Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ

Book Details

Discerning Reader Editorial Review

Reviewed 06/27/2010 by Mark Tubbs.

Recommended. An invitation to freshly behold the lion-like Lamb of God in all his fullness.

"Taste and see that the Lord is good!", Psalm 34:8 commands us, emphasized by an exclamation point. Yet many Christians live lives of quiet desperation, never experiencing the fullness of living with all spiritual and physical senses attuned to God - what Jonathan Edwards called "religious affections." As with all John Piper's work, Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ seeks both to update Edwards' concepts for the 21st century, and to magnify the timeless beauty of Jesus Christ.

Ten of the thirteen chapters of this book were originally written as articles for The Standard, a Minneapolis-area newspaper. As such, Piper isn't writing only for the churchgoer but for the masses.

Appropriately, Piper begins the book by establishing the authenticity of Jesus, not grounded only in rigorous, academic, historical research, but in self-authenticating, divine truth. That is, if Jesus is real, He will not only be able to be intellectually understood, but sensed and experienced. Piper is adamant about the importance of this quest:

Everything is at stake. There is no more important issue in life than seeing Jesus for who he is really is and savoring what we see above all else.

He goes on to explore multiple facets of Christ's person and work, demonstrating how everything Christ was, is, did, does, will be, and will do serves to magnify His glory.

Much could be said about each and every chapter, but that would shortchange you of the experience of reading the book in its entirety. I will restrict myself to a few comments about the chapter I found most surprising.

Preparing a sermon on Colossians 1 back in January, I turned to chapter 3, entitled "The Lion and the Lamb: The Excellence of Jesus Christ." Expecting to find a discussion of Christ's various attributes, Piper caught me off guard with the Edwardsian statement that "What makes Christ glorious...is 'an admirable conjunction of diverse excellences.' " In other words, everything that Christ is, taken together, is what makes Him glorious. Piper goes on to give examples:

...we admire Christ for his transcendence, but even more because the transcendence of his greatness is mixed with submission to God. We marvel at him because his uncompromising justice is tempered with mercy. His majesty is sweetened by meekness...

This brief, 5-page chapter served me well because like so many Christians, especially Western ones, I am prone to over-compartmentalize. But God defies compartmentalization! The chapter ends with a rousing prayer, climaxing with this petition:

Oh, how we need the whole Christ! Open our eyes to see the fullness of his excellence. Remove the lopsided and distorted images of your Son that weaken our worship and lame our obedience. May the power of the Lion and the love of the Lamb make our faith in Christ unshakable.

Needless to mention for those who know John Piper, the book is Scripture-saturated. Every chapter concludes with an ardent prayer that these verses and thoughts will soak into the reader's mind and being. Along with whomever wrote the blurb on the front jacket flap, I invite you to come to a fresh awareness of the fact that

There is no more important issue in life than seeing Jesus for who He really is, and savoring Him above all else. Let this book be your companion as you discover Him.