{"id":11111,"date":"2017-10-29T12:02:37","date_gmt":"2017-10-29T17:02:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/?p=11111"},"modified":"2017-10-29T12:02:37","modified_gmt":"2017-10-29T17:02:37","slug":"book-review-a-peculiar-glory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/?p=11111","title":{"rendered":"Book Review: A Peculiar Glory"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Peculiar-Glory-Christian-Scriptures-Truthfulness\/dp\/1433552639\/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1509130353&amp;sr=1-1&amp;keywords=peculiar+glory\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-11112\" alt=\"large_what-is-the-peculiar-glory-h47tp7nn\" src=\"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/large_what-is-the-peculiar-glory-h47tp7nn-300x300.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/large_what-is-the-peculiar-glory-h47tp7nn-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/large_what-is-the-peculiar-glory-h47tp7nn-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/large_what-is-the-peculiar-glory-h47tp7nn.jpg 900w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;<em>We know, from the built-in template of our own weakness together with our longing for transcendent greatness, that the glory of Jesus Christ\u2014the Lion and the Lamb\u2014is the glory we were made for. \u00a0This is the heart of the glory that shines into our hearts through the Scriptures by the power of the Holy Spirit and convinces us that they are the very words of God<\/em>.&#8221;\u00a0 John Piper, <em>A Peculiar Glory<\/em>, p. 225<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Peculiar-Glory-Christian-Scriptures-Truthfulness\/dp\/1433552639\/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1509130353&amp;sr=1-1&amp;keywords=peculiar+glory\" target=\"_blank\"><em>A Peculiar Glory<\/em><\/a> by John Piper is an awesome glimpse into what it means to seek and to treasure God&#8217;s glory above everything else.\u00a0 Piper makes an incredible case for the authority of Scripture and the inerrancy of the inspired Word of God.\u00a0 This book would be a great gift for a new believer as well as an excellent resource for someone that is more mature in their faith.\u00a0 One of my favorite parts of the book is when Piper is sharing about his own spiritual growth and biblical education.\u00a0 One of his professors read a paper Piper had written and challenged him to follow God&#8217;s call on his life to preach.\u00a0 Piper did so reluctantly at first&#8230;but clearly the Lord has used him to become a voice for a generation of those who desire to boast in nothing other than Jesus.\u00a0 As an educator, it is a weighty call to realize that God might use me to call something like that out of a student that I have the privilege of investing in.<\/p>\n<p>I highlighted several things while reading and have posted those notes below&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><!--?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"UTF-8\" standalone=\"no\"?--><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>My seven decades of experience with the Bible have not been mainly a battle to hold on. \u00a0They have been a blessing of being held on to, namely, by beauty\u2014that is, by glory. p. 11<\/li>\n<li>Jude 24-25 Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen. (ESV) p. 20<\/li>\n<li>2 Timothy 4:3-4 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. (ESV) p. 25<\/li>\n<li>Not a painting on a Wall, but a Window\u00a0The Bible was never like a masterpiece hanging in a museum that I viewed this way and that. \u00a0Rather, it was alike a window. \u00a0Or like binoculars. \u00a0My view of the Bible was always a view through the Bible. \u00a0So when I say that, all along the way, my view was getting clearer and brighter and deeper, I mean the reality seen through it was getting clearer and brighter and deeper. \u00a0Clearer as the edges of things became less fuzzy, and I could see how things fit together rather than just smudging into each other. \u00a0Brighter as the beauty and impact of the whole message was more and more attractive. \u00a0And deeper in the sense of depth perspective\u2014I suppose photographers would say \u201cdepth of field.\u201d Things stretched off into eternity with breathtaking implications\u2014in both directions past and future. \u00a0You could sum this up with the phrase the glory of God. \u00a0That\u2019s what I was seeing. \u00a0p. 27<\/li>\n<li>1 Corinthians 2:4-5 and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. (ESV) p. 32<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.desiringgod.org\/articles\/the-bethlehem-baptist-church-elder-affirmation-of-faith\">Bethlehem Baptist Church Elder Affirmation of Faith<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son. Hebrews 1:1-2 p. 52<\/li>\n<li>One of the strongest statements of Jesus\u2019s concern for preserving his own words, as well as the very words of the Old Testament, is Matthew 5:17-18: Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. \u00a0For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. p. 71<\/li>\n<li>\u201cIt is reassuring at the end to find that the general result of all these discoveries and all this study is to strengthen the proof of the authenticity of the Scriptures, and our conviction that we have in our hands, in substantial integrity, the veritable Word of God.\u201d Frederic G. Kenyon, The Story of the Bible, 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1967), 113. p. 86<\/li>\n<li>The words of the Lord are pure words, like silver refined in a furnace on the ground, purified seven times. Psalm 12:6 p. 88<\/li>\n<li>The term apostle is not a synonym of disciple. \u00a0Disciple means \u201cfollower\u201d or \u201clearner,\u201d and apostle means \u201cauthorized representative.\u201d p. 118<\/li>\n<li>The teaching of this Book shows the way to eternal life and shapes the way we live in this life. \u00a0Therefore, knowing whether the Bible teaches the truth is of ultimate importance. p. 129<\/li>\n<li>He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. \u00a0Acts 1:3 p. 129<\/li>\n<li>\u201cIt is impossible that men, who have not something of a general view of the historical world, or the series of history from age to age, should come at the force of arguments for the truth of Christianity, drawn from history to that degree, as effectually to induce them to venture their all upon it.\u201d Jonathan Edwards, A Treatise Concerning Religious Affections, vol. 2, The Works of Jonathan Edwards, ed. John Smith (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1957), 303. p. 133<\/li>\n<li>The promise that the apostle John gives in his first letter, that \u201cwhen Christ appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is\u201d (1 John 3:2), is already being fulfilled, as we behold the glory of Christ in the gospel. \u00a0That is what Paul is saying in 2 Corinthians 3:18. We tend to become like those we admire. \u00a0This means that we, like him, set aside our rights and do not seek to please merely ourselves, but rather we become servants for the benefit of others. \u00a0Beholding the beauty of Christ\u2019s character, we begin to share it. p. 144<\/li>\n<li>With you is the fountain of life; in your light do we see light. Psalm 36:9 p. 159<\/li>\n<li>Ephesians 1:16-18 I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, (ESV) p. 166<\/li>\n<li>\u201cMust an intellectually honest man know everything about the Bible\u2019s origins before he could use it? \u00a0Were theological professors the only ones qualified to speak of religion, or might a simple America, or an ignorant jungle villager, or even a child, lead another to Christ?\u201d John Pollock, Billy Graham: The Authorized Biography (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1966), 52. p. 167<\/li>\n<li>Knowing that our ability to see the self-authenticating glory of God in Scripture depends on the sovereign work of the Holy Spirit should make us humbly and joyfully prayerful that the Spirit would come with his life-giving, light-giving power and cause the truth and beauty of God\u2019s word to shine in our minds and hearts. p. 191<\/li>\n<li>The prophet Isaiah marvels at the uniqueness of God among all the gods of the peoples: \u201cFrom of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God besides you, who acts for those who wait for him.\u201d (Isaiah 64:4) p. 218<\/li>\n<li>Romans 11:33-36 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! \u201cFor who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?\u201d \u201cOr who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?\u201d For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen. (ESV) p. 222<\/li>\n<li>We know, from the built-in template of our own weakness together with our longing for transcendent greatness, that the glory of Jesus Christ\u2014the Lion and the Lamb\u2014is the glory we were made for. \u00a0This is the heart of the glory that shines into our hearts through the Scriptures by the power of the Holy Spirit and convinces us that they are the very words of God. \u00a0p. 225<\/li>\n<li>One of the ways this peculiar communication of the glory of God is woven into the Scriptures, confirming them to be the word of God, is the way the Old Testament Scriptures find fulfillment in the New Testament. \u00a0It is not only the amazing wonder of God\u2019s foreknowledge and providence that captures us. \u00a0It is, even more, the way the New Testament treats the fulfillment of Scripture as a display of the peculiar glory of God. \u00a0p. 226<\/li>\n<li>The peculiar glory is that the Promised One displays the fullness and the uniqueness of his glory by moving to majesty through meekness and to splendor through suffering. \u00a0He attains the height of his glory through humble service. \u00a0This is the golden thread of prophecy. \u00a0Crowning this glory of prophecy is the truth that it was the spirit of Christ himself prophesying the sufferings and the glory of Christ. \u201cThe Spirt of Christ in them predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories.\u201d (1 Peter 1:11) p. 237<\/li>\n<li>Only the divine \u201clight of the gospel of the glory of Christ\u201d transforms the soul. \u00a0Only divine light yields certainty that secures the soul for a life of love through the worst sufferings. \u00a0Only the sight of God\u2019s glory in his inspired word gives certainty to the simplest and the most educated person. p. 279<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;We know, from the built-in template of our own weakness together with our longing for transcendent greatness, that the glory of Jesus Christ\u2014the Lion and the Lamb\u2014is the glory we were made for. \u00a0This is the heart of the glory that shines into our hearts through the Scriptures by the power of the Holy Spirit [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,14,25,16,23,28,17,32,15,34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11111","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bible-study","category-book-review","category-education","category-family","category-generosity","category-integrity","category-leadership","category-marriage","category-seminary","category-truth"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11111","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11111"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11111\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11111"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11111"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11111"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}