Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758)
Enfield, Connecticut | July 8, 1741
Updated for contemporary English readers
by Jason Dollar | December 2009
In due time their foot shall slip. Deuteronomy 32:35 (NLT)
In this verse God’s vengeance is threatened against the wicked and unbelieving Israelites. They were God’s visible people. Their lives were benefited by his special grace to them. But even though God had performed many wonderful works toward them, the Israelites remained in a state of stupor, not listening to wise advice (see verse 28). They were given all the tools of spiritual cultivation from heaven, yet the fruit of their lives was bitter and poisonous (see the preceding two verses).
The expression I have chosen for my text, “In due time their foot shall slip,” seems to imply the following ideas that relate to the punishment and destruction threatening the wicked Israelites.
1. The Israelites were always threatened by destruction. In the same way, if a person stands or walks on slippery surfaces, a fall is always a pressing possibility. The picture of destruction coming through a sliding foot implies this perpetual threat of ruin. Psalm 73:18 provides the same message: “Truly you set them in slippery places; you make them fall to ruin” (ESV throughout).
2. The picture of the slipping foot implies that the Israelites were always exposed to sudden, unexpected destruction. Again, the person walking on a slippery surface is liable to fall at any moment. He cannot see even one moment into the future. He does not know whether he will stand or fall. When he does finally fall, it happens suddenly and without a warning. This idea is also expressed in Psalm 73:18-19, “Truly you set them in slippery places; you make them fall to ruin. How they are destroyed in a moment, swept away utterly by terrors!”
3. Another implication that follows from this imagery is the reality that the Israelites are liable to fall on their own, without being cast down by someone else’s hand. Just like the person standing or walking on slippery ground needs nothing but his own weight to throw him down.
4. The only reason they have not yet fallen, and are not falling right now, is because God’s appointed time has not yet come. The text says their foot will slide in due time, or when the appointed time comes. Then they will be left to fall, being pulled down by their own weight. God will no longer hold them up on these slippery surfaces. Instead, he will let them go and immediately they will fall into destruction. A man cannot stand alone on slippery and declining ground that is situated on the edge of a pit. When he is let go, and alone, he immediately falls and is lost. From these words, I make and insist upon the following observation:
DOCTRINE
“There is nothing that keeps wicked people, at any given moment, out of hell, except the mere pleasure of God.” When I say, “the mere pleasure of God,” I mean his sovereign pleasure and arbitrary will. In this regard, God is not restrained by any obligation and he is not hindered by any type of difficulty. No more restrained or hindered than if nothing but God’s mere will had anything at all to do with the preservation of wicked people at any given moment.
The truth of this observation will be seen in the following considerations.
1. God does not lack the power to cast wicked people into hell at any moment. The hands of men fail in strength whenever God rises up. Even the strongest people have no power to resist him, nor can anyone rescue others from his hands.
He is not only able to cast wicked people into hell, but he can most easily do it. There are times on earth when a prince attempts to subdue a rebel and finds it extremely difficult. The rebel has found a way to protect himself with a fortress, and has made himself strong by developing a large following. But it is never this way with God. No fortress can be built that would provide defense from his power. Though God’s enemies join hands in vast multitudes, combining their power together, they are easily broken into pieces. They are like large heaps of light chaff in the path of a tornado. Or they are like a huge amount of dry stubble lying in the path of a furious fire. It is easy for us to step on and crush a worm found crawling on the earth. And it is easy for us to cut or singe a slender thread that holds up a hanging object. So it is easy for God to cast his enemies down into hell, when it pleases him to do so. Who do we think we are to attempt to stand before him? Do we not realize that his rebuke causes the earth to tremble, and that the rocks are thrown down before him?
2. Furthermore, wicked people deserve to be cast into hell. Divine justice does not stand in the way. It makes no objection against God using his power to destroy them at any moment. On the contrary, divine justice calls out loud for infinite punishment for their sins. It says of the tree that produces grapes like Sodom, “Cut it down. Why should it use up the ground?” (Luke 13:7). The sword of divine justice is wielded over the heads of wicked sinners every moment. Only the hand of arbitrary mercy and God’s mere will hold it back.
3. Plus, wicked people are already under a sentence of condemnation to hell. Not only do they rightly deserve to be thrown down there, but the sentence of God’s law proceeds out and stands against them. God’s law is eternal and unchangeable. It is a rule of righteousness that God has fixed between him and mankind, so wicked sinners are already bound over to hell. John 3:18 confirms this, “Whoever does not believe is condemned already.” Hell is the proper place where every unconverted person belongs. It is the place designed for him. It is the place he comes from. John 8:23 states, “You are from below.” And hell is the place he is going. It is the place assigned to him by justice, God’s word, and the sentence of God’s unchangeable law.
4. These people are now the focus of God’s anger and wrath. It is the same anger and wrath he expresses through the torments of hell. Just because they are not every moment falling into hell does not mean God is not angry with them. His power is fully over them, and he is just as angry with them as he is with the multitudes of miserable creatures currently being torment in hell, where the people feel and bear the fierceness of his wrath. Indeed, God is substantially angrier with a large number of people who now remain on the earth. Yes, without a doubt, God is angrier with some of you in this congregation than he is with people currently in the flames of hell. This is true even if you feel at ease about the situation.
So God always remembers and resents the wickedness of people. It is a mistake to imagine that God is forgetful or ignorant about these things, and that is why he does not remove his hand and cut the wicked off. God is not like people at all in this regard, even though the wicked may imagine that he is. On the contrary, God’s wrath burns against them. Their damnation never sleeps. The pit is prepared and the fire is ready. The furnace is now hot and set to receive them. The flames are raging and glowing, even now. The glittering sword is sharp and is wielded above them. The pit has opened its mouth beneath them.
5. Likewise, the devil stands eager to fall on them and seize them as his own, as soon as God gives him permission. He has their souls in his possession and under his dominion. They are his property. The scripture represents the wicked as the devil’s goods (see Luke 11:21). Demons are always watching them, keeping them on their right hand. Like greedy lions eyeing their prey, the demons wait eagerly for the wicked. They expect to obtain their prey, but for the moment are held back. But if God should withdraw his restraining hand, they would in an instance pounce upon the poor souls of the wicked. The old serpent gapes his mouth for them. Hell opens its mouth wide, ready to receive them. If God permits it, they will be quickly swallowed up and lost.
6. Furthermore, in the very souls of wicked men, hellish principles are reigning. These principles are capable, even now, of kindling the flames of hell fire into a blaze. This would happen were it not for God’s restraints. In the very nature of carnal men, a foundation is laid for the torments of hell. These corrupt principles are reigning powerfully inside the wicked, and take full possession of them. These principles are the seeds of hell fire. They are active and powerful, and exceedingly violent by their very nature. If God were not restraining them with his hand, they would quickly break out, flaming out after the same corruptions that came to be in them. The same enmity multiplies in the hearts of damned souls. They would give birth to the same torments that were previously birthed in them.
In the scripture, the souls of wicked people are compared to the troubled sea (see Isaiah 57:20). Presently, God restrains their wickedness in the same way he restrains the raging winds of the troubled sea. He says to the sea, “Thus far shall you come, and no further.” But if God removed his restraining power, the sea would quickly carry everything away in its path. Sin ruins the soul and makes it miserable. It is destructive in its nature. And if God leaves sin without restraint, nothing else would be needed to bring the soul to complete misery. The heart of man is corrupted excessively. This corruption is beyond measure in its fury. As wicked men live here, this corruption is like a fire that is pent up by God’s restraints. But if it were let loose, it would ignite the course of nature. Just as the heart is now a sink of sin, it would immediately turn the soul into a fiery oven if it were not restrained. It would be a furnace of fire and brimstone.
7. Also, there is not one second of security for the wicked. No security comes just because they cannot see the visible means of their own impending death. No security comes to the natural man just because he is currently healthy, or just because he is ignorant about how he might immediately leave the world by accident. No security comes to him even when there is no visible danger in his current circumstances. None of these things provide evidence that the wicked is safe. The overwhelming experience of the world in all ages is that people are always on the brink of eternity, and that their next step will be into another world. We cannot even think of all the unseen, possible ways people might leave the world. Unconverted people walk over the pit of hell on a rotten floor. There are innumerable, unseen places in this floor that are too weak to bear their weight. The arrows of death are flying unseen, even at noon. Even people with the best vision cannot detect them. God has a great number of unsearchable methods to remove wicked men from the world and send them to hell. Nothing indicates that he needs a miracle to make it happen. He can use all the means of the ordinary course of his providence to destroy a wicked man at any moment. All the possible ways sinners might leave the world are in God’s hands. He has universal and absolute power over them. The mere will of God is always the determining factor as to whether sinners will enter hell at a given moment. It does not matter what method, or lack of method, he chooses to employ.
8. In the same way, people in their natural state are cautious with their lives. And they are prudent in their attempt to preserve their own lives. Or they hope that other people will keep them safe. But this does not bring them a moment of security. Again, divine providence and universal experience testify against this mindset. The evidence is clear that the wisdom of people cannot provide them security from death. If it were otherwise, we would expect to see some clear difference between the wise, political men of the world, and others. But we see no difference. The liability of early and unexpected death is the same for both. “How the wise dies just like the fool!” (Ecclesiastes 2:16).
9. Wicked people work diligently and contrive many ways to help them escape hell. But nothing they do can provide protection from hell for even one moment. This is true as long as they continue to reject Christ, remaining in their state of wickedness. When most people in their natural state hear of hell, they flatter themselves that they will escape it. The natural man depends upon himself to provide his own security. He considers what he has done, what he is currently doing, or what he intends to do, and he flatters himself with these thoughts. Everyone mentally plans how to avoid damnation. In his self-flattery, he convinces himself that his contrived plan will work, and not fail. Indeed, the wicked hear of the reality that only a few are saved. They hear that most people who have lived have died and gone to hell. But each wicked person still imagines that his plan for escaping hell is better than what other people have come up with. Thus, he does not intend to enter into that place of torment. He tells himself that he will take every care, and order life properly for himself, so that he will not fail.
However, when the foolish children of men place their confidence in their own schemes, they reveal their own miserable self-delusion. In so doing, the wicked are trusting in nothing but a shadow. Without a doubt, the majority of people who have already lived under these same means of grace, and have now died, have entered into hell. And it was not because they lacked the wisdom of those who are now alive. It was not because their plan of escape was not laid out well enough. Imagine if we could speak with these people. We might ask each of them about when they were alive and used to hear about hell. “Did you ever expect to be the subjects of the misery of this place?” Doubtless, we would hear them individually respond, “No, I never intended to come here. I had things planned much differently in my mind. I thought I had a good scheme of escape for myself. I intended to really take care of this matter, but it came upon me unexpectedly. I wasn’t looking for it at the time, and it came upon me quickly, like a thief. Death outwitted me. God’s wrath was too quick for me. Oh, curse my foolishness! I was flattering and pleasing myself with empty dreams of what I would do in the hereafter. I was saying, ‘Peace and safety,’ when suddenly destruction came upon me.”
10. Consider also the reality that God has never promised to keep any man in his natural state out of hell. He has placed himself under no obligation to protect people in this way. Furthermore, the only promise he has made concerning eternal life is contained in the covenant of grace, the promises that are given in Christ. He has made no other promise to grant eternal life, or to deliver people from eternal death, or preserve them from it. Only in Christ are the promises of God yes and amen. But the wicked certainly have no interest in the promises of this covenant of grace. This is because they are not the children of the covenant, and they do not believe any of the promises. Plus, the wicked have no interest in the Mediator of the covenant. Some have imagined and pretended that God’s promises are effectual for a man in his natural state, if that man is truly earnest in his seeking and knocking. But it is visibly clear that God is under no obligation to keep such a person from eternal destruction, not even for one moment. It doesn’t matter how religious the man is, or how many prayers he makes. Until he believes in Christ, God is not obligated in any way to protect him.
So here is the situation: People, in their natural state, are held in the hand of God over the pit of hell. They deserve the fiery pit and are sentenced to it already. God is dreadfully provoked by these wicked people. His anger is just as great towards them as it is towards those who are already in hell, actually suffering the executions of the fierceness of his wrath. These people have done nothing in the least to appease or abate God’s anger. Neither is God bound in the least to hold them up, even for a moment. He has made no promise at all to do so. The devil awaits them, hell is gaping for them. The flames below gather and flash about them, desiring to take them and swallow them up. Meanwhile, the fire pent up in their hearts is also struggling to break out. Furthermore, they have no interest in any Mediator. And there are no means within their reach that can provide them security. In short, they have no refuge. They have nothing to take hold of. The only thing preserving them every moment is the mere arbitrary will of an angry God. His forbearance towards the wicked comes without covenant and without obligation.
APPLICATION
The reason I am using this awful subject, is so that it might be used to awaken unconverted people in this congregation. What you have heard is true for each one of you who is outside of Christ. The lake of burning brimstone, a world of misery, is spread out wide below you. There is the dreadful pit of the glowing flames of God’s wrath. There, hell’s wide gaping mouth opens. And you have nothing to stand upon and nothing to hold on to. There is nothing between you and hell but air. It is only the power and mere pleasure of God that holds you up.
Most likely, you are not aware of this. You see that you have not entered hell, but you do not see God’s hand in preserving you. You look at other things, instead. You see your own good bodily health, and how well you care for your own life. You see the different ways you have used to secure your own preservation. But indeed, these things are nothing. If God decided to withdraw his hand, none of these things would succeed in keeping you from falling. They would be no more helpful than the thin air is in holding up a person suspended in it.
Your wickedness makes you heavy like lead. This heavy weight tends to press you downwards toward hell. If God were to let you go, your sinking descent would be swift and immediate. You would plunge into the bottomless gulf. There, your healthy constitution, your care and prudence, your best contrived plans for security, and all your righteousness will be worthless to help you. These will have no more influence to hold you up and keep you out of hell, than a spider’s web would have to stop a falling rock.
If it were not for God’s sovereign pleasure, the earth would not hold you for even a moment since you are a burden to it. The creation groans because of you. It is subject to the bondage that comes from your corruption, but not willingly. The sun does not shine on you in a willing way, as though it is providing you light so you can serve sin and Satan. Likewise, the earth does not yield you increase in a willing way, as though it were providing you a way to satisfy your lusts. Neither does the earth willingly provide you a stage for you to act out your wickedness. The air you breathe, that maintains the flame of life in your vital organs, does not willingly serve you in this way, so that you can spend your life in the service of God’s enemies. The things God created are good, and were made for man to use in the service of God. They do not willingly serve any other purpose. Rather they groan when they are abused and when they are used for purposes so contrary to their nature and end. Indeed, the world would spew you out if it were not for the sovereign hand of God, who has subjected this creation in hope. There hang the black clouds of God’s wrath directly over your heads. These clouds are raging with a dreadful storm and loud thunder. If not for God’s restraining hand, his storm of wrath would immediately burst upon you. For the present time, God’s sovereign pleasure holds back his rough wind. Otherwise, it would come with fury, and your destruction would come like a whirlwind. You would be like the chaff on the summer threshing floor.
God’s wrath can be compared to mighty waters that are currently held back by a dam. The waters increase more and more, and rise higher and higher, until an outlet for them is given. The longer the stream is stopped up, the more rapid and mighty it will flow once it is released. Yes, it is true that your evil works have not yet been judged. God’s vengeance has not yet flooded out upon you. But all the while the level of your guilt is constantly increasing. Every day you are treasuring up more of God’s wrath. The waters are ever rising higher, and increasing in their mighty movement, unwilling to be stopped, and pressing to go forward. Only God’s mere pleasure holds the waters back. If God were to simply remove his hand from the flood gate, it would immediately fly open. Then all the fiery floods of the fierceness and wrath of God would rush out with inconceivable fury. They would crash upon you with absolute power. Even if you were ten thousand times stronger and more powerful than you currently are, it would make no difference. Even if you were ten thousand times stronger than the stoutest, sturdiest devil in hell, even then you could do nothing to withstand or endure the flood of God’s wrath.
The bow of God’s wrath is bent with the arrow ready on the string. Justice bends the arrow at your heart, straining the bow. It is nothing but the mere pleasure of God that prohibits, for even one moment, the arrow from becoming drunk on your blood. And this God is angry, having made no promise to deliver, and under no obligation at all to do so. This means that all of you who have never been changed in your heart by the mighty power of the Spirit of God upon your souls, never born again, never made new creatures, are in the hands of an angry God. If you have never been raised from being dead in sin to a new state, never experienced his light and life, then you are in the hands of an angry God. It does not matter whether you have reformed your life in various ways, and it does not matter if you have experienced religious emotions. It does not matter if you practice some form of religion with your family, and in your private closets, and in the house of God. It does not matter because nothing else but the mere pleasure of God keeps you from being swallowed up in everlasting destruction at this very moment. It does not matter if you are unconvinced about the truth of what you are hearing. You will be fully convinced of it by and by. The people who are now gone, who were in similar circumstance with you, are now fully convinced of the truth. Destruction came upon most of them suddenly. They did not expect it. They were saying, “Peace and safety.” But now they understand that the things they were depending on to provide peace and safety were nothing by thin air and empty shadows.
You have dreadfully provoked the God who holds you over the pit of hell. He holds you up much like a person might hold up a spider or some repugnant insect over a fire. God abhors you. His wrath towards you burns like a fire. He looks on you and sees that you are worthy of nothing else, but to be thrown into the fire. In fact, his eyes are so pure that he cannot stand to look upon you at all. You are ten thousand times more abominable in his sight, than the most hateful, venomous snake is in ours. You have offended God infinitely more than any stubborn rebel ever offended his prince. Yet it is nothing but God’s hand that holds you from falling into the fire moment by moment. There is no other reason why you did not fall into hell last night. There is no other reason why you were permitted to wake up from sleep once more in this world. And no other reason can be given why you have not dropped into hell since you rose up this very morning. No other reason can be given, except that God’s hand has held you up. There is no other reason why you have not entered into hell since you sat down here in the house of God. You are sitting here provoking God’s pure eyes by the sinful way you attend this solemn worship. Indeed, no other reason at all can be given why you do not at this very moment dropped down into hell.
Oh, sinner, think about the frightening danger you are in! God holds you in his hand over a great furnace, a wide bottomless pit, full of the fire of his wrath. You have provoked his wrath and he is as angry against you as he is with many who are already damned in hell. You are hanging by a slender thread. The flames of divine wrath are flashing around the thin thread, ready to singe it and burn it apart. And you are not interested in any Mediator. You have nothing to grab that would save you. You have no way in your own power to keep the flames of his wrath off you. Nothing you have ever done, and nothing you can ever do, would work to induce God to spare you for even one more moment.
Now consider the following specific truths.
First, whose wrath you are facing. It is the wrath of the infinite God. If this were merely the wrath of man it would not be near as important to heed. Even if it was the wrath of a most powerful ruler, it would not even compare. The subjects of kingdoms dread the wrath of kings, especially the wrath of absolute monarchs. These powerful, earthly kings have dominion over their subjects’ possessions and even their lives. These kings can even dispose of the subjects by a mere act of the will. We read in Proverbs 20:2, “The terror of a king is like the growling of a lion; whoever provokes him to anger forfeits his life.” The subject of a kingdom who deeply enrages an arbitrary prince faces a serious threat. He is liable to suffer torments of the highest degree, by the most effective torture methods people can invent. The pain he might face could be the strongest that human beings are capable of inflicting. But even the greatest earthly rulers, at the highpoint of their majesty and strength, are like feeble and despicable worms of the dust compared to the King of heaven and earth. These powerful kings may even be clothed in their most effective terrors, but they are nothing compared to the almighty Creator. In reality, what they are capable of doing when they are angry is very little. Even when their anger reaches its highest fury, and they are most enraged, their power is extremely limited. In fact, all the kings of the earth are like grasshoppers before God. They are nothing. They are less than nothing. Both their love and their hate are to be despised. God’s wrath as the great King of kings is much more terrible than theirs, just as his majesty is greater than theirs. In Luke 12:4-5, Jesus says, “I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him!”
Second, you are exposed to the fierceness of God’s wrath. In the Bible, we often read of God’s fury. Consider, for example, Isaiah 59:18, “According to their deeds, so will he repay, wrath to his adversaries.” Also, we read in Isaiah 66:15, “For behold, the LORD will come in fire, and his chariots like the whirlwind, to render his anger in fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire.” We find passages like this in many other places in the Bible as well.
Listen to Revelation 19:15, “He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty.” These words are exceedingly terrible. If the text only said, “The wrath of God,” that alone would have an infinitely dreadful implication. But it goes further than that and says, “The fury of the wrath of God.” The fury of God! The fierceness of Jehovah! Oh, how dreadful that must be! Who can conceive of this fury? Who can think of words that might describe this wrath? But it goes even further than that! The text says, “The fury of the wrath of God the Almighty.” It seems that God desires to display, in a very great way, his almighty power by inflicting his fierce wrath. It seems that his omnipotence is supposed to be enraged. That is, it is proper for his omnipotence to take fierce action. This is what God desires, in the same way men desire to exert their strength and display their wrath. Oh, this being the case, what will be the end result! What will become of the poor worms who suffer under his wrath? Whose hands will be strong? Whose heart can endure? The pitiful creature who becomes the subject of God’s wrath will be sunk into a dreadful, inexpressible, inconceivable depth of misery.
Consider these words carefully. If you are present in this place, and yet you remain in an unregenerate state, then God will execute the fierceness of his anger on you. He will inflict his wrath upon you without any pity. God will observe how ineffably extreme your situation. He will see that your torments are vastly disproportioned to your strength. He will see how your poor soul is crushed, and how it sinks down into an infinite gloom. But he will not have compassion on you, nor will he hold back his wrathful executions. He will not lighten his hand of wrath, not even a little. There will be no moderation or mercy for you. At that time, God will not at all prevent his rough wind from blowing and he will have no concern for your welfare. His concern will not be that you suffer too much, except that you not suffer beyond the requirements of strict justice. No infliction will be withheld because it is beyond what you are capable to bear. Consider Ezekiel 8:18, “Therefore I will act in wrath. My eye will not spare, nor will I have pity. And though they cry in my ears with a loud voice, I will not hear them.”
But here in the present, God stands ready to pity you. Today is a day of mercy. Right now, you can cry out for mercy, and receive some encouragement that you might obtain it. But once the day of mercy has past, even your most miserable and lamentable cries and shrieks will be useless. You will be totally lost and cast away from God, as far as your welfare is concerned. God will have no other use for you, except that you suffer misery. This will be the only goal of your continued existence. You will be a vessel of wrath fit for destruction, good for nothing but to be filled up full of wrath. When you cry to God he will be so far from showing you pity that the Bible says he will only “laugh” and “mock” (see Proverbs 1:25-26 and following).
How awful are the words of the great God we read in Isaiah 63:3, “I trod them in my anger and trampled them in my wrath; their lifeblood spattered on my garments, and stained all my apparel.” These words manifest three things: contempt, hatred, and fierceness of indignation. It is perhaps impossible to think of other words that might convey these three things in a greater way. When you are facing his wrath, and cry out to God for pity, rather than show you pity, he will give you no regard or favor at all. Quite the opposite, instead of pity, God will only tread you beneath his feet. And yes, he will be totally aware that you cannot bear the weight of omnipotence walking on you, but he will not be concerned with that. In fact, he will crush you beneath his feet without mercy. He will crush you until your blood flies out to sprinkle and stain his garments. He will not only hate you, but his contempt for you will be at the highest level. There will be no place fit for you except under his feet where you will be flattened like mud in the streets.
Third, God has a purpose in all this. The misery that God will inflict upon you is designed to display the wrath of Jehovah. God has it in his heart to reveal, both to angels and men, how excellent his love is. But he also desires to manifest how terrible his wrath is. Sometimes earthly kings want to demonstrate their terrible wrath. So they will inflict extreme punishments on those who provoke them. Nebuchadnezzar, the powerful and prideful monarch of the Chaldean empire, desired to show his wrath in this way. He became bitterly angry with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and so he gave the order to heat the burning, fiery furnace seven times hotter than normal. No doubt, the temperature of the furnace was raised to the highest and fiercest degree possible by the hand of man. In the same way, the great God wants to show his wrath. He wants to magnify his awful majesty and mighty power through the extreme sufferings of his enemies. Romans 9:22 teaches this truth, “What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction.”
Since this is what God has designed and determined to do, indeed, he will do it. He will actually show how terrible is Jehovah’s unrestrained wrath, and the fury of his fierceness. What he accomplishes and brings to pass in this regard will be dreadful. And God will call witnesses to watch and see the executions of his awful vengeance. When the great and angry God rises up against the poor sinner, and the wretch is actually suffering the infinite weight and power of his indignation, God will call for the whole universe to behold his awful majesty and mighty power. We learn this in Isaiah 33:12-14, “And the peoples will be as if burned to lime, like thorns cut down, that are burned in the fire. Hear, you who are far off, what I have done; and you who are near, acknowledge my might. The sinners in Zion are afraid; trembling has seized the godless…”
Thus, this is what will happen to you if you remain in an unconverted state. The infinite might, majesty, and horror of the omnipotent God will all be magnified through the extremities of your indescribable torments. Your will be tormented in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb. And while in your suffering, the glorious inhabitants of heaven will go out and look upon this awful spectacle. They will behold the wrath and fierceness of the Almighty, and once they see it, they will fall down and adore his great power and majesty. We learn this in Isaiah 66:23-24, “From new moon to new moon, and from Sabbath to Sabbath, all flesh shall come to worship before me, declares the LORD. And they shall go out and look on the dead bodies of the men who have rebelled against me. For their worm shall not die, their fire shall not be quenched, and they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh.”
Fourth, God’s wrath is an everlasting wrath. It would be dreadful enough if you had to suffer under the ferocity and wrath of Almighty God for only one moment. But you must suffer under his wrath for all of eternity. There will be no end to this exquisitely horrible misery. When you look forward to the future, you will see a long forever. There will be a boundless duration in front of you. This reality will swallow up your thoughts and cause agony to your soul. Your despair will be absolute as you see no deliverance in sight. There will be no end or alleviation to your suffering. You will never again rest at all. You will know with certainty that you will spend millions and millions of long ages wrestling and conflicting with God’s almighty, merciless vengeance. Then, when you have finally finished so many ages of enduring his wrath, you will know that it was only a tiny point compared to what remains. Indeed, your punishment will be infinite. Oh, can any person express in words how dreadful the state of a soul in this horrible circumstance? All the possible ways we can talk about it really only provides a feeble and faint representation of it. Infinite punishment is inexpressible and inconceivable. For, “Who knows the power of God’s anger?”
How dreadful is the condition of people who are in danger of infinite misery! Daily and hourly God’s great wrath threatens them. But this is the dismal condition of every soul in this congregation who has not been born again. They might be very moral and strict, or upright and religious, it does not matter. Oh, that you would think deeply about these things, whether you are young or old! There are good reasons to think that there are many people in this congregation, even hearing this very sermon, who will actually be the subjects of eternal misery. We have no way of knowing who they are, where they are sitting, or what thoughts are going through their minds. It might be that they are currently at ease in their souls. Perhaps as they listen to this message, they are not much disturbed by it. Perhaps they now flatter themselves, believing they are not the persons facing the wrath of God. Perhaps they are promising themselves that somehow they will escape.
What if we knew that there was one person, only one, in the whole congregation, that would be the subject of this misery? How awful would it be to think about it! What if we knew who it was? It would be terrible to even look at this person! The rest of the congregation would lift up a lament and bitter cry over him! But, alas, instead of one, how many people do you think will remember this sermon while they are in hell? Furthermore, it would be a true surprise if some people who are now present were not in hell in a very short time. Some even before this year is out. In fact, it would not be surprising if some people now sitting here in the seats of this meeting house, currently healthy, quiet, and secure, were in hell before tomorrow morning. For those of you who live a full, natural life, you will be able to put off entering hell the longest. But even you will be there very quickly! Longer life does not mean your damnation slumbers. It will come upon you swiftly. For many of you it will most likely come upon you very suddenly. You have reason to wonder why you are not in hell already. No doubt, some of the people you have seen and known are there already. They did not deserve hell more than you, and before they left, they seemed to be just as alive as you are now. But in their case, they are past all hope. They are crying in their extreme misery and complete despair. But here you are in the land of the living and in the house of God! You still have the opportunity to obtain salvation! What do you think those poor, damned, and hopeless souls would give for just one day to have the opportunity you now have?
Right now you have an extraordinary opportunity. You are alive in a day when Christ has thrown the door of mercy wide open. He is standing at the door raising his voice aloud. He is calling and crying to poor sinners. This is a day when many are flocking to him and crowding passionately into the kingdom of God. Every day, many people come from the east, west, north, and south. Many of these were in the same miserable condition that you are in, but now they are happy. Their hearts are filled with love for him who loved them. He has washed them from their sins in his own blood. They are rejoicing in the hope of the glory of God. How awful it would be if you were left behind on a day like this! How terrible to see so many other people feasting while you are slipping and perishing! How terrible for you to see so many other people rejoicing and singing because of the joy in their hearts, while your heart mourns in sorrow, and you howl because of the vexation of your spirit! How can you rest one moment while in this condition? In Suffield people are flocking to Christ everyday. Aren’t your souls as precious as theirs?
Is it true that many of you here have lived a long time in the world, but are still to this day not born again? So you are alienated from the commonwealth of Israel? Have you done nothing since the day of your birth except store up wrath against the day of wrath? Sir and madam, your case is especially dangerous. Your guilt and hardness of heart are extremely great. Generally, people who have reached your age have been passed over and left in this present time of God’s mercy. Do you see this? You need to think about the condition of your soul, and wake up thoroughly from your sleep. You cannot bear the fierceness and wrath of the infinite God.
Now listen, you who are younger men and women. Will you neglect this precious season you are now enjoying? Others your age are flocking to Christ, and renouncing the empty pursuits that normally entice youth. You especially have an extraordinary opportunity. Right now! But if you neglect it, soon you will be like the people who wasted all the precious days of their youth in sin. Now they have arrived at a dreadful moment of blindness and hardness of heart.
Now I speak to the children. If you are unconverted, do you realize that you are going down to hell? Do you realize that you will bear the dreadful wrath of God, who right now is angry with you every day and every night? Are you going to remain content being the children of the devil when so many other children in the land are coming to Christ? Those who come to him become the holy and happy children of the King of kings.
So, let everyone who is still outside the grace of Christ, who is hanging over the pit of hell, listen now as God calls you through his word and providence. It does not matter whether you are older men and women, middle aged, young people, or little children. This acceptable year of the Lord is a day of such a great blessing for some. However, for others this day will doubtless be just as a remarkable, but in terms of retaliation. At times like this, when people neglect their souls, their hearts grow hard and their guilt increases rapidly. There has never been such a great danger of people simply giving in to the hardness of their hearts and the blindness of their minds. It seems as though God were currently and quickly gathering in his elect from every part of the land. Most likely, the vast majority of all adults who will ever be saved will be brought in shortly. It will be like the great outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the Jews during the time of the apostles. Those who are the elect of Christ will obtain their salvation, but the rest will be blinded.
If you are in this blind condition, you will eternally curse this day. Indeed, you will curse the very day you were born. How terrible to see such a season when God is pouring out his Spirit. You will wish you had died early and gone on to hell before you had seen it. There is no doubt that we live in a day like the days of John the Baptist. The ax is laid at the root of the trees in an extraordinary manner. If any tree does not bring forth good fruit, it will be chopped down and cast into the fire.
Therefore, let every person who is outside of Christ, wake up right now, and flee from the coming wrath. Without a doubt, the wrath of Almighty God is now hanging over a large part of this congregation. Let everyone fly out of Sodom: “Escape for your life. Do not look back or stop anywhere in the valley. Escape to the hills, lest you be swept away.”