If you've never before heard about the existence of two wills in God, I recommend reading John Piper's article, "Are There Two Wills in God?" (which is also an appendix in the book The Pleasures of God).

In essence, what the doctrine states is that there are... well... two wills in God. The first will is his will of command (or as Edwards says below, "law"). This is expressed through God's revealed desires for people, desires such as "Thou shalt not kill," or "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."

The second will is his will of decree, which is the will by which God brings to pass all that actually happens, whether it accords with his will of command or not. This is also known a…

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As Bible-believing Christians, we are known for our convictions against sexual immorality. But are we known equally as well for our contempt for religious arrogance?

Scripture clearly states that sexual immorality is sin (Matthew 15:19; Romans 13:13; 1 Corinthians 6:18; Galatians 5:19, 1 Thessalonians 4:3, etc.). We must also remember, however, that this is only one bad fruit of our rebellion against God, one among a list of many others, including idolatry, theft, greed, drunkenness, reviling and swindling (1 Corinthians 6:9-10). And all of these, God says, are just spin-offs of a more deep-seated trouble.

Speaking to a disobedient Israel, the prophet Ezekiel declares,

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An excerpt from Jonathan Edwards' Miscellanies #6 (paragraphing added):

There is a strange and unaccountable kind of enchantment, if I may so speak, in Scripture history; which, notwithstanding it is destitute of all rhetorical ornaments, makes it vastly more pleasant, agreeable, easy and natural, than any other history whatever. It shines brighter with the amiable simplicity of truth. There is something in the relation that at the same time very much pleases and engages the reader, and evidences the truth of the fact.

[...]

Notwithstanding the minute circumstances that are mentioned, which other historians leave over, it leads along one's idea…

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We saw last week in Jonathan Edwards' Miscellanies #3 that God created the universe so that it would be happy in him. Today, in this excerpt from Miscellanies #5, he explains how the experience of higher levels of happiness by some in heaven will not dampen the joy of others.

We are very apt to conceive that those that are more holy and more happy than others in heaven will be elated and lifted up above them, whereas their being superior in holiness implies their being superior in humility, or having the greatest humility.

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And besides, those that are highest in holiness, and so necessarily highest in happiness (for holiness and happiness ar…

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Today we're beginning an ongoing series that will highlight key quotes from The "Miscellanies" of Jonathan Edwards. (Thank you to The Jonathan Edwards Center at Yale University for hosting all of them online for free!)

This week's quote is from Miscellanies #3:

Happiness is the end of the creation ... because the end of the creation is that the creation might glorify [the Creator]. Now what is glorifying God, but a rejoicing at that glory he has displayed? An understanding of the perfections of God, merely, cannot be the end of the creation; for he had as good not understand it, as see it and not be at all moved with joy at the sight. Neither can the highest end of the cr…

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How would you fill in the blank?

Chances are "vengeful" or "wrathful" were some of the first words to cross your mind. Why is that? Why has the God of the Old Testament become so associated with his wrath and, as usually follows, set in contrast to the "merciful" God of the New Testament?

Read Nehemiah 9 and "wrathful" is not the primary image of God you get.

This is one of the great chapters in the Old Testament: the people of Israel have just returned from captivity in Babylon, and they are recounting their past and confessing their sins to God. Notice the repeated references to their sinfulness and God's mercy:

"[Our fathers] refused to obey and were not mindfu…

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Sam Crabtree recently commented on his blog,

Mothers Day is not primarily about being a mother and receiving honor, but thanking God for the mother he gave you, and giving honor. The people giving honor should include all moms. Persons receiving honor as moms should also be giving honor for their God-given moms.

Mothers are a gift from God, and every last person has one. So Mother's Day is really a holiday for everyone, a day for thanking God for his goodness in giving us mothers, and an occasion for letting that gratitude play itself out in tangible expressions of special honor.

From the Mother's Day sermons John Piper has preached, here are a few you may find…

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Did you know that there are still over 2,000 languages in the world that don't have any of the Bible translated? That means that the more than 350 million people who speak those languages have very little or no access to the word of Christ and the faith that comes by hearing it (Romans 10:17).

Bible translation is a very strategic ministry. Cameron Townsend realized this. He once said, "The greatest missionary is the Bible in the mother tongue. It never needs a furlough, and is never considered a foreigner." That's why he established Wycliffe Bible Translators and gave it the global vision of seeing "God's Word, accessible to all people in the language of their heart."

Wycliff…

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Adding to yesterday's post, here is one more quote by John Paton about his father. This time about how he didn't waste his final years, even though he remained where he had always lived:

For the last twelve years or so of his life, he became by appointment a sort of Rural Missionary for the four contiguous parishes, and spent his autumn in literally sowing the good seed of the Kingdom as a Colporteur of the Tract and Book Society of Scotland. His success in this work, for a rural locality, was beyond all belief.

Within a radius of five miles, he was known in every home, welcomed by the children, respected by the servants, longed for eagerly by …

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In his autobiography, John Paton, Scottish missionary to the New Hebrides, reflects on how his father so effectively responded his children's disobedience:

If anything really serious required to be punished, he retired first to his "closet" for prayer, and we boys got to understand that he was laying the whole matter before God; and that was the severest part of the punishment for me to bear! I could have defied any amount of mere penalty, but this spoke to my conscience as a message from God.

We loved him all the more, when we saw how much it cost him to punish us; and, in truth, he had never very much of that kind of work to do upon…

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