“God of Promise” by Michael Horton

A few months ago, I found out that a favorite author of mine, Michael Horton, had finished a new book on a topic of great interest to me. I touched on the reasons for this in yesterday’s post, but didn’t go into any great detail.

This book presents covenant theology just as I had expected from this author. There is a fair amount of terms that are new to me, but wherever these occur, Horton does a fantastic job of unpacking them for us. This is why I was so excited about this book. The author does not hold back on the concepts that may be difficult for modern people to comprehend, nor does he assume that we are unable to understand them with a little explanation.

He begins with some very clear reasons why covenant theology produces churches comprised of Christians who long to embrace the blessings that come with being a part of something, rather than just having a personal, segmented faith. No, he does not say that dispensationalism produces a dualistic worldview on its own and I am not doing this either. But an understanding of what comprises the covenants and an understanding of how one is covered in a covenant relationship has enhanced my own faith and increased my longing for more teaching toward this end.

He also does a wonderful job of explaining the customary roles of a suzerain and vassal in ancient covenants, using the biblical accounts as well as secular accounts from the Hittites and others. He shows that the covenants that Israel entered into with God had the same components as those of their neighbors, so the people would understand the meaning of such things as the elders of Israel eating with God on Mt. Ararat, the matter of the people in Israel who had promised to obey the law and just what the stipulations in the covenants did and did not say. The roles that baptism and the Lord’s table play today are descended from this understanding, but Horton does not make his book into an opponent of creedobaptism.

There’s much more to this book than I have time to write about, but please allow me to recommend it to you, whether you are already a covenant believer who wants a greater grasp of covenant theology, a dispensational believer who just wants to understand what covenant theology is and is not, or a believer who is curious about what covenant theology is all about. Even if the book does not convince you that the Bible is best understood in terms of covenants, you will come away from it with a new appreciation for who God is and what He does through His covenant.

I received a free copy of this book through Discerning Reader, once again the finest source of biblical book reviews from a reformed angle.