JEC

Billy Graham & Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God


   

   

A Digital Exhibit From The Jonathan Edwards Center

Table of Contents

1. Background: The 1949 Los Angeles Crusade
2. Introduction to Graham's rendition of Sinners
3. Exclusive Audio Selections of Graham's rendition of Sinners
4. Further Resources

Los Angeles, 1949: The "Canvas Cathedral" Crusade
No one in history has preached to more people in live audiences than Billy Graham. In late 1949, Graham launched the first of his major crusades in Los Angeles, which lasted a total of eight weeks (other notables included a twelve-week crusade in London in 1954, and a 16-week one in New York City in 1957). However, it was the Los Angeles crusade which made Billy Graham a well-known figure, due in large part to media mogul William Randolph Hearst. Graham had been preaching against Communism in some of his sermons, and Hearst liked what he heard. He communicated two famous words to his editors: “Puff Graham.” Suddenly, publications like TIME, Newsweek, A.P., Quick, and LIFE all featured Billy Graham, and he was launched into national prominence. Graham himself wrote in his autobiography that that crusade “forever changed the face of my ministry and my life.” The Los Angeles crusade was dubbed the “Canvas Cathedral” due to the temporary tents that were set up to accommodate the crowds. Its three-week run was extended to eight weeks, finally ending on November 20, 1949.

In the midst of this remarkable stretch, Billy Graham preached Jonathan Edwards’ famous sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” In retrospect, it was a fascinating set of circumstances: the man who would become the most famous preacher of the 20th century preaching America's most famous sermon to a new audience many generations later.

 

There are numerous interesting theological, rhetorical, and stylistic questions that arise from this preaching event. For the first time since its preaching, we are able to make audio portions of this sermon available to the general public on our website for a limited time. Please join us in exploring this fascinating piece of American religious history.

 

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Introduction to Billy Graham's Sinners
                   
Dr. Ken Minkema interprets Graham's choice to preach this text
Dr. Ken Minkema compares Graham's sermon to Edwards' original
 
 

Audio Selections of Billy Graham's Sinners


              
1) Billy Graham's Introduction.
In this clip, Graham contextualizes Jonathan Edwards' significance in the religious life of the nation. Graham particularly emphasizes Edwards' intellectual credibility and his willingness to preach about the dangers of sin.
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Click to expand the transcript of this clip (Graham's interpolations are in red)

 
No one, save Christ. Hear no voice, save God’s. We pray that this mighty sermon that thou didst use 200 years ago might be used again in this day to stir thy people, to convict sinners. And we pray tonight that we might see such an outbreak in this place that we prayed for and dreamed of and called upon God for. We pray that thou would vindicate thy word tonight. And we pray that on this night might be the night for which all America is praying. In Jesus’ name, Amen.  

I’ve never stood before an audience in greater fear and trembling, and yet absolute dependence upon the Holy Spirit, as I now stand. And tonight, I covet, I request, the prayers of every child of God in this place. It was 200 years ago, it was the year 1740. It was a cold, blistery day in New England, in Northampton, Massachusetts, when an aging man stepped to the platform before a congregation of people. The people were expectant, there had been a semblance of revival throughout New England, people had been praying, souls were being saved, thousands of Christians were being stirred, revival fires were spreading, very much as they are at the present time across America. Jonathan Edwards had his Ph.D. from Yale University. He was later to become the eminent President of Princeton University. Jonathan Edwards was one of the greatest scholars that America ever produced, one of the greatest preachers, a man of tremendous conviction, a man that we look back on today and revere, and pray that God might raise up again such men on the American scene, that will not compromise, but will preach the word of God seriously, like Jonathan Edwards preached to the (3:11)_____. He used to stand in front of the student body at Princeton University and preach to them the blessed gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, were to God that Yale and Princeton and these universities still had named that believed the old fashioned book and believed in old fashioned heaven-sent Holy Ghost revival.

 

George Whitefield was the founder of the University of Pennsylvania. George Whitefield was one of the founders of Princeton University. George Whitefield was one of the early founders of Yale University. George Whitefield, Jonathan Edwards, were used mightily of God in New England. When George Whitefield came over to stir the revival fires in that day. And what has been considered one of the greatest sermons ever preached by a man since the days of Pentecost, was one of the sermons that was used of God to shake New England in that day and age. The sermon was entitled “Sinners in the hands of an angry God.” Jonathan Edwards stood before the crowd of people, hardly an eyelash moved, hardly a person moved a hand, and before he was through preaching, people gripped the front of the benches in front of them and screamed in mercy, and revival broke out that night.

 

Tonight, in the very strange providence of God, I’m doing something I’ve never done before in my ministry. I’m bringing to you that message that was preached 200 years ago by Jonathan Edwards, the president of Princeton University. I’m going to do as he did. He stepped to the platform, and with gestures he preached, but he read every word of it. It’s a very brief sermon, it’s not too long. I’m going to read it, and extemporize part of it, but I want you to feel the grip, I want you to feel the language. I’m asking tonight the same blessed Holy Ghost that moved in that day to move again tonight in 1949 and shake us out of our lethargy as Christians and convict sinners that we might come to repentance.

 

So tonight, we take our text. I want you to see that scene, I want you to see the little lanterns. The little oil lanterns. I want you to see the candles in the windows. I want you to see the snow falling outside. I want you to see the people as they’re sitting in this little auditorium. I want you to see this eminent man as he stands to his feet. And his opening words were these: “Let us turn to Deuteronomy 32:35. Deuteronomy 32:35. These words: “Their foot shall slide in due time.” “Their foot shall slide in due time.” And if you’ve ever listened in your life, I want you to listen tonight. I want you to listen to the text. I want you to listen to the message. “Their foot shall slide in due time.”

 

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2) "By the mere Pleasure Mercy of God, I mean his sovereign Pleasure Mercy."
Here we can hear Graham emphasizing the mercy of God in a way that Edwards did not do in his rendering of Sinners. Edwards' language is of God's arbitrary pleasure, whereas Graham offers more comfort from the beginning in articulating the presence of God's mercy right off the bat.
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Click to expand the transcript of this clip (Graham's interpolations are in red)

And The Expression thatI have chosen for my Text tonight, Their Footshall slide in due Time; seems to imply the following Things, relating to the Punishment and the Destructionthat these wicked Israelites were exposed to because oftheir sins.

 

1. That they were always exposed to Destruction is number one, as one that stands or walks in slippery Places is always exposed to fall. This is implied in the Manner of their Destruction's coming upon them, being represented by their Foot's sliding. The same is express'd, Psalms 73:18. Surely thou didst set them in slippery Places; thou castedst them down into Destruction, says Psalm 73:18

 

2. It implies, secondly, that they were always exposed to sudden unexpected Destruction. As he that walks in slippery Places is every Moment liable to fall; he can't cannot foresee one Moment whether he shall stand or fall the next; and when he does fall, he falls at once, without Warning. Which is also expressed in that, Psalms 73:18,19. Surely thou didst set them in slippery Places; thou castedst them down into Destruction. How are they brought into Desolation as in a Moment?

 

3. Thirdly, Another Thing implied is that they are liable to fall of themselves, without being thrown down by the Hand of another. As he that stands or walks on slippery Ground, needs nothing but his own Weight to throw him down.

 

4. That the Reason why they are not fallen already, and don't do not fall now, is only that God's appointed Time is not come and for the mercy of Almighty God. For it is said, that when that due Time, or appointed Time comes, their Foot shall slide. Then they shall be left to fall as they are inclined by their own Weight. God won't will not hold them up in these slippery Places any longer, but will let them go; and then, at that very Instant, they shall fall into Destruction; as he that stands in such slippery declining Ground on the Edge of a Pit that he can't cannot stand alone, when he is let go he immediately falls and is lost forever.

 

The Observation from the Words that I would now insistupon is this,

 

There is nothing--listen to this--there is nothing that keeps wicked sinful Men, at any one Moment, out of Hell, but the mere Pleasure Mercy of Almighty GOD.

 

By the mere Pleasure Mercy of God, I mean his sovereign Pleasure Mercy, his arbitrary Will, restrained by no Obligation, hinder'd by no manner of Difficulty, any more than if nothing else but God's mere Will had in the least Degree, or in any Respect whatsoever, any Hand in the Preservation of wicked Men one Moment.

 

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3) "thither is the wicked man bound, outside of Christ."
Here is another interesting example of Graham's interpolation of the potential for hope in Jesus Christ that Edwards leaves out entirely.
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Click to expand the transcript of this clip (Graham's interpolations are in red)

They are already under a Sentence and Condemnation of God to go to Hell. They don't do not only justly deserve to be cast down thither; but the Sentence of and the Law of God, that eternal and immutable Rule of Righteousness that God has fixed between him and Mankind, is gone out against them, and stands against them; so that they are bound over already to Hell. John 3:18. He that believeth not is condemned already. So that every unconverted Man properly—listen to this—every unconverted Man properly belongs to in Hell; that is his Place; from thence he is. Jesus said, Ye are of your father the Devil. And he said in John 8:23. Ye are from beneath. And thither he is the wicked man bound outside of Christ; 'tis the Place that Justice, and God's Word, and the Sentence of his unchangeable Law assigns to him man tonight.    

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4) "A Furnace of Fire And Brimstone" on the Sunset Strip.
Here Graham preaches hard against the spiritual climate of the Sunset Strip. He is using Edwards' words like the voice of a prophet to a corrupt generation some 250 years later.
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Click to expand the transcript of this clip (Graham's interpolations are in red)

The Souls of the Wicked are in Scripture compared to the troubled Sea, Isai.57. 20. For the present God restrains their Wickedness by his mighty Power, as he does the raging Waves of the troubled Sea, saying, Hitherto shalt thou come, and no further; I want to comment there—God says tonight to the sinners, and to the people on Sunset Strip, and to the people in the gambling dens of iniquity in Los Angeles tonight, thus far and no further! And one of these days, God’s almighty patience is going to run out, and it will be too late for them, and the only way that they can keep on in their wickedness is because of the mercy of God. The justice of God demands that they die, and it’s only the mercy and love of God that keeps them alive tonight. Listen to this— but if God should withdraw that restraining Power, it would soon carry all afore it. Sin is the Ruin and Misery of the Soul; it is destructive in its Nature; and if God should leave it without Restraint, there would need nothing else to make the Soul perfectly miserable. The Corruption of the Heart of Man is a Thing that is immoderate and boundless in its Fury; and while wicked Men live here, it is like Fire pent up by God's Restraints, whenas if it were let loose it would set on Fire the Course of Nature; and as the Heart is now a Sink of Sin, so, if Sin was not restrain'd, it would immediately turn the Soul into a fiery Oven, or a Furnace of Fire and Brimstone.    

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5) Unconverted Men Walk On A Rotten Covering.
Again, Graham aims Edwards' horrifying rhetoric with relentless directness at the unconverted in his audience. In spite of the intense imagery of impending damnation, Graham offers some succor by extemporaneously underscoring the role of God's mercy in their present survival.
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Click to expand the transcript of this clip (Graham's interpolations are in red)

Unconverted Men—listen to this—Unconverted Men walk over the Pit of Hell on a rotten Covering, and there are innumerable Places in this Covering so weak that they won't bear their Weight, and these Places are not seen. Walking in this tent, down that sidewalk, out on the street, every step you take, on every rock and cover, and underneath, is so weak that any step you might fall through and be into eternity, so says Jonathan Edwards, the President of Princeton University. The Arrows of Death fly unseen at Noon-Day; the sharpest Sight can't cannot discern them. God has so many different unsearchable Ways of taking wicked Men out of the World and sending 'em to Hell, that there is nothing to make it appear that God had need to be at the Expense of a Miracle, or go out of the ordinary Course of his Providence, to destroy any the wicked Man, at any Moment. All the Means that there are of Sinners going out of the World, are so in God's Hands, and so universally absolutely subject to his Power and Determination, that it don't does not depend at all less on the mere Will of God, whether Sinners shall at any Moment go to Hell, than if Means were never made use of, or at all concerned in the Case, and the only thing that keeps them from falling into hell right now is the thin thread of God Almighty’s mercy.    

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6) "How dieth the wise man? As the Fool..."
In this vivid passage, Graham elaborates on Edwards' point about the inability of human beings to save their own lives by using an account of a man with a germ-phobia. One wonders if, given the context of Los Angeles in 1949, if he might be talking about Howard Hughes, the then-legendary Angeleno who typified the very lifestyle of excess, decadence, and self-reliance against which Graham was railing.
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Click to expand the transcript of this clip (Graham's interpolations are in red)

Natural Men's Prudence and Care to preserve their own Lives, or the Care of others to preserve them, don't do not secure 'em any Moment. In other words, all the security you take to preserve your life. You can get in a room and lock every door. And nothing in the room can harm you. And Jonathan Edwards says that he believes Scripturally that that is no security, no matter what caution you take. I read about a man the other day that was so germ-conscious that he just stayed in a room all day long. And he kept netting around him all the time. And he had a germ phobia. That is no security that that man may not die at any moment of some dreaded germ or some disease, were it not for the mercy of Almighty God. For This divine Providence and universal Experience does also bear Testimony to. There is this clear Evidence that Men's own Wisdom is no Security to them from Death; That if it were otherwise we should see some Difference between the wise and the politick Men of the World, and others, with Regard to their Liableness to early and unexpected Death; but how is it in Fact? Ecclesiastes 2:16 says this: How dieth the wise Man? And then it answers: as the Fool.    

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7) "...Rejected and turned down Jesus Christ..."
As Graham winds up his sermon, he alludes to the distinctly unEdwardsean concept of accepting or rejecting Jesus Christ. While it is not clear how sympathetic Edwards would have been to such a notion, it is a linguistic and theological bridge that Graham erects to bring the Calvinist covenantal framework into conversation with the 20th century soft Calvinist (or even crypto-Arminian?) revivalism that preferred pragmatism to theological nuance.
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Click to expand the transcript of this clip (Graham's interpolations are in red)

Think of the Divine Justice and the wrath of God against sin, and God is under no obligation to keep you out of Hell right now. God has never made a promise to keep you out of Hell. Never made a promise if you reject Jesus Christ and turn down God’s way of salvation and don’t come to Christ, the next step that you take may be your last for eternity and you drop into the pit of Hell. That’s what he said. So that thus it is, that natural Men are held—listen to this—are held in the Hand of God over the Pit of Hell; they have deserved the fiery Pit, and are already sentenced to it; and God is dreadfully provoked, his Anger is as great towards them as to those that are actually suffering the Executions of the fierceness of his Wrath in Hell, and they have done nothing in the least to appease or abate that Anger, neither is God in the least bound by any Promise to hold 'em up one moment minute longer; the Devil is waiting for them, Hell is gaping for them open, the Flames gather and flash about them, and would fain lay hold on them, and swallow them up; the Fire pent up in their own Hearts is struggling to break out; and they have no Interest in any Mediator rejected Jesus Christ, the son of God, there are no Means within Reach that can be any Security to them after they have rejected and turned down Jesus Christ. In short, they have no Refuge, nothing to take hold of, all that preserves them every at this Moment is the mere arbitrary Will mercy of God, and that is, uncovenanted unobliged Forbearance of an incensed a wrathful God against sin.    

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8) "All you have to do is let Jesus in, right now where you sit."
In closing, Graham brings rhetorical relief to his by-now terrified crowd. After using Edwards' words to describe the flood of God's wrath being arbitrarily and uncertainly held back, Graham rapidly switches gears to describe God's everlasting love to all and the option for all to "let Jesus in" as they sit in their seats that night.
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Click to expand the transcript of this clip (Graham's interpolations are in red)

The Wrath of God is like great Waters that are dammed restrained for the present; but they increase more and more, & rise higher and higher, till an Outlet is given, and the longer the Stream is stop'd, the more rapid and mighty is its Course, when once it is let loose. 'Tis true, that Judgment against your evil Works has not been executed hitherto before; the Floods of God's Vengeance have been with-held; but your Guilt in the mean Time is constantly increasing, and you are every Day treasuring up more Wrath against your souls; the Waters are continually rising and waxing more and more mighty; and there is nothing but the mere Pleasure mercy of God that holds the Waters back that are unwilling to be stopped, and press hard to go forward; if God should only withdraw his Hand from the Flood-Gate,it would immediately fly open, and the fiery Floods of the Fierceness and Wrath of God would rush forth with inconceivable Fury, and would come upon you with omnipotent Power; and if your Strength were ten thousand Times greater than it is, yea ten thousand Times greater than the Strength of the stoutest, sturdiest Devil in Hell, it would be nothing to withstand or endure it the wrath of Almighty God.

 

I’ll tell you tonight, the wrath of God is something. And God says, that judgment is coming upon this world. And God says, the wages of sin is death. And God says, the soul that sins shall die. Ladies and gentlemen, tonight, men and women, tonight every one of us are hanging over the pit of hell and the only thing that keeps us from dropping in is the mercy of Almighty God. And tonight, I’m glad to tell you something, because I’m glad to tell you this, that the Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross of Calvary, and that God loves you with an everlasting love, and the mercy of God is everlasting to everlasting. And I don’t care who you are tonight, man, woman, boy, or girl, it makes no difference who you are tonight, the Lord Jesus Christ can cleanse you from sin, and you can be assured that you’re going to heaven, and every man, woman, boy, and girl in this place to know they’re saved before they leave this place.

 

Wouldn’t it be wonderful to walk out with peace in your heart, and that you walk alone not be afraid of the next step, not be afraid that some place along the way tomorrow you’re going to drop? Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have that glorious peace and joy in your heart, knowing that your sins are cleansed, and you’re ready to meet God? Well you can know it right now. Right this minute. You say, how long does it take? Only an instant. You say, what do I have to do? All you have to do is let Jesus in, right now where you sit. You can make certain that you are ready to meet the Lord God.

     

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Further Resources
                  

Could "Sinners" be preached in a church in America today?
Perspectives from Harry S. Stout and Kenneth P. Minkema

Andrew Finstuen Article
Andrew Finstuen of Valparaiso University has written a very interesting article on Billy Graham's preaching of Sinners in the Hands of An Angry God. For Finstuen, Graham's rendition of the sermon has important theological implications, revealing some interesting dynamics in Graham's relationship to the doctrine of original sin. Dr. Finstuen has graciously allowed us to make his article available to you as a part of this digital exhibit.
Click here to download Andrew Finstuen's article.

Complete Transcription
In preparing this exhibit, Allen Yeh, a doctorial candidate at the University of Oxford and an editorial assistant at the Jonathan Edwards Center, transcribed the entirety of Graham's sermon and compared it textually with the original published version. We are happy to make that resource available to you here.
Click to download the transcript of Graham's sermon.

 

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