Jesus Christ - The Same Yesterday, Today, And Forever: Sermon by Jonathan Edwards, Part 1 of 2

Jonathan Edwards was an acknowledged American philosophical theologian, born in 1703, into the family of notable Congregational ministers, in Connecticut. Jonathan Edwards wrote sermons and theological treatises that emphasized the absolute sovereignty, as well as the beauty and holiness of God. He contemplated on the divine virtues as an imitation of the loveliness and benevolence of the Creator. Today, we will read a selection from Jonathan Edwards’ sermon entitled, “Jesus Christ - The Same Yesterday, Today, And Forever.” “When it is said that Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever, by yesterday is meant all time past; by today, the time present; and by forever, all that is future, from the present time to eternity. Doctrine: Jesus Christ is the same now that He ever has been and ever will be. Christ is thus unchangeable in two respects.” “I. In His divine nature. As Christ is one of the persons of the Trinity, He is God, and so has the divine nature, or the Godhead dwelling in Him, and all the divine attributes belong to Him, of which immutability or unchangeableness is one. Christ, in His human nature was not absolutely unchangeable, though His human nature, by reason of its union with the divine, was not liable to those changes to which it was liable, as a mere creature.” “II. Christ is unchangeable in His office. He is unchangeable as the Mediator and Savior. That unchangeableness of Christ in His office of Mediator, appears in several things. ‘First, He is an everlasting Savior. There have been typical mediators, many that have continued but a little while, and then have passed away, and others have come in their room. There have been prophets, that have been raised up, and these have died, and others have succeeded them.’” “But Christ’s ministry never ceases. ‘Christ is a minister of the true tabernacle and the true sanctuary, which the Lord has built, and not man.’ ‘Second, Christ is at all times equally sufficient for the office He has undertaken. He undertook the office from eternity, and He was sufficient for it from eternity.’ ‘Third, He is now, and ever will be, the same that He ever has been in the disposition and will, which He exercises in His office.’”