Piper is a great author whose book Desiring God was great. Piper has a Edwards fetish. Or at least Edwards was a big (huge) influence on him. This book I read specifically to get at the Edwards text so I just sort of skimmed Piper's chapters in part one of the book. However Piper's headings and linear notes on the text were helpful in following the flow of Edwards thought, particularly for a neophyte like me. ( )

Other than the Bible, the most life-changing book I've read. ( )

The End for Which God Created the World, (and by extension God's Passion for His Glory) is about exactly what the title implies, viz., the reason God created the world (or universe, if you prefer). It answers the question, "Why are we here?". Edwards' answer---and I believe, the Bible's answer, since that is Edwards' proof-text---is surprisingly straightforward and simple: God esteems himself as the ultimate end for which he made the world. The world was (and we were) created for God, or, to put it a different way, for God's glory.

One thing that stood out to me early in the book is Edwards' simple yet profound interpretation of a few verses I had seen a million times before, but had never considered in the context of this question. Edwards cites verses like Isaiah 48:12 and Revelation 22:13, where God calls himself the first and the last, and interprets this to mean that God is not only the first cause but also the last end or purpose of all creation. He similarly cites verses such as Romans 11:36, Colossians 1:16, and Hebrews 2:10, where all things are said to be from God, for God, and to God, to show that all things proceed from God as their creator and flow back to God as their ultimate end or reason for existence, and that all glory will ultimate flow back to God, so that the glory of God is the last end and final consummation of the existence of the world.

In fact, I've never seen so much scriptural support for any belief as Edwards provides for his claim that God makes himself his purpose in the creation of the world. Many times in the book Edwards lists off a half dozen passages and then says something like, "but places to this purpose are too numerous to be particularly recited; see them in the margin," and if you follow the footnote you're presented with a list of two or three dozen passages that are similar to the five or six already given.

I have been blessed by this book. I will never think about God's purposes and intentions in quite the same way again, nor will I read or understand many passages of scripture in the same way. I'm overwhelmed by how great God is and how insignificant I am in the scheme of things, and yet how significant I am to God in fulfilling his own purposes because I have the capacity (albeit only as the Holy Spirit works in me) to recognize God for who he is, to take my delight in him, and enjoy him forever, thereby giving him the honor, praise, and glory he alone is due. As Piper has said elsewhere many times, "God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him," and, "the chief end of man is to glorify God by enjoying him forever."

http://www.joeyday.com/2009/09/11/gods-passion-for-his-glory ( )

I enjoyed the first half - very easy to read and introduced me to some reformed theology (best John Piper writing)
the second half - the part by Jonathan Edwards was _very_ hard for me - not natively English speaking. But I wrestled through some pages and it was worth all the effort - but it took me about half an hour per page! :-) ( )

Edwards, Jonathan, 1703-1758 The End for Which God Created the World (Philadelphia: Printed and sold by R. Aitken & Son, no. 22 Market Street, 1791).
"Two dissertations ... / by the late reverend, learned and pious Jonathan Edwards, A.M., president of the college in New-Jersey.
Concerning the end for which God created the world."
A Dissertation Concerning the End for Which God Made the World

http://www.ccel.org/e/edwards/works/vol1/end_of_world/end.htm

Edwards, Jonathan. A dissertation on God's last end in the creation of the world. By the late President Edwards, A.M. Revised and corrected by the Rev. C. De Coetlogon, A.M. London, 1788. (ECCO) Gale Document Number CW3320729743 ( )