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SPECTACULAR SINS: And Their Global Purpose in the Glory of Christ
JOHN PIPER
Now reprinted with a new cover, Spectacular Sins: And Their Global Purpose in the Glory of Christ tackles the very difficult topic of sin and the problem of evil.
Respected author John Piper believes a time of great suffering is near for Christians in the West and he does not want the church to be blindsided. What are believers to do when surrounded by sin and evil beyond belief? Is it really possible to remain faithful and joyful? Can Christ really be glorified in such a time? Piper demonstrates that God's purposes are not thwarted by overwhelming evil; in fact, spectacular sin succeeds in carrying out God's purpose of glorifying Christ. Therefore, the church can face such evil and suffering with full hope and confidence in God's sovereignty.
INTRODUCTION by the Author
"Jesus Christ, who was in the beginning with God, and was God (John 1:1), created the universe. He did this as God the Father’s equal and as his agent. 'All things were made through him' (John 1:3; 1 Cor. 8:6; Heb. 1:2). And he did it to display his glory. 'By him all things were created . . . and for him' (Col. 1:16). By him and for him. All things were created by Christ and for Christ. The Son of God, who has become a human being—the God-man, Jesus of Nazareth—in perfect concert with his Father, created the universe for the display of his all-satisfying glory.
Not only that, he holds it all together with total authority. 'He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power' (Heb. 1:3). How this massive power—to create and uphold the universe—is wielded to display the glory of Christ is the great issue of our time, and of all time."
THE GREATEST DISPLAY OF THE GLORY OF CHRIST
"The apex of the glory of Christ is the glory of his grace—treating people infinitely better than they deserve—giving himself for the everlasting joy of the worst of sinners who will have him as their highest Treasure. And the apex of this grace is the murder of the God-man outside Jerusalem around a.d. 33. The death of Jesus Christ was murder. It was the most spectacular sin ever committed.
At the all-important pivot of human history, the worst sin ever committed served to show the greatest glory of Christ and obtain the sin-conquering gift of God’s grace. God did not just overcome evil at the cross. He made evil serve the overcoming of evil. He made evil commit suicide in doing its worst evil.
Evil is anything and everything opposed to the fullest display of the glory of Christ. That’s the meaning of evil. In the death of Christ, the powers of darkness did their best to destroy the glory of the Son of God. This is the apex of evil. But instead they found themselves quoting the script of ancient prophecy and acting the part assigned by God. Precisely in putting Christ to death, they put his glory on display—the very glory that they aimed to destroy. The apex of evil achieved the apex of the glory of Christ. The glory of grace."
TO SEE THE WORLD DIFFERENTLY
When you see this, and feel the force of it, the way you look at the world changes. I am writing this book because I think the days that are coming will demand from the followers of Christ this change in the way we look at the world. It seems to me that Christians in the West are being coddled. We suffer little in the name of Christ. Therefore, we read the Bible not with a desperate hunger for evidences of God’s triumph in pain, but with a view to improving our private pleasures.
Therefore, we read the Bible selectively. We pick a text here and there to fit our felt needs. This is like a doctor who forgets how to write prescriptions for the best antibiotics because everybody seems healthy, and he has spent the last decades tweaking good health with hip-hop exercise videos, unaware that pestilence is at the door. It’s like the soldier who forgets how to use his weapons because the times seem peaceful, and he has spent the last decades doing relief work and teaching the children how to play games.
THE TIMES ARE CHANGING
But the times are changing. For seventy million baby boomers, for example, life has changed. It seems very short now. What used to be a fond nostalgia for the sixties has turned into an ache that the beloved decade is now so far away that its main meaning is: we are dying. Different ages get the message in different ways.
And not only life, but the world too is shrinking. People who don’t like Christians are all around us. Only a strange providence keeps our churches from being bombed. It is only a matter of time till the reality of the rest of the world comes home. And all the while we are called by Christ to go to them, love them, sacrifice for them, bring the gospel to them. The Great Commission is not child’s play. It is costly. Very costly.
The coddled Western world will sooner or later give way to great affliction. And when it does, whose vision of God will hold? Where are Christians being prepared for great global sorrows? Where is the Christian mind and soul being prepared for the horrors to come? Christians in the West are weakened by wimpy worldviews. And wimpy worldviews make wimpy Christians. God is weightless in our lives. He is not terrifyingly magnificent. His sovereignty is secondary (at best) to his sensitivity.
THE MISSING BIBLE
What is missing is the Bible. I mean the whole Bible, with its blood and guts and sins and horrors—and all of it under the massive hand of God. The hand whose fingers flick stars into being. The hand that gives life and takes it. The hand that rules everything. Everything. What we need is to know the great things about God. Knowing great things about God will help make us ready not to collapse under cataclysmic conflict and personal catastrophe.
THE BRUISED HEART AND THE TIRE IRON
I am aware that these things seem emotionally distant and unrelated to the personal pains of many. In our quiet daily miseries of marriage or parenting or loneliness or sickness or depression, we may feel that all this talk about the grandeur of God is like trying to heal a bruised heart with a tire iron. I know that God is tender, and that personal fellowship with him is sweet, and that touching the heart happens through the brokenness of the still, small voice. I know this, and I love it. Jesus Christ is a precious friend to me.
But I also know something else. If, while I am having a tender conversation with my wife, a man breaks in and kills her and all my children and leaves me wounded on the living room floor, I will need a way of seeing the world that involves more than the tenderness of God. If pestilence takes out tens of thousands of my fellow citizens and half my church, my mental and spiritual survival will depend on more than the precious gifts of God’s intimacy...
HOW A LITTLE WINDOW WORKS
This book is small. But my prayers for it are large. Sometimes, if you put your eye close enough, the smallest pinhole can reveal a new world. It isn’t the size of the window that determines how much you see. It’s which way the window is facing, and how close you are, and whether the glass is clear. The little window of this book is facing toward the Son of God and the triumphs of his glory through some of the most spectacular sins of history. The glass I have used in building this window is the Bible. If I am not faithful to what the Christian Scriptures teach, you should take your leave. I hope that you will come close to the pane so that the fullest panorama is visible."
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction: The Times Are Changing: When the Bruised Heart Needs a Tire Iron
1. God Sovereign over Human Sin: The Impulses Behind This Book
2. Christ Sovereign over All Hostile Powers: All Things Were Created for Him
3. The Fall of Satan and the Victory of Christ: Why Does God Permit Satan to Live
4. The Fatal Disobedience of Adam and the Triumphant Obedience of Christ: How Adam’s Sin Serves the Supremacy of Christ
5. The Pride of Babel and the Praise of Christ: How the Judgment of God Brings Joyful Acclaim to Jesus
6. The Sale of Joseph and the Son of God: How Salvation Comes through Slavery
7. The Sinful Origin of the Son of David: How the God-Man Becomes the King of Kings
8. Judas Iscariot, the Suicide of Satan, and the Salvation of the World: How God Conquered Sin through Sin
A Closing Prayer
ENDORSEMENTS
“When it comes to holocausts or other horrors, most of us assume God has his hands tied and his back to the wall. We figure the devil wreaks havoc when God’s not looking; we rationalize the Lord’s ‘mistakes,’ figuring he absentmindedly took his hands off the wheel when tragedies happen. But John Piper paints a different picture from the pages of Scripture that will strengthen your heart, bolster your faith, and deepen your understanding of the ‘largeness’ of God’s sovereignty.” --Joni Eareckson Tada, Joni and Friends International Disability Center
"Pastors, make sure your people read this book! I know of no one who has so clearly addressed the relationship of man's sin and God's sovereignty as John has done in Spectacular Sins." --Randy Pope, Pastor, Perimeter Church, Duluth, GA
"Spectacular Sins and Their Global Purpose in the Glory of Christ. Wow! Spectacular and sin! I've never seen those words together before. And who but John Piper could so brilliantly weave them into the same lyric as the global, purposeful glory of Christ! This man never ceases to inspire me to be more awestruck with the supremacy of Jesus." --Chris Tomlin, Recording Artist, Song-writer and Lead Worshiper
“‘Wimpy worldviews make wimpy Christians’—this is the repeated refrain in these pages. But there is nothing wimpy about the worldview provided in Spectacular Sins. It dares to ask—and answer—the most daunting question for the Christian: ‘Why do sin, suffering, and evil exist in a world where God is sovereign?’ Dr. Piper has provided an honest, biblical, and pastoral theodicy for our generation. These pages turn the lights on in the darkest room of Christian theology.” --Rick Holland, Executive pastor, Grace Community Church and Director of the Resolved Conference
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FIRST PUBLISHED IN 2010
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