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When the Wicked Shall Have Filled Up the Measure of Their Sin,
Wrath Will Come Upon Them to the Uttermost
by Jonathan Edwards
Dated May, 1735
1 Thessalonians 2:16, "To
fill up their sins alway; for the wrath is come upon them to the
uttermost."
IN verse 14, the apostle
commends the Christian Thessalonians that they became the followers of
the churches of God in Judea, both in faith and in sufferings. In faith,
in that they received the Word, not as the word of man, but as it is in
truth the Word of God. In sufferings, in that they had suffered like
things of their own countrymen, as they had of the Jews. Upon which the
apostle sets forth the persecuting, cruel, and perverse wickedness of
that people, “who both killed the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, and
have,” says he, “persecuted us; and they please not God, and are
contrary to all men, forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles, that they
might be saved.” Then come in the words of the text; “To fill up their
sins alway; for the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost.”
In these words we may observe two things:
1. To what effect was the heinous wickedness and obstinacy of the Jews,
viz. to fill up their sins. God hath set bounds to every man’s
wickedness. He suffers men to live, and to go on in sin, till they have
filled up their measure, and then cuts them off. To this effect was the
wickedness and obstinacy of the Jews. They were exceedingly wicked, and
thereby filled up the measure of their sins a great pace. And the reason
why they were permitted to be so obstinate under the preaching and
miracles of Christ, and of the apostles, and under all the means used
with them, was, that they might fill up the measure of their sins. This
is agreeable to what Christ said, Mat. 23:31, 32, “Wherefore ye be
witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed
the prophets. Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers.”
2. The punishment of their wickedness. “The wrath is come upon them to
the uttermost.” There is a connection between the measure of men’s sin,
and the measure of punishment. When they have filled up the measure of
their sin, then is filled up the measure of God’s wrath.
The degree of their punishment, is the uttermost degree. This may
respect both a national and personal punishment. If we take it as a
national punishment, a little after the time when the epistle was
written, wrath came upon the nation of the Jews to the uttermost, in
their terrible destruction by the Romans; when, as Christ said, “was
great tribulation, such as never was since the beginning of the world to
that time,” Mat. 24:21. That nation had before suffered many of the
fruits of divine wrath for their sins; but this was beyond all, this was
their highest degree of punishment as a nation. If we take it as a
personal punishment, then it respects their punishment in hell. God
often punishes men very dreadfully in this world; but in hell “wrath
comes on them to the uttermost.” — By this expression is also denoted
the certainty of this punishment. For though the punishment was then
future, yet it is spoken of as present: “The wrath is come upon them to
the uttermost.” It was as certain as if it had already taken place. God,
who knows all things, speaks of things that are not as though they were;
for things present and things future are equally certain with him. It
also denotes the near approach of it. The wrath IS come; i.e. it is just
at hand; it is at the door; as it proved with respect to that nation;
their terrible destruction by the Romans was soon after the apostle
wrote this epistle.
DOCTRINE
When those that continue in sin shall have filled up the measure of
their sin, then wrath will come upon them to the uttermost.
I. PROP. There is a certain measure that God hath set to the sin of
every wicked man. God says concerning the sin of man, as he says to the
raging waves of the sea, Hitherto shalt thou come, and no further. The
measure of some is much greater than of others. Some reprobates commit
but a little sin in comparison with others, and so are to endure
proportionably a smaller punishment. There are many vessels of wrath;
but some are smaller and others greater vessels. Some will contain
comparatively but little wrath, others a greater measure of it.
Sometimes, when we see men go to dreadful lengths, and become very
heinously wicked, we are ready to wonder that God lets them alone. He
sees them go on in such audacious wickedness, and keeps silence, nor
does anything to interrupt them, but they go smoothly on, and meet with
no hurt. But sometimes the reason why God lets them alone is because
they have not filled up the measure of their sins. When they live in
dreadful wickedness, they are but filling up the measure which God hath
limited for them. This is sometimes why God suffers very wicked men to
live so long; because their iniquity is not full, Gen. 15:16, “The
iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.” For this reason also God
sometimes suffers them to live in prosperity. Their prosperity is a
snare to them, and an occasion of their sinning a great deal more.
Wherefore God suffers them to have such a snare, because he suffers them
to fill up a larger measure. So, for this cause, he sometimes suffers
them to live under great light, and great means and advantages, at the
same time to neglect and misimprove all. Everyone shall live till he
hath filled up his measure.
II. PROP. While men continue in sin, they are filling the measure set
them. This is the work in which they spend their whole lives. They begin
in their childhood; and if they live to grow old in sin, they still go
on with this work. It is the work with which every day is filled up.
They may alter their business in other respects. They may sometimes be
about one thing and sometimes about another, but they never change from
this work of filling up the measure of their sins. Whatever they put
their hands to, they are still employed in this work. This is the first
thing that they set themselves about when they awake in the morning, and
the last thing they do at night. They are all the while treasuring up
wrath against the day of wrath, and the revelation of the righteous
judgment of God. It is a gross mistake of some natural men, who think
that when they read and pray they do not add to their sins. But on the
contrary, [they] think they diminish their guilt by these exercises.
They think, that instead of adding to their sins, they do something to
satisfy for their past offenses. But instead of that, they do but add to
the measure by their best prayers, and by those services with which they
themselves are most pleased.
III. PROP. When once the measure of their sins is filled up, then wrath
will come upon them to the uttermost. God will then wait no longer upon
them. Wicked men think that God is altogether such a one as themselves,
because, when they commit such wickedness, he keeps silence. “Because
judgment against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the
heart of the children of men is fully set in them to do evil.” But when
once they shall have filled up the measure of their sins, judgment will
be executed; God will not bear with them any longer. Now is the day of
grace, and the day of patience, which they spend in filling up their
sins. But when their sins shall be full, then will come the day of
wrath, the day of the fierce anger of God. — God often executes his
wrath on ungodly men, in a less degree, in this world. He sometimes
brings afflictions upon them, and that in wrath. Sometimes he expresses
his wrath in very sore judgments. Sometimes he appears in a terrible
manner, not only outwardly, but also in the inward expressions of it on
their consciences. Some, before they died, have had the wrath of God
inflicted on their souls in degrees that have been intolerable. But
these things are only forerunners of their punishment, only slight
foretastes of wrath. God never stirs up all his wrath against wicked men
while in this world. But when once wicked men shall have filled up the
measure of their sins, then wrath will come upon them to the uttermost;
and that in the following respects:
1. Wrath will come upon them without any restraint or moderation in the
degree of it. God doth always lay, as it were, a restraint upon himself.
He doth not stir up his wrath. He stays his rough wind in the day of his
east wind. He lets not his arm light down on wicked men with its full
weight. But when sinners shall have filled up the measure of their sins,
there will be no caution, no restraint. His rough wind will not be
stayed nor moderated. The wrath of God will be poured out like fire. He
will come forth, not only in anger, but in the fierceness of his anger;
he will execute wrath with power, so as to show what his wrath is, and
make his power known. There will be nothing to alleviate his wrath. His
heavy wrath will lie on them, without anything to lighten the burden, or
to keep off, in any measure, the full weight of it from pressing the
soul. — His eye will not spare, neither will he regard the sinner’s
cries and lamentations, however loud and bitter. Then shall wicked men
know that God is the Lord. They shall know how great that majesty is
which they have despised, and how dreadful that threatened wrath is
which they have so little regarded. Then shall come on wicked men that
punishment which they deserve. God will exact of them the uttermost
farthing. Their iniquities are marked before him; they are all written
in his book. And in the future world he will reckon with them, and they
must pay all the debt. Their sins are laid up in store with God. They
are sealed up among his treasures; and them he will recompense, even
recompense into their bosoms. The consummate degree of punishment will
not be executed till the day of judgment. But the wicked are sealed over
to this consummate punishment immediately after death; they are cast
into hell, and there bound in chains of darkness to the judgment of the
great day; and they know that the highest degree of punishment is coming
upon them. Final wrath will be executed without any mixture. All mercy
[and] all enjoyments will be taken away. God sometimes expresses his
wrath in this world. But here good things and evil are mixed together.
In the future there will be only evil things.
2. Wrath will then be executed without any merciful circumstances. The
judgments which God executes on ungodly men in this world are attended
with many merciful circumstances. There is much patience and
long-suffering, together with judgment. Judgments are joined with
continuance of opportunity to seek mercy. But in hell there will be no
more exercises of divine patience. The judgments which God exercises on
ungodly men in this world are warnings to them to avoid greater
punishments. But the wrath which will come upon them, when they shall
have filled up the measure of their sin, will not be of the nature of
warnings. Indeed they will be effectually awakened, and made thoroughly
sensible, by what they shall suffer. Yet their being awakened and made
sensible will do them no good. Many a wicked man hath suffered very
awful things from God in this world, which have been a means of saving
good. But that wrath which sinners shall suffer after death will be no
way for their good. God will have no merciful design in it. Neither will
it be possible that they should get any good by that or by anything
else.
3. Wrath will be so executed, as to perfect the work to which wrath
tends, viz. utterly to undo the subject of it. Wrath is often so
executed in this life, as greatly to distress persons, and bring them
into great calamity. Yet not so as to complete the ruin of those who
suffer it. But in another world, it will be so executed, as to finish
their destruction, and render them utterly and perfectly undone. It will
take away all comfort, all hope, and all support. The soul will be, as
it were, utterly crushed; the wrath will be wholly intolerable. It must
sink, and will utterly sink, and will have no more strength to keep
itself from sinking than a worm would have to keep itself from being
crushed under the weight of a mountain. The wrath will be so great, so
mighty and powerful, as wholly to abolish all manner of welfare, Mat.
21:44, “But on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.”
4. When persons shall have filled up the measure of their sin, that
wrath will come upon them which is eternal. Though men may suffer very
terrible and awful judgments in this world, yet those judgments have an
end. They may be long continued, yet they commonly admit of relief.
Temporal distresses and sorrows have intermissions and respite, and
commonly by degrees abate and wear off. But the wrath that shall be
executed, when the measure of sin shall have been filled up, will have
no end. Thus it will be to the uttermost as to its duration. It will be
of so long continuance, that it will be impossible it should be longer.
Nothing can be longer than eternity.
5. When persons shall have filled up the measure of their sin, then
wrath will come upon them to the uttermost of what is threatened. Sin is
an infinite evil; and the punishment which God hath threatened against
it is very dreadful. The threatenings of God against the workers of
iniquity are very awful; but these threatenings are never fully
accomplished in this world. However dreadful things some men may suffer
in this life, yet God never fully executes his threatenings for so much
as one sin, till they have filled up the whole measure. The threatenings
of the law are never answered by anything that any man suffers here. The
most awful judgment in this life doth not answer God’s threatenings,
either in degree, or in circumstances, or in duration. If the greatest
sufferings that ever are endured in this life should be eternal, it
would not answer the threatening. Indeed temporal judgments belong to
the threatenings of the law; but these are not answered by them; they
are but foretastes of the punishment. “The wages of sin is death.” No
expression of wrath that are suffered before men have filled up the
measure of their sin are its full wages. But then, God will reckon with
them, and will recompense into their bosoms the full deserved sum.
APPLICATION
The use I would make of this doctrine is, of warning to natural men, to
rest no longer in sin, and to make haste to flee from it. The things
which have been said, under this doctrine, may well be awakening, awful
considerations to you. It is awful to consider whose wrath it is that
abides upon you, and of what wrath you are in danger. It is impossible
to express the misery of a natural condition. It is like being in Sodom,
with a dreadful storm of fire and brimstone hanging over it, just ready
to break forth, and to be poured down upon it. The clouds of divine
vengeance are full, and just ready to burst. Here let those who yet
continue in sin, in this town, consider particularly,
1. Under what great means and advantages you continue in sin. God is now
favoring us with very great and extraordinary means and advantages, in
that we have such extraordinary tokens of the presence of God among us.
His Spirit is so remarkably poured out, and multitudes of all ages, and
all sorts, are converted and brought home to Christ. God appears among
us in the most extraordinary manner, perhaps, that ever he did in New
England. The children of Israel saw many mighty works of God, when he
brought them out of Egypt. But we at this day see works more mighty, and
of a more glorious nature.
We who live under such light, have had loud calls; but now above all.
Now is a day of salvation. The fountain hath been set open among us in
an extraordinary manner, and hath stood open for a considerable time.
Yet you continue in sin, and the calls that you have hitherto had have
not brought you to be washed in it. What extraordinary advantages have
you lately enjoyed to stir you up! How hath everything in the town, of
late, been of tendency! Those things which used to be the greatest
hindrances have been removed. You have not the ill examples of immoral
persons to be a temptation to you. There is not now that vain worldly
talk, and ill company, to divert you, and to be a hindrance to you,
which there used to be. Now you have multitudes of good examples set
before you. There are many now all around you, who, instead of diverting
and hindering you, are earnestly desirous of your salvation, and willing
to do all that they can to move you to flee to Christ. They have a
thirsting desire for it. The chief talk in the town has of late been
about the things of religion, and has been such as hath tended to
promote, and not to hinder, your souls’ good. Everything all around you
hath tended to stir you up; and will you yet continue in sin?
Some of you have continued in sin till you are far advanced in life. You
were warned when you were children; and some of you had awakenings then.
However, the time went away. You became men and women; and then you
stirred up again, you had the strivings of God’s Spirit. And some of you
have fixed the times when you would make thorough work of seeking
salvation. Some of you perhaps determined to do it when you should be
married and settled in the world; others when you should have finished
such a business, and when your circumstances should be so and so
altered. Now these times have come, and are past; yet you continue in
sin.
Many of you have had remarkable warnings of providence. Some of you have
been warned by the deaths of near relations. You have stood by, and seen
others die and go into eternity; yet this hath not been effectual. Some
of you have been near death yourselves, have been brought nigh the grave
in sore sickness, and were full of your promises how you would behave
yourselves, if it should please God to spare your lives. Some of you
have very narrowly escaped death by dangerous accidents; but God was
pleased to spare you, to give you a further space to repent; yet you
continue in sin.
Some of you have seen times of remarkable outpourings of the Spirit of
God, in this town, in times past; but it had no good effect on you. You
had the strivings of the Spirit of God too, as well as others. God did
not so pass by your door, but that he came and knocked; yet you stood it
out. Now God hath come again in a more remarkable manner than ever
before, and hath been pouring out his Spirit for some months, in its
most gracious influence; yet you remain in sin until now. In the
beginning of this awakening, you were warned to flee from wrath and to
forsake your sins. You were told what a wide door there was open, what
an accepted time it was, and were urged to press into the kingdom of
God. And many did press in; they forsook their sins, and believed in
Christ. But you, when you had seen it, repented not, that you might
believe him.
Then you were warned again, and still others have been pressing and
thronging into the kingdom of God. Many have fled for refuge, and have
laid hold on Christ; yet you continue in sin and unbelief. You have seen
multitudes of all sorts, of all ages, young and old, flocking to Christ,
and many of about your age and your circumstances. But you still are in
the same miserable condition in which you used to be. You have seen
persons daily flocking to Christ, as doves to their windows. God hath
not only poured out his Spirit on this town, but also on other towns
around us, and they are flocking in there, as well as here. This
blessing spreads further and further; many, far and near, seem to be
setting their faces Zionward. Yet you who live here, where this work
first began, continue behind still; you have no lot or portion in this
matter.
2. How dreadful the wrath of God is, when it is executed to the
uttermost. To make you in some measure sensible of that, I desire you to
consider whose wrath it is. The wrath of a king is the roaring of a
lion; but this is the wrath of Jehovah, the Lord God Omnipotent. Let us
consider, what can we rationally think of it? How dreadful must be the
wrath of such a Being, when it comes upon a person to the uttermost,
without any pity, or moderation, or merciful circumstances! What must be
the uttermost of his wrath, who made heaven and earth by the word of his
power; who spake, and it was done, who commanded, and it stood fast!
What must his wrath be, who commandeth the sun, and it rises not, and
sealeth up the stars! What must his wrath be, who shaketh the earth out
of its place, and causeth the pillars of heaven to tremble! What must
his wrath be, who rebuketh the sea, and maketh it dry, who removeth the
mountains out of their places, and overturneth them in his anger! What
must his wrath be, whose majesty is so awful, that no man could live in
the sight of it! What must the wrath of such a Being be, when it comes
to the uttermost, when he makes his majesty appear and shine bright in
the misery of wicked men! And what is a worm of the dust before the fury
and under the weight of this wrath, which the stoutest devils cannot
bear, but utterly sink, and are crushed under it. — Consider how
dreadful the wrath of God is sometimes in this world, only in a little
taste or view of it. Sometimes, when God only enlightens conscience, to
have some sense of his wrath, it causes the stout-hearted to cry out.
Nature is ready to sink under it, when indeed it is but a little glimpse
of divine wrath that is seen. This hath been observed in many cases. But
if a slight taste and apprehension of wrath be so dreadful and
intolerable, what must it be, when it comes upon persons to the
uttermost! When a few drops or little sprinkling of wrath is so
distressing and overbearing to the soul, how must it be when God opens
the flood-gates, and lets the mighty deluge of his wrath come pouring
down upon men’s guilty heads, and brings in all his waves and billows
upon their souls! How little of God’s wrath will sink them! Psa. 2:12,
“When his wrath is kindled but a little, blessed are all they that put
their trust in him.”
3. Consider, you know not what wrath God may be about to execute upon
wicked men in this world. Wrath may, in some sense, be coming upon them,
in the present life, to the uttermost, for ought we know. When it is
said of the Jews, “The wrath is come upon them to the uttermost,”
respect is had, not only to the execution of divine wrath on that people
in hell, but that terrible destruction of Judea and Jerusalem, which was
then near approaching, by the Romans. We know not but the wrath is now
coming, in some peculiarly awful manner, on the wicked world. God seems,
by the things which he is doing among us, to be coming forth for some
great thing. The work which hath been lately wrought among us is no
ordinary thing. He doth not work in his usual way, but in a way very
extraordinary; and it is probable, that it is a forerunner of some very
great revolution. We must not pretend to say what is in the womb of
providence, or what is in the book of God’s secret decrees; yet we may
and ought to discern the signs of these times.
Though God be now about to do glorious things for his church and people,
yet it is probable that they will be accompanied with dreadful things to
his enemies. It is the manner of God, when he brings about any glorious
revolution for his people, at the same time to execute very awful
judgments on his enemies, Deu. 32:43, “Rejoice, O ye nations, with his
people: for he will avenge the blood of his servants, and will render
vengeance to his adversaries, and will be merciful unto his land, and to
his people.” Isa. 3:10, 11, “Say ye to the righteous, It shall be well
with him: for they shall eat the fruit of their doings. Woe unto the
wicked, it shall be ill with him: for the reward of his hands shall be
given him.” Isa. 65:13, 14, “Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold,
my servants shall eat, but ye shall be hungry: behold, my servants shall
drink, but ye shall be thirsty: behold, my servants shall rejoice, but
ye shall be ashamed: behold, my servants shall sing for joy of heart,
but ye shall cry for sorrow of heart, and shall howl for vexation of
spirit.” We find in Scripture, that where glorious times are prophesied
to God’s people, there are at the same time awful judgments foretold to
his enemies. What God is now about to do, we know not. But this we may
know, that there will be no safety to any but those who are in the ark.
— Therefore it behooves all to haste and flee for their lives, to get
into a safe condition, to get into Christ. Then they need not fear,
though the earth be removed, and the mountains carried into the midst of
the sea; though the waters thereof roar and be troubled; though the
mountains shake with the swelling thereof: for God will be their refuge
and strength; they need not be afraid of evil tidings; their hearts may
be fixed, trusting in the Lord.
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