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Read It! - February 2019

We live in an age of confusion and uncertainty. As a result, our culture is untethered from truth and disconnected from reality. Christian readers are renewed and refreshed, then, when an author courageously asserts what God has plainly revealed in a winsome and compelling way. Such is the case in The Story of His Glory, the new publication from the pen of Brian Hedges.

One of the great strengths of this work is the author’s posture of humble certainty. His certainty is not found in his own abilities or his intellectual acumen. Rather, his certitude is wholly depended upon the written Word of God.

The author invites readers on a journey through the Bible that begins in Genesis 1:1 and ends in the closing verses of Revelation 22. What takes place in between is the greatest story ever told; a story that has both personal and cosmic implications.

The story begins with the Creator God who made all things for his glory. As such, he exercises comprehensive authority over his creation. Adam disobeyed God in the Garden of Eden which subsequently affected all humanity, leaving us under the wrath of God for our sin.

Hedges guides readers from creation and Fall to the redemption where God’s Son, the Lord Jesus Christ becomes the fulfillment of the promise that God made with Abraham. Jesus lives the life that none of us could live and dies a death we all deserve to die. “Jesus was our representative,” writes Hedges, “whose sinless life and perfect obedience would bring life and salvation.” Jesus bears the sin of every person who would ever believe. “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit …” (1 Pet. 3:18). Jesus was crucified, buried, resurrected on the third day, and ascended to the right hand of the Father, where makes intercession for his people.

The author stresses the need for creatures to recognize their accountability to God. Each person is not only invited to come to Jesus for salvation; each person is commanded to come. When a person receives the free gift of salvation, everything must be reorganized around the lordship of Jesus Christ. Hedges writes, “The cosmic regeneration will be nothing less than the reordering of the entire universe under the lordship of Jesus Christ and God his Father.” In other words, as stated above, the implications of the gospel are both personal and cosmic. Each follower of Christ is commissioned, then, to share this timeless story to the nations!

There is much to commend in The Story of His Glory. The writing is clear and exalts the triune God. The author sets forth a basic biblical theology that is both understandable and engaging. He introduces the high points of God’s historical redemptive purposes.

Hedges book is the shortest of them all. However, it is also the most likely to be read because of its readable format.

This work is so valuable that each incoming member of the church where I serve as Senior pastor will receive a copy. It is also a fitting gift for unbelievers. Such a gift will undoubtedly spark discussion and open doors for conversation about the gospel.

The Story of His Glory may possibly be the shortest book you’ll read all year. But it will surely be among the most powerful.