God's Word Is...: The Bible's Metaphors for Itself - Softcover

Hake, Faye

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0988220601 ISBN 13: 9780988220607

Publisher: Rivendell Press, 2013

Synopsis

Every edition of every Bible is illustrated, but some people have never seen the pictures. If you haven’t seen the pictures in your Bible you are missing out on a substantial display of the work of The Greatest Artist; but more profoundly, you are not grasping the enormity of the treasure you have in your Bible; nor are you comprehending the wide-ranging impact God intends for the Bible to have in your life. In God’s Word Is... The Bible’s Metaphors For Itself, Faye Hake points out and expounds fifteen of the Bible’s effective metaphors for itself. These are God’s own picture explanations of what this written gift is meant to do for us. The book powerfully portrays the kindness of God in giving us His Written Word that we might come to know The Living Word. God’s Word Is... encourages us to reap the full benefit of all God intends His Word to be for us by approaching our daily Bible reading with these metaphors in mind. Hake points out the importance of acknowledging the truth in each metaphor. She brings the book to life by providing concrete examples from her own life and the lives of others that help readers see how to read the Bible as though it is a burning fire, how to profit from the ultra-sound-like mirror of our souls, how to run in the path of God’s commands, how to soak up the refreshing life giving rains of the word, what to do with the great spoils that are ours, or how to use the infallible, comprehensive, always-current GPS that God has provided to navigate through life. God’s Word is ... engenders love for both the Gift and the Giver, especially as it becomes clear that these evocative metaphors are God’s pictures not only for his Written Word, but for the Living Word as well. This book is a rich practical resource for growing your own faith or the faith of those you are shepherding. It is potent personal devotional material. It serves well as an adult or high school Sunday school curriculum, as a small group read aloud, or as Christian school or home school Bible curriculum. Its all-ages-integrated style of writing makes it suitable for family worship times.

About this title

About the Author:

Faye Hake is an old woman with no particular qualifications. She has been happily (most days) married for thirty-nine years to a man who does have credible curriculum vitae, but whose faithfulness and Christ-likeness prompt much more respect and gratitude than his credentials. She is a mother of nine children whose ever-emerging credentials impress at least their mother, and whose walks with Christ are by far her deepest joy and undeserved gift from God. She is a grandma of thirteen (and counting) irrefutably remarkable lovable grandchildren. She spent nineteen years serving with her husband as missionaries in Taiwan with a conservative Presbyterian church. She homeschooled all nine of her children up until college and a small assemblage of other people’s children too, taught a lot of biology, chemistry, and anatomy to high school students, discipled a fair number of young women, and developed a number of Bible studies which God has fruitfully used to grow people. She is a broken woman whose only hope is in the cross of Christ and she is increasingly (by the day) astounded by the grace of God and His unfathomable love for her and for all His people.

Review:

Many conservative Christians are only interested in what the Bible has to say about its own inerrancy. They seem to be captive to the idea that the Bible’s teaching about itself goes no further than its source in God. There is nothing wrong with looking to the Bible to see what it teaches about its own origin and therefore its reliability. But by so limiting ourselves we miss much of the rich teaching of the Bible about its own character. The church should be grateful to Faye Hake for her excellent examination of the way the Bible looks at itself beyond its source and reliability. In her work God’s Word Is...The Bible’s Metaphors for Itself she explores the way the Scriptures unfold the multitude of riches found in the figures of speech that describe the word of God. She not only unpacks the various metaphors but also takes pains to show how they can be useful in our lives as Christians. I was encouraged by the way the author tried to keep her work centered in the Lord Jesus. She always looked at the way the word made flesh could be related to the word in scripture. Many theologians avoid this tricky approach but Hake does a good job of reminding the reader of this vital relationship. This is not some dry intellectual approach to a figure of speech found in the Bible. Throughout the book the reader will find not only solid Bible teaching but also genuine transparency. Hake connects with the reader as she shares her life with nine children, a missionary husband and life on different continents. She is not embarrassed to talk about how the devil attacked and how the word confronted and comforted her. Her openness about some of her personal struggles gives the reader the sense that what the author writes is not abstract but real life Christianity lived in the light of the Bible. Allen D. Curry, Professor Emeritus Reformed Theological Seminary, Jackson, MS

About this edition

• Publisher: Rivendell Press
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 0988220601
• ISBN 13: 9780988220607
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 344