A Punch in the Face
Here’s a new amazon review of The Covenant Key by “the man with the cigar,” David Deutsch.
Buy and Read Bible Matrix II The Covenant Key
Review of Bible Matrix II: The Covenant Key by Michael Bull (from hence BMIICK)
After reading Totus Christus and Bible Matrix I could not wait to sink my teeth into BMIICK. My imagination soared as I pictured myself reading mountainous Biblical typology as a refreshing cup of ice cold water on a blazing hot day. Oh there was water alright. But that came between sweaty rounds.
The truth is this book is a punch in the face in order that we wake up to reality. I am not saying BMIICK is devoid of soaring Biblical typology or absent of refreshment. It is full of these as well. But I was not expecting to be so humbled for my sin so much of the time. I was not expecting Biblical typology to be so tied up to sanctification and the walk of faith as Mike unfolds for us here. I have been studying the Bible Matrix kind of approach to the Scriptures in the context of the church for at least a decade and have never seen it unfolded like this.
What makes this book so powerful is that Mike approaches the Covenant as reality. Our Triune God’s own life as Father, Son and Holy Spirit is covenantal. Creation is covenantal. God’s relationship with man from the beginning is covenantal. Our fall in Adam was covenantal. Our redemption is covenantal. Such is where we normally stop. In BMIICK Mike does a tremendous job of marrying what is normally torn asunder; that being the legal and filial aspects of our covenant relation to God. But more than that Mike rescues talk of the covenant from the abstract and brings it right home into our daily lives of faith. We don’t want it there. It is too messy here at home and at work and especially at church. But Mike won’t let it float. He knows it belongs in the dirt with us and so he brings it there with all the structure, typology and chiasm.
Mike also sets the glories of covenant maturation before our eyes and it is right here that we stumble. We want the glory and the maturity of the covenant. We want it all and we want it now. But as Mike unfolds so faithfully in BMIICK this kind only comes through suffering, waiting and faithfulness over and over through death-resurrection patterns that shape our life. This we don’t want. But Mike faithfully shows us that this is the only way. And hence we now know why it is that we are so immature and weak. We don’t want God’s way of covenant for us. However Mike will not let us off the hook. And for this Mike I am grateful for you and your bold book.
This is not an easy book to read. You will certainly not get everything the first or even second time through. But isn’t that what makes something so worth it? Buy this book. Buy lots of this book and hand them out. Read it. Read it slowly. Start a book club and read it with others. Pray through it. Meditate on it. It needs to sink in. It will be well worth it.
David Deutsch
Minister of Preaching
Grace Reformed Church
Camarillo, CA
bmxiireview
