Signs of the Times (Matthew 24.1-28)

Introduction

 

I’ve been short-sighted since I was about 12. I had to get glasses, and I got bullied at school about it, but to be honest, I was just relieved that I could read the numbers on buses again. I could watch and enjoy TV. I could see what my teacher was writing on the board without squinting. My whole world, which had been a frustrating blur, was now in focus. 

 

About thirty-five years later, I noticed I needed to hold a book further away from my face to be able to read the print comfortably. I went to the optician and the moment had come… I was officially both short-sighted and long-sighted. So I now have to wear bifocals.

 

Today and next Sunday, we’re going to cover Matthew 24, and to understand what God is saying to us in this chapter, you sort of need bifocals. You need, first of all, to see close up, because Jesus talks about things that were very close to his time, in particular the devastation of Jerusalem which reduced it to rubble in AD 70. That was God’s final word on the temple; it’s never been rebuilt, and with the Al Aqsa mosque now standing on that site, I dare say it never will be. That is mostly what the first half of the chapter is about, so that is mostly what I’ll focus on today.

 

But you need to be able to see far off as well, because Jesus also talks here about the distant future, still future for us in fact; the climax of world history, when he will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead. That is mostly what the second half of the chapter is about, and I’ll focus on that next Sunday.

 

On the screen, you see a landscape. Notice that some of it (at the bottom of the screen) is nearby and some of it is further away. What would you say the distance is between the hills in the foreground and those in the background? It’s hard to say, isn’t it. It could be half a mile. Perhaps much further. 

 

This is exactly what Matthew 24 is like; it’s one panoramic view of the future, but actually, it speaks about different times; the near future, at the time Jesus said these words, and the distant future. 

 

Why has God chosen to reveal truth to us about the last days in this way? Two reasons.

 

Firstly, he doesn’t want us to get fixated about the date of his second coming. Throughout the New Testament, it’s never about when. It’s always about how; how prepared are we for the day the Lord returns? 

 

Secondly, God combines prophecies about AD 70 and the second coming of Christ because the conditions leading up to the destruction of the temple, about 10 years after Matthew wrote this Gospel, are very similar to what they will be right before Jesus comes again someday in the future. 

 

In other words, when Jesus comes back, history will repeat itself in striking ways. So you can learn a lot about what the end of the world will be like by studying the time leading up to the demolition of Jerusalem and its temple.

 

So, if you have a Bible, let’s read Matthew 24 as far as v28. 

 

Jesus left the temple and was walking away when his disciples came up to him to call his attention to its buildings. “Do you see all these things?” he asked. “Truly I tell you, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.”

As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many. You will hear of wars and rumours of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains.

“Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

“So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’ spoken of through the prophet Daniel - let the reader understand - then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let no one on the housetop go down to take anything out of the house. Let no one in the field go back to get their cloak. How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. For then there will be great distress, unequalled from the beginning of the world until now - and never to be equalled again.

“If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened. At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah!’ or, ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you ahead of time.

“So if anyone tells you, ‘There he is, out in the wilderness,’ do not go out; or, ‘Here he is, in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather."

 

Background

 

As we saw back in November, Jerusalem’s temple was an exceptionally grand building for the ancient world, ten stories high, second only to the pyramids in scale, and certainly bigger and finer than any pagan temple anywhere else on earth. 

 

Built when the Jews returned home from exile in Babylon, King Herod began to expand and enhance it about 15 years before Jesus was born, massively increasing its footprint. That redevelopment took about 80 years to complete.

 

The gates and column decorations in the temple were covered with hammered gold which sparkled in the sun and its walls were made of immensely huge white stone blocks. 

 

As Jesus said in v2, literally not one stone is now left on another; it’s all gone. The largest stone they’ve found in the tiny section of the retaining wall that still survives, what we call the Wailing Wall, not part of the temple proper, is 13 meters long, over 4 meters thick and over 3 meters high. One stone…

 

To give you an idea, the slabs at Stonehenge weigh about 25 tons each. This single temple stone has an estimated weight of 300 tons. Archaeologists have no idea how they moved it!

 

And it’s this overwhelmingly impressive architecture that the disciples marvel at in v1. This great complex, where people would flock from miles away just to approach the presence of God, with its Most Holy Place at the heart of it, where God himself dwelt in inapproachable majesty, where sacrifices took place round the clock in the hope that God would cleanse and forgive sin, was awesome to behold. 

 

“Do you see all these things?” says Jesus in v2. “Every stone you see today will soon be rubble.”

 

In just a few days, Jesus will die as a flawless sacrifice, sins will be atoned for, sinners will be cleansed, the separating curtain will be ripped from top to bottom, the presence of God will be open to all, and this temple will become obsolete and irrelevant. 

 

In other words, all that ritual, the sacrifices, the blood, the religion, the priests, the separating curtain… God is about to do away with it.

 

Well, Jesus leaves the temple for the last time, with his disciples who are absolutely stunned. Imagine looking up at Durham Cathedral or the Vatican and being told that in your lifetime, the whole lot will be gone, pounded to dust. It’s scarcely believable. 

 

As far as the disciples are concerned, this sounds like an earth-shattering cataclysm and Jesus must surely be talking about the end of the world!

 

So when they get to the Mount of Olives, which looks across the Kidron Valley at the city, dominated by this temple, they ask Jesus two questions. “Tell us, (v3) when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming at the end of the age?” For them, those two questions should get the same answer. But Jesus explains in Matthew 24 that the end of the temple and the end of the world are two different events. 

 

General Warnings of Near and Far (v4-14) 

 

He starts by telling them what not to get alarmed about. V4-8 are about what Christians can expect at all times and do not mean the end must be nigh. In fact, Jesus specifically says in v6 that this is not it.

 

First of all, in every age, you’ll get false prophets and bogus messiahs with their wacky ideas leading people astray. Jesus mentions them in v4-5. 

 

A Jewish historian called Flavius Josephus wrote an eye-witness account of the times leading up to the destruction of the temple. 

 

He recorded that, as the Romans began to encircle Jerusalem, many would-be heroes sprang up saying, “I am from God, I will save you, follow me.” And many people did. 

 

But significantly Christians didn’t, because they remembered that Jesus had quite specifically said to pay no attention to these kinds of scams.

 

You get false teachers in every generation. They confuse people with their false gospels that cosy up to the world. They tell people what they want to hear; they’re always soft on sin, they side-step the call to repentance, and often they make a lot of money. 

 

There is plenty of that about today, but it doesn’t mean the end is just round the corner. Watch out for self-proclaimed spiritual leaders, advertising their prophetic powers, who advocate a way of life no different from the liberal and secular culture we’re in. Don’t fall for flashy preachers who tell you that what God mostly wants for you is to be excessively wealthy and comfortable. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

 

In v7-8 Jesus warns of perils that cause great anxiety. In particular, he mentions wars, rumours of wars, famines and earthquakes. 

 

Again, this is exactly what did happen between Jesus saying these words and the destruction of the temple. There were rumblings of unrest throughout the Roman Empire. There were four different famines during the reign of Emperor Claudius alone. The historian Tacitus wrote about Rome in AD 51: “This year witnessed many signs or omens... including repeated earthquakes.”  Flavius Josephus, who I mentioned earlier, wrote that earthquakes were "a common calamity” at that time. 

 

But Jesus says not to assume this must be Armageddon when we see such disasters today. “Such things must happen, but the end is still to come” (v6).

 

In v9-11 Jesus warns that Christians will always be unpopular. And of course the Acts of the Apostles explains how the very people Jesus was talking to here found themselves arrested, imprisoned and hauled before the courts. Christians were made scapegoats for every imaginable problem in those turbulent times, as they took the gospel to every nation.

 

Jesus says to expect unfair discrimination; you might be targeted by members of other religions, imprisoned or killed by governing authorities and even ostracised by your own family; indeed he says, “you will be hated by all nations because of me.” We know this is what happened to the early church.

 

But it happens in every age. A report in the UK parliament this time last year noted that around 365 million Christians worldwide are subject to “high levels of persecution and discrimination.” That’s 25 million more than the year before. Other highlights from that report: 1 in 7 of all Christians suffers persecution. 5,600 Christians were killed for faith-related reasons in 2023. 14,700 churches and Christian properties were attacked or destroyed in that same year.

 

But Jesus means to encourage us in v13 when he says, “Those who stand firm to the end will be saved.” Will be. Remember that even if your whole Christian life is marked by suffering, the end will not be bitter, but sweet.

 

These things; deception, destruction, disaster and discrimination are true of all ages. But in v8, Jesus talks about the first of pains of childbirth. Labour begins with more moderate pain. But as the birth draws near, contractions come closer together, growing in intensity and they hurt more. 

 

Jesus says in v9-14 that two things at the same time are going to grow in intensity, like a woman in labour, as his return draws nearer. We’re going to notice increasing suffering for the church’s members and increasing success in the church’s mission. 

 

And even though hatred against Christians and martyrdom will rise, the church will grow. That’s because a church purified by persecution becomes a church empowered for mission. So as the Lord’s return draws near, v14, church growth will advance, and the gospel will accelerate to all nations.

 

So v4-14 are, I believe, general warnings about tough times that were certainly true of the decades before AD 70, are still true now, but will increasingly be true in the time from now till Christ returns in glory. 

 

Specific Warnings for the Near Future (v15-25) 

 

When we get to v15-25, there’s a shift of focus. Jesus starts to refer just to the particular time of the destruction of Jerusalem because, having referred to the whole world and all the nations in v14, he starts to talk about Judea in v16, which is the area immediately surrounding Jerusalem. So we’re now looking directly on the hill in the foreground so to speak.

 

“When you see ‘the abomination that causes desolation’ standing in the holy place (that is, in the temple) spoken of through the prophet Daniel – let the reader understand – then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.”

 

Jesus is prophesying here a particular and recognizable event that, as soon as it happens, will be the signal to get out of Jerusalem immediately. And Jesus says, “Don’t even bother packing. Don’t go back inside to grab your valuables – run for the hills.”

And notice, Jesus doesn’t say in v20, “Pray that this won’t happen.” Because, in the purposeful sovereignty of God, it must happen. Instead, he says, “Pray that it won’t happen in winter.” And history records that it didn’t, thank God. The fact that Jerusalem fell in the spring and summer of AD 70 reduced greatly the suffering of those who fled, especially children and expectant mothers. 

 

What is this “abomination that causes desolation” that Jesus talks about in v15? It’s a phrase you find 3 times in the Book of Daniel, and it means something grotesquely sacrilegious that has been set up in a sacred place. 

 

Centuries earlier, it described the time when Alexander the Great conquered Jerusalem, and a man called Antiochus Epiphanes strutted into the temple, erected a statue of Zeus in it and slaughtered a pig on the altar. You can imagine how sickening and provocative that would be for Jews. 

 

Jesus says, when you see something as bad as that about to happen again, leave town.

 

In the two or three years just before AD 70, Roman legions came and encircled Jerusalem. They arrived with statues of their gods, their idols, and you didn’t need to be a Mastermind contestant to see that they were going to put them in God’s holy temple where they do not belong.

 

Here’s what the history books say... When the Romans arrived, they didn’t attack the city straight away. They waited. They gave the local population a chance to surrender without bloodshed, and for a limited time people could come and go.

 

Remembering Jesus’ specific warnings here, many thousands of Christians took to the hills at that time. Tragically, the Jews ignored Jesus’ words. Instead, they packed into Jerusalem, thinking there was strength in numbers and that their solid city walls would protect them. And, at this time, many false messiahs sprung up saying, “It will be OK, just follow me,” exactly as Jesus predicted in v23-24. 

 

When the Romans saw that Jerusalem wasn’t going to surrender, they laid siege. For months and months, they cut off food and water supplies. People started to suffer dehydration and starvation. Children died from malnutrition. Pregnant mothers miscarried. 

 

Finally, when those in the city were too weak to resist, the Romans attacked. Exactly as Jesus had said, they destroyed the city and pounded the temple to rubble, till no stone was left on another. “See, I have told you ahead of time” says Jesus in v25.

 

The scale of human suffering was appalling. Jesus, looking ahead to it, says in v21, “there will be great distress unequalled from the beginning of the world until now, and never to be equalled again.” It was a bloodbath. The fourth century historian Tacitus estimated that about half a million people were slain. Josephus, who actually lived through it, put the figure at over double that. 

 

If Jesus died and rose again in AD 30, as seems most likely, it means God gave Jerusalem 40 years to respond to the gospel and embrace Jesus as Messiah. Just as he gave them 40 years in the wilderness to test their response to his deliverance from slavery in Egypt, he gave them 40 years here to weigh their response to the cross, resurrection and preaching of the early church, confirmed as it was by signs and wonders. 

 

If they had heeded these words in v15-25, they would have been saved. But because Jesus said it, they wouldn’t believe it, and they didn’t listen. It is a most tragic and heart-rending chapter in human history. 

 

A Foretaste of Far-Off Upheaval (v26-28)

 

But then, just as you think you’re on top of all the chronology, v26-28 throw a curveball. Because, right after speaking about AD 70, Jesus abruptly shifts gear to talk instead about his return; the coming of the Son of Man which is obviously still future. This is what most of the rest of the chapter is about.

 

No one knows when the Lord’s return will be. Jesus said in Acts 1.7 that it’s not for us to know when it will be. So please don’t waste time and money on books about some mysterious code hidden in the Bible that claims to reveal the date. They’re a money-making scam. The date and time for the Lord’s return are not in here.

 

Jesus says it will be like lightning that strikes in the east, but is visible in the west. In other words, the Lord’s return will be visible everywhere. 

 

What happened in AD 70 was certainly a cataclysm on a grand scale, certainly for the Jewish nation who had mostly rejected Jesus as their Messiah. It was very decisively and pointedly the end of their world. But it was not at all the end of the world. 

 

But when the Lord returns, the upheaval will be orders of magnitude greater than that for the millions who deny Jesus as Saviour and refuse him as Lord.

 

Ending

 

There’s so much to say, and I’ll say more next Sunday. But I’ll finish with this; you might be thinking, how is this relevant for me? This is all about something that happened in the first century, thousands of miles away.

 

Here’s the point; everything Jesus said 40 years before AD 70, including the complete ruin of a building that seemed built to last forever, and all the events leading up to it, was fulfilled in every detail. 

 

That’s because God knows the end from the beginning. It that means you can absolutely count on his word, and you can entrust him with your future. And it means we have every reason to believe his predictions about the second coming will be just as accurate.

 

Let’s renew our trust in the Lord, and thank him for his good plan for our lives, as we come together around his table. And, as we eat and drink, remembering his love for us, shown so powerfully on the cross, let’s once again proclaim his death – until he comes again.

 

 

Sermon preached at King's Church Darlington, 26 January 2025

Do You Have to Go to Church to Be a Christian?

Roman Catholic dogma says, extra ecclesiam nulla salus, meaning ‘outside the church there is no salvation.’ This is considered to be an infallible doctrine and is therefore not up for debate among Catholics.

But the New Testament is clear that we are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. Attending church is therefore a work that can contribute nothing to our status as children of God.

So, do you have to go to church to be a Christian?

If being a Christian were dependent on going to church, people who came to faith on a desert island or in solitary confinement could not strictly be considered as genuine believers. And the terminally ill would be cut off from Christ on account of being housebound. That can’t be right. 

Most people who ask this question though, I suspect, are physically able to be part of a church but just prefer not to be. Perhaps they find church services boring. “I didn’t get anything out of it” is no doubt a complaint repeated on the journey home from many a church service up and down the land. A vicar friend of mine confided with me that someone once said to him on the way out of church, “I didn’t get anything out of that” and he felt like replying, “Oh I’m so sorry, I didn’t realise we were worshipping you!” But he didn’t quite have the nerve to say it.

Very possibly people might point to experiences in the past that have put them off church. At one extreme, consider those who have been victims of serious safeguarding failures; crime and cover up, or abusive leadership. You can understand why the pain they carry will result in disgust for any church, even if their faith in Christ somehow survived the trauma. 

Who has not heard complaints that Christians are hypocrites? Some Christians definitely are, and that’s a problem, because Jesus reserved his strongest rebukes for religious hypocrites. But, as someone once said, ‘not going to church because of all the hypocrites is a bit like not going to the gym because of all the obese people.’ 

When people permanently leave church because a Christian or a church has acted shamefully and sinfully, I always want to plead with them to look at Jesus and tell me what you find wrong with him. When somebody plays Beethoven hitting wrong notes, out of time, on a badly tuned piano, do we blame the composer? There are good musicians and well-tuned instruments out there. And there are good churches too that are not blighted by hypocrisy.

Actually in the New Testament, church is never a building you go to, or even an organisation you join. It’s a family you belong to. Not once is it said of the earliest Christians that they went to church. They were the church. It was just assumed from the day of Pentecost onwards that Christians would form community. Thus, ‘An unchurched Christian is a grotesque anomaly,’ wrote John Stott. ‘The New Testament knows nothing of such a person. For the church lies at the very centre of eternal purpose of God.’ 

Do you have to go to church to be a Christian? That’s such an odd question. It’s a bit like asking do men have to go home every night to their wives in order to be married? Technically, no. I’m married because my wife and I said some words at our wedding, and we have a certificate to prove it. I don’t need legally to spend time with Kathie to prove I’m married to her. But if I were to spend every night in the pub with my mates until 2 o’clock in the morning before crashing down in someone’s spare bedroom, I would be a bad husband and something would be obviously wrong with our relationship. 

I’ve belonged to some pretty uninspiring churches in my life. You could say many are cooled and a few are frozen… But I’ve been part of some great ones too. If you can’t find a perfect church in your area, why not find an imperfect one and make it better?

It is tempting, when church is uninspiring or dysfunctional or draining or worse, to say, “I’m done with church, I’m just going to abide in Christ and love God. But that doesn’t wash. Remember when Jesus restored Peter in John 21 and asked him three times, “Do you love me?” When Peter replied that he did, Jesus told him to show it through his commitment to the local church; “feed my lambs, look after my sheep.” 

What should we be looking for and aiming for in every church? It says in the book of Acts that the early church’s generosity shaped the culture. It changed lives. It actually eradicated poverty. It says in chapter 2 that the Christians gave to anyone who had a need in their community. By chapter 4 it says that there were no needy people amongst them!

The many “one anothers” in the Bible only make sense in community. Our Sunday gatherings and midweek meetings and Christian friendships are vital for encouraging one another. The Greek word used in Hebrews 10.24 (let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds) is paroxusmos which means provocation or irritation. The only other place the word is used in the New Testament is to describe Paul’s argument with Barnabas in Acts 15.39. The writer is therefore telling us that we need other Christians precisely because they tell us what we do not want to hear. 

Another reason being an unchurched Christian is bad for your spiritual health is increased vulnerability to spiritual attack. Lions stalk their prey for hours, observing herds of zebras or antelopes, waiting for a weak one to get distracted and become separated from the rest. Once a lion selects its victim, it approaches silently and patiently, until suddenly it springs and eats its prey alive, severing its jugular artery and feasting on the still-warm meat. That ferocious hunter is what God says our enemy is like (1 Peter 5.8). The devil targets weak Christians (who are undernourished from not getting enough of God’s word) and isolated ones (solitary Christians who don’t do church). 

But you being part of a church is not just good for you. You being part of a church is good for others as well. In fact, vital. Every Christian, including you if you are one, has at least one spiritual gift that is given for the express purpose of the building up of others. 1 Corinthians 12 explains that the church is like a body, and each member is an essential part of it, so just as a human body is impaired by blindness, deafness, loss of a limb or organ failure, the local church is weakened and impoverished by Christians who stay at home. 

Finally, Jesus said to his followers that the world will know we belong to him by the love we have for one another. Jesus intended the local church to be a shop window displaying his love and grace to the world. That doesn’t really work if we live in isolation from other Christians.

There’s an African proverb that says, “If you want to go quickly, you go alone, but if you want to go a long way then you go together.” When Jesus said, “I will build my church” he envisaged his project going a long way. 

So, do you have to go to church to be a Christian? It’s a bad question. Here’s a better one: how can any healthy, growing follower of Jesus reject what Jesus loved and gave his life for?

First published on King's Church Darlington's blog page.

What I Read in 2024

 

Here’s a review of my reading material during 2024. I got through 30 books altogether, plus the Bible, and I mostly enjoyed what I read. No one-star or two-stars to be seen.

 

Absolutely outstanding *****

Very good ****

A decent read ***

Hmm, OK **

Don't bother * 

Chasing the Moon: How America Beat Russia in the Space Race - Robert Stone and Alan Andres ****

 

By the beginning of the 1960s, the Soviet Union had put a satellite, a dog and a man into Earth orbit, and had successfully landed a probe on the Moon before the USA had as much as put anyone in space for even 15 minutes. How NASA turned that round to achieve the first crewed lunar circumnavigation and lunar landing is the fascinating drama related in this book. It’s truly prodigious that NASA did it using a guidance computer weighing 32 kilos, with just 36 kilobytes of memory and using less power than a 60-watt lightbulb! The book understandably focuses much more on the American story than the Soviet one as information, even in post-Soviet Russia, is so much harder to come by. The authors have a weird preoccupation with Arthur C. Clarke that I found a bit of a distracting sidebar but, apart from that slight annoyance, this is a well-written account of the 1960's race to be the first to set foot on another world.

 

Straight to the Heart of Matthew: 60 Bite-Size Insights - Phil Moore ****

 

This is one of the few in the Straight to the Heart series that curiously does not cover every verse of the book(s) it is commenting on, which is a bit of a pity. I would love to know for example what Phil says about the many holy people who were raised from the dead and walked around the streets of Jerusalem at the moment Jesus died, a verse that has always puzzled me and that is unique to Matthew. That said, this is a really good book, based on the theme that Matthew wrote about a world-shaking revolution which began with the coming of Jesus. Once again, a mine of fascinating detail is confined to the footnotes, and you lose half the benefit of reading the book if you skip over them. A readable and helpful little guide to the Gospel of Matthew.

 

The Escape Artist: The Man Who Broke Out of Auschwitz to Warn the World - Jonathan Freedland *****

 

Only five Jews successfully escaped from the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp and this book is the story of the man who was joint first, Rudolph Vrba, who audaciously broke out in April 1944. Jonathan Freedland brilliantly describes how they did it, how close they came to being caught on several occasions while on the run, and why they did it - to sound the alarm as Jews in their thousands were lining up to be deported from Hungary to their deaths. The book shows how ruthlessly efficient the Holocaust’s industrial slaughter was; most of those who arrived at Auschwitz were dead after a few hours, all totally unsuspecting, such was the meticulous deception of the Nazi machine. The chapters chronicling Vrba’s internment are predictably hard to read, but his indomitable spirit is truly astonishing. That he survived even a few months there is almost more remarkable than his escape. Amazing and baffling that Rudolph Vrba and fellow escapee Fred Wetzler are not better known. 

 

Straight to the Heart of 1 & 2 Corinthians: 60 Bite-Size Insights - Phil Moore ***

 

I love Phil Moore’s comment that God preserved these two letters in the New Testament to show us how bad the early Church could be. The first community of Christians in Corinth was a mess - and yet it was still loved by God. It’s the ideal place to start for those who romanticise the New Testament Church and also for anyone today who moans about their local church and/or stays away because they’ve been hurt by it, or find it boring, or complain that it is failing to meet all their needs, or who say it was better with the last vicar, or whatever. This book is also very helpful on what is, for me, one of the most obscure passages in the New Testament (the bit about head coverings in chapter 11). Well worth a read, but not one of the best in this series for me.

 

Jesus through Middle-Eastern Eyes: Cultural Studies in the Gospels - Kenneth E. Bailey ***

 

It is always good to glean insights into the historical context of the Bible and I was attracted to this because so much Bible scholarship available to me is from Westerners who inevitably read Scripture through their own cultural lens. So reflections on Jesus’ birth, teaching (especially parables) and interactions (especially with women) from someone who spent 40 years living and teaching in the Middle East are bound to be of interest. In truth, this is very good in parts and a little bit boring in others. At 425 pages it’s a bit too long, there's too much for example about the literary structure of the passages he examines, and I think would be a much better read if the material covered was edited down to about 70% of its published size. I’d also be interested to hear about how the substitutionary atonement is seen in the non-Western world but unfortunately this book does not cover the cross and resurrection at all. 

 

Embodied: Transgender Identities, the Church & What the Bible Has to Say - Preston Sprinkle ****

 

Preston Sprinkle (PhD) is President of The Center for Faith, Sexuality & Gender. As such he has plenty of learning and experience in this field. I slightly braced myself for the worst when the book began with a series of tales from people’s subjective feelings. As a confirmed transceptic, that for me is like starting a book about space with claims of UFO sightings from recluses living in trailers in Colorado. But the book goes on to present findings from research (with a spectrum of conclusions), take biblical perspectives seriously, and explore pastoral approaches with care and wisdom. Few will agree with every sentence of this book given that it covers one of the most explosive and polarising issues of our times but it’s hard to argue that Dr. Sprinkle has written a carefully argued popular-level book that will be a help to many bewildered Christians and gender-confused individuals.

God Has a Name - John Mark Comer ****

I don't care for the style; ultra informal, hundreds of one-sentence paragraphs, Helvetica font, pointless scribbled drawings between the chapters and published in an unusual squarer format with a slice of the cover missing; it felt very west-coast USA, self-consciously trendy, looking to appeal to a younger, audience. Strike me down if it wasn't written on a MacBook in a Portland Oregon Starbucks. But if you can get past all that, (and I like to think I am mature enough to rise above it all), this is a really good book on the character of Yahweh, working slowly through Exodus 34.4-7 line by line. It's all very well thought through and clearly explained, but chapter 6 (Maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation) is especially excellent.

Secret Believers: What Happens When Muslims Turn to Christ? - Brother Andrew with Al Janssen ****

Founder of Open Doors Brother Andrew made his name smuggling Bibles behind the iron curtain but, after the ignominious collapse of communism in Europe, he found himself increasingly drawn to the underground Church in the Muslim world which is fast growing, despite having to operate in the shadows and in the face of unrelenting persecution. False accusations of blasphemy routinely lead to kidnappings, forced marriages, threats to blow up church buildings, torture, murders, government indifference and police collusion or inaction. It is all documented in this book, but what shines through most is the joy and courage of Christian converts from Islam across the Middle East and Asia, who are often ready to lay down their lives for Christ. The book ends with a challenge to Christians in the West to respond to the challenge of Islam with love, forgiveness, prayer and holy living.

Straight to the Heart of Hebrews and James: 60 Bite-Size Insights - Phil Moore ****

James and Hebrews are the only two letters in the New Testament addressed principally to Jewish believers in Jesus, but there is plenty here to take on board for Gentiles too. I really liked this book. It contrasts classic synagogue preaching with James' new covenant message and is very helpful on the so-called warning passages in Hebrews. I have always been struck by how strong a theme the superiority of Christ is in Hebrews but this book helped me see that it is an important factor in James as well.

The Exchange - John Grisham ***

John Grisham reprises Mitch and Abby McDeere, last heard of in the legal thriller that made him famous, The Firm. Here they are, 15 years on, now living in New York City, where Abby publishes niche cookbooks and Mitch is a partner in a large multinational law firm. Assigned a case for his client, a Turkish construction company disputing a huge unpaid bill by Colonel Gadhafi's Libya, a female colleague gets kidnapped by murderous thugs demanding a $100 million ransom with a 10-day deadline. Somehow, Abby gets roped into helping arrange her release, which is problematic because the terrorists are disinclined to negotiate and the good guys are struggling to round up enough cash. I was hoping for a few more twists and turns, but this is nonetheless a pretty decent cliff-hanger.

Elders: Developing Elders and Revitalising Teams - P.J. Smyth *****

A very readable and comprehensive survey of eldership; the qualities required, how you select, train and appoint, team dynamics, roles and much more. All of it was worth reading and I can’t think of much else you could add. The questions for reflection and discussion at the end of each chapter make it a very useful tool for working through the material. The big question it begs is how usable this resource is, given the author’s very public standing down from church leadership following his alleged dishonesty during an investigation into historic abuse by his late father. (In mitigation, Andrew Graystone, who authored a book on serial abuser John Smyth, says PJ was his first and most damaged victim). I don’t know what to think. Does Moses’ murder of an Egyptian invalidate Moses' ministry and tarnish the first five books of the Bible? Does David's adultery and plot to kill Uriah render half of the Psalms unusable? Clearly not. I just know this is a really good book and it’s sad, though understandable, that its withdrawal from sale means it probably won’t ever have the impact its content deserves. 

The Partner - John Grisham ****

A lawyer fakes his own death in a burned-out car wreck, steals $90 million from his legal firm’s bank account and disappears off to Brazil. He is a wanted man, hunted down as a suspect for theft and murder but things are not always as they seem, and a series of unexpected twists steers the story in a direction few would expect. It seems this lawyer is always one step ahead of the game. Or is he? Right up to the last page of the final chapter, you never quite know what might happen next. 

The Confession - John Grisham ***

A little darker than usual for John Grisham, this legal thriller centres around an innocent man on death row, a few days from his execution, and the man who is actually guilty of the crime coming out of the shadows, ready to confess all. The death penalty in Texas is portrayed as being in the hands of a polarised and politicised judicial system, a Governor with one eye on the opinion polls and a sensationalist media always eager to stoke the fires for higher ratings. In this book, *spoiler alert* that potent cocktail sends an innocent young man to his death on the flimsy evidence of a forced confession and one fabricated eyewitness testimony. Like watching a slow-motion train crash, this book just left me feeling a bit sick.

 

Jesus through the Eyes of Women: How the First Female Disciples Help Us Know and Love the Lord - Rebecca McLaughlin *****

I love Rebecca McLaughlin's writing and I was not disappointed by this short book on how women in the four Gospels see and experience Jesus' life. From the maternal intimacy of his mother Mary and relative Elizabeth, to sinful women, to broken and chronically sick women, to generous women who financed his mission, there is much to explore - from Jesus' conception and birth all the way to the cross and the empty tomb. Full of inspirational observations, and amply illustrated with touching anecdotes, mostly from Rebecca’s own family life, this is just a very enjoyable and edifying read.

The Good Shepherd: A Thousand-Year Journey from Psalm 23 to the New Testament - Kenneth E. Bailey ****

This book is a real gem. Using Psalm 23 as a launchpad, and working through passages in Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Zechariah, Matthew, Luke, John, 1 Peter and, particularly outstanding, Mark, Kenneth E. Bailey shows how scripture repeats and develops this key theme. Bailey likes to dwell on rhetoric (the patterned structure of the original Hebrew and Greek) which I find a bit boring to be honest, but his commentary on the passages selected, informed by the testimonies and observations of real Middle Eastern shepherds, is a delight. For those of us living in the West, detached from rural life, there is much to open the eyes here on what must be, apart from 'Father', the Bible's most important metaphor of God's character.

Straight to the Heart of 1 Thessalonians to Titus: 60 Bite-Size Insights - Phil Moore ****

It is quite a feat to find a unifying theme between Paul's Thessalonica letters and those to Timothy and Titus. The former were among his earliest letters and the latter among his last, including his very last (2 Timothy). Phil Moore goes for 'turning scrap metal into gold', the work of sanctification, seen worked out as true converts, true warriors, truly fruitful, truly mature and truly ready. With his customary abundance of interesting illustrations and helpful historical notes, Phil deals with the controversial and (to some modern minds) offensive passages in 1 Timothy 1, 2 and 3 very straightforwardly. He understands them in their most natural sense, rather than ingeniously dovetailing them with the morals and politics of 21st Century Western culture, as some are inclined to do. That won't win him any friends. But (and this is a trustworthy saying worthy of full acceptance) it does make this devotional commentary feel reassuringly honest.

Born Again this Way: Coming Out, Coming to Faith and What Comes Next - Rachel Gilson *****

Rachel Gilson is a same-sex attracted woman from an atheist background who surprised herself - and everyone who knew her - by becoming a Christian while an undergraduate at Yale University. This book describes the journey she took from her openly lesbian lifestyle to getting married to a man she grew to love and becoming a mother via her shock conversion to Christ. This is an intelligent and articulate exploration of the paths that same-sex attracted Christians must navigate, and what support they need, if they choose to be obedient to Jesus and say no to our Christ-rejecting culture. Full of surprises, I found this book to be realistic about the difficulties of celibacy and the cost of discipleship, but also inspirational about the all-sufficiency of Christ. There is so much of value here both for singles, whether same-sex attracted or not, and married couples.

Born to Be a Footballer: My Autobiography - Liam Brady ***

Liam Brady was an Irish footballer who made his name at Arsenal in the 1970s before playing in Italy for four different clubs and ending his career at West Ham United. He was a big star at Highbury, but his playing days there coincided with an era when I was less interested in football, partly because that team (Liam excepted) was pretty mediocre, and partly because I was more interested in music than sport at that age. Liam’s autobiography gives the inside story of his glittering playing days, including for his country (cursed as the Republic of Ireland was by a long series of inexplicable and terrible refereeing decisions) as well as management, which went badly, sitting on TV panels and running the Academy at Arsenal. His story gives some interesting angles on Irish geopolitics, moving to foreign countries, and internal football club politics. Oh, and it turns out he is a very big Bob Dylan fan. Good lad…

The International Gospel Outreach: the First 40 Years - Kingsley Armstrong ***

I was passed this short book by a friend and colleague who has married into the IGO family and was encouraged to read all about it. From humble beginnings in 1967 Kingsley Armstrong tells the story of how IGO has grown as a missional fraternity having an impact in over 75 nations around the world. I love their passion for the glory of God, their excitement about the baptism in the Holy Spirit and their relentless desire to see the gospel preached to every nation, tribe and tongue. IGO has now been going for 57 years; long may it continue.

Straight to the Heart of Joshua, Judges and Ruth: 60 Bite-Size Insights - Phil Moore ***

For many people, Joshua and Judges will not be candidates to be their favourite books in the Bible; Joshua specialises in smiting and Judges specialises in sinning, and it's pretty dark times. If you're reading the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, when you get to Ruth it feels like a great relief. If I'm honest, Phil Moore fails to lighten the gloom, even with his overriding theme of the God who keeps on giving; giving a promised land (Joshua), giving undeserving Israel chance after chance (Judges), and giving a redeemer who points to a Saviour (Ruth). Phil Moore is always good value, but this wasn't one of his best for me.

Confronting Jesus: 9 Encounters with the Hero of the Gospels - Rebecca McLaughlin ***

Rebecca McLaughlin is an expert in spotting wonderful biblical links in family anecdotes, theatre, films and literature, but in this book I just felt there was a bit too much of it, and also some of the works she explores (Hamilton, Harry Potter, Doctor Who...) I just don't personally warm to at all. Confronting Jesus explores 9 aspects of Jesus' person and work; Jesus the Jew, the Son, the King, the Healer, the Teacher, the Lover, the Servant, the Sacrifice (which is the best chapter for me), and the Lord. A decent read, but not her best work in my view.

Titanic Lives: Migrants and Millionaires, Conmen and Crew - Richard Davenport-Hines **** 

Weighing in at well over 400 pages, this is a longer read but I have to say that the first 100 pages of background information into the worlds of shipping, migration, industry and Irish politics in the late 19th- and early 20th Centuries were nothing like as engaging as what followed. In fact, I think it could all have been condensed into about half of the space and the book would have been better for it. Oxford historian Davenport Hines’ painstaking research into the owners, crew, and first class, second class and steerage passengers is meticulous. The final two chapters on the fatal collision with the iceberg and the legacy of the ship’s sinking a hundred years later (Titanic Lives was published shortly before the centenary) are by far the most readable sections of the book, and the summary of who lived and who perished across the divides of sex, age and class are fascinating. 

Paul Simon: The Life - Robert Hilburn ****

I love Paul Simon's music so I was eager to read this authorised biography, published in 2018, so including Stranger to Stranger, but before In the Blue Light. It was interesting to read about his complex, on-off working relationship with Art Garfunkel (who doesn't come across well throughout the book; resentful, high-maintenance, a bit needy and self-absorbed). Every get-together seems to have been a struggle. Paul Simon is portrayed here as something of a perfectionist, to the point of being stubborn and over-controlling. This tendency produced masterpieces like The Boxer, Bridge Over Troubled Water, Kodachrome, Late in the Evening, Hearts and Bones, Graceland and Diamonds on the Soles of Their Shoes. But Hilburn shows how it accounts for the cinematic and theatrical flops that were One Trick Pony and The Capeman both of which would have benefitted from production expertise from Hollywood and Broadway. It is interesting as well to chart how the ups and downs in Paul Simon's personal life impacted his creative output - for better and for worse.

The Message of the Cross - Derek Tidball *****

At 320 pages, this is one of the more weighty BST books and only the second in the Themes series I have read. In short, it is absolutely outstanding. Expounding passages from the Old Testament, the Gospels, the letters and Revelation to survey the cross as anticipated, experienced, explained and applied, Derek Tidball, former Principal of London Bible College, gives us a scholarly but accessible study of this most glorious of Bible themes. I loved seeing how the 4 evangelists present different facets of the cross and I particularly appreciated the chapters on Isaiah 53 and Hebrews 10. First class.

Straight to the Heart of 1 & 2 Samuel: 60 Bite-Size Insights - Phil Moore ****

The stories of Saul and David and all that surrounds them are a very rich source of theological, pastoral and practical wisdom. Phil Moore explores 1 and 2 Samuel through the lens of asking what sort of person can God use? One like David - and one unlike Saul; i.e. a man or woman who is humble, obedient, pure, who loves God's name and is repentant. This is the 18th of this 25-book series I have read, and I think (with Mark, John, Romans and the Minor Prophets) it's one of the best.

The Associate - John Grisham ***

A young lawyer about to graduate is blackmailed over a compromising video that has got into the hands the wrong guys. He now has to hack into the ultra secure computers of his new law firm employers to access secrets on a high-tech fighter jet over which there is an ongoing legal dispute between two defence giants. The usual stuff from John Grisham; a great story with intriguing subplots. But this one has a slightly underwhelming ending where there is still no clarity on who the bad guys really are or why they want what they want. And what happens to his relationship with his love interest? It's a bit of a pity to turn 400-odd pages and finally put the book down with unresolved threads. Badly needs a sequel.

Letters to the Church - Francis Chan ***

I put off reading this book for about two years, having picked it up for a couple of quid in a second-hand bookshop. I delayed because I always find Francis Chan so radical and challenging that he disrupts and disturbs my comfortable existence too much. In Letters to the Church he shares some of the things he's learned after leaving his megachurch in prosperous, suburban Simi Valley, California to embark on an itinerant ministry in Asia, before returning to the USA to plant a house church network in one of America's most liberal, dechristianised cities; San Francisco. Letters to the Church is a call to reject a consumer mentality; saying no to church with entertaining preaching, great worship bands, quality children's ministry, and every comfort, and saying yes instead to small, simple, self-multiplying home-based cells that emphasise the Acts 2 essentials of teaching, community, prayer and communion. Lots to take away, but maybe this book speaks louder and more relevantly to America than it does to Europe.

Straight to the Heart of John: 60 Bite-Size Insights - Phil Moore ****

Another one of the better Straight to the Heart books. I have read John's Gospel I-don't-know-how-many-times, but I discovered many new things from this book, which explores John through the lens of looking at Jesus in a new way, which is of course precisely what the fourth Gospel does, supplementing the synoptics. Always really good on historical explanation and contemporary illustration, this is a decent read.

Good News of Great Joy: 25 Devotional Readings for Advent - John Piper ***

Our church decided to do a congregational Advent devotional read this year and this was the little book chosen for the exercise. Four testimonies from diverse worshippers on the Sunday before Christmas showed that different people got different things from the book, but all were very positive. It's a very short read; one to three minutes a day, so it's ideal for people who don't normally read books, but each day offers food for thought and deeper reflection. The book doesn't stick to Luke and Matthew at all, but spends time all over the New Testament and, such is the focus on what Jesus came to do, that most of it could be repurposed as a devotional for Easter. About £14 hardback or free to download from the Desiring God website, it is affordable for everyone.

Carrying the Fire: An Astronaut's Journeys - Michael Collins *****

Command Module Pilot Michael Collins is the guy who went to the moon and back with Armstrong and Aldrin but was in orbit 60 miles high while Neil and Buzz were making history as the first humans to set foot on the lunar surface. He is therefore probably the less well-known of the Apollo 11 crew, but the mission would have been unthinkable, indeed impossible, without him. Starting with his application to NASA while a test pilot, being rejected, then selected and trained, leading to the missions of Gemini 10 and of course the historic Apollo 11, this is a fascinating personal record of NASA in the 1960s with candid pen pictures of the various personalities involved. I've heard it said that, of all the Apollo era personnel, Collins writes best and I agree that his command of English, his description of what each astronaut had to do (helpfully related in layman's terms) and his detailed memories of what it felt like to be there make this a highly enjoyable read.

The Holy Bible (New Living Translation) *****

I decided at the beginning of the year, for the first time since using the Segond Revisée when I lived in France, to change the Bible translation I read and use every day. I have to say, by early April, I was longing to go back to my trusty NIV which I find more elegant and, of greater importance, more accurate. The NLT tends to explain terms to a non-technical readership, adding words that are not there in Hebrew or Greek to aid understanding, which is fine for beginners - even helpful - but it was a bit of a distraction for me. At the end of the day, look, it's the word of God, so it gets its five stars but, for me at least, the NIV's five stars are always going to shine that little bit brighter!