Reading Journal - Entry #62
The Christ of the Covenants, Ember's End, and Building Her House
Welcome to this week’s entry in the Reading Journal! These weekly entries serve as an opportunity for me to digest what I’ve been reading and to share my thoughts on those books with others.
This week, I finished both The Christ of the Covenants, by O. Palmer Robertson, and Ember’s End, by S. D. Smith. I also read a short book by Nancy Wilson: Building Her House. As usual, if you plan to read the Green Ember series in the future, I’d skip that section as there are some spoilers.
Let’s jump on in.
The Christ of the Covenants
The last two chapters covered the Davidic Covenant and the New Covenant. Robertson’s explanation of the Davidic covenant was thorough and a study I greatly appreciated. He drew threads of that covenant all the way through the exile and even discussed some of the themes in 1 and 2 Kings. For example, he built a convincing case that a major theme in those two books is the surety of God’s word coming to pass.
For the New Covenant, he did an equally thorough study that focused for the most part on sections of Jeremiah, connections between those sections and the NT, and the context of those sections of Jeremiah. He also discussed the passages in both the OT and the NT that help us understand the relationship of the New Covenant to the covenants that came before it. He briefly touched on the dispensationalist idea that the New Covenant is something completely and totally different from the OT covenants.
Overall, this was an excellent book that lived up to its reputation. I’ve only read a few books on this topic of covenant theology but, for now, this will be the book I point people to if I’m ever asked for a recommendation on the topic. It was a great study, thorough, and, as I’ve said multiple times already, he was careful to only put forward ideas he defended with Scripture.
Ember’s End
Well, as you can imagine, the rabbits did win their war against Morbyn and the Lords of Prey. I won’t go into too much detail here, partly because there’s so much. There were several battles and near-miraculous chains of events, but they managed it. I thought Smith’s story-telling of the war and its conclusion was excellent. He did a great job building up to the battle, having some twists and turns, putting unexpected obstacles in the way, having things not always go according to plan, and providing some unexpected survivals and deaths sprinkled throughout the last quarter or so of the book.
Finishing this series was bittersweet, as it always is when you finish a series of good books. This final book in the Green Ember series was great. Smith did a good job of tying everything up convincingly. He provided a pleasant ending without glossing over the cost for the characters. Especially for a book intended for younger readers, I believe he did a great job of balancing showing the hardship of the characters but also their victories and hope.
Building Her House
A few months ago, I decided that, as the one responsible for my household, I should at least occasionally read some material primarily geared toward wives and mothers to help me lead my wife with more understanding and, should the Lord bless us with daughters one day, better teach them how to be a godly woman. Then, I proceeded not to read anything of the sort. This book is the first step in my attempt to keep with that decision.
I enjoyed this book, partly because I enjoyed Nancy’s writing style. The book was a collection of relatively short columns she wrote for Credenda Agenda, so the style was more relaxed than if it had been a book. The topics ranged from raising boys to be tough and girls to be feminine, to fighting temptations to be disrespectful to husbands or snippy with kids.
I think part of what kept my interest was that I’m almost always thinking about things in terms of my responsibilities and roles as a man, and this book put me out of that frame of mind for a little bit to think about what things look like from my wife’s perspective. It still led to practical things on my side, like how can I be a more respectable husband so that my wife has an easier time obeying Scripture, or how can I provide more fully so that she can focus on her areas of responsibility without worrying about our financial situation. But, I’m ashamed to say, these are things I’d not often thought about in terms of helping her; more in terms of fulfilling my duties.
Overall, I highly recommend this book, for both husbands and wives. If nothing else, it could be a good conversation starter to find out how you’re doing from your spouse.
That wraps it up for this week! Let me know in the comments what you think and what you’ve been reading. Also, if you have any feedback, you can always leave it there in the comments or reply to the Substack email.
One of my goals is to do my own small part in building the New Christendom one productive covenant household at a time, so if you think this content is helpful toward that end, go ahead and share it with your like-minded friends and family. As always, thanks for reading the Reading Journal.
In Him and for His Glory