76 pages worth reading
April 8, 2014
A Christian's Pocket Guide to Jesus Christ - Mark Jones, CFP 2012 - This book is gold. I can't remember the last time I read such a small book that has had such an effect on me. At 76 pages I think it's worth almost memorising! There are lots of really helpful emphases, particularly Jones's treatment of the Incarnation, Christ and the Holy Spirit, and the Threefold Office of Christ. It is Christology from above and is a very helpful introduction indeed. It could be used in a variety of contexts in church life and will leave people wanting, even craving, more.
There are some wonderful quotes. Let me give you two - one from Thomas Goodwin:
''What a wonder is it, that two natures infinitely distant , should be more intimately united than anything in the world; and yet without any confusion! That the same person should have both a glory and a grief; an infinite joy in the Deity, and an inexpressible sorrow in the humanity! That a God upon a throne should be an infant in a cradle; the thundering Creator be a weeping babe and a suffering man, are such expressions of mighty power, as well as condescending love, that they astonish men upon earth, and angels in heaven.' p14
and one from Jones himself..
'In this union between the two natures there is the greatest distance involved. The creator is identified with a creature. In the union of the two natures one sees eternity and temporality, eternal blessedness and temporal sorrow, Almightiness and weakness, omniscience and ignorance, unchangeableness and changeableness, infinity and finitude. All of these disparate attributes come together in the person of Jesus Christ.' p10
Buy and read.
