From Jonathan Edwards, A History of the Work of Redemption, 1774.

“It was his design that the Son should thus be glorified and should glorify the Father by what should be accomplished by the Spirit to the glory of the Spirit, that the whole Trinity, conjointly, and each person singly, might be exceedingly glorified. The work that was the appointed means of this was begun immediately after the Fall and is carried on until, and finished at, the end of the world, when all this intended glory shall be fully accomplished in all things.”

We are not, in this age of texting and uncomplicated paragraphs, as able as earlier readers were, to be able to follow such tight and weighty language from Edward’s pen. But this little paragraph contains some of the loftiest and most important information about God’s heart, what matters to him, and what he will do to ensure his glory is displayed and vindicated. This is the work of the Trinity. Edwards was saying that each Person in the Godhead, Father, Son, and Spirit would be working both for the glory of each other member of the Trinity and that they would each also be working for their own glory. There is nothing more important to the mind of God than his glory.

His glory will be fully displayed in all things that have been made and in all events and occurrences that have ever happened in the past or ever will take place in the future. This involves our lives, our choices, and our future eternity.

But this is the work of God to glorify God fully and absolutely. There is no higher purpose in God’s being than the defense and display of his glory. He is God and he would not be glorious as God if he did not defend and propound his virtues. How unlike people God is!