John Piper (1) (1946–)

First sentence: The aim of this book is to help you love the second coming of Jesus Christ. The contents and title were inspired partly by the biblical prayers "Come, Lord Jesus!" (Revelation 22:20) and "Our Lord, come! (1 Corinthians 16:22). But mainly the book was inspired by the heart affection beneath these prayers which Paul expressed in 2 Timothy 4:8: There is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to show more me but also to all who have loved his appearing. A crown of righteousness is promised to those who love the second coming of Christ. We pray for his appearing, because we love his appearing.

Come, Lord Jesus is a weighty book. Perhaps I have misunderstood the word 'meditation' for most of my life--possible, for sure. I was expecting meaty devotions themed around the second coming, end times, last days, final judgment, heaven, new heaven and earth. I was not expecting a scholarly work packed--stuffed--with footnotes. I wasn't expecting Greek, Greek, and more Greek. There is a LOT for readers to unpack. This is no 5-minute-rice theology.

The theme is right on target. I would say it covers--end times, signs of the the last days, final judgment, tribulation, second coming, rapture, new heaven and earth, etc. It spans the teachings of the New Testament (New Testament authors). It seeks to reconcile the teachings of Jesus and Paul, to name an example.

I would say it challenges readers from the start. It asks much. And that's not a bad thing. To read without engaging this one would be a disservice. It asks you to think, to consider, to ponder, to wrestle with your own views and traditions. It holds the Bible in highest esteem. It lays out the Bible for you--chapter and verse. It unpacks all the angles. Piper has his views, but he is 'showing his work' if you will and not asking you to take his word for it on blind faith.

I found it thought-provoking. Even when I wanted to stop thinking about it, I couldn't. The end times, like it or not, can make you squirm a bit, be a bit uncomfortable. There are some subjects where I tend to be a little like Scarlett O'Hara, I'll think about that tomorrow. For me, the end times is that subject I'm always pushing to tomorrow. I think because it is so easy to get confused and stay confused. Perhaps because it is a subject that can feel extra-heated. Sometimes people have very STRONG feelings on what they think will happen, how it all unfolds. Trigger warning: Piper doesn't hold to a separate rapture of believers occurring pre-tribulation (or mid-tribulation for that matter). He believes in ONE second coming--the verses that speak of believers meeting him in the air is the same second coming where he's coming to judge the world.

I can honestly say that I've never asked myself the question do I [actively] love the second coming of Christ. Passively sure I think many Christians fall into that camp. But actively--desiring, longing, hoping, loving--that's a BIG, bold statement. Piper, especially at the beginning and perhaps again towards the end, makes the argument that "the test of our love for the Christ who HAS appeared is our longing for the Christ who WILL appear." He argues that it is our LOVE for his appearing that enables us to ENDURE through anything/everything. It is our LOVE for his appearing, so Piper claims Paul writes, that protects our hearts and minds from loving this world too much, from becoming too entangled with worldly-world influences. It is our LOVE for his appearing that will encourage and promote holy living--sanctification. It is our LOVE for his appearing that will keep us gathering together as believers and encouraging one another.

Piper further writes that it isn't enough to love certain things about his second coming [loving the gifts more than the giver] but our love for the second coming needs to fit into Christ's purpose for coming again. Here Piper does what Piper does best--talk about GLORY and delighting in the GLORY of the Lord. (Christian hedonism is Piper's default mode.) Here in this one it does make sense though.

He writes, "Absolutely crucial to God's ultimate purpose in the second coming is not only that the glory of Christ be revealed, but that it be loved. Rightly loved."

I am glad I read this one. It may be worth revisiting again. For being a book about the end of times or "day of the Lord" it covers SO much theological territory.

One of my favorite quotes:

Our hope is that the joy we have tasted in this life (1 Peter 2:3) will be given an injection of supernatural capacity beyond imagination. This is what Jesus prayed for. This is what will happen. God will pour his own love for Christ into us. We will enjoy Christ with the very enjoyment of God. It is true that our joy in Jesus even now is a work of God--God the Holy Spirit. Our joy in God and his Son is owing to the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives, creating the capacity to delight in God and Christ (Romans 14:17; 15:13; 1 Thessalonians 1:6)... Jesus promises that he will go further: he will make God known in new and unimagined ways, with the result that God's own love for the Son will become more fully our own love for the Son, so that we will be able to enjoy Christ with the purity and intensity we ought. We will not be lamed by our present worldliness and remaining corruptions, and by the constrains of a fallen body. show less

Is the Christian God happy?

This is the question John Piper poses in The Pleasures of God, and I found it a fascinating one with rich theological implications. We are used to the idea of God as the angry Judge, the distant Creator, or the weeping, suffering Christ. And while there are facets of biblical truth in all these, they are not the sum total of God's character. Where is the joyful God?

Surprisingly (at least to me), there is quite a lot of biblical support for the notion of a happy show more God. God does what He pleases; He takes pleasure in His will and actions. And He is completely self-sufficient in the beautiful relationship among the Godhead. He doesn't need us to complete Him and He is not desperate to get our attention or love. One of Piper's main ideas is a quote from Henry Scougal, who wrote, "The worth and excellency of a soul is to be measured by object of its love." Apply this to God and wow — God has to be self-centered because He is the highest being in the universe. If He were to put us, His creation, before Himself, He would be guilty of idolatry. Whoa! And so it is only right for God's highest priority to be His glory.

And we as His children are to share in the Father's joy in His glory. Again and again Piper drives home his point: God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him. It is a simple but life-changing truth.

Alongside the happier descriptions, Scripture does portray God as the judge and ruler of the earth, a holy God who is deeply affronted by our sin against Him. Jesus weeps over Jerusalem, just as God bemoans the unfaithfulness of His people Israel in the Old Testament. And how can God take pleasure in everything He does? Did He enjoy crushing His Son for the sin of ungrateful people? Does He enjoy punishing sinners? Piper doesn't shy away from these questions and his answers are firmly biblical. Most of the time the apparent contradiction is because we are focusing on the wrong thing. God does not delight in punishing sinners, but He does delight in exalting His holiness. God did not enjoy watching His Son suffer, but He does rejoice the Son's perfect obedience and powerful, God-glorifying work of salvation. There are many things we don't understand about God, but we can be assured that any contradictions are on our side, not His.

I'm still processing the theological ramifications of a joyful God. This means that God is not acting under constraint when I ask Him for forgiveness — no, He delights in forgiving me and covering my sin! God does not get tired of my repetitious, needy prayers — no, He truly enjoys listening to me and fulfilling my needs. God does not weary of His work or regret His decisions; He is not like us.

I enjoyed the lengthy notes at the end of each chapter; Piper's not afraid to go intellectual on his reader. The discussion of hard questions, especially the Father's seemingly paradoxical traits, is excellent. Piper has a gift for vivid metaphors, like the false idea of God as a trough we have to keep filling up with praise and prayer so that He will be able to fulfill our needs. But God is not a trough; He doesn't need a bucket brigade. He is a river inviting thirsty souls to drink, and there is nothing we can do to sustain or complete Him. We are the needy ones, not Him.

This was my first book by Piper and I will certainly be returning to his work. Excellent. show less

As I close a finished book, few leave me wanting to start at page one and read it again. But, the impact of John Piper’s "Spectacular Sins and Their Global Purpose in the Glory of Christ" was so profound that as I read the last page, I immediately wanted to soak more of its truth into my bones, starting again with the first page. Apparently I am not alone in my admiration. In 2009, Piper’s work in this small gem won the prestigious Evangelical Christian Publishers Association Medallion show more of Excellence Christian Book Award. With good reason. Piper’s ability to interpret heady doctrinal beliefs into soul language that translates into practical application has established him as one of the great Christian thinkers of modern time.

Piper tackles God’s sovereignty over sin and evil, always with a finger in the Bible, in a way that was truly paradigm-shifting for me. Using Colossians 1:16 as his key passage, Piper gives us a glimpse into why God allows evil to even exist: “For by Him all things were created, things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities, all things were created by Him and for Him.” Indeed, he continues, even evil rulers and authorities were created by God with full knowledge of “what they would become and how it is that precisely in that evil role they would glorify Christ.” This author lays his groundwork in the first couple chapters of "Spectacular Sins" demonstrating that “spectacular sins do not just fail to nullify God’s purpose to glorify Christ, they succeed, by God’s unfathomable providence, in making [H]is gracious purpose come to pass.”

In the remainder of this book, this engaging author examines some of history’s greatest sins – from Satan’s rebellion against God to Judas’ spectacular betrayal of Jesus Christ . As Piper visits these most famous of all sins, he continually points us to God’s greater purpose and hand in using evil to ultimately “magnify the glory of our Savior and increase the gladness of [H]is people in [H]im.”

Through "Spectacular Sins", Piper provided me with a fresh glimpse into God’s great plan of salvation, established before the foundation of the world. Jesus’ death and resurrection was not an afterthought; it was not God’s answer to the waywardness of humanity. The Cross was and is, the ultimate display of His incredible grace, mercy and love, made all the more beautiful in light of evil’s intentions. When wounded by others’ sin, may I stand with Joseph, the man whose brothers sold him into slavery and who eventually saved the nation of Israel, in saying, “You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good.” show less

This book is a plea that God himself, as revealed most clearly and fully in Jesus’s death and resurrection, be seen and enjoyed as the final and greatest gift of the gospel.

The gospel of Jesus and his many precious blessings are not ultimately what makes the good news good, but means of seeing and savoring the Savior himself. Forgiveness is good because it opens the way to enjoying God himself. Justification is good because it wins access to the presence and pleasure of God himself. show more Eternal life is good because it becomes the everlasting enjoyment of Jesus.

All God’s good gifts are loving to the degree that they lead us to God himself. This is the love of God: doing everything necessary, most painfully in the death of his Son, to enthrall us with what is most deeply and durably satisfying―namely, himself. show less