Review: Unless You Repent by Jonathan Edwards

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Unless You Repent by Jonathan Edwards
review by Tony Reinke (3/19/07)
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Faithfully preaching the horrors of God's judgment sparks revival. That's the lesson we learned in America during the Great Awakening (mid-1700s), our country's most spiritually traumatic period. When hell is prominent in the pulpit, souls are sobered, awakened and - by God's sovereign grace - converted. Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758) was both one of the most prominent preachers of the Great Awakening and the author of the era's most famous sermon, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.

For Edwards, a firm understanding of hell was central to the message of the Cross, and central to preserving the justice, glory and perfections of God. But also, the doctrine of God's judgment was central in driving sinners to the Cross. In pondering why Edwards spent so much time on hell and so little time explaining the glorious salvation in Christ in his famous sermon, biographer George Marsden writes that Edwards could take for granted that his New England audience knew the Gospel remedy. "The problem was to get them to seek it" (Jonathan Edwards: A Life [Yale: 2003] p. 224). Edwards, like Paul, used the doctrine of God's judgment as a sovereignly ordained means of motivating sinners to seek their refuge in the righteousness of Christ (see 2 Cor. 5:10-11).

Edwards' development of God's judgment carried over into several sermons on several biblical texts. Many of these sermons remained unpublished until in 2005 when Soli Deo Gloria published this volume titled, Unless You Repent: Fifteen previously unpublished sermons on the fate awaiting the impenitent. The sermons were selected, edited, and re-typeset by Dr. Don Kistler. Recent years have seen a sharp rise in new collections of previously unpublished Edwards sermons from Evangelical publishers, but this volume shines as maybe the best organized and most useful of them all.

Painting the picture

Edwards' intensity on the nature of hell runs consistently throughout the entire volume, but a few sections were most striking. In speaking to a superficial, appearance-saturated climate (not unlike ours today) Edwards pierced hearts by presenting the horrors of hell like this,

"Just as bodies of the saints shall be made beautiful and glorious, like Christ's most glorious body, so we may conclude that, on the contrary, the bodies of the wicked will be of a most hideous, ghastly appearance. In the world, sometimes a filthy, loathsome soul dwells in a beautiful body; but then they will appear externally as they are internally: as their souls are most deformed, so their bodies will be of a most odious form. They will appear frightful, like devils; there will be that in their aspect that will show the sinfulness and hatefulness of their disposition." (p. 108).

As we expect from Edwards, these sermons are extraordinary in painting visual images of hell. Specifically, this volume showcases Edwards' unparalleled ability to illustrate the biblical terms of God's eternal judgment (like winepress, furnace, etc). Here, Edwards explains the worm that does not die:

"The expression of the worm's not dying in the carcasses of these men [Mark 9:48; Isa. 66:24] alludes to this: when a dead carcass lies upon the face of the earth till it begins to putrefy, it will presently be overrun with worms; the carcass will be filled within and without with worms gnawing upon it. And the expression of their fires not being quenched alludes to the custom of the heathens when any of them died to burn them in a fire and so entomb their ashes. Now the prophet says that their worm shall not die. When a dead carcass lies putrefying upon the earth, after a while the carcass will be consumed and the worms will die; but the worms that shall gnaw upon the carcasses of these men shall not die, that is, their souls shall always be tormented. The similitude holds forth exceeding misery. How miserable must a man be to be alive and yet have his flesh, his bowels, and his vital parts all filled with worms, continually gnawing upon the body as they to upon a dead carcass" (pp. 128-129).

Such powerful imagery is fitting for the horrors of God's eternal judgment and Edwards is the man most competent to paint these images for his hearers. Fueling every one of these sermons is an imagination captured by the biblical language of hell.

For Edwards, God's judgment is fair and justified by the offenses of the sinner towards God. His judgments are self-glorifying and eternal in duration. It is a judgment reserved for the next world and so frequently ignored by the foolish in this world. It is a judgment that rests upon each man, woman and child for each sin, even something so minor as calling your brother a 'fool.' It is a judgment necessary from a sovereign authority towards rebellion. It's consistent with basic reasoning. His judgment is sworn, authenticated, and confirmed by an oath. Hell is the due judgment upon sinners who rob God of His glory. It is unlimited misery to the soul, without pity or mercy from God. Hell is the unmixed winepress of wrath, where the vessels of wrath are filled to the brim. It is no mere candle flame but a stoked furnace of raging destruction. To be eternally judged is to be banished from everything that is good and perfect and pleasurable. It is a wrath of pure darkness, pure fire, intolerable and immediate, growing hotter each day and pouring out pain for both soul and body from head to toe. In all this Edwards is careful not to exaggerate the biblical language.

There is time for repentance, but that time is running out. Edwards reminds his listeners that continuing unmoved by the doctrine of hell is to continue upon a path towards it. But the point of these sermons is also to remember the wrath God poured over His own Son. Hell exults the grace and mercy of God because hell is central to God, central to Christ, and central to the gospel. As Edwards warns, "Unless you frequently think of it [hell], you will never take any considerable care or pains to escape it" (p. 115). The doctrine of hell motivates sinners to find refuge in Christ alone.

Format

This volume contains fifteen total sermons, all of them re-typeset. Technically the book contains only 13 previously unpublished sermons. One sermon is better considered a fragment (sermon #6) and one has already been printed (sermon #10 appears in volume 14 of the Yale edition of The Works of Jonathan Edwards). Recently all the Jonathan Edwards titles published by Soli Deo Gloria have received new covers (and this is one of the few Edwards titles you can judge by its cover). The binding is a beautiful olive cloth with embossed lettering. Overall this volume is built beautifully and to withstand years of usefulness.

Conclusion

This is an incredibly powerful book, well-compiled and well-edited to provide biblically-saturated expositions, to develop mental pictures of hell, and to awaken the affections of dead sinners while there is still time. Edwards does not rest content with the damnation of sinners but uses hell as a means to cause sinners to run to safety in Christ.

Unless You Repent is an excellent series of sermons upon the doctrine of God's judgment. It will prove useful for worship leaders and preachers and even as a book to reach the lost (especially I would see this as useful for churchgoers who are awakened to their sin but have not 'closed with Christ,' to use a Puritan phrase).

In the intention of Edwards, the doctrine of hell causes us to see God's judgment and our hopeless apart from Christ. If history is repeated, the fires of awakening in America will not flame again until the church allows God's justice and the horrors of hell to once again become central in the pulpit. As one contemporary preacher says, our pulpits must be dipped in the blood of the Lamb and singed by the fire of hell. Throughout church history, Edwards here remains our most excellent example.

Title: Unless You Repent
Author: Jonathan Edwards
Reading level: 2.5/5.0 > moderate
Boards: hardcover/cloth (light olive, gold gilding)
Pages: 232
Volumes: 1
Dust jacket: yes (one of the best Edwards covers)
Binding: Smyth sewn
Paper: normal
Topical index: no (unnecessary)
Scriptural index: no (would be very helpful)
Text: perfect type
Publisher: Soli Deo Gloria
Year: 2005
Price USD: $19.75 from Monergism Books
ISBN: 1567690602

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All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. Copyright 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

All content including reviews and photographs Copyright 2007 Tony Reinke