God's Honours List

God's Honours List
By Peter Lewis
Hodder & Stoughton. 218 pages. £5.99
ISBN 0 340 66139 9

Have you read Peter Lewis on The Lord's Prayer? I have - and quoted it in sermons - and had it as a successful 'Book of the Month'. I was therefore delighted to realise that Peter has followed this with another book written at a popular level, this time on Hebrews 11.
Hebrews 11 is one of the richest seams of biographical gold in the Scriptures, and we need all the help we can get with the mining. Peter digs deep in 24 pithy chapters. Here they are, from Abraham to David, those 'who through faith conquered kingdoms . . .', including Jepthah, where we have the most sensitive evaluation of that intriguing character that I have ever read. The final chapter rightly carries us into Hebrews 12.1-2, 'Faith looking unto Jesus'.
The writing reveals (as one would expect) a deep knowledge of the Scriptures and wide reading, and (crucially) lots of application. There are some telling sentences: on Abraham being called to count the stars - 'We have the Scriptures which are better than the stars. Abraham had a silent witness, we have a talking book.' Come to think of it, I'll quote that in a sermon - and have God's Honours List as 'Book of the Month'.

Tony Baker