John Pipers - the Message - Burden of the Author

The Message/Burden of the Author

To say that John Pipers' work is passionate is to present it with restraint. Let the Nations Be Glad spews passion! The object of that passion, from the preface to the conclusion, is the supremacy of God. The author challenges the reader to expand his/her understanding of God's mission and invites him/her to become personally involved in the cause all the while he fans the flames of devotion to God. Piper explains that, "Where passion for God is weak, zeal for missions will be weak" (Piper 2003, 18).

The supremacy of God is the pipeline of the book. The first three chapters build the foundation for this prevalent characteristic focusing on God's supremacy in missions, the purpose, the power, and the price. Piper tells us that worship is the fuel, the purpose of missions. "It's the goal of missions [worship is] because in missions we simply aim to bring the nations into the white-hot enjoyment of God's glory" (2003, 17). God desires to glorify Himself. At the same time, "God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him" (Ibid., 31). These two are not at odds, but they rather are complimentary. God's passion for His own glory increases His passion for my satisfaction in that glory (Ibid., 32).

The power of prayer comes from God and He receives the glory while we are supplied the grace we need for the task He gives. The author describes the ministry and missions as a battlefield. "Paul encourages Timothy to see his ministry as war: 'This charge I entrust to you, Timothy, my child, in accordance with the prophecies previously made about you, that by them you may wage the good warfare' " (1 Tim. 1:18). The purpose of prayer is to glorify God. He is the victor who supplies the power. We as His needy people are communicating with Him (praying) and as we ask, He releases His power according to His will. Piper soberly reminds us that prayer is for war. Satan is our enemy and desires that no one (in any nation) comes to salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ.

The price for sharing the supremacy of God's worth in missions is loss, suffering, and can also be death. Missionaries such as Henry Martin, Richard Wurmbrand and the Apostle Paul have suffered and died for the cause of Christ. They all joyfully accepted their loss and suffering for the Kingdom: "The supremacy of God's worth is more clearly seen in the world than all worship and prayer" (Piper 2003, 71). These men lived out genuine faith for the nations to see that Jesus Christ is worth the suffering and pain.

General Evaluation/Strong Points/Reflections

A strong emphasis of the book that flies in the face of pluralism (even in evangelical circles) focuses on the question, Is Jesus Christ the only way to be saved? Piper suggests that this crucial question could actually be broken down into three questions. The first is, will the unsaved experience hell and be aware of it? The second question asks, is the work of Jesus the only way provided by God for salvation? Finally, is it necessary for people to hear of Jesus Christ in order to be eternally saved? All three questions are answered with Biblical support and we must answer them as God does and not with our opinions of how we think He should or could answer them. The answers are critical because they give us a sense of urgency as we obey God's command of the Great Commission.

Answering the initial question, the author affirms the Biblical view that Hell is an eternal reality. "To speak lightly of it proves that we do not grasp its horror" (Piper 2003, 120). His exegetical skills are sharp as he interprets numerous passages to shed light on Hell being eternal (Matt. 3:12; Luke 12:4-5; Rom. 2:6-8; Heb. 6:1-2; Rev. 14:11). Piper refutes the view of fellow theologian John Stott who holds to the view of annihilationism.

A plethora of Biblical evidence is displayed and explained in answering the question, is salvation possible any other way than by Christ's work of atonement (Rom. 5:17-19; 1 Cor. 15:21-23; Rev. 5:9-10; John 11:51-52). Piper concludes that, "The work of Christ in the obedience of the cross is pictured as the divine answer to the plight of the entire human race . . . the crucial point here is the universality of the work of Christ.

The last question focuses on whether or not devout people of other religions who rely on the grace of the God they know through natural revelation (Rom. 1:19-21) are saved. The answer from the New Testament is a resounding no. The author devotes twenty-eight pages to this answer and displays biblical text upon text. Succinctly put, he declares that saving faith was focused on God's mercy revealed in His acts of redemption among Israel and occurred in the system of animal sacrifices and in the prophecies of future redemption. Now, the focus of faith has been limited to one man, Jesus Christ who is the fulfillment and guarantee of the acts of redemption and sacrifices and prophecies. The turn in redemptive history is accompanied by a God-ordained mission; God's messengers are sent everywhere to call all peoples to repent and believe the gospel (Piper 2003, 152).

The author also takes on the arduous task of defining what a "people group" is. He first establishes that the missionary task is to reach all the people groups of the world. Wisely, Piper enlightens us to the belief that, "a precise definition is probably not possible to give on the basis of what God has chosen to reveal in the Bible" (Ibid., 188). He infers that our Heavenly Father may not have intended for us to use an exact definition because then we would stop doing missionary work if our definition was reached. In other words, we should not reach all nations as we understand them and stop, rather as long as Jesus has not returned there must be more people groups to reach.

So where is the Scriptural evidence for the definition of a "people group?" Piper points us to Revelation 5:9 and focuses on the people groups that will be represented at the throne of God: "By your blood you ransomed peoples for God from every tribe and language and people and nation." He also adds that God's promise to Abraham includes another "people group" (the family): "In you all the families of the earth will be blessed." So we can conclude that at the very least we should seek out every language group (Rev. 5:9). God's promise that all the families of the earth will be blessed alerts us that God wants to reach small groupings. According to the author