In A History of the Work of Redemption Jonathan Edwards develops a thoroughly trinitarian vision of God’s redemptive purpose and plan: ‘In all this God designed to accomplish the glory of the blessed Trinity in an exceeding degree. God had a design of glorifying himself from eternity, to glorify each person in the Godhead.’ There are great Edwardsean (and biblical) themes here: God has a design – the world is not random. It is all under his hand. His plan serves his own glory. This is not megalomania or pride. It would be if I acted like this, but it would actually be a sin for God not to honour himself. If he is the most excellent being, then he must be honoured. He is the triune God: the work of redemption is the work of the one God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, for the glory of each person; for glory in an exceeding degree. I heard someone today say that the key to bearing with suffering is not happiness but meaning, which has some truth in it. What more grand a vision of the meaning of reality could there be than that it is all designed to serve the glory of the triune God? This is a truth that invests all things with the highest meaning, even the most difficult.
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All Things for God’s Glory
- posted by Pastors' Academy