. If they will receive His Son of Him, He requires neither money nor price. What God offers, He offers freely. God offers man eternal happiness upon far more gracious terms since he is fallen than before. Before, he was to do something himself for his happiness; he was to obey the law: but since man is fallen, God offers to save him for nothing, only if he will receive salvation as it is offered; that is, freely through Christ, by faith in Him.
Thirdly, it was of mere grace that the Son was so freely willing to undertake our salvation.
How cheerfully, yea how joyfully, did He undertake it, although He Himself was the very person that was to suffer for man. Though He Himself was to bear his sin and be made sin for him, yet how cheerfully doth He speak: “Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do thy will, O God.” Psalm 40:7,8. He says, in Proverbs 8:31, that His “delights were with the sons of men,” for so much did He love them that He Himself was willing to die in their room, rather than that they should be miserable. He freely undertook this out of mere love and pity, for He never was, and never will be, repaid by them for His blood.
Fourth, the application of the redemption of the gospel, by the Holy Spirit, is of mere grace.
Although God the Father has provided a Saviour for us, and Christ has come and died, and there is nothing wanting but our willing and hearty reception of Christ; yet we shall eternally perish if God is not gracious to us, and does not make application of Christ’s benefits to our souls. We are dependent on free grace, even for ability to lay hold on Christ already offered, so entirely is the gospel dispensation of mere grace. “For by grace are ye saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God.” Ephesians 2:8 That is, we shall be saved freely and for nothing if we will but accept of Christ.
But we are not able to do that of ourselves; it is the free gift of God. “Not of works, lest any man should boast, for we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” Ephesians 2:9,10.
II. We shall briefly speak to the gloriousness of this grace.
As the grace of the gospel is altogether free, so it is glorious. The angels stoop down, with eyes full of wonder and joy, to look into it, and to shout for gladness and admiration at the sight of it. How did the multitudes of heavenly hosts shout at the birth of Christ, crying, “Glory to God in the highest; on earth peace and good will toward men!” Well may the top stone of this house be brought forth with shouting, crying, “Grace! Grace!” to it.
All the attributes of God do illustriously shine forth in the face of Jesus Christ: His wisdom in so contriving His power in conquering death and the devil, and the hard and rocky hearts of depraved men; His justice in punishing sins of men rather upon His own dear Son, than let them go unpunished; but more especially in His grace, that sweet attribute, He has magnified His mercy above all His names.
The grace of God, exhibited in the gospel, is glorious because,
First, of the greatness of it. Every circumstance of the gospel, grace surprisingly heightens it; let us look on what part we will, we shall see enough to fill us and all the angels in heaven with admiration forever. If we consider it as the grace of God the Father, and consider His greatness, His holiness, His power and justice, immensity and eternity; if we diligently consider how great a being He is, who took such pity and compassion on mankind, it is enough to astonish us. Or, if we consider ourselves, on whom this great God has bestowed this grace, we are nothing but worms, yea less than worms, before God; and not only so, but sinful worms, worms swollen with enmity against God. If we consider Him by whom we receive grace, the Son of God who made heaven and earth by His almighty power, and is equal with the Father; if we consider the greatness of what He did when He died most ignominiously and painfully in our nature; it all infinitely heightens the grace of the gospel.
Second, the grace of God, exhibited in the gospel, is glorious because of its glorious fruit. No less than salvation and eternal glory are the fruits of this grace of the gospel; adoption, union with Christ, communion with God, the indwelling of the Holy Ghost, the heavenly happiness, the pleasure of the eternal paradise, the new Jerusalem, the glorious and triumphant resurrection of the body, an everlasting reign with Christ in the height of glory. And pleasure and happiness, no less than these fruits, are the effects of this marvellous grace.
What a vast difference is there between a poor, miserable sinner who is full of sin and condemned to hellfire, and a saint shining forth in robes of glory, and crowned with a crown of victory and triumph. But it is no less a difference than this that is made in the same man, by the grace of God in Christ.
Application.
Hence we learn, first, how they dishonour God and the gospel, who depend on anything else but mere grace. The gospel is far the most glorious manifestation of God’s glory that ever was made to man, and the glory of the gospel is free grace and mere mercy. Now those that will not depend on this free grace, they do what they can to deprive the gospel of this glory and sully the glory of God therein shining forth. They take away the praise, glory, and honour, that is due to God by His free grace and mercy to men, and set up themselves as the objects of it, as if their salvation, at least partly, was owing to what they have done.
This must needs be very provoking and highly affronting to God. When miserable sinners, having fallen into such a miserable estate that it is impossible they should be saved by any other means than by pure grace, and when God is so gloriously rich in His goodness as to offer this free grace unto them out of pity to them; how provoking must it be to God when these miserable, helpless wretches attribute any part of their salvation to themselves.
It is not an opportunity to buy and procure our own salvation that God offers, but an opportunity to lay hold on that salvation which is already bought and procured, and offered to us; neither are we able to do this of ourselves; it is the gift of God.
There are some who hope to be saved in quite another way than ever the gospel proposed; that is, by their own righteousness; by being so good and doing so well as that God shall take their goodness as sufficient to counterbalance their sin that they have committed, and thereby they make their own goodness to be of equal value with Christ’s blood. This conceit is very apt to creep into the proud heart of man.
Some openly profess to be able to merit salvation, as papists. Others hold that they are able to prepare and fit themselves for salvation already merited, or at least are able to do something towards it of themselves, and it is to be feared that many that do not openly profess either their own righteousness or their own strength, do very much depend upon both. By this doctrine, how much they dishonour the free grace of the gospel!
Secondly, let all be exhorted to accept the grace of the gospel. One would think that there should be no need of such exhortations as this, but alas, such is the dreadful wickedness and the horrible ingratitude of man’s heart that he needs abundance of persuading and entreating to accept of God’s kindness when it is offered to him. We should count it horrible ingratitude in a poor, necessitous creature, to refuse our help and kindness when we, out of mere pity to him, offer to relieve and help him. If you should see a man in extremity of distress, and in a perishing necessity of help and relief, and you should lay out yourself with much labour and cost, out of compassion to him, that he might be relieved, how would you take it of him if he should proudly and spitefully refuse it and snuff at it, instead of thanking you for it? Would you not look upon it as a very ungrateful, unreasonable, base thing? And why has not God a thousand times more cause to look upon you as base and ungrateful, if you refuse His glorious grace in the gospel that He offers you? When God saw mankind in a most necessitous condition, in the greatest and extremest distress, being exposed to hellfire and eternal death, from which it was impossible he should ever deliver himself, or that ever he should be delivered by any other means, He took pity on them, and brought them from the jaws of destruction by His own blood. Now, what great ingratitude is it for them to refuse such grace as this.
But so it is: multitudes will not accept a free gift at the hands of the King of the world. They have the daring, horrible presumption to refuse a kindness offered by God Himself, and not to accept a gift at the hands of Jehovah, nor of His own Son equal with himself. Yea, they will not accept of Him though He died a most tormenting death, though He died that they may be delivered from hell, and that they may have heaven. They will not accept of this gift, though they are in such necessity of it, and must be miserable forever without it. Yea, although God the Father invites and importunes them, they will not accept of it. Though the Son of God Himself knocks and calls at their door till His head is wet with the dew, and His locks with the drops of the night, arguing and pleading with them to accept of Him for their own sakes; though He makes so many glorious promises; though He holds forth so many precious benefits to draw them to happiness, perhaps for many years together; yet they obstinately refuse all. Was ever such ingratitude heard of, or can greater be conceived of?
What would you have God do for you, that you may accept of it? Is the gift that He offers too small? Do you think it too little for you to accept? Does not God offer you His Son, and what could God offer more? Yea, we may say, God Himself has not a greater gift to offer. Did not the Son of God do enough? Did He not die, and what could he do more? Yea, we may say that the Son of God could not do a greater thing for man. Do you refuse because you want to be invited and wooed? You may hear him, from day to day, inviting you, if you will but hearken. Or is it because you don’t stand in need of God’s grace? You need it so much as that you must either receive it or be damned to all eternity; and what greater need can there possibly be?
Alas, miserable creatures that we are, instead of the gift of God offered in the gospel not being great enough for us, it is that we are not worthy of anything at all. We are not worthy of the least of all God’s mercies; not worthy of the least crumb of bread, the least drop of water, or the least ray of light. Instead of Christ not having done enough by His dying in such pain and ignominy, it is that we are not worthy that He should so much as look on us. Instead of Christ so long urging of us to be eternally happy, we are not worthy that He should once make an offer of the least benefit.
Whoever continues to refuse Christ will find hereafter that instead of his having no need of Him, the least drop of His blood would have been more worth to them, than all the world. Wherefore, let none be so ungrateful to God and so unwise for themselves, as to refuse the glorious grace of the gospel.
Thirdly, let those who have been made partakers of this free and glorious grace of God, spend their lives much in praises and hallelujahs to God, for the wonders of His mercy in their redemption. To you, O redeemed of the Lord, doth this doctrine most directly apply itself. You have been made partakers of all this glorious grace of which you have now heard. It is you that God entertained thoughts of restoring from your miserable fall into dreadful depravity and corruption, and from danger of the dreadful misery that unavoidably follows upon it. It is for you that God gave His Son, yea, His only Son, and sent Him into the world. It is for you that the Son of God so freely gave Himself; it is for you that He was born, died, rose again and ascended, and intercedes. It is to you that the free application of the fruit of these things is made: all this is done perfectly and altogether freely, without any of your desert, without any of your righteousness or strength. Wherefore, let your life be spent in praises to God. When you praise Him in prayer, let it not be with coldness and indifference; when you praise Him in your closet, let your whole soul be active therein. When you praise Him in singing, do not barely make a noise without any stirring of affection in the heart, without any internal melody. Surely, you have reason to shout, to cry, “Grace, grace, be the top stone of the temple!” Certainly, you do not lack mercy and bounty for which to praise God; you only need a heart and lively affections to praise Him with.
Surely, if the angels are so astonished at God’s mercy to you, and do even shout with joy and admiration at the sight of God’s grace to you, you yourself, on whom this grace is bestowed, have much more reason to shout.
Consider that a great part of your happiness in heaven to all eternity will consist in this: in praising of God for His free and glorious grace in redeeming you. And if you would spend more time about it on earth, you would find this world would be much more of a heaven to you than it is. Wherefore, do nothing while you are alive but speak and think and live God’s praises. ●