“High King of Heaven”, edited by Dr. John MacArthur (book review)

“High King of Heaven”, edited by Dr. John MacArthur, digs deep into the person and work of Jesus Christ – otherwise known as Christology.  It is comprised of 4 parts, which are subdivided into 23 chapters, each written by a different author.

Part 1 covers the person of Jesus Christ, while Part 2 handles the work of Jesus Christ. Part 3 addresses the word of Jesus Christ, and part 4 concludes the book with the witness to Jesus Christ.

Several chapters were highly insightful, but the chapters that were most beneficial to my soul at the time of reading were Chapter 6, “The Good Shepherd”, written by Steven J. Lawson, and Chapter 23, “Do You Love Me”, written by John MacArthur. I'm certain I could re-read the book in a handful of months again and find other chapters to be beneficial.  It just so happens that these two chapters dealt with topics that I have been personally dealing with lately.

Given that the book is a Christological one, I am somewhat intrigued why two particular chapters – 20 and 21, written by Albert Mohler and Paul Washer, titled, “Salt and Light” and “Counted Worthy”, respectively – were included.   These were no doubt excellent chapters pertaining to believers’ witness in society and the believers’ persecution, but the whole of the book is a study about Jesus, not about the believer.

I know a fine line exists between the two, as we cannot discuss the Christian without also discussing Christ. But we can discuss the person, work, word, and witness to Christ without referring to Christians. The Bible has a lot to say about those four categories of Christology, and as I understand Christology, we want to study about him based on what the word of God teaches us, not based on its effect on man. That said, those were, indeed, two great chapters, but it seemed like they were slightly out of place. Maybe they should have been in the appendix instead.

All in all, I give “High King of Heaven” five stars out of five, and think it would be a good addition to any avid reader’s Library, right next to some other theological commentaries and systematic theology volumes.

Disclaimer: I received this book free of charge from Moody publishers in exchange for my unbiased review of it. All opinions are mine, and I was not forced to provide a positive review.