All hail the Lamb by Sam Gordon; published by Christian Year Publications and available from John Ritchie Ltd; 444 pages. Price £9.99 (9781872734507)
All hail the Lamb is sub-titled "Revelation made simple." This phrase does accurately describe the author's approach and, for that reason, many will find it a helpful exposition of the Revelation of Jesus Christ. His vocabulary is not high-blown; indeed at times, his choice of words is surprising. He describes John falling down as dead, when he saw the Lord (Rev 1.17) as "he got the wobbles." He suggests that the reader may find the book of Revelation "a touch surreal … a tad spooky", yet follows these phrases with much more appropriate language such as, "awesome and glorious."
The doctrinal stance of All hail the Lamb is clear. The author writes that today the Lord may "break through the clouds". Writing of the hour of trial which shall come upon all the world (Rev 3.10), he states emphatically that the saints of this period will not be kept through the hour of trial, which he rightly identifies with the Great Tribulation, but they will be kept from the hour of trial. He adds helpfully: "… the event we know as the rapture of the saints of God … when Jesus will catch away his redeemed people for Himself (1 Thess 4.13-18").
The reviewer questions whether the phrase "the anger of the martyrs" is a fair description of their prayer of intercession: "How long, O Lord holy and true?" (Rev 6.10). Rightly the author sees their prayer as a cry that God avenge the wickedness of men, but there is little to support those martyrs being angry. In the same context, Gordon rejects the false doctrine of "soul sleep". He suggests that "it is possible that those who have died have an intermediate body until they receive their final resurrection body". He does not press the point, but, noting that those martyrs are given a white robe, he comments only briefly: "You cannot hang a robe on a spirit. It needs a body".
Sam Gordon quotes briefly and helpfully from a number of authors including James Allen, Harry Ironside, John MacArthur and Leon Morris. No Bibliography is included in All hail the Lamb, nor are the particular sources footnoted.
Undoubtedly the author has written to encourage Christians to read The Revelation, a book that promises a blessing to its readers (Rev 1.3). All hail the Lamb will encourage its reading.
TW
