AP

Charles Spurgeon, Good Tidings of Great Joy: Christ’s Incarnation, the Foundation of Christianity, Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 2023.

            Sinclair Ferguson has dubbed Spurgeon ‘a one-man industry’. Spurgeon appreciated the Puritan objections to Christmas, but also the dangers of an Ebenezer Scrooge approach. It is a time to revel in the spirit of Luke 2:10-11, from which the title is taken. In 38 short devotionals, Spurgeon gleans as much from each text as is humanly possible. He has a way of harvesting the vineyard, leaving little around the edges. So, for example, Spurgeon refers to the escape of the Holy Family to Egypt: ‘When he came back, and grew up at Nazareth, the angels must have marvelled to see him that made the worlds handle the hammer and the nails, assisting his reputed father in the trade of a carpenter.’ The incongruity makes for a vivid picture of what the incarnation meant and means.

            In the chapter on ‘All Fullness in the God-Man’, Spurgeon finishes with this observation: ‘The theme of Jesus’ love is inexhaustible; though preachers have dwelt upon it century after century, its freshness and fullness still remain.’ The writing of no man can do justice to such a topic, but Spurgeon does as well as any. Don’t wait for Christmas to think about acquiring this work!

–  Peter Barnes