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The Message of the Cross

The cross - for your mind & heart

THE MESSAGE OF THE CROSS
By Derek Tidball
IVP (The Bible Speaks Today series)
319 pages + study guide. £9.99
ISBN 0 85111 543 8

I fear that many church people think they know the message of the cross and have stopped thinking about it. Here is a book to challenge and nourish them. Or to build a sermon series from.

IVP's 'Bible Speaks Today' series is well known for its generally marvellous volumes on Old and New Testament books. Now they also tackle 'Bible Themes', under the editorship of Derek Tidball, Principal of London Bible College and author of The Message of the Cross.

The approach is to select and expound 18 different Bible passages, to show how God teaches us about the death of Christ through each of them. I would have liked more than five Old Testament passages (we are given Abraham and Isaac, the Passover, the Day of Atonement, Psalm 22, and Isaiah 53), but the finished product is satisfying to both mind and heart. And very readable.

The most exciting and enlightening section was the four expositions of the gospel accounts of Jesus's death, which form the heart of the book. We are focused on the messianic deliverance of Jesus in Matthew, the suffering kingship of Jesus in Mark, the saving compassion of Jesus in Luke, the life-giving glory of Jesus in John. These are perceptive and skilful expositions with succinct summary paragraphs.

Tidball does not duck doctrinal disagreements. He argues for penal substitution and propitiation, favouring Stott, Cranfield and Morris, while arguing with Dodd, Travis and (at times) Smail. But he is keen on a rich variety of metaphors to help us understand the work of the cross in all its colours, and is particularly keen to show how the death of the Messiah inaugurates a new age of God's dealing with his world. Issues such as power and weakness, reconciliation, victory and the disciple's own cross of suffering are all discussed in relation to the cross of Jesus.

It is true to say that most of the profound thoughts in this book occur in quotes from others, but the author's structure, chapter headings and divisions are most helpful and illuminating, and reading this fine book was a rich experience. No time spent gazing afresh on the cross could ever be wasted.

James Dudley-Smith, Wimborne