God Loves… Himself

THE END FOR WHICH GOD CREATED THE WORLD

That if God himself be, in any respect, properly capable of being his own end in the creation of the world, then it is reasonable to suppose that he had respect to himself, as his last and highest end, in this work; because he is worthy in himself to be so, being infinitely the greatest and best of beings. All things else, with regard to worthiness, importance, and excellence, are perfectly as nothing in comparison of him. And therefore, if God has respect to things according to their nature and proportions, he must necessarily have the greatest respect to himself. It would be against the perfection of his nature, his wisdom, holiness, and perfect rectitude, whereby he is disposed to do everything that is fit to be done, to suppose otherwise. (Jonathan Edwards, The End for Which God Created the World)

The beauty and majesty of the previous paragraph is perhaps not surpassed in human writings, or the least we could say is that the implications of it and the direct and jarring applications it has for all theology and of life are beyond human comprehension. It is not just that God has the right to be uppermost in His own affections and first in His regard of all things, but it is only right that He would do so and it is at least an aspect of His holiness that He would do so. If God was capable of making Himself His greatest end and goal in the creation of the world and all things, then He must do so because He alone is worthy to be the greatest and goal in all creation.

If God truly is infinitely beyond all other beings in terms of greatest and best, then what other goal could He have other than Himself? What would it mean if God did something with a greatest end or goal that was for lesser beings or for all beings other than Himself? It would mean that He would do things for lesser than the greatest end and goal and that He would be doing things Himself that He charges others as sinful when they do it. In other words, God commands all of His creatures to love Him with all of their beings. If God did not do that towards Himself, then He would be guilty of sin as well. God commands His creatures that whether they eat, drink, or whatever they do they are to do it for His glory. If God did not do all things for His own glory, He would be sinful. How can He command others to do those things as the standard of holiness and yet not do those things Himself who is holy, holy, holy?

Isaiah 48:11 “For My own sake, for My own sake, I will act; For how can My name be profaned? And My glory I will not give to another.

When we see Isaiah 48:11 in the context of thinking of God always seeking Himself as His own greatest end and goal, we see the beauty and self-centeredness of God. When God does something for His own sake, He is doing it for the greatest possible end and goal. When God does something for His own sake, He is doing it because He is worthy of doing it for His own sake and no one else is. The paragraph by Edwards at the top opens up (or explains) verses like Isaiah 48:11 and puts God and His glory on display for those who have eyes to see.

Why would God do anything for the sake of another as His greatest goal and end rather than Himself? If He did, wouldn’t He be acting for less than perfect goals and ends? If He did, wouldn’t He be acting for less than holy goals and ends? As thinking and moral beings we should be delighted and enthralled over a God who is so holy He will always do what is for His own glory, yet as sinful and self-centered beings we see how opposed He would be to our sinful self-centeredness. The thrice holy (holy, holy, holy) God of Holy Writ stands opposed to all the pride and self-centered human beings when they seek themselves because they are not like Him in seeking Himself who is the greatest possible end and goal. The thrice holy (holy, holy, holy) God of Holy Writ stands opposed to wicked men who would try to steal His glory by living for themselves and even try to share in His glory by saving themselves or contributing to their own salvation. The thrice holy (holy, holy, holy) God of Holy Writ stands opposed to all self-righteousness because it opposes His glory in giving a free gift of righteousness that only He can earn and only He can do for His own glory. The thrice holy (holy, holy, holy) God of Holy Writ stands opposed to all who will add one thing to the Gospel of the glory of the blessed God (I Tim 1:11). If all else pales in comparison to the one and only infinite God, then as a holy God He must always intend and do all He intends and does for His own glory.

THE END FOR WHICH GOD CREATED THE WORLD

Whatsoever is good and valuable in itself is worthy that God should value it with an ultimate respect. It is therefore worthy to be made the last end of his operation, if it be properly capable of being attained. For it may be supposed that some things, valuable and excellent in themselves, are not properly capable of being attained in any divine operation; because their existence, in all possible respects, must be conceived of as prior to any divine operation. Thus God’s existence and infinite perfection, though infinitely valuable in themselves, cannot be supposed to be the end of any divine operation; for we cannot conceive of them as in any respect consequent on any works of God. But whatever is in itself valuable, absolutely so, and is capable of being sought and attained, is worthy to be made a last end of the divine operation. (Jonathan Edwards, The End for Which God Created the World)

As a holy, holy, holy God the living and true God would always have the greatest and most valuable goal in mind and intent in whatever He did. While fallen man thinks of self as the greatest and most valuable goal to have in his own mind and thinks that God should also have that same goal in mind, it is easy to show that the infinite God should not have a particular and very finite human being uppermost in His mind and affections. God alone is valuable and absolutely valuable and as such God alone is worthy to be the chief end and goal of all that is done in the entire universe.

The Scriptures are quite clear that this is the true goal of God in all things. In reality, a thinking person can easily see that it is utterly preposterous for man to think that God would have a lesser goal and end than God.

Isaiah 43:7 Everyone who is called by My name, And whom I have created for My glory, Whom I have formed, even whom I have made.”

Isaiah 48:11 “For My own sake, for My own sake, I will act; For how can My name be profaned? And My glory I will not give to another.

Romans 9:23 And He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory,

Ephesians 1:6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.

1 Peter 4:11 Whoever speaks, is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God; whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Revelation 4:11 “Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created.

A cursory reading of these verses will show the same thing that a deep and prayerful reading shows, though not to the same depth. God created all things for His glory. God saves sinners to make known the riches of His glory and to the praise of the glory of His grace. God created man with a mouth so that man may speak to the glory of God. God created man with some strength so that man may do all he does with the strength which God supplies in to the glory of God. In all things, then God has set out the standard for man that man is to do all he does to the glory of God. This is the standard of man because it is the standard of God and as such it is a holy standard. Man, as the image of God, could have no standard other than God. Since God does all for His own glory and as thrice holy can have no other standard or goal, this is the goal and standard for man himself and all that man does. It is sin for man to have himself as his goal and end in anything (Romans 3:23) and when man does this, he is at odds with his Creator. What a beautiful thing it is for man to have purpose and a goal in the universe for himself and all that he does. It is a goal far higher and far more worthy than himself as it is living to the glory of the living God.

THE END FOR WHICH GOD CREATED THE WORLD

Whatsoever is good and valuable in itself is worthy that God should value it with an ultimate respect. It is therefore worthy to be made the last end of his operation, if it be properly capable of being attained. For it may be supposed that some things, valuable and excellent in themselves, are not properly capable of being attained in any divine operation; because their existence, in all possible respects, must be conceived of as prior to any divine operation. Thus God’s existence and infinite perfection, though infinitely valuable in themselves, cannot be supposed to be the end of any divine operation; for we cannot conceive of them as in any respect consequent on any works of God. But whatever is in itself valuable, absolutely so, and is capable of being sought and attained, is worthy to be made a last end of the divine operation. (Jonathan Edwards, The End for Which God Created the World)

If God should value what is in itself most valuable and value it with an ultimate respect, that would be what God would aim at in terms of His highest goal or the true end of it. We cannot imagine a perfectly just God who is perfectly holy having a goal that has something lesser than that which is in itself the most valuable and most loved by Himself. The points above that are given by Edwards show us something of the beauty and glory of God if we are willing to look and if God gives us eyes to see. An object that is good and valuable in itself is worthy that God should value it and seek it with an ultimate respect. The contrary position, however, is also true. An object that is not good and valuable in itself is not worthy that God should value it with an ultimate respect. This means, it seems clear enough, that a thrice holy God would only seek what is more valuable and value it with ultimate respect.

We can also see that even for God there may be things that He cannot attain, though that should not be thought of as a weakness bur rather as a strength. It is not a weakness in God that He cannot sin, but is rather a strength of His. It is not a weakness in God that He cannot actually carry out a contradiction, but is rather a strength of His. In much the same way it is not a weakness with God that He cannot seek His own existence and to be perfect, since He already exists in a way that He cannot go out of existence and He is perfect in all ways and as such cannot be less than perfect. So the goals that God seeks must be those things that He can actually do, which is to say that they are not contradictions and that they are things He is able to attain. It is more proper, then, to think of God manifesting His perfections rather than it is to say that He seeks His perfection. It is more proper, then, to think of God displaying His existence rather than seeking His existence as a goal.

What else can be worthy for God to actually desire and seek but that which is in itself valuable and that absolutely so? To put the matter plainly, what else is worthy for God to seek other than Himself and His own glory? While His existence is not capable of being sought or attained, the glory of His self-existence is certainly worthy to be displayed and to seek to be manifested. What other goal can we possibly think is worthy for God to seek? Fallen man wants to seek himself, wants others to do what he thinks is good for himself, and he even wants God to seek what he wants and do what he wants for God to do. But surely after a bit of reflection (based on the truths of Scripture) we can see that it is utterly sinful, wicked, and a horrible idolatry for man to do that. That is for man to make himself worthy of being the center of all creation.

As we begin to see some ramifications of what it means for God to actually desire and seek that which is valuable in and of itself, the nature of sin (man as self-focused and doing all for self) begins to be seen. Satan promised our first parents that they would be like God, but that was certainly twisted. Indeed they became like God but in a way that is absolutely and horribly wicked. They began to seek themselves as their own goal and as the standard for all other things. But God alone is to be sought as that which is good and valuable in and of itself.

We are now left with three logical options. One, God can seek Himself and His own glory as the greatest good in the universe. Two, God can seek a created being or created beings as the greatest good in the universe. Three, there is another greater good somewhere. I would argue that God alone is the great I AM and there is no other good in the universe. When God seeks Himself and His own glory, He is seeking the greatest good that there can possibly be. As a holy, holy, holy God, there is nothing greater and no other thing more valuable that God can seek other than Himself and His own glory. Therefore, in creating all things God sought His own glory in creating them.

THE END FOR WHICH GOD CREATED THE WORLD

Now, if the creature receives ALL from God, entirely and perfectly, how is it possible that it should have any thing to add to God to make him in any respect more than he was before, and so the Creator become dependent on the creature? (Jonathan Edwards, The End for Which God Created the World)

This powerful point by Edwards deserves much mediation of human souls as they should reflect on this as to how the glory of God shines in it and also how this should humble souls into great depths. Each creature receives all from God and that makes it impossible for the creature to add anything to God and to do anything for God. Whatever it is that the creature is to do in terms of service for God the creature must receive from God in the first place. Whenever the creature tries to serve God in its own strength, it is not serving God at all but is instead serving self out of pride. But even then, if we think deeply on the matter, the creature cannot lift an arm or take a breath apart from the sovereign God granting and giving it.

Acts 17:22 So Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I observe that you are very religious in all respects. 23 “For while I was passing through and examining the objects of your worship, I also found an altar with this inscription, ‘TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.’ Therefore what you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you. 24 “The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; 25 nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things; 26 and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, 27 that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; 28 for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we also are His children.’ 29 “Being then the children of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and thought of man.

The passage in Acts 17 starts with Paul telling the religious people of Athens that they worshipped in ignorance. Their ignorance of the true God, as Paul goes on to state, is that they thought God could be served by human hands and they treated Him as if He needed things. Instead of that, however, Paul declares that the true God “Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things.” This should shatter any thought that human beings can add anything to God or do anything for God. The sovereign God who is eternal, all-powerful, and completely self-sufficient has no need at all for anyone to fill. He has created all things with nothing other than Himself and He is the one who upholds all things with nothing other than Himself. How can it be, then, that anyone can think that God needs a frail human being to do something for Him? How can it be a rational thought that a frail human being with breath in his nostrils can do the smallest thing for God?

Paul goes on to say that “in Him we live and move and exist.” He then goes on to say that we should not think that “the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and thought of man.” The God that people were ignorant of in the days of Paul is also the God that people are ignorant of in the modern day. A person that thinks that s/he can do anything for God is a person that is ignorant of the true God. There is no need to tone things down or be politically correct on this matter; a person that thinks that God can be served is a person that is ignorant of the true God. The true God had a purpose in creating the world and it was not to create in order to have people do things for Him that He could not do for Himself. Instead of that, God created human beings in order to manifest Himself as all-sufficient. It is nothing but ignorance and pride that leads people to think that they can serve God and do things for God. The true God sits supreme in the heavens with no need of anything or anyone at all. He must have created all things for His own glory and His own good pleasure.

THE END FOR WHICH GOD CREATED THE WORLD

Before anything came into being, there was God and God alone. He existed in perfect glory, love, and beauty within the Trinity. God had a purpose when He created the world and that purpose was either to provide something He did not have or display something He already had. As a perfectly rational being, God must have had a perfectly rational goal or end which He sought in creating. As a perfectly moral being, God’s perfectly rational end would be in line with His perfect morality as well.

He best knows his own heart and what his own ends and designs were, in the wonderful works which he has wrought. Nor is it to be supposed that mankind—who, while destitute of revelation, by the utmost improvements of their own reason and advances in science and philosophy could come to no clear and established determination who the author of the world was—would ever have obtained any tolerable settled judgment of the end which the author of it proposed to himself in so vast, complicated, and wonderful a work of his hands.  (Jonathan Edwards, The End for Which God Created the World)

What this line of reasoning by Edwards points to is that God Himself can tell us what His greatest purpose and goal was in creating the world and all things in it. If one reflects for a few moments that is self-evident. So we can look at nature and know that there must have been a reason, but we must look at Scripture to know that reason. When we look at Scripture there are verses that are quite specific, but in another sense we can look at different things in Scripture that tell the same story as the specific verses. For example, we can look at the saints in Scripture and ask what their highest goal in life was. What did the Old Testament saints seek above all? What is the purpose of a human being in the economy of God both now and for all eternity?

In looking through the Scriptures we can see that God had many subordinate ends in His various actions, but those only make sense in light of one great and overarching end that He had in mind and sought as the greatest good in the entire universe. In looking at this one great and overarching end that God had in mind, we can see the real purpose behind the Gospel of the glory of God and we can see the real purpose in morality. We can also see the real end or purpose God had for each person and for each church. But we can also see that this real end and purpose that God had in mind for all things must be looked at closely or we can use the same word as Scripture uses and mean something totally different. As God has different motives in creating and yet they all line up under His greatest purpose and goal, so man also has differing motives as well. The problem with man, however, is that man is a fallen being and so his purposes and goals are mixed and when that is combined with a sinful heart and a darkened reason, man can be easily deceived.

God must be looked at and His reasons for creating all things must be determined from who He is and what He has truly revealed. God is His own standard and when we try to judge God by the standards and fallen reason of men we are on shaky ground at the very best. Men reason about God by judging him with their own physical and moral limitations rather than what God has revealed about Himself. Fallen man tries to make a god in his own image rather than fall on his face in humility to receive light about the nature of God. Proud man makes his own reason his standard rather and as such makes himself an idol in his horribly wicked practice of trying to think of God as like himself.

Revelation 4: 8 And the four living creatures, each one of them having six wings, are full of eyes around and within; and day and night they do not cease to say, “HOLY, HOLY, HOLY is THE LORD GOD, THE ALMIGHTY, WHO WAS AND WHO IS AND WHO IS TO COME.” 9 And when the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, to Him who lives forever and ever, 10 the twenty-four elders will fall down before Him who sits on the throne, and will worship Him who lives forever and ever, and will cast their crowns before the throne, saying,11 “Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will [pleasure] they existed, and were created.”

As this scene from heaven shows, God created all things for His own pleasure and is worthy of adoration and praise for doing so. Now it remains to be seen just exactly what it means for God to create for His own pleasure.

THE END FOR WHICH GOD CREATED THE WORLD

Edwards set out the issues and differences between subordinate ends, ultimate ends, and a chief end in order to show the chief end for which God created the world. While it is not the goal of Edwards to show how these distinctions help human beings search their own hearts and to help understand people, his work does help with these things. A person can desire something that is good and have knowledge that they should desire that and so they desire it for some reason, but their greatest and real desire is not for the highest goal and end. If human beings are to be like Christ which is to say to be conformed to Christ and His desire for all things, they must have the same desires as He did and the same goals and ends as He did. While this is not in the power of a human being to obtain these, it does instruct us of our need to seek grace that we may grow in these things.

One may have an ultimate end (a thing valued in itself and for itself) that is not necessarily subordinate to other ends, and yet that ultimate end may not be a chief end. For example, Edwards uses the example of a man that travels many miles to a city in order to be married. There may be something that a man wants to do while on the trip that is not the reason for the trip. He may want to visit certain landmarks or see certain people on the way which has nothing to do with his chief end of getting married, so he sees the landmark for no subordinate reason at all and as such it is an ultimate end. Yet his chief end for the trip remains unchanged and that is to get married.

It is important to keep in mind that a subordinate end is never valued and sought for its own sake, but that it is only sought and valued as a way of obtaining a further end. A person may have a plurality of ultimate ends, but the one most valued will be the chief end. A subordinate end will never be more valued than the end to which it is subordinated to. “The subordinate effects or events brought to pass, as a means of this end, all uniting to contribute their share towards obtaining the last end, are very various; and therefore, by what has been now observed, the ultimate end of all must be valued more than any one of the particular means. This seems to b the case with the works of God.” As these words of Edwards are meditated on, a few things should become clear. One, the God of all glory created all things with a chief end in mind and that was His primary purpose in creating. That purpose that He had in creating is still the same purpose He has for human beings now. The purpose that God has should show human beings what their purpose is now. This also shows us how human hearts function and how people deceive themselves on a regular basis by looking at a subordinate end and counting it as their chief end.

Before God created the world He must have had an end in mind. He did not create the world just because He wanted to create, but He had a chief end in mind when He created. This grand purpose of God was planned from all eternity and was seen by Him as His reason to create and so all the other reasons that are subordinate to that and those reasons that seem to come up after things were created and the earth was populated will not necessarily (logically) change His grand purpose for creating. In fact, all that happens now actually fit into His grand and eternal purpose and does not change it a bit.

The original purpose that moved an all-knowing and all-powerful Being (God) to create is what would move Him to create but also include all ends (consequential ends) that came as a result of that creation. In the highest sense of an ultimate end we should think of God as having an ultimate end in all He has done and is doing and in all that He does now or will ever do. It is that thread that moves from eternity past to eternity future and ties it all together. The use that God has of His creatures will always have regard to His highest purpose for which He made them, though at times He may have ultimate ends in what He wills which may not in and of themselves be His last or chief end in creating.

God has a highest and chief end which moved Him to create all things and all other reasons or ends are subordinate to that. So human beings have many reasons that they do things and yet all that they do in one way or another is subordinate to other reasons or a reason. The unregenerate person will always have the love of self as the chief end of what drives him to do what he does, yet God commands the unregenerate person to love Him in all that he does. All human beings are commanded to love God and do all that they do for His glory. If God can only command people to do what is in accordance with His chief end in creation, then we can see His chief end in creation. God can command people to things that are subordinate to His glory, but His chief end is always His chief end.

THE END FOR WHICH GOD CREATED THE WORLD

Why did God create the world? Why did God create anything at all? These are vital questions and perhaps more vital than any other question regarding creation. Scripture is the absolute authority on the matter because it is God’s testimony as to why He did what He did. It should be admitted by all that no one else was around when God planned and decreed to create, so that leaves us with His testimony and His alone. It is also the case that God might have had more than one reason to create, and in fact I would argue that He did, but the greatest concern is to discover His greatest or chief reason for doing so. If God had 100 purposes for creation and 99 of the purposes pointed back to His chief reason for creating, that is something that is important (even vital) to know. That is what Jonathan Edwards set out to do and (I think) his views on the matter are simply inescapable.

To help his readers and his parishioners see the truth, Edwards set out to show the fact that God created the world to manifest His own glory. Yet Scripture gives us other reasons that God created the world as well. In order to grapple with these things and help others to see what he was driving at, Edwards shows the difference between an ultimate end and a chief end. A chief end is seen in contrast with an inferior end and an ultimate end is seen in contrast to a subordinate end. A subordinate end is what a person aims at in an action and yet not on its own account but in order to obtain another end, purpose, or goal. For example, a person can have the goal or end of going to a pharmacy, but the ultimate end of the person is not to go to the pharmacy. The goal obtained by going to the pharmacy is to obtain a medication that will help in healing the person. But even then, the healing of the body can be a subordinate end to simply wanting to feel better. So it is absolutely vital to understand the distinction between ends or we will not be good interpreters of Scripture or of our own hearts and things regarding others.

An ultimate end is what a person seeks and does for its own sake rather than simply seeking it for the sake of another end. Edwards uses the example of a man that goes to some effort to obtain some fruit because he liked the taste. The man wanted the fruit simply because he liked and valued the taste. There are many things that people do that can be considered ultimate ends, at least in one sense, when they do things simply because they value something in and of itself or because they desire its pleasure.

A subordinate end can be rather complicated since some ends can be subordinate to an ultimate end, but also to other ends are subordinate themselves. Edwards refers to this as “a succession or chain of many subordinate ends, one dependent on another, one sought for another, before you come to anything what the agent aims at and seeks for its own sake.” This helps human beings examine their hearts as to motives and ends, but also helps us in ways to view others. We can see that a person can desire to be religious, but that does not inform us why the person wants to be religious. We can see people with great zeal and fervor, but that does not tell us why people have great zeal and fervor. It is true that people will usually give us good reasons about themselves, but while those reasons may be true those reasons may be subordinate ends rather than an ultimate end or even a chief end.

It can be that a person may say that he loves God and seeks His glory and those words be true in some sense. The person may not be lying at all. The question, however, does not get at the deepest reasons a person loves God and why the person seeks the glory of God. The person may love God (in some sense) and seek His glory (in some sense), but only do those things as subordinate to things that s/he values more. On the other hand, a person may see nothing but self as s/he goes throughout the day and thinks that there is nothing but sin there. But the self can also be a subordinate motive with God being the chief love of the soul. There is a huge distinction between the love of self (subordinate end) that flows out of a love for God (chief end) and the love of self (ultimate end) that flows from a love for self (chief end). But again, we use the words and if we do not strive to understand the distinctions they can drive us to a false confidence or a false despair. We are to use self as a subordinate end to the end that we are to the glory of God (chief end).

 A chief end is always opposite of an inferior end and so is to be the end (goal, desire, purpose) that all things are to be done for. The self should always be subordinate, yet that does not mean we should never have the interest of self in mind, though not the interests of self-centered self. We must learn to do things for self and do them for a greater goal and end. For example, whether we eat, drink, of whatever we do we are to do those for the glory of God. It is not wrong to eat with many goals, even the preservation of self, but the love of God must be the end which is the chief end of all as God should be the end that is never inferior to another.

Jonathan Edwards wrote a magnificent treatise in the mid 1700’s (published after his death) on THE END FOR WHICH GOD CREATED THE WORLD. This book sets out the heart of Christian theology if one cares to take the time to read carefully and is what is behind, underneath, and encompasses all the theology and teaching of Scripture. This book sets out, with Scripture and careful reasoning, the reason for all things and that which alone can give human beings real purpose. Either the whole of Scripture points out how the God-centeredness of God is the theme of Scripture and is the deepest meaning of Scripture, or Scripture is not God-centered. Not only that, but if we depart from the God-centeredness of God we will inevitably be involved in some forms of humanism.

In the beginning of his treatise Edwards sets out very methodically to reach his goal. His first step is to distinguish between differing types of “ends.” To the modern mind this may appear to be tedious and unnecessary, but Edwards shows that it is not. In fact, it is in failing to distinguish these things at this point that human beings for all of history (especially modern times) fall into humanism and idolatry. It is not just important to know that God created all things and that He created them for a purpose, it is necessary to discern why He created all things and His primary and chief purpose in creating them. It is also important and necessary to understand from Scripture, creation, and providence why God does things and His deepest reasons for doing them. If we assume that He has some temporal good for all of humanity in mind, then we will go a different direction than if we know that God has Himself and His own glory as His deepest reasons for what He has done and is doing.

While there are many ministries that focus on Genesis and creation and do so with a great amount of energy and vitality, when they avoid or miss the point of why God created anything at all they have missed the main point of it all. If the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever, then this tells us something about the nature and holiness of God. If the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever, then this should inform us a lot about the reason for all of creation. If missing the point of the chief end of man is wrong and leads to false theology and sinful lives, it is vital to get at the chief end of creation. If the chief end of creation is to glorify God and be part of what man does in enjoying God forever, then missing the chief end of creation is also something that will lead to false theology and sinful lives.

Well, some may argue, what does it matter what God intended in creation as long as we live moral lives? This question points us right to a vital issue. What is the nature of morality? Can a person be moral if the person does not love God? The Scripture is explicit in denying that a person can be moral and not love God. In fact, the heart of all true morality is to love God. The nature of morality demands that a person have a proper intent and motive of the heart and a proper goal for the action in order for an action to be truly moral. Getting back to what God’s intent, motive, and goal in the creation of nature and man informs us of the very heart of what true morality is. To set this out very clearly, it is true that teaching that God is the Creator of all things is important. But it is at the very least as important to set out the reason that God created. Logically speaking, if we don’t show why God created we are doing nothing more than Deism does.

The differences between a universe that evolved itself into being and one that was created to manifest the glory of God are enormous, but the differences between a universe that God just created and one that was created to manifest His glory are also enormous. In other words, it is one of the most vital points of theology to discern the reason for why God does something. Edwards starts off his treatise by pointing out the difference between a chief end (purpose or goal) and an ultimate end. When one considers the meaning or purpose (end) of life, this has enormous ramifications. What is God’s chief end for the life of each person? Does that have anything to do with my purpose and end in life? If the universe does not follow the chief end of God and was not created for a particular chief end of God, then the life of each human being is pretty much meaningless. Human beings are running around looking for meaning and purpose while their meaning and purpose has already been assigned. They are to live with their chief end being to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. But if they don’t think of creation as having that same end, they will be horribly confused. If they don’t recognize the difference between chief ends and other types of ends, they can be horribly deceived. This is vital.