The End For Which God Created the World

A sermon preached in Back Free Church on Romans 11:36: "For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen."

We are continuing our studies in the thought of Jonathan Edwards. We have already looked at some of his important sermons and works, including the dissertation that he wrote after being dismissed from his parish in 1751, a Treatise concerning the Will. Among the papers on which he worked during this closing period were his Two Dissertations, one concerning the nature of virtue, and the other concerning the end for which God created the world.

These were published in 1765, seven years after Edwards's death. Their appearance serves to remind us that there are many Gospel ministries whose influence extended far beyond the parameters of their earthly lives. Being yet dead, these great men of God are still speaking to us.

But the reality was that when the Two Dissertations appeared, there was a very disappointing response to them. As one biographer says, this reflects the fact that "Edwards was not regarded in his own age, in his own country, with the general esteem which he received at a later period" (Murray, p449). Interestingly, too, when the Two Dissertations appeared, it was largely Scottish Presbyterian ministers (and not always the most prominent) who raised the money for their appearance.

Yet the message of the Dissertation Concerning the End for Which God Created the World is basic to biblical Christianity, and it is worth pondering. It is the message of this great verse with which Paul concludes the 11th chapter of Romans, the message that all of God's great work of salvation is to the glory of the one 'from whom, through whom, and to whom, are all things'.

This is a comprehensive verse. It tells us, first, that all things came from God. Biblical Christianity has no doubts about the origin of the universe: the world came from the creative hand of God, in a clear, definitive, act. God made all things. Without him nothing was made that was made. He is the supreme subject of the act of creation. He did it.

In other words, biblical Christianity cuts across the modern assumption of atheistic evolution as the explanation for the origin of the universe. The theory of evolution holds sway over almost all scientific enquiry and dialogue; yet any theory which leaves God out of the picture is not the view of Scripture.

Paul tells us that all things are through God. That is to say, he upholds all things by the word of his power. The Shorter Catechism defines this as God's works of Providence, 'his most holy, wise and powerful preserving and governing all his creatures and all their actions'. God holds the universe in his hands, and is the means by which all that he has made holds together and works towards the purpose for which it was designed.

In other words, biblical Christianity cuts across the philosophy known as deism, a view of life which taught that God was like an absentee landlord, who had set the world in motion, but had then abandoned it. It taught that there is no direct or indirect divine intervention; that God has little interest in the world as it is now. But the whole meaning and ethos of the Bible is that God's interest is absolute, and that his concern with the world is real.

But Paul goes on to make a third point: all things are made to God. In some sense, when God made the world, he fixed on himself as the ultimate reason towards which everything else ultimately moves at last. Biblical Christianity offers 'a hope and an end'; it delivers the world from the delusion that there is no purpose, no meaning to life. It cuts across the nihilism of much modern thinking, that encourages us to live for the here and now. It tells us that there is a supreme design to this universe, and that the designer in some sense had himself in view when he made all things, and continues to have himself in view as he shapes our lives and the events of the world.

So what IS this end? Why did God create the world? How can we speak about God as himself subject, means and OBJECT of creation? That is the question Edwards is exploring in this great work.

The Introduction to the Dissertation is a discussion of the meaning of the word 'end'. It is an involved philosophical discussion about the distinction between ultimate ends and chief ends, between inferior ends and superior ends, between subordinate ends and last ends. He talks about subordinate ends which are really means to other ends and distinguishes between ends which are valuable in themselves and ends which are valuable because of some further end which we can obtain through them.

Yet though Edwards the philosopher is very much before us in these discussions, Edwards reminds us in Chapter 1 that "this affair seems properly to be an affair of divine revelation" (para 28). Edwards has no difficulty in thinking things through logically; but he wants to come at last to the main point, which is what the Bible teaches about this great theme. There are some people who despise the mind; yet the poverty of the Christian church is how little thinking she does. We are to use our minds well, to equip them, strengthen them and feed them. Our minds are important. What goes into them governs our personalities and our souls. Edwards teaches us the value of thinking well. And he demonstrates to us that Biblical Christianity is a logical religion; it is the religion of the LOGOS, the Word, who is himself the fount of all our logic.

But I want to emphasise the message of Chapter 2 of the Dissertation, 'wherein it is inquired what is to be learned from Holy Scriptures concerning God's last end. During this discussion, Edwards cites the words of our text, describing Paul's concluding paragraph of Romans 11 as "a most pathetic exclamation" (the word 'pathetic' means 'full of feeling'), in which he gives expression to what he understands to be the greatest display of God's wisdom in ordering all events so that they will reach his great goal, his great end. And what is that goal? That he will have all the glory. That is why God made the world: not merely to display his power, although he did that; not merely to create human beings who could have fellowship and personal relationship with him, although he did that; not merely to demonstrate his mercy in redeeming sinful man, although he did that. All of these were subordinate ends which would fulfill the one chief end of his creation: that HE MIGHT HAVE ALL THE GLORY.

There are no shortage of biblical texts which demonstrate that fact. Consider the following:

Isaiah 43:7

Even every one that is called by my name: for I have created him for my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him.

Proverbs 16:4

The Lord hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.

Isaiah 44:6

Thus saith the Lord the King of Israel, and his redeemer the Lord of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God.

Isaiah 48:11

For mine own sake, even for mine own sake, will I do it: for how should my name be polluted? and I will not give my glory unto another.

Rev. 1:8

I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.

Edwards says:

"When God is so often spoken of as the last as well as the first, the end as well as the beginning, it is implied that as he is the first, efficient cause and fountain from whence all things originate; so he is the last, final cause for which they are made; the final term to which they all tend in their ultimate issue" (para. 126).

3 Statements from Edwards

para. 170 -- "the Scripture leads us to suppose that Christ sought God's glory as his highest and last end".

Edwards cites several Scripture to this end, and focuses particularly on John 12:27-28:

Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour. [28] Father, glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.

Edwards says of this:

"Now Christ has his soul straitened and distressed with a view of that which was infinitely the most difficult part of his work, and which was just at hand. Now certainly, if his mind seeks support in the conflict from a view of his end, it must most naturally repair to the highest end which is the proper fountain of all support in this case. We may well suppose, that when his soul conflicts with the most extreme difficulties, it would resort to the idea of his supreme and ultimate end, the fountain of all the support and comfort he has in the work".

In other words, Jesus knows that his end is to come, and knows that the greater part of the conflict awaits him. Edwards says that the only comfort Jesus could have was the knowledge that a higher end was to be served by his dying at Calvary: that God was to have all the glory and the praise through his work.

Para 174 -- "it is manifest from Scripture that God's glory is the last end of that great work of providence, the work of redemption by Jesus Christ"

Edwards reminds us that from beginning to end, the work of salvation issues in the glory of God. He cites the following Scriptures:

Luke 2:14

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

Philip. 2:10-11

That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; [11] And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Ephes. 1:11-12

In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will: [12] That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.

So Edwards concludes:

"This it is evident that the glory of God is the ultimate end of the work of redemption; which is the chief work of providence towards the moral world, as is abundantly manifest from Scripture. For the whole universe is put in subjection to Jesus Christ; all heaven and earth, angels and men, are subject to him, as executing this office; and are put under him to that end, that all things may be ordered by him in subservience to the great designs of his redemption".

Para. 187 -- "the Scripture leads us to suppose that God's glory is his last end in his moral government of the world in general".

Numbers 14:21

But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord.

Ezekiel 39:13

Yea, all the people of the land shall bury them; and it shall be to them a renown the day that I shall be glorified, saith the Lord God.

Romans 9:22-23

What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: [23] And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory,

As God governs the world, and at last weighs up the actions of men, he is to have all the praise and all the glory in his moral government of the world. Heaven and Hell will glorify him. He will not be mocked. He will be known by his judgements, and admired by all as a God of infinite glory.

Implications:

Someone has said that Edwards' dissertation is really an extended treatment of the first question and answer in the Shorter Catechism. What is the chief end of man? It is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever. Edwards wants to tell us that God's design in all that he does is for his own glory, and that therefore if we wish to live God-pleasing lives then we will have this as our great priority too. Christian living means giving God all the glory.

It means that the Christian is a person who understands the world. He has a way of looking at the world that reflects his discovery of God's hand at work in creation and in providence.

It means that the Christian is a person who glories in the cross. Why was it necessary for Jesus to die? Because under the tyranny of sin, our lives are spent simply to glorify and enjoy ourselves. Jesus died to display the magnificence of his grace in his saving work. That is why the choirs of heaven sing 'Worthy is the Lamb'. The Christian glories in the fact that cross is from God, through God, and to God.

It means that the Christian is a person of singular devotion. He is a person whose whole reason for living accords with the end for which God made him. Whether he eats or drinks, the Christian wishes to do all things for God's glory. As John Piper puts it, Edwards' message to the modern evangelical church is that our private life, our public life and our global life must be driven by a passion for the supremacy of God in all things, a passion rooted in God's passion for his own glory.