Jonathan Edwards on Heaven & Hell

In describing heaven Gerstner quotes Edwards on what it means,by virtue of the Christians union with Christ,to possess all things p.15 "I mean that God,three in one,all that He is,and all that He has and all that He does,and all that He has made or done,the whole universe,bodies and spirits,light,heaven,angels,men and devils,sun,moon,stars,land,sea...are as much the Christians as the money in his pocket,the clothes he wears or the house he dwells in... ." Mr. Gerstner quotes Jonathan Edwards extensively because he believed it helps to capture the very spirit of the man. I agree with Gerstner wholeheartedly which is why I always like to include at least one quote when I review any book because it does give the reader something of the spirit,personality and style of the books authuor when some of their exact written words are given. We learn much about our creator from his written word as well as the human instruments that our Lord was pleased to use giving us His word. Some believe that Edwards was not balanced in that his preaching emphasized hell and comparatively ignored heaven. Edwards preached much on heaven as any reader of this book will see. The Bible speaks more about hell than heaven and so did Jonathan Edwards. His motive for doing this was that his hearers would be sufficiently warned and by God's grace would escape His wrath and judgement. Edwards is throughly Biblical even when it comes to truths that are difficult to speak and as difficult to comprehend. For example the fact that saints will rejoice in the judgement of the damned(even those who they may have known well in this life),not because there is reason to rejoice at others suffering for its own sake,but because the justice and majesty of God will be revealed in their judgement. The description and warnings on hell are numerous and powerful. One example will suffice p.62"The sinner spends all his time here gathering fuel for his own fire there.Every continuance in sin adds to the heat of hell-fire.The longer sinners live,the more wrath they accumulate."Edwards descibes heaven and the fact that the happiness of heaven is progressive. It is so profitable for saints to contemplate on heaven.It helps them to bear the trials and suffering they are called upon to endure in this life. There is a treasure of food for thought on the glories that await the Christian in the life to come and dire warnings to flee from the wrath of the living God.Both will surely be unspeakable.

This may sound strange, but I rank this little book as one of the two greatest paperback books that a man could own. (you'll have to guess the other)Why the stupendous claim? Edwards was one of the greatest minds ever given to the Christian Church, and he had an amazing way of seeing life, through the lenses of Scripture, and understanding, like a photo-negative, what hell must be like. Hell, like the beauties of Heaven, is unable to be expressed in human language, and therefore, it can only be "seen" through the use of symbolic language. The horror of hell can not be uttered: if a man were to see hell, he could not live. Like Paul in the vision of Heaven, there are no faculties within natural man to express what he experienced. Edwards finds a way to help. When you read Edwards on Heaven, you feel almost "other-worldly", ("how long have I been sitting here reading this??), and when you read Edwards on Hell, the holy dread that fills your mind and emotions is overwhelming, as well as life-changing. Dr. Gerstner goes for the Truth, which he unashamedly owns, and has a true gift of representing Edwards' sight to anyone who cares to see. Gerstner does not write with "one eye on impressing the scholar", but with a deep care for the reader, almost pleading with us: "Hear Edwards! If you hear him, you will hear Paul, and therefore, you will HEAR CHRIST!".