Tuesdays with Edwards!
Two hundred seventy four years ago this month, Jonathan Edwards preached a sermon on the wise men following the star to find Jesus in Bethlehem focusing on Matthew 2:10. If you missed it, the first part of this sermon is posted here. The second part is posted here.
In this third section, having explained what he saw as the message of Matthew 2:10, When those that have been earnestly seeking Christ come to find him, [they] have reason to rejoice with exceeding great joy, Edwards concludes the sermon by leading his congregation to think through how to apply and practice it.
You can find the sermon, Seeking After Christ, on the Jonathan Edwards Center website at www.edwards.yale.edu and in Sermons and Discourses, 1739-1742, ed. Harry S. Stout, The Works of Jonathan Edwards, vol. 22 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2003). Today’s post can be found on pages 292-297 in that volume.
***
Application.
Use I. [Of] Exh. to those that never have found Christ, earnestly to seek him. You that never yet have found Christ, how sorrowful is your condition. What a dreadful wilderness and what darkness are you in. How empty, how needy is your poor soul. How have you all your lifetime been a poor, wretched, miserable, lost creature, and never have yet seen any true good, and are in great danger of perishing forever and ever.
Consider what have you been following after, what have [you] been spending your life in pursuit of and spending your strength for. How have you spent your precious time, and what have you got by all that you have been doing? And will you still follow the devil, who as it were befools and infatuates your will? You yet follow after those shadows that have bewitched you. Will you not now, at last, set yourself to Jesus Christ, that excellent Savior that you have heard of at this time?
I hope some of you are in some measure convinced of your former folly and are seeking Christ. But be exhorted earnestly to seek him. If you do so, and continue in it, there is reason to hope that you will find him; and then you will rejoice with exceeding great joy. Now you are a very miserable creature; ’tis beyond the power of either men or angels to declare your misery. But how happy a person would you be, if you should find Christ. Then you would find a precious jewel indeed, that would be more worth to you than all the gold and jewels in the world.
Now some of you are weary. You stand in fear what will become of you. You can’t lie down on your beds a-nights quietly. You are afraid that you shall perish forever. You have heard of a devouring fire and everlasting burnings that you can’t bear, and you are afraid that you shall suffer them. You can’t have any rest in the condition that you are in.
But if you find Christ, then you will find rest. You will have in him a pleasant rest, an hiding place from the world, a covert from the tempest, a strong rock.
Now [you] are concerned because you are a captive of Satan. And indeed, you have reason to be concerned. ‘Tis indeed a dismal thing to be in the hands of such an enemy. But if you find Christ, you will find a deliverer; he’ll rescue you out of Satan’s hands and will stand like a rocky mountain between your soul and your enemies, a mountain that they can’t pass over.
You find that it is not comfortable living as you be now: ’tis more uncomfortable than to wander in a dry, scorching wilderness under the burning heat of the sun. But if you find Christ, then you will find a pleasant, cool shade to rest in, an pole tree, a tree of life. You may set down under his shadow with quiet rest and sweet delight. If you find Christ, you will find that precious balm that will heal all the wounds of your soul; he’ll pour in the oil of comfort into your heart.
Now you wander in darkness. This darkness is a dismal darkness. Some persons are afraid to walk in the dark for fear they should meet with the devil, and would be terribly afraid to be left alone out in an howling wilderness in a dark night for fear of being haunted by evil spirits.
However vain the fears of such persons may be, yet the darkness that you wander in is really an haunted darkness; it is full of evil spirits, full of devils. You wander about on a vast, howling, desolate wilderness in a night of darkness and the shadow of death, amongst evil spirits that meet you and haunt you wherever you go.
O how happy will you be if you, in this state, should find that star which arises out of Jacob! That would be to you as a light shining in a dark place. It would be a pleasant sight to behold, the most beautiful and lovely object that ever your eyes beheld.
It would scatter your darkness and it would drive away the devils that haunt you. Evil spirits can’t bear the pure and heavenly light of that star; they hate it and dread it. But you would find it a pleasant light to your soul, filling it with a sweet calm and excellent refreshment.
There is a kind of infinite power in the light of this heavenly star to fill the heart with gladness and rejoicing. Its light in the soul is holiness and happiness itself. Let not any seek or expect to see a star in their imaginations, as though we saw something up in the air shining with an outward light. The star that I speak [of] is Christ as held forth in the doctrine [of the] Word of God, and in the glorious gospel, which is to be seen, not with bodily eyes, not in the imagination, but in the understanding and sense of the heart.
If you find this star, then will you come out of darkness into marvelous light. You’ll find the brightest light in the universe. You will find the pleasantest and sweetest light that is to be seen in heaven itself, the most beautiful object that ever the eyes of angels beheld.
That which at the distance appears to be a star, a bright and morning star, will hereafter, as you come nearer to it, appear to be the Sun, the light of the world, a Sun in comparison of which the sun in the firmament is dark, yea, black as sackcloth of hair [Revelation 6:12], and yet a sun whose light is so mild and sweet that its glorious brightness shall not at all dazzle or pain your sight. If you find this you will find that beautiful, lovely object, in beholding which God the Father himself has his infinite and eternal happiness. It rejoices God’s heart to behold its beauty. It fills it every moment with infinite delight. God himself has no greater, no sweeter happiness than this, to behold and enjoy the brightness of this light. Here the love and rejoicing of God’s heart is maintained in its infinite height.
How, then, would you have reason to rejoice if you should find Jesus Christ. How would you then find “the oil of joy for mourning and the garments of praise for the spirit of heaviness” [Isaiah 61:3].
If you find Christ, this glorious star, this excellent heavenly jewel, will be yours. He will be your own, your Savior, your Lord, your portion. Then may you say, as in Canticles 2:16, “My beloved is mine, and I am his.” O how rich and happy will you be then! What will all the riches of kings be in comparison of yours? If you find this, what can you desire more? Would you desire a better treasure than the most precious jewel to be found anywhere, not only in this lower world but in the highest heavens itself? Would you desire to find a better treasure than the best and choicest jewel, that the King of kings himself possesses?
If this star arises in your heart, it will bring day along with it. The day will dawn when the day star arises. The night, by degrees, will vanish away till, at length, perfect day begins. And this light will be to you an everlasting light. If once this star rises, it will never set any more; and the joy and comfort that you have in its beams never will finally cease. And though it may sometimes go into a cloud in this world, yet it will break out again. And the time will soon come when all clouds and darkness shall be totally done away, and then this excellent light shall shine with perfect brightness upon your soul to all eternity without any interruption.
Is it not worth the while for poor, benighted, miserable, perishing souls to seek this light, this jewel? Consider that if you seek it, as you may do, there is great hope that you may find it. Some have now no opportunity to seek it and find; their opportunity is past. But ’tis not so with you: you have full opportunity, a blessed opportunity, if you can but find it in your heart to improve it, as you may do.
And if you find him, you are made forever. You will be a blessed person. Blessed are they that have truly found the Lord Jesus Christ. Their blessedness is worth millions of worlds. Happy is the man that has found such a treasure.
If you find this glorious star, and that shines upon your soul, the effect will be that your soul itself will be made to shine with an image of its glory. Isaiah 60:1, “Arise, shine; for thy light is come, for the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.” If you find the blessed light of this star, you yourself shall hereafter shine as the stars forever and ever.
But if you never find Christ, you will lose your soul. Your precious soul, that is more worth than all the world, will be eternally lost, and you yourself will be a poor, lost, undone creature. Christ is not to be found in hell; if you don’t find him now, you will never find him. The morning star never rises in hell.
Directions.
1. Be willing to lose all other things, that you may find Christ. Whatever has been dear or pleasant to you heretofore, if it seems to stand in the way of your finding Christ, be willing to part with it. If there is any sin that has been especially dear to you and you are loath to part with it, or if you reform from it for a time yet are loath to part with it, always let that be no stick with you. Be willing forever to lose the pleasure or profit of your dearest lusts.
And be willing to part with all the enjoyments of the world, if they stand in the way of your finding Christ. Make all stand by and give place to this great business of seeking Christ.
If it be needful that you shall miss of profit, or if it be needful you should part with your credit or with any manner of worldly comfort or convenience, be willing to do [it].
“Forget your own country and your father’s house” (Psalms 45:10). Part with all that is dear and pleasant to you in your native country, i.e. in your old, natural state of sin and in this your native world that you naturally love and are acquainted with, as Abraham, as Ruth. And as the wise men from the east: they departed to a great distance from their own country to find Christ.
2. If you would find Christ, seek him as silver and search for him as for hid treasures. So we are directed to seek wisdom, Proverbs 2:1-5. What pains do men [take] for the treasures that are hid in the earth: how do they dig and search; what hard labor do they undergo in digging for silver and gold and after earthly jewels. And if any man has lost some precious thing, how diligently and narrowly will they search for it. So diligently and earnestly seek Jesus Christ.
3. Be willing to go through the difficulties of a wilderness travail to find Christ. So did the wise men from the east. As I told you before, there was a vast wilderness that lay east of Judea, {through which they travailed in seeking Christ}. There they met, without doubt, with great difficulties: a parched wilderness, a barren desert, hideous mountains, and rocks and pits, and serpents and wild beasts. It is a great undertaking to travail through such a wilderness, but ’tis well worth your while to find Christ. Expect no other than to meet with many difficulties, and be prepared to go through ’em. Let it be your resolution that whatever opposition, whatever self-denial, whatever labor, whatever suffering, whatever discouragement is in the way, you will press forward, you will go through all difficulties.
Let there be as many mountains and rocks and fiery, flying serpents and roaring lions as there will, yet you will hold on your way till you find Christ, till you see that pleasant star rising out of Jacob.
4. Be willing to go a long journey to find Christ, i.e. be willing to continue earnestly seeking him a very long time, if you should be called to it. The wise men from the east went a long journey to find Christ. They came as it were from the utmost part of the earth. They probably came from Persia, which was a great many hundred miles. So the Queen of Sheba, she came from the uttermost part of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon [1 Kings 10:1-13]. And how do many men nowadays go long voyages for earthly treasures: how many go to the East Indies, and more than half compass the globe, to get gold and precious stones? And will not you be willing to go a long journey to find and obtain Jesus Christ?
Therefore take heed that it is not with you as it was with the children of Israel on their long journey in the wilderness, of whom we read that their soul was much discouraged by the length of the way [Numbers 21:4].
Learning To Be Full Of Grace And Truth. 