Snow and God's glory

"Where is the snow?" I was asked that question by one of the members of our church as I visited her at home on Thursday afternoon. It has been a dry year in Dulce, ever since last winter. For most of the year the fire danger was "very high," and rivers in the area ran on the low side. On the reservation we had daytime restrictions on water usage and there was a ban on burn permits, so that we couldn’t even have a campfire when we had mission groups here. One friend who works as a guide during the hunting season said that animal quality was down this year, as the dry conditions affected animal growth. We've only been here five years and can't claim expertise in understanding the regional weather, but we've learned that winter snowfall is really important, and it makes a difference throughout the remainder of the year. Indeed, Where is the snow?

Less than 12 hours later we were getting an answer to that question. By the time it stopped falling Friday afternoon we had 6 inches on the ground, and another 2 inches fell by Saturday morning. I have no idea how long it will last on the ground but when it starts to melt some will run into, and begin to fill, the many reservoirs and stock ponds on the reservation and in the area. Yesterday, today, and certainly tomorrow everywhere a person looks they will see evidence of the snow. For December 1st, it’s a good start.

This morning I read the Old Testament prophet Habakkuk. In 2:14 he writes:

"For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea."

This is a statement that tells that one day the whole world will see the glory of God.  God's chosen people, who in Habakkuk's day are the people of Judah, as well as God's enemies, who as seen in this prophecy are the Chaldeans. The day is coming where there will be no place where the knowledge of the glory of God will not be clearly evident.

That's what the snowfall reminded me of this morning as I read Habakkuk. Believe in God or not, the day is coming when all will see and know his glory.  Here in our part of New Mexico we need snow. My personal preference would be that it falls in such a way as to leave the roads clear for driving and running, and the sidewalks clear so that I don’t have to shovel. But it doesn’t work out that way in real life. Right now, with the temperature a bit below freezing, it is everywhere.

Do you see evidence of the glory of God in the place where you live? While the knowledge of the glory of God is good, it isn't enough. What a person needs, what every person needs, is saving faith in God, as brought to the world in the person of Jesus. The gap between a holy God and a fallen sinner is infinite. It is a distance that we can only cross by being carried in the arms of Jesus. When we repent of our sin and trust in Jesus for salvation, he carries us over that gap. May you see and respond to the glory of God today, by embracing Jesus as your Savior. Amen

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Prettier Than The Picture

One day late last week I looked out the window of our kitchen.  It was late in the day, with the wind blowing, some rain was falling, and bits of daylight were breaking through the clouds as the sun went down.  I took a picture and then shared it on Facebook, describing the setting and saying that the scenery south of our house at the moment was actually a lot prettier than the picture showed. 

I believe we see something similar when we read our Bibles.  The Bible has a lot to say about a lot of things, describing many of them in great detail, and yet also leaving us with many questions about things, questions that cannot be answered with any kind of certainty.  From beginning to end we read things that I believe will be much more beautiful, much more spectacular and glorious, then we can possibly imagine them to be from our vantage point on this side of heaven.

Heaven itself is a good place to start.  Revelation, especially chapters 21 and 22, portray heaven in some amazing ways, and yet also leaving much to the imagination.  I think that when we get there and begin to look around we will find it to be absolutely dazzling, and always exciting.  Whatever it may look like, it won’t be the kind of place where we will ever find ourselves bored.

We will be in the very presence of the Lord Jesus Christ.  What will He actually be like?  We could let our imaginations run wild with the possibilities.  Like heaven itself, we can’t make any but the most general of answers while we are here on earth, but I expect that one of the feelings we might have of that first face-to-face meeting with our risen Savior and Lord will be of heart-pounding excitement. 

In that same moment I believe that we will have a greater understanding of some of the words we use somewhat casually around church.  Things like grace, mercy, forgiveness and holiness.  In the presence not just of the holiness of Jesus, but the holiness of heaven and all who live there, we will see what it means to truly be holy.  And we will understand the true power of grace, the depth of mercy, and the majesty of forgiveness.

I could go on, but I hope you are getting the picture.  The Bible portrays many wonderful things about God, about His mercy towards sinners in the forgiveness they receive when they have faith in His Son, and about the beauty of eternal life with Him as a result of that forgiveness.  So continue to read your Bible, read God's promises and know the truth they contain, and read with a sense of excitement, knowing that the truth's they point to will be even more marvelous on that glorious day when every one of them will be fulfilled.

Heaven is for Real, part 2.

Few years ago I read the book Heaven is for Real.  I wrote about it for one of my earliest blog posts, which you can read here.  I was not a fan of the book and its premise, i.e. that we can  know heaven is for real because of the testimony of a four year-old who went there and was able to come back and tell us all about it.

Disclaimer one: I have nothing against four year-olds.  I have been the parent and grandparent of a number of delightful children of that age.

The problem I have with the premise of people making trips to heaven and then coming back to tell us what it is like is that I believe that the Bible gives us more than enough evidence of heaven's reality and purpose. This is true if the author is a four year-old, or an adult, such as Don Piper, author of 90 Minutes in Heaven, which I have also read.  There are a number of other books in this genre.  I have read two.  I don't intend to read anymore.  I think it is good read some things that a person likely won't agree with and in this case two has been an adequate ample size.

Disclaimer two: I am ordained and serve as the pastor of the Jicarilla Apache Reformed Church, Dulce, NM.  In practical terms this means that I pastor a small mission church on a reservation.  Theologically I am aligned with the Reformed tradition of the Protestant family tree.  In addition to my Bible I rely on the Heidelberg Catechism, the Belgic Confession and the Canons of Dort when sorting out things theologically.

So, why should I write on Heaven is for Real a second time?  Because the book has been turned into a movie that is being released in mid-April, and a few questions were tossed my way that led to a different reason for why I hold something that seems so well-intentioned in rather low esteem.

In general terms what these kinds of books and movies claim to offer their readers and viewers is compelling evidence of the reality of heaven.  They show the goodness and the beauty.  They show reunions with people we knew in life who have gone before us in death.  Those people we loved so dearly and long to see again?  We are assured that we will see them and be happily reunited. In the end all will be well.  So the books and movies would have us believe.

The Bible, by comparison, can seem a bit dry.  Glimpses of heaven are rare.  Those people we loved so dearly are not present in the Bible stories.  The books and movies stir the desires of our hearts for a sense of peace about the end of our life.  The Bible versions of heaven…not so much, so it would seem. 

Have you ever read C.S. Lewis' The Screwtape Letters? It is a collection of radio talks Lewis gave during World War II.  In the talks a senior devil, Screwtape, gives counsel to his apprentice, Wormwood, in the various ways to lead a particular person away from God.  Virtually any tactic is fair game for the devils, and often something subtle is believed to be just enough to get the job done.  (I haven't read this for a while, so I am working from my memory of the book.  I do recommend it highly.)

I am not meaning to say that Heaven is for Real, 90 Minutes in Heaven, or any of the other similar books are Satanically-driven books, purposely written in order to turn people from God.  I think that the authors of both books were basically well-intentioned in what they set out to do.

But what I do believe about these kinds of books is that they have the potential to subtly turn our attention to what seems to bring peace to our hearts and minds, and that they do this by taking our hearts and minds off of the One who is the only one who truly brings peace. 

The fundamental difference between the version of heaven in these books and the accounts in the Bible is that in the Bible, God, on His throne, is the dominant character.  He is the focal point of attention at all times.  He receives the worship and glory that is rightly His alone.

The books and movies about heaven seem to show God as more of an ancillary character, which diminishes the glory that He rightly deserves.  That may not be the intent of the authors or actors but it is certainly the effect.  It is the logic of Screwtape, applied to our time. 

So go to the movie or read the book and enjoy what you will of them.  But do so with this thought in mind: "We must recognize that the Bible tells its own story infinitely better than anyone else can tell it – Hollywood included. "

Those are the words of Albert Mohler, from his review of Noah, another recent movie with a biblical motif.  Given that our reservation is 90 miles from the nearest theater it is unlikely that I'm going to "go there."

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Geology, theology and glory

On vacation this week we spent a day at the Grand Canyon.  It is the second time my wife and I have been here and the first time our youngest daughter has seen it.

Before our earlier trip  I had told my wife that I had seen the canyon from the air, being roughly 25,00 feet above it.  She said I had to see it up close.  And she was right.  The canyon is vast in its dimensions.  It is long.  It is wide.  It is deep.  And it is beautiful

Geologists teach that the canyon itself is roughly 5 million years old.  As we climbed down into it we went through layers of rock that were laid down 285 million years ago.  This week marked 38 years since I joined the Navy. I can grasp 38 years.  285 million years is much too large of a number for me to wrestle with.  It is large.  It is gargantuan.  And ultimately it is unimaginable to grasp in a meaningful way.

On one of the displays we saw in a museum at the canyon, the processes that created it were put into a rough mathematical formula.  When water meets rock, given sufficient time, water always prevails. 

And that is what people see at the Grand Canyon.  Water working on rock, day-by-day, year-by-year.  It is a process that continues today, deepening the canyon by the thickness of a single sheet of paper each year.

Theologians, depending on their persuasion, would have a different take on the creation of the canyon.  Some would have no problem in accepting the geologist's account of the canyon's creation.  Others would beg to differ.  Just last week I read a an account where a Bishop Ussher, in Ireland during the 17th century, dated the earth's creation to a precise day approximately 6,000 years ago.  Using his date of creation, then how does something that appears to be so old come into being if the age of the earth is, relatively speaking, so young?  The answer is that it is because God made it that way.

For a person who believes that the world came into existence through the action of God, then it is no stretch of the imagination to believe that God, who created the world, could have created all manner of things within it, making it to look however he thought best, no matter what the working of logic on our minds may think of the results.  God, after all, is God, and he possesses the freedom to act, in all situations, in whichever way suits his purposes. 

Geology and theology can differ on their understandings of many things, the Grand Canyon being just one example.  My understanding of science is not developed enough to fully grasp the geologists arguments on the age of the earth and the processes of creation. 

And while I have a deep interest in theology, particularly it's systematic and biblical branches, I study them to nurture my ability to apply theology pastorally.  I want to bring theology to the real-life situations of the people I preach to on Sunday.  The people I visit in the hospital and nursing homes.  The people I pray with in the community.

And in that regard the Grand Canyon, however it was created, is evidence of the glory and majesty of God.  For me it brings to life the words of Paul, in Romans 1:20, where he writes:

"For his invisible attributes, namely his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made."

The Grand Canyon also brings to life the words of the Psalmist, from Psalm 19:1:

"The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork."

Not just the heavens, but also the ground below proclaims his handiwork.  To my eyes the Grand Canyon clearly proclaims the handiwork of God.  I don't know if it is 5 million years old, or 6 thousand years old.  What I do know is that ultimately it is the creation of a loving and holy God. 

It is a work of beauty that is virtually beyond my ability to comprehend.  Which leaves me with only one fitting response.  Glory. 

Glory to God in the highest, for his beauty and majesty in creation.  

And glory to God in the highest, for being a God who could create something so wonderful as the Grand Canyon, and yet also be so generous to me, who is so insignificant in terms of time and space.  For he has given me salvation, a most precious gift from his Son, my Savior, Christ Jesus. 

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Prayer and God's honor

“Prayer is the breath of life for the Christian.”  That sentiment is one I heard many times from a man I consider to be role model for me of the Christian life.  He considered prayer to be as essential for the Christian as breathing is to every living being.  He was a surgeon by vocation, so he understood well the critical need of breathing for the human body.  And I had the privilege of praying with him many times, so I caught a glimpse him putting these words into practice.  The idea of “prayer as breathing” was not just a collection of words he spoke to others.  They were words he lived by each day.

I have been reading an excellent collection of sermons on the Heidelberg Catechism, by Rev. G.H. Kersten.  As it explores the Lord’s Prayer, Catechism question 117 asks this:

“What is the kind of prayer that pleases God and that he listens to?”   

The answer is:

“First, we must pray from the heart to no other than the one true God, revealed to us in his Word, asking for everything God has commanded us to ask for.

Second, we must fully recognize our need and misery, so that we humble ourselves in God's majestic presence.

Third, we must rest on this unshakable foundation: even though we do not deserve it, God will surely listen to our prayer because of Christ our Lord. That is what God promised us in his Word.”

In explaining what the Catechism teaches in this answer Kersten writes:

“Praying is, in the first place, a subjecting of ourselves to God’s counsel and government.  He controls our lives and He decides what we need.  Hence we must pray to the Lord for all that He has commanded us in His Word to ask of Him; doing so in submission to Him and with childlike trust, so that He may fulfill that need insofar as it is subservient to His honor.  In dealing with His people He has His honor in view – and true prayer seeks God’s honor and the exaltation of His thrice holy Name; that is, in a manner subservient to our salvation and deliverance."

As I read that paragraph the part that I have highlighted just jumped out at me.  As I read, and re-read it several times, I thought about what Kersten is teaching here about prayer.  He is teaching that at its heart, true prayer is only incidentally about us, and that the primary purpose of prayer is to honor, or as I like to say, to bring glory to, God. 

True prayer does not so much seek for God to grant the desires of our heart, but it seeks to praise God above all things.  True prayer is prayer that is driven by a desire to magnify God’s greatness.

From that perspective my prayers often seem woefully short.  I am thankful for being reminded through this reading that God’s glory, or Kersten phrased it, God’s honor, should be at the forefront of my approach to God.  And I am thankful that whenever I turn to God in humility, He will gladly meet with me. 

Notes

Below are the scripture references that underlie each part of the answer to Catechism question 117, as well as a link to Kersten’s book.

First - Ps. 145:18-20; John 4:22-24; Rom. 8:26-27; James 1:5; 1 John 5:14-15

Second - 2 Chron. 7:14; Ps. 2:11; 34:18; 62:8; Isa. 66:2; Rev. 4

Third - Dan. 9:17-19; Matt. 7:8; John 14:13-14; 16:23; Rom. 10:13; James 1:6

Kersten, G.H.  The Heidelberg Catechism in 52 Sermons (p. 628)

A few random bits and pieces…

Spring has come to southeast Minnesota… 

“The heavens declare the glory of God…” 

“…and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” 

The fragments above have been circulating around in my mind most of the day.  The first is a general observation about the changing of seasons where we live.  The second is from the opening verse of Psalm 19 and the last is from Micah 6:8.  And while I have been considering them over and over I can’t come up with enough from any of them to write what I would like to produce for a coherent blog post.  So today I present a few random bits and pieces.

First of all, spring has come here, which for us is most evident by the blooming of the crab apple trees where we live.  Whites and pinks, with a hint of red line, our driveway.  It was a long winter and the warmth and new life are welcome.

Which leads me to the opening of Psalm 19.  As the seasons change we have had some powerful weather recently, particularly last night.  The heavens declared the glory of God through thunderstorms, which were relatively benign as we listened to them last night. 

Yet, as I ran this morning, I saw farm fields that are way behind schedule that now have pools of standing water in them.  They will be unplantable for at least another week.  In other parts of the country those same storm systems spun off tornadoes that left much destruction in their wake.  

As I edit and revise this post my wife just told me of death at two elementary schools in Oklahoma.  My original sentence here was "The same storms that spur my praise of God also call me to ask Him to be merciful to those affected by the damage that accompanied them." but now I am at a loss for words.  I know that God is good, all the time, and I pray that His goodness eventually becomes evident to those whose lives are reeling.

Which brings me to the verse from Micah, which was the concluding part of the devotional reading I did this morning, Micah 6:1-8.  I have heard this verse a number of times and I have a vague memory of hearing it preached once.  I can remember the preacher and I think he emphasized the justice/kindness piece.  But I can’t remember if he said anything about what it means to “walk humbly” with God, and that is the part of the Bible reading that I have repeatedly pondered today. 

Before we can “walk humbly” with God we have to first know who God truly is and we have to be in a saving relationship with Him.  Any attempt to “walk humbly” with God that is absent a saving relationship with Him is a self-serving deception.  But a relationship that is grounded in knowing our brokenness as sinners, and then being reconciled to God by faith through the saving work of Christ, is the place where humility with God can be authentic on our part.   

I don’t know about you but if I had to come up with one word to describe God, one word to characterize the essence of God, it would be that God is holy.  In order for me to “walk humbly” with God I need to remember, again and again, that He is holy, that He is God, and that I am not. 

And that last thought, about God being holy, brings me to my last random thought, which is a certain David Crowder song that has also been floating through my mind during the day, After All (Holy). The song reminds me that God’s holiness points me to His glory.  Here is a link to the lyrics. 

Thanks for reading.  May some of your random thoughts today point you to God, the one true God, whose holiness and glory are without end.  Amen.

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Jesus’ Death and God’s Glory

One of the themes of my blog has been God’s glory.  I make reference to God’s glory in the blog title, both the current one and the original title.  And in the ‘About Me’ box on the right-hand side of the blog I note that my intent is to write in a way that points to God and gives Him the glory that He deserves. 

I think that this is the focal point for our faith, that as God’s story reaches its climax in Revelation 22 the primary image is not that God’s people are gathered with Him in heaven but that God’s gathered people are glorifying Him in heaven, eternally so. 

We often think about Jesus and His work on the cross, and how that work benefits us.  His is the work that restores wholeness between God and His people.  In it is the forgiveness of sins.  It is the work that brings eternal life.  To be sure, these are good and wonderful things.  But I think that there is a greater purpose in the finished work of Christ.

Today I was reading again from a collection of sermons by G.H. Kersten that explain the teachings of the Heidelberg Catechism.  In a sermon titled Christ’s Mediatorial Suffering Kersten discusses Catechism questions 37, 38 and 39, which have to do with the necessity for Christ to suffer and die on the cross, and the assurance of salvation that believers in Christ can know as a result.

Twice in this sermon Kersten touches on the presence of God’s glory in this aspect of Christ’s work.  He writes:

“That which He suffered, He subjected Himself to out of eternal love to the glorification of God’s attributes, according to the Father’s good pleasure, and for the salvation of His people.”(195)

Later, writing directly to the matter of assurance of salvation, he adds,

“Oh, people of God, may you earnestly desire to know the great mystery that is to be found in the bearing of God’s wrath by His beloved Son, so that you may be brought back to the fatherly heart of God from which you have withdrawn yourselves in Adam.  I would urge you to do so in order that God may be glorified and your soul may find rest and peace.”(205)

I’ve placed the key points about God’s glory in these quotes in bold.  One of the things that Kersten is reminding us in his preaching is of the priority of God’s glory in all that God does, including Jesus death.

As Christians we know that Jesus dies for our salvation, but Kersten reminds us that Jesus’ death is the work that removes sin, not so much for our benefit, but to demonstrate the majesty and holiness of God as its primary purpose. 

Jesus loves us and acts on our behalf before the Father, but more than that, He loves the Father, perfectly and eternally.  In His death, He brings God glory first, with our salvation as a secondary effect. 

“For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things.  To Him be glory forever.  Amen.” Romans 11:36

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

A Glimpse of Glory

“Oh my gosh it’s beautiful!” 

Those were the first words Robin spoke as she looked out our bedroom window this morning.  I had been outside to run and she asked me what the conditions were like.  I told her that it was snowing and piling up pretty fast, so much so that I had shortened my running plans. She looked out and was taken aback at the beauty of what she saw.

Now it isn't unusual to have snow, and lots of it, where we live in Minnesota, but to have it happen in May is virtually unheard of.  And it was coming down fast. As I write this post, three hours after my attempt to get to work, it still is.  Today is the first day where we had so much snow that I couldn't get through the driveway.  I got both cars stuck, and given that the neighbor is stuck on our unplowed street I likely wouldn't have gotten anywhere should I have reached it.

My feed on Facebook is filled with pictures of the yards of friends, yards that look like ours does now, showing patios that were delightful places to sit last weekend and which are now covered with 6-8 inches of snow.  And who knows when it will stop?

This late season blizzard isn't fun for everyone.  Schools are closed, children are home and parents who can get to work may be scrambling to find child care.

Some people have lost power to their homes.  And while they wait for their power to be restored there are people who are out and working in the storm regardless of the conditions, such as the power crews, police, plow drivers and others.  Their perspectives on the storm are likely more varied than mine.

But I keep coming back to Robin’s early exclamation of delight, “Oh my gosh it’s beautiful!” 

I think that the delight that she had in seeing the unexpected May blizzard is similar to the delight that Christians will know when they see the beauty of heaven.  As we read the Bible we see glimpses of it in Isaiah and Revelation.  Revelation 21:18-21 gives a rich description of the beauty of the New Jerusalem, a beautiful place prepared by God for those who will be there with Him.

And that is what will really make heaven beautiful, not what is there, but Who is there.  Revelation 21:3 says:

“Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man.  He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself with be with them as their God.”

In the snow that has surprised us today we get a glimpse of unexpected beauty, a beauty that points us towards the glory of God.  Heaven’s true beauty will not be in its physical appearance, as wonderful as that may be, but in the presence of the Living God.  

And in God’s presence I suspect we will proclaim, with infinite more delight than Robin found in this morning’s snow, “You are beautiful!”

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Book Review: Brothers, We Are Not Professionals by John Piper

What is the nature of the vocation known as “pastor”?  While the pastoral calling has many facets and characteristics, one that John Piper adamantly believes should be avoided at all costs is the idea of pastor as a ministry professional.  This is the focal point around which the revised edition of his book, Brothers, We Are Not Professionals  (Nashville: Crossway, 2013), revolves around.  While a pastor may possess a particular skill set Piper’s vision of ministry is more concerned with the primacy of serving as one called by God to minister among God’s people, reliant on God’s power rather  than anything else.

Piper draws from his 30+ years of pastoral ministry to offer encouragement and wisdom to all who are called to serve as pastors today.  He addresses matters of character, theology and culture, providing insights into ways in which the pastor needs to tend their own person in order to tend God’s people well.  The book is saturated with scripture, as Piper draws extensively from the Old and New Testaments to ground his lines of reasoning, as well as citing references from throughout the church’s history.

There are two issues that may dissuade certain readers from picking up this book and drawing from its wisdom.  One is that Piper is a Baptist, known for embracing a complentarian model of ministry, rather than an egalitarian one. While he uses the form “Brothers,…” as the title for each chapter I believe that the wisdom included in each chapter is of equal value for women serving in pastoral ministry.  Additionally, as a Baptist, he holds to baptism as an ordinance, rather than a sacrament.  As someone who fully embraces orthodox Reformed theology I found that Piper’s words on baptism could be used constructively not only in reference to baptism, but also within a covenantal understanding of the Lord’s Supper.

In the past few years I have read a few of Piper’s books and listened to him speak on several occasions.  His mantra, if you will, has been and remains, “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.”  In Brothers, We Are Not Professionals Piper ‘s overarching goal is for pastors to more fully pursue glorifying God in their personal lives and public ministries, so that those they minister among are enabled to do the same.  He accomplishes this purpose and I highly commend this book.

Name Change

I have been blogging on this space for about 15 months and I’ve come to the conclusion that I need to change the name of my blog.  Not because the intent of my blog is changing, because it certainly isn’t.  This is a place for me to think and write about things from a pastoral and/or theological perspective, sharing those thoughts with whomever may want to read them.  And that remains my goal.  To read, to observe, to reflect, to write and to share.  Biblically, theologically and pastorally.

But as I read other blogs, visit other websites, and see what others do with their places on the internet I’ve come to the conclusion that the first thing that comes up about my blog, the title, is somewhat like a door that a person reaches to open, but not without a measure of hesitation.  I said this about the blog title in the introductory post:

I call this blog Sola Deo gloria, which is Latin for “Glory to God alone.”  It is one of the Five Solas, five phrases that represent the essence of the Reformation.  My intent, my hope, my prayer, is that the thinking and writing that take place in this space would point to God, and bring him the glory to which he alone is due.

I very much want my blog to point to God and to give Him the glory that is His alone.  I want other people to see the majesty and the wonder of God, to be captivated by an awe of God.  To deeply know His love as the only love that truly satisfies the human heart.  To know the grace and mercy that only comes from God’s hand. 

But the problem, as I see it, is that I have been using a Latin phrase, which I dearly love, but I don’t read Latin and neither, I suspect, do most of my readers.   So to use a Latin phrase is more of an affectation, something that borders on being disingenuous, and in a way can even be taken to point towards me, rather than the God I so want to praise and proclaim.

So a change is in order.  I am changing the name to “To Him be glory forever” which comes from Romans 11:36, where Paul concludes a section on teaching of salvation with a spontaneous burst of praise, saying:

“For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.”

In a nutshell Paul seems to be saying that at the end of the day, at the end of time even, everything is God’s, to do with as He sees fit, and therefore He alone should get our praise, eternally.

It seems fitting that the new title is derived from a verse of the Bible, because that is where we find God’s clearest revelation of Himself and His purposes for the world.  It is the place where all of our theology, all of our thinking of God, should be grounded in.  

And it rightly teaches that all of our praise should be placed on Him. 

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Coming Home: Going Home, part 7

It has been nearly three weeks since I wrote the previous installment of this series of posts concerning my mom, her children, and our journey in hospice care.  When we started on this journey six weeks ago our mom was very ill and we, my siblings and I, were committed to doing what we could to keep her in her home, expecting that the time we would do so wouldn’t be more than a few weeks.  While our mom has improved physically she continues to need care and what has worked for six weeks is reaching an end.  Anticipating the possibility that a change would be needed I asked the question, “Now what?” in my last post. 

Today the answer to that question is that she is “Coming home.”  Not “home” in the eternal sense that this series title, “Going Home,” points to, but the home where my wife, our daughter and I live.  At the end of this week we will be bringing my mom home to live with us.

I could list a bunch of reasons why we are doing this.  Reasons that make us out to be great and wonderful people.  But those would really just be false reasons; illusions that make us appear to be people that we are not.  The real reason we are bringing my mom into our home is not that we are great and wonderful, but because God is great and wonderful.  He has created the circumstances that make this option of care possible and He has opened our eyes and hearts to serving Him in this way. 

Two pieces of scripture come to mind as I think about this, Psalm 139:16 and Ephesians 2:10.  The psalmist writes,

“Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.”

And Paul writes,

“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

Usually when I think of this verse from Psalm 139 it is in terms of life’s great struggles or its great joys.  I marvel to think that all of the moments of every life are held in God’s knowledge before they happen.  That their very happening, and the results yet to come from them, have been known by God eternally.  But God’s eternal knowledge also applies to the things I consider to be quite ordinary.  Such as being able to provide a safe and caring place for my mom within our home.

And Paul reminds us that the things we find before us to do are things that have been prepared for us by God.  As we live with faith in Christ we are to look and listen for the places and purposes that God is calling us to. 

A number of years ago a friend gave me a short list of questions to think about when you are trying to understand if God is calling you to a task.  They are:

1. Is it something that God wants done?
2. Does it match and challenge your particular gifts?
3. Is it work that you find internally meaningful?
4. Do others affirm you in doing this?

As far as bringing my mom into our home to live with our family each of these questions has “Yes!” as an answer.  We are particularly thankful for the encouragement, the support, and especially the prayers of our family and friends for this part of the journey.  We can’t do this on our own, nor would we want to. 

To my friend’s original list I would add one more question; “Is God glorified in the task?”

As I noted earlier we are bringing my mom into our home because God is great and because God is wonderful.  We want to care for my mom in a way that points people to God, a way that points people toward His mercy and His grace.  We want to care for her in a way that opens hearts to God’s unfailing love.  And most of all, we want God to be glorified in each and every thing that we do, for my mom, and in every part of our lives.

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Geese and God’s glory

I was driving home from work this evening and glanced up at the sky as a small group of geese flew overhead.  We see geese year-round, with particularly large numbers of them in the fall.  There were 6 or 7 in this group, flying in an unbalanced V formation, drifting a bit this way and that as they moved across the sky.

What they were doing was, in its own way, perfect.  They were moving the way they were designed to.  Geese seldom fly alone.  Sometimes there are just two of them and other times they are in much larger groups.  They don’t fly side-by-side but always with one goose leading and the others occupying the slipstream.  It is the way they fly in Rochester, where we live, if they are just going a few miles out to feed and then returning for the evening.  And it is the way they fly when they leave Rochester for their wintering ground in southern Illinois, a distance of nearly 600 miles, which I understand they may cover in one day.

And looking at geese, flying in the way they were designed to, something which, as they do it is perfect, pointed me towards God, who is perfect in each and every one of His characteristics.  Psalm 19 opens with these words:

“The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.”

This evening, for me, it was a flock of geese that pointed towards God and His perfect glory.  How and where is God making Himself known to you today?

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Let's go!

Earlier this evening we returned from another trip to Milwaukee.  Depending on who’s traveling/driving and the number of stops it is a 4-5 hour trip.  Between Robin and I we have spent 10 days there in the last 3 weeks, with Robin and Kat planning to go back again the day after tomorrow, for about 4 days.  The reason for all of this travel and time away from home is that there has been an acute need for us, and my siblings, to help out our mom.

We are thankful for all the people who have supported our family and prayed over this situation.  I am very thankful for the help that my brothers, sister, and their families have provided to our mom and to my family during this time.  Robin and I are glad that God has restored my mom’s health to the point where she will be returning to live at home.

Tonight, at Kat’s bedtime, we sat with her and read from the Jesus Storybook Bible.  (on Facebook here.) The story we read tonight was titled “Let’s Go!” and is drawn from Matthew 4, Mark 1 and Luke 4-6.  In short it occurs right after Jesus is baptized.  He goes into the desert, fasts and prays in preparation for his ministry, is tempted by Satan, and then gathers his disciples. 

In Mark 1:17-18 it says,

“Jesus said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” And immediately they left their nets and followed him.”

Jesus calls his disciples and says “Let’s go!” and they follow Him, beginning an adventure that is beyond their ability to even imagine, an adventure that we know will reach its fulfillment in the visions of unending praise in Revelation 7 and redeemed creation in Revelation 21.

Robin, Kat and I have been able to help my mom over the past few weeks because at some time in the past Jesus said to each us, “Let’s go!” and off we went.  If this current crisis had happened at a point in my life before I had faith I know I would have done my part, but it would have been for a different, and infinitely lesser, purpose.  It would have been because I had a particular sense of duty, or an ability or responsibility.  And looking back I can see an event in my life where that is exactly how I responded.

But this is different, not because I am any more skillful or responsible, but because I am the Lord’s, and no matter what the outcome may have been in the situation with my mom I see God’s hand all over it, and many ways for the faith in my head and heart to be lived among my family, to God’s everlasting glory. 

How is God reaching and calling you?  Where is He leading your life with His call of “Let’s go?”

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Book Review: The Supremacy of God in Preaching

“People are starving for the grandeur of God.  And the vast majority do not know it.” (107)  These words begin the conclusion to John Piper’s short and excellent book, The Supremacy of God in Preaching (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2004), a book where he lays out a vision of God that he believes should drive the words that pastors bring to their pulpit, not just occasionally but every time that they rise to speak from the Bible the words that God has laid on their hearts.    

Piper wrote the first edition of this book in 1990, drawing from two lecture series, given in 1984 and 1988, and the book is divided accordingly.  In Part 1 he discusses the topic “Why God Should Be Supreme in Preaching,” beginning with preaching’s goal, the glory of God, which he believes is rightly paired with the Christian’s delight in God.  He summarizes the connection between God’s glory and the believer’s joy with these words: “God’s deepest commitment to be glorified and my deepest longing to be satisfied are not in conflict, but in fact find simultaneous consummation in his display of and my delight in the glory of God.” (29)  The task of the preacher is to make God’s glory so central, and essential, to faith that the Christian is fully satisfied in God and finds every other desire wanting in comparison.

Piper uses a Trinitarian framework in Part 1.  God’s glory is in relation to the Father, the Ground of Preaching is connected to the Son, and Gift of Preaching is derived from the Spirit.  A deep understanding of this theology of preaching will guide the preacher to approach his or her task with both gravity and gladness.  He writes, “Gladness and gravity should be woven together in the life and preaching of a pastor in such a way as to sober the careless soul and sweeten the burden of the saints.” (55)

The topic of Part 2 is “How to Make God Supreme in Preaching.”  In this section Piper does not offer his own wisdom but turns to a preacher he has had a life-long admiration for, Jonathan Edwards.  As Piper discusses Edwards and Edwards’ ministry the twin keys are Edwards’ grasp of, and submission to, God’s sovereignty and a consequent, and constant, desire to proclaim God as supreme.

Everything that Edwards understood of God flowed from his sovereign nature.  Piper writes, “For Edwards the infinite power; or absolute sovereignty, of God is the foundation of God’s all-sufficiency.  And his all-sufficiency is the fountain of his perfect holiness, and his holiness comprehends all his moral excellency.  So the sovereignty of God for Edwards was utterly crucial to everything else he believed about God.” (78) 

Understanding the otherness of God’s nature in relation to humanity then is the basis for preaching and delighting in his sovereignty. “In summary, then, when Jonathan Edwards becomes still and knows that God is God, the vision before his eyes is of an absolutely sovereign God, self-sufficient and all-sufficient, infinite and holiness, and therefore perfectly glorious.” (82)  That is an amazing vision of God!

Are people, people who believe in God as made known through Jesus Christ, starving for God’s grandeur?  Generally speaking I would have to agree with Piper.  Living after the Fall we are so broken, and our gaze is so inward, that we rarely look beyond ourselves to glimpse the glory and majesty of God as made known in the Bible.  And when we glimpse it, even rarer are the moments when we savor it. 

Last week I read the Christian atheist, by Craig Groeschel, (my review is here). His central assertion is that there are many common ways in which people professing Christian faith live in ways that suggest their faith is often in something else.  Groeschel offers valuable and practical wisdom to strengthen the faith of faltering believers and their witness in the world. 

In The Supremacy of God in Preaching John Piper offers something equally practical and necessary to today’s preacher, which is encouragement and wisdom so that every sermon is one that is saturated with a vision of the glory of God, a vision so majestic that God’s people may find the satisfaction of every need in God alone.

Pride

First things first.  I was wrong about Lance Armstrong.  I now believe that he cheated his way to the top of his sport.  I was not an ardent defender of him as he was being investigated but if anyone was interested in my opinion I would freely state that I felt he was a clean competitor during the “era” when he dominated the main event of professional cycling, the Tour de France. 

He was drug-tested frequently and had never failed a test.  Besides, I didn’t believe that there was enough money in cycling to drive people to commit the level of deception that would be needed to “effectively” cover-up any cheating Armstrong would have to be involved in, if he was cheating.  I had no problem in believing the evidence when his contemporaries fell to scandal.  But I was certain that Armstrong had reached a previously unknown level of success the old-fashioned way, through combination of extraordinary physical gifts that perfectly suited his chosen sport and an indefatigable inner drive to find the boundaries of his limits.  I loved to watch him ride.

The evidence is now clear that Armstrong pursued a different path, which is also a well-worn one, traveled over and over by so many of us, myself included: the path of pride. 

Pride encourages us to relish the achievements of the present in such a way that we make sure that others take note of them as well.  And when there is nothing particularly prominent in our life now pride makes sure that we point attention to some storied moment in our past, when we were really “special.”

What I have become aware of recently, through the grace of God, is my affliction with, and my affection for, pride.  I think that if I had been asked if I was a prideful person I would have denied it, something that now seems to be an obvious sign of its presence, at least in my case.

And this awareness of pride is making me aware of what I really need more of.  Not more of myself, or of my memories, but more of Jesus and the memories of the grace God has provided in my life.  A grace that suits His purposes perfectly, even though at any moment it may not suit mine. (Think of Paul’s thorn.)  

So today I feel God inviting me to attend more to the relationship between He and I, and to allow Him to shape me more into the image of His Son.  John the Baptist summarized the changing relationship between himself and Jesus with these words:

“He must increase and I must decrease.”

An increasing self-awareness of my pride reminds me of whom it is that should really be exalted in my mind, in my heart, in my words and in my actions.   Not myself, but the one in whom, and for whom, all things were made. (John 1)

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

Ephesians 3:20-21

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

God’s glory at home

“Shout for joy, all the earth;

    sing the glory of his name;

    give to him glorious praise!”

Those words are the first verses of Psalm 66.  Today, with the weather forecast strongly suggesting that today was the last summer-like day of the year, reading those words reminds me of the particular beauty we have seen in this place that has been our home the past six months.

We are in a house that is 120 years old in some parts.  It sits on nearly 6 acres of land, adjacent to a freeway.  There is one standing barn, one collapsed barn, a building for Robin’s glass shop, a garage and several sheds.  We are renting, and between our stuff and our landlord’s stuff, the cars have to park outdoors. 

There is a U-shaped driveway lined with a variety of crab apple trees, trees that bloomed wonderfully shortly after we moved in.  There are a lot of other trees.  One is a tree the kids have frequently climbed in and there are two more that we hung swings in.  Others drop sticks, large and small, whenever the weather turns sour. 

All year we have seen large numbers of rabbits and squirrels.  There is a woodchuck, and also several raccoons.  An adult cat has frequently passed through.  She must have been pregnant, because one month ago our daughter found a baby kitten that we have taken in.  Two of the kitten’s siblings were briefly seen last week.  They were pretty skittish and we don’t need another inside cat.  We’ve seen mice near the house and the outside kittens seemed to be getting along okay.  As the fruit on the crabapple trees has matured, and fell, deer have been much more frequent in the front yard. 

Yesterday Robin saw, and blogged, about the amazing presence of God as she was outside before sunrise for the first time since July. 

And all of this is just outside our door, next to a freeway, well within the city limits.

When we sold our house and moved to our present location it was to be a temporary stop for us, and it still is.  We expected things to be different from our home of 19 years, and they certainly have been.  In six months we have acquired a lot of stories.  We have coped with, and adapted to, many things that we never could have imagined.

One thing we didn’t expect was the sheer diversity of nature in this one small place.  Diversity that, with rare exceptions, has been delightful.  And as summer gives way to fall it is right for us to join the psalmist and praise God, who once again has surrounded us with His presence.  An earthly glimpse of beauty that points us to His eternal Glory.

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

One work of the Holy Spirit

 Today I read an essay by Malcolm H. Watts titled The Ministry of the Spirit in Glorifying Christ.  It contained this excellent illustration to describe how the Holy Spirit is at work in magnifying Christ’s glory to those who believe:

“It is important to observe that the Spirit’s work is not, in any way, to enhance the Lord’s glory, but simply to throw light upon it, bringing it wonderfully into view.  In this respect, it is akin to what happens in the natural world.  The scenery in some given place may be very beautiful, and the sun, when it comes out, does not intrinsically change or improve it; yet its light does make a difference, transfiguring it by bringing out more fully its delightful loveliness.”

On my way home from work the sun was shining and with this quote in mind even our weathered barn showed its beauty in a different way.  Watts’ words give me food for thought as I ponder the glory of Christ.

Watts essay, and others on the topic of the Holy Spirit, may be found here.

Musing about heaven

I was at work, in an intensive care room, and I heard some music playing in the background that caught my attention.  It was a piano, playing a meandering melody, one that was soft and easy to listen to.  It brought a small bit of peace to an environment that is often chaotic to those living there.

I love to listen to solo piano played in the manner that I heard it today.  And I regret that the opportunity I had to learn to play the piano when I was younger was squandered.  I took some lessons through an excellent public school music program in fourth grade but loathed the idea of practice.  In fifth grade I moved on briefly to violin, then in junior high I started with the string bass, although that was left behind at graduation.  And since then I have occasionally dabbled with various instruments, never progressing past the most rudimentary ability, if that, with any of them.  If I could play one instrument fairly well, and only for my own satisfaction, it would be the piano.

So in the ICU, as I listened to the piano, I began to wonder a bit about heaven.  Would I be able to play the piano in heaven?  It may be possible.  We think of heaven as being a perfect place, so perhaps I could learn to do something, such as to play the piano, and do it well, in the hereafter.

That seems like a reasonable thought.  If heaven is viewed as paradise, Eden restored, the place where perfection exists in every way, something like becoming proficient at something I’ve always admired should be possible. 

Heaven is the place where we experience eternal rest.  The place where we spend all of our time fishing, playing golf, reconnecting with our grandparents.  We should be able to do, and enjoy, our every desire there. 

Those things are the types of things I’ve thought about heaven in the past, and which I’ve heard many people talk about before.  They suit our imagination as to what the “perfect world” may be like.  But those images of heaven lack one thing, the only thing that really matters.  They lack the presence of our Lord and Savior.  The one in whom all things were made.  The one for whom all things exist. 

The biblical images of heaven that we see in Isaiah and Revelation show heaven a bit differently.  The focal point of heaven is at the throne of God, and all who are gathered around it aren’t kicking back and relaxing, or “chillaxing,” as some of my children may say it.  The residents of heaven are engaged in the passionate worship of God.    

There have been many books written about heaven, one of which I’ve reviewed here.  We can speculate endlessly about what it will be like and who will be there, but we won’t really know until we get there ourselves. 

If I am able to play piano in heaven it won’t be because I merely want to, but because in some way my doing so will be pleasing to God and that the music will be to his glory. 

One thing I can know for certain about heaven is that it exists for God and his eternal glory.  Everything else is secondary.  In John 6:40 Jesus says,

“For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

Eternity with God is promised to all who believe in the finished work done by the Son on their behalf.  Here is a short piece of solo piano to listen to as you ponder the promises of God for you.

Cross references:

1. John 6:40 : ch. 12:45; 14:17, 19
2. John 6:40 : ver. 47; ch. 3:15, 16
3. John 6:40 : ver. 27, 54; ch. 4:14

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

The point of it all…sort of

There has been a lot of news from the field of physics lately, particularly particle physics, which as I understand it has to do with finding all of the little things that somehow come together to make stuff.  Not stuff like TV’s or clothing and not little things like all of the parts that make up my car.  But stuff as in any object you can possibly imagine…even a speck of dust, and little things being the sub-atomic particles of which all things are made.  Physicists believe these particles exist and they are involved in a quest to find and understand them.

Now all of this isn’t really news, because people have been studying what things are made of since before Galileo invented the pre-cursor to the modern microscope.  The discovery reported last week, of the Higgs boson, is the culmination of 50 years of theorizing and experimenting.  And if my comments so far seem like I understand all of this, I really don’t.  My sketchy knowledge comes from reading a number of general interest articles.

I get interested in all of this because the Higgs boson is considered so essential to the existence of matter that the popular press frequently refers to it as the “God particle.”  Physics trips some people’s triggers and theology trips mine.  Put mention of God into a popular conversation and I get interested. 

So I’ve read a few things about the Higgs boson in the last week and tonight I read an article titled “Higgs boson binds the universe, but people give it meaning.”  The gist of the article is that as we discover more about the minutiae and complexity of the universe we are left with one of two options.  The first is essentially an awareness of how small and insignificant we are, both in space and time.  As the author sums this viewpoint he writes, “We are dust in the wind, utterly inconsequential in the dark expanse of time and space.”   That option, in my mind, leads to things like Nihilism and despair.  Not pretty places to live our lives.

The second option invites us to use our brief time in this life, on this planet, well.  The author writes, “What we do in our brief lives on this small planet may be the only thing that matters” and “The Higgs boson may glue this universe together, but we are the ones who give it meaning.”  And that sounds well and good.  This perspective invites us to all manner of opportunities of being engaged with our neighbors, with our world, for a collective good. 

Using our actions to invest meaning into life is the point of it all..sort of.

Doing good things and making life meaningful in the process sounds like a wonderful thing, but it is incomplete.  If that is all we are doing and there is no concept of God in our thoughts and actions then what we are really doing is making gods out of ourselves.  We are using this brief sliver of time in this vast universe to serve and glorify ourselves. 

God invites us to something better.  Something much better.  This extensive Biblical wisdom on this is summed up well in the Westminster Shorter Catechism, whose first question-and-answer is:

Q: What is the chief end of man?

A: Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.

Rather than citing and explaining all of the Bible verses that support the claims of the catechism I invite you to follow the link and read the verses that underlie the two claims of Answer 1.  They are extensive.

God invites us to live meaningful lives not to give meaning to the universe but to give glory to the God who created it.  

A New Testament Biblical Theology: The Unfolding of the Old Testament in the New, by G.K. Beale - briefly reviewed

What are we to make of the Holy Bible?  To that very broad question there could be many answers.  For some people the Bible is an old book that may have once had value to society but is now archaic and irrelevant.  Others find it to be the source of their moral grounding in life, having value primarily in giving instructions for right living.  And others consider it to be the literal word of God, accurate in everything it teaches about God, history, science and any other topic it may address. 

And there are many other views besides these, too many for me to even name for my purposes here. The view that I hold to is that the organizing theme of the Bible, both the Old and the New Testaments, is to tell one story, the story of God’s plan to redeem his people through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.  Preaching and teaching along these lines is generally referred to as the Redemptive-Historical model.  It is a model that believes that not only the New Testament, but also that all of the divisions of the Old Testament (Law, Prophets and History), in some way articulate God’s plan to redeem his people.  To the body of work written along redemptive-historical lines G. K. Beale has added a masterwork: A New Testament Biblical Theology: The Unfolding of the Old Testament in the New (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2012).

While I used the term ‘theme’ above, Beale prefers to view the Bible as containing two storylines, one for each Testament.  The Old Testament storyline is:

The Old Testament is the story of God, who progressively reestablishes his new-creational kingdom out of chaos over a sinful people by his word and Spirit through promise, covenant, and redemption, resulting in worldwide commission to the faithful to advance this kingdom and judgment (defeat or exile) for the unfaithful, unto his glory.(16)

This storyline is transformed in the New Testament to:

Jesus’s life, trials, death for sinners, and especially resurrection by the Spirit have launched the fulfillment of the eschatological already-not yet new-creational reign, bestowed by grace through faith and resulting in worldwide commission to the faithful to advance this new-creational reign and resulting in judgment for the unbelieving, unto the Triune God’s glory.(16)

Beale provides a brief Introduction to his project and then delves into a more fully detailed exploration of the redemptive-historical storyline of the Old Testament.  Then follow thorough discussions that show how the Bible demonstrates the inauguration of things predicted and anticipated in end-times.  These discussions include topics such as Idolatry and Restoration of God’s Image, Salvation, the Work of the Spirit, the Church, Christian Living, and several other broad topics, with each topic having several sub-divisions. 

In the two-part conclusion he first briefly discusses the connection between various Old Testament realities, showing what God has already inaugurated related to them and then what God promises in their consummation.  The final chapter sums up the purpose of the redemptive-historical storyline and its implications for Christian living succinctly as “the Glory and Adoration of God.” (958) 

At nearly 1,000 pages of text, which are extensively footnoted, Beale has written a book that is not for the theologically faint-of-heart.  He has in mind as his audience scholars, pastors and educated laypersons who are interested digging deeply into God’s word, not merely for their own education but in order that they may be better prepared to fulfill Jesus’ Great Commission, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” (Matthew 28:19-20a). 

To make disciples we need to have a firm grasp on our subject matter.  In this volume Beale intends to provide a solid foundation for teachers in the church, be they in the formal setting of pulpit or classroom, or the informal setting of small groups and one-on-one conversation, to clearly articulate the ways in which the Bible, all of it, points to God, and particularly his work in the death and resurrection of Christ Jesus, for the purposes of God’s glory, now and forever. 

Augustine’s experience of conversion took place as he heard the phrase “Take up and read,” leading him to pick up his Bible and discover the love God had for him within its pages.  Beale has written a book of great depth and powerful purpose.  I highly commend it to any serious student of the Bible, so that they may understand more deeply the purpose and unity of the Bible’s storyline, and then be better equipped to share God’s Good News in Jesus among the people where God has placed them, to God’s eternal glory.