Grace and Glory

by Geerhardus Vos

This is a reprint of Geerhardus Vos' classic, "Grace and Glory." (Sermons) Geerhardus Johannes Vos (March 14, 1862 – August 13, 1949) was an American Calvinist theologian and one of the most distinguished representatives of the Princeton Theology. He is sometimes called the father of Reformed Biblical Theology.

Genres: Theology, Christian, Christianity, Nonfiction, Religion

154 pages, Paperback

First published June 22, 1903

About the author

Geerhardus Johannes Vos was an American Calvinist theologian and one of the most distinguished representatives of the Princeton Theology. He is sometimes called the father of Reformed Biblical Theology.

Vos was born to a Dutch Reformed pastor in Heerenveen in Friesland in the Netherlands. In 1881, when Geerhardus was 19 years old, his father accepted a call to be the pastor of the Christian Reformed Church congregation in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Geerhardus Vos began his education at the Christian Reformed Church's Calvin Theological Seminary in Grand Rapids, before moving to Princeton Theological Seminary. He completed his studies in Germany, receiving his doctorate in Arabic Studies from the Philosophy Faculty of Strassburg University in 1888.

Herman Bavinck and Abraham Kuyper tried to convince Vos to become professor of Old Testament Theology at the Free University in Amsterdam, but Vos chose to return to America. Thus, in the Fall of 1888, Vos took up a position on the Calvin Theological Seminary faculty. In 1892, Vos moved and joined the faculty of the Princeton Theological Seminary, where he became its first Professor of Biblical Theology.

In 1894 he was ordained as a minister in the Presbyterian Church in the USA.

At Princeton, he taught alongside J. Gresham Machen and Benjamin Breckinridge Warfield and authored his most famous works, including: Pauline Eschatology (1930) and Biblical Theology: Old and New Testaments (1948). Despite his opposition to the growing modernist influence at Princeton in the late 1920s, he decided to remain at Princeton Seminary after the formation of Westminster Theological Seminary by Machen, as he was close to retirement. Vos did indeed retire to California in 1932, three years after the formation of Westminster.

Vos's wife, Catherine, authored the well-known Child's Story Bible. She died in 1937, after 43 years of marriage. They had three sons and one daughter, and their son J. G. Vos studied at Princeton Theological Seminary and also became a minister.

Reviews

[Kevin V. · Rating 5 out of 5]

No collection of sermons has left as indelible an imprint on me as this by Geerhardus Vos.

He brings to bear in these sermons all his passionate awe of God’s sovereign grace, his pastoral love for reaching the minds and hearts of people, and his supreme grasp of the interconnections between Old and New Testament. He moves seamlessly between systematic and biblical theology, even as he drives the text into the hearts of his readers through affecting application.

This will be a yearly read for me.

[Zablon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Main takeaway "Therefore it is not the blind impulse of self-surrender that is required, but the intelligent appreciation of what the welfare of others requires and how it can best be served."

[Jo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Geerhardus Vos is one of the giant dutch reformed theologians in the 19th century. I heard how difficult can Vos be understood from some people before reading any of his works (so far I have only read this book, his small work called eschatology of the psalter, and I am still working on his biblical theology), and they are actually right, we need to work extra miles in order to understand Vos.
But it doesn’t stop me to sit under Vos. My first exposure of Vos was from ReformedForum’s Vos group that I am very much benefited from. Just by listening to them without reading any of Vos’ books, my love towards Vos grows and I decided to start reading him from the collection of his sermons in Princeton Seminary, and I’m glad that I have made that decision.

Sinclair Ferguson wrote the introduction of the book, he said that “Vos’ sermons were so valuable and he wishes to speak to his hearers about God, and he wants to instill in them precisely the sense that God is gracious and glorious.”
Ferguson acknowledged in a world obssesed with “sound-bites”, Vos’ sermons cannot be reduced to alliterated ten-minute homilies. I did find it challenging just to understand the first sermon on this book called “The Wonderful Tree”, I had to reread every paragraph, at least twice on each paragraph, I cannot imagine if Vos was really preaching today, I believe he won’t use any powerpoint slides let alone some funny images/memes on the screen.
Ferguson convinced me that those who follow Vos as spiritual mountaineers, will discover life-changing panoramic views of the wonders of God, he said “Having been taken to such mountain peaks, the vision of God we have beheld in scripture will produce in us a new and more holy and heavenly perspective on the whole life.”


In his sermon called “Hungering and Thirsting After Righteousness” from Matthew 5:3, J. Gresham Machen took notice of Vos’ declaration that the sermon of the mount in liberal hands has become the creed of the creedless. Vos also asked the rhetorical question whether the Lord could have meant that it was possible for the disciple by his own strength to attain righteousness. He answered, “No, not the possession of such a righteousness is characteristic of the members of the kingdom, but that they hunger and thirst after it.” He emphasized that the beatitudes taught that believers are not received by Jesus into a school of ethics but into a kingdom of redemption. Jesus’ proclamation was not to the self-satisfied, rather, He spoke to the poor in spirit, those that mourn, the meek and the hungry, namely, to those who are utterly dependent upon the grace of God.


In his sermon called “Seeking and Saving the Lost”, Vos made me in tears as he exegeted from Luke 19:1-10, where Jesus entered Zacchaeus’s house and called him by name. Vos asked “How many of us would have been saved, if the Lord had waited till we sought him out?” The answer is of course none of us would be saved, we hated light and loved darkness, we need Jesus to pursue us until His grace and the sovereign power of His Word overtake us. Vos added “It is a call like the voice of God at the first creation, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light: ‘Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for today I must abide in thy house.”
Vos taught two lessons that he believed future preachers should draw from the pivotal moment of Zacchaeus’s life.
One, the character of the ministry of the Word should not be the promotion of social gospel but preaching Christ as the only remedy for sin, Vos proclaimed: “The goal of seeking and saving were for our Lord pronouncedly religious. Seeking and saving meant for Him, before anything else, seeking and saving for God. It had no humanitarian or world-improving purpose apart from this. It began with the thought of God and ended there. For that He came, and at that we should aim.”
The second lesson was the the specific religious task of saving, bringing Christ to men and men to Christ. It sounds simple, but it is a most delicate task to delineate, Vos said “the face of Christ as to make him look out with his immortal Saviour-eyes straight and deep into the heart of sinners. Let your one concern be to bring the two together in the house where salvation is needed, and having led the Saviour in, go thou out and shut the door silently behind thee.”


Rabboni was one of the influential sermons in history, it changed Machen’s life as he wrote to his mother as ‘one of the finest expository sermons I ever heard.” Vos preached from John 20 when Mary encountered the resurrected Messiah. My jaw dropped when Vos painted the scenery of the empty tomb; the garden, the tomb, they reminded me of the garden of Eden. The two angels sitting inside the tomb reminded me of the ark of the covenant, of the two cherubims protecting the garden of Eden but this time, without the flaming swords so Mary could enter in.
But Mary was still in her sorrow, she missed something important, she was blinded by her sorrow and missed that the angels and the empty tomb were there to testify the Lord’s resurrection.
Vos' conclusion is fitting. 'Let us not linger at the tomb but turn our faces and stretch our hands upwards into heaven, where our life is hid with God, and where He shall come again to reveal Himself. We will meet our Saviour in the early dawn, that eternal Sabbath that awaits the people of God'.

[Timmy · Rating 4 out of 5]

As the book says, this book is a compilation of "Sermons Preached in the Chapel of Princeton Theological Seminary".

The book consisted of 7 "chapters" (sermons): The Wonderful Tree, Hungering and Thirsting after Righteousness, Seeking and Saving the Lost, "Rabboni", The more Excellent Minsitry and Heavenly-Mindness.

The book is full of rich theological concepts that focuses majorly on the New Convenant (Jesus of Nazareth).

It is important to acknowledge that every sermon is based on a single verse. It is admirable how Geerharuds Vos unfolds his viewpoint. Vos, who is sometimes called the father of reformed biblical theology (As Spurgeon famously once said, Reformed theology is nothing other than biblical Christianity.), is no stragner when it comes to analyzing a biblical text. It is important to know that he is indeed a Calvinist (who befriended Herman Bavnick and Abraham Kuyper) and you can hear the hint of doctrine of predestination throghout his book.

I would recommend giving this book a try. However, this ain't no walk-in the-park book. It reuqires research, it requires open-mindeness.

It even requires being sympathetic with the Catholic Theology (especially within the last chapter).

Read it. If you want to.

[Eric Yap · Rating 5 out of 5]

A gift from a dear brother that has greatly enriched my devotional reading. I initially wanted to read one sermon per night but Vos' sermons were so gripping and rich that I ended up devouring one each morning and each night. But as Sinclair Ferguson foreword-ed, some preachers are better listened to, some are better read (and some, like MLJ are both great to listen and to read!), Vos belongs to the latter, this being a collection of chapel sermons delivered to theological students. I found myself rereading a paragraph many times, firstly, because his prose was hard to get, secondly because it compacted a lot of exegetical and theological reflection, and thirdly because it was simply so profound and devotionally moving. Perhaps because Vos was known as the more "quiet scholar" type as compared to his lunchtime walk buddy Warfield, who was known as the lion of Princeton, but just like any art form, a greater comprehending skills of that art form would yield a better appreciation of it, so reading Vos requires a lot of theological and exegetical grounding but its reward is the unearthing of the depths of devotional richness.

[Alan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book contains sermons preached by Geerhardus Vos at Princeton Theological Seminary in the early years of the 20th century (one dates back to 1896). I really want to give this book a higher rating, but I just can't. The substance good but it is a hard book to read. So I gave it three stars: "I liked it." In his introduction, Dr. Sinclair Ferguson acknowledges this and how the sermons would have been difficult even for most seminary students. While I appreciate the doctrine of Vos's sermons, I found it took a bit of an act of the will to get to the end of the book.

[Dave · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this is one of my favourite books ever. Few others warm my heart towards God and expand my mind like Vos' sermons. There is something uniquely powerful about the way he penetrates into God's Word with both insight and devotion. Cannot recommend this more strongly.

[Corinne Holloway · Rating 4 out of 5]

Partial read: Chapter III “Seeking And Saving The Lost.” Good sermon on the topic and theological reasoning for evangelism. My favorite part was: if Christ came to seek and to save the lost, why don’t you think it’s why Christians are here too?

But the language is definitely a product of its time and the audience of Princeton students at that time to whom Vos is preaching. It’s bulky.

[Hobart · Rating 5 out of 5]

This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader as part of a quick takes post to catch up--emphasizing pithiness, not thoroughness.
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For most people (who've heard of him), Geerhardus Vos is known as a theologian—one of the Twentieth Century's brightest stars, the man who showed that the academic discipline known as Biblical Theology wasn't the domain solely of Theological Liberalism, but that a robust, Bible-believing thinker could (and should) contribute to the field.

But before he was a theologian or professor, Vos was a preacher. And this small collection of sermons shows how capable he must have been.

Yes, there's rich theology behind these sermons, but they're primarily expositions and applications of the texts for the hearers. And, yes, the audiences of these sermons were students at Princeton Theological Seminary (before the downgrade that led to the creation of Westminster Theological Seminary), but these were not airy, academic addresses.

I don't think it was by design, it just worked out this way, but the second, fourth and sixth sermons were the ones that I appreciated most—my notes weren't really that helpful, especially now. All I wrote about #2 "Hungering and Thirsting after Righteousness" was "Wow! Fantastic." True, but that's not really helpful—Vos opens up the idea about how Christ uses the believer's faith (hungering and thirsting) to fill and bless them. The sermon "'Rabboni'" (about Mary's encounter with the risen Christ near the tomb) is less than twenty pages long, but was better than Richard Sibbes' sermon series (184 pages in the Banner of Truth edition) on the same passage—I can't do it justice here, so I won't try. And the last sermon? It's worth more than the purchase price of the whole book.

(I fully expect when I re-read this book in 2021 or so, I'll say something just as strong about the odd-numbered sermons and wonder what I was talking about now.)

As Scott Clark mentions in his forward, Vos was a poet (particularly in retirement, but before then, too). And you can see that in some of these sermons—they practically sing. I can only imagine how captivating these were hearing them, they're stirring just reading them.

One of the best collections of sermons I've ever read. My only complaint is that there were only six. Get this one.

[Andrzej Stelmasiak · Rating 5 out of 5]

This review is for this edition only: Paperback, 202 pages, Published October 6th 2016 by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform, ISBN 1539379574 (ISBN13: 9781539379577).

I have read about this book in 'A Christian's Pocket Guide to Growing in Holiness: Understanding Sanctification' by J. V. Fesko, where he recommends it as further reading (he advises there to skip sermon no.1 - 'The Wonderful Tree', not because there is something wrong with it but because of the subject, not necessarily related to sanctification).

Excellent resource if you do not want to break the bank chasing the Banner of Truth edition. Many other editions contain only 6 sermons, this one has actually 15 + 1 address. What is missing in comparison to standard 6 sermon reprints is his sermon called 'Heavenly Mindness', you can find it in nice PDF here: http://www.newhopefairfax.org/images/...

It is not typical, old font reprint, but rather newly edited edition with nice, modern font. Printed in the USA!

Here's the table of contents (Roman numeral indicates that this sermon is also in the standard 6 sermon edition)

1. Hungering and Thirsting After Righteousness - Matthew 5:6, p. 3 (II)
2. Seeking and Saving the Lost - Luke 19:10, p. 17 (III)
3. Rabboni - John 20:16, p. 34 (IV)
4. The More Excellent Ministry - 2 Corinthians 3:18, p. 45 (V)
5. Running the Race - Hebrews 12:1-3, p.61
6. The Christian’s Hope - 1 Peter 3:5, p. 72
7. The Joy of Resurrection Life - 1 Corinthians 15:14, p. 84
8. Songs from the Soul - Psalm 25:14, p. 94
9. The Essence of Christianity - Matthew 16:24-25, p. 104
10. The Eternal Christ - Hebrews 13:8,p. 115
11. The Spiritual Resurrection of Believers - Ephesians 2:4-5, p. 124
12. The Gracious Provision - 1 Corinthians 5:7, p. 142
13. Christ’s Deliberate Work - Mark 10:45, p. 149
14. Our Holy and Glorious God - Isaiah 57:15, p. 161
15. The Wonderful Tree - Hosea 14:8, p. 176 (I)
16. The Nature and Aims of Biblical Theology, p. 194

[Aaron · Rating 5 out of 5]

Geerhardus Vos, the Dutch-American Calvinist theologian, is known for his writings on Reformed Biblical Theology. But what did his sermons sound like? In Grace and Glory, Banner of Truth has published 16 sermons preached at Princeton Seminary.

Vigor and Passion
In just shy of 300 pages, the 16 sermons are presented in a beautiful hardback book that is characteristic of Banner of Truth publications. It is a fitting house for the treasure chests of truth that are found in the pages. It is clear that Vos has wrestled with every text and has come away having better known its challenges and wanting to share what he has discovered.

Vos writes his sermons with academic vigor and unbridled passion. It is clear that he expected his readers to track with him. Readers of his sermons are probably better off than his listeners, but it would still be wise to spend time chewing and digesting his words.

Hope and Certainty
I was impressed by his ability to show insights on the shortest of passages. In regards to Matthew 5:6, Vos states that those who hunger and thirst have no need or want for money or riches. Those who are truly hungry and thirsty are focused on food. There is no rest until righteousness is secured. But Vos is hopeful and says that God will indeed satisfy.

I found the theme of hope to permeate his sermons. He writes on heaven, the joy of resurrection life, and God’s gracious provision. He continually points to Christ and his riches. He writes with certainty and there is no doubt in my mind that he has experienced what he has preached. Come listen and learn from one who has tasted and seen God’s grace and glory.

I received a media copy of Grace and Glory and this is my honest review.

[Hobart · Rating 5 out of 5]

This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.
---
OOPS
Back in 2019, I went shopping for a copy of these sermons by Vos and found a handful of editions. I picked one purely based on price. It looked like a decent quality version, but nothing fancy. Sure, the Hardcover published by the Banner of Truth would be nicer, but I didn't need the fancy cloth binding.

What I learned later was that the Banner edition included ten additional sermons. So passing that over to save a couple of bucks was not the brightest move I've ever made.

I've mixed in what I posted about the shorter version with the rest of this post, in case someone's in the mood to get all persnickety about plagiarism.

Christ's work for us extends even farther than the restoration of what sin has destroyed. If Christ placed us back there where Adam stood in his rectitude, without sins and without death, this would be unspeakable grace indeed, more than enough to make the gospel a blessed word. But grace exceeds sin far more abundantly than all this: besides wiping out the last vestige of sin and its consequences, it opens up for us that higher world to whose threshold even the first Adam had not yet apprehended. And this is not a mere matter of degrees in blessedness, it is a difference between two modes of life; as heaven is high above the earth, by so much the condition of our future state will transcend those of the paradise of old.

WHAT'S GRACE AND GLORY?
For most people (who've heard of him), Geerhardus Vos is known as a theologian—one of the Twentieth Century's brightest stars, the man who showed that the academic discipline known as Biblical Theology wasn't the domain solely of Theological Liberalism, but that a robust, Bible-believing thinker could (and should) contribute to the field.

But before he was a theologian or professor, Vos was a preacher. And this small collection of sermons shows how capable he must have been.

Yes, there's rich theology behind these sermons, but they're primarily expositions and applications of the texts for the hearers. And, yes, the audiences of these sermons were students at Princeton Theological Seminary (before the downgrade that led to the creation of Westminster Theological Seminary), but these were not airy, academic addresses. Sure, as the initial hearers were largely future ministers, there are portions that are more applicable to preachers than to laity. But there's not a lot of that, and even in the midst of one of those sections, there's still a lot of gold to be mined.

The first person to whom he showed himself alive after the resurrection was a weeping woman who had no greater claim upon him than any simple penitent sinner has. No eye except that of the angels had as yet rested upon his form. The time was as solemn and majestic as that of the first creation when light burst out of chaos and darkness. Heaven and earth were concerned in this event; it was the turning-point of the ages. Nor was this merely objectively so: Jesus felt himself the central figure in this newborn universe; he tasted the exquisite joy of one who had just entered upon an endless life in the possession of new powers and faculties such as human nature had never known before. Would it have been unnatural had he sought some quiet place to spend the opening hour of this new unexplored state in communion with the Father? Can there be any room in his mind for the humble ministry of consolation required by Mary? He answers these questions himself. Among all the voices that hailed his triumph no voice appealed to him like this voice of weeping in the garden. The first appearance of the risen Lord was given to Mary for no other reason than that she needed him first and needed him most. And what more appropriate beginning could have been set for his ministry of glory than this very act? Nothing could better convince us that in his exalted state he retains for us the same tender sympathy, the same individual affection as he showed during the days of his flesh.

SO, WHAT DID I THINK ABOUT GRACE AND GLORY?
When I wrote about the original edition, I stated that: I don't think it was by design, but the second, fourth, and sixth sermons were the ones that I appreciated most—my notes weren't really that helpful, especially now. All I wrote about #2 "Hungering and Thirsting after Righteousness" was "Wow! Fantastic." True, but that's not really helpful—Vos opens up the idea about how Christ uses the believer's faith (hungering and thirsting) to fill and bless them. The sermon "'Rabboni'" (about Mary's encounter with the risen Christ near the tomb) is less than twenty pages long, but was better than Richard Sibbes' sermon series (184 pages in the Banner of Truth edition) on the same passage—I can't do it justice here, so I won't try. And the last sermon? It's worth more than the purchase price of the whole book.

I also said that I fully expected when I re-read this book in 2021 or so, I'd say something just as strong about the odd-numbered sermons and wonder what I was talking about now. That's wasn't the case, in retrospect, but I would put "Rabboni" ahead of "Heavenly-Mindedness" (which was still worth the purchase price of the paperback). J. Gresham Machen called "Rabboni" "one of the finest expository sermons I have ever heard." It's definitely one of the finest I've ever read.

I was a little less taken with the additional material than I wanted to be—nothing was bad, mind you, but I think the original compilation was stronger. Naturally, there were a couple of exceptions, "The Eternal Christ" and "The Gracious Provision," were just as strong as any of the first group.

As Scott Clark mentions in his forward to the Solid Ground Publication edition, Vos was a poet (particularly in retirement, but before then, too). And you can see that in some of these sermons—they practically sing. I can only imagine how captivating these were hearing them, they're stirring just reading them.

Either edition qualifies as one of the best collections of sermons I've ever read. My only complaint is that there were only six, until I found the additional material—now my only complaint is that there's only one volume of these. Get this one.

[E · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a collection of 6 Vos sermons from early in his time at Princeton Seminary, where he arrived to teach circa 1893. Vos' sermons require multiple readings (so it this made for a great choice for our church's men's breakfast series this spring). His writing is both dense and poetic. This theology is of course the beautiful Biblical theology for which he was known. He does have the tendency to fill in and flesh out in ways that aren't explicit in the text, but his instincts are good, so he can usually be trusted. His sermon on the new covenant, with 2 Cor. 3 as a text, was especially good. Remember, the difference between the old and new covenants is not "bad vs. good" but rather "good vs. better." My least favorite sermon was probably one on heaven, from Hebrews 11. It seemed to overemphasize that eternity will be spent "somewhere out there" when in fact it will be spent right here, on the new earth. Nevertheless, his instruction in "heavenly-mindedness" was very useful for our lives now.

[Lance Kinzer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Truly outstanding. In a day when much preaching appears content to merely extract "practical" meaning from scripture, Vos stands as a model of preaching that instead finds it's focus in exalting Christ. Of many memorable lines one that seems to capture well his basic message is the statement in the sermon "Hungering and Thirsting" that, "we are not received by Jesus into a school of ethics but into a kingdom of redemption." Thanks be to God.

[Chris Comis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Vos wasn't just an academic theologian. He had a very penetrating approach to the human psyche, as well as the everyday sins and trials that every Christian faces. This was sort of a biblical theology of practical and pastoral theologies. A little opaque at times, but overall, a great book.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

A glorious collection. Rarely have I read sermons that pulled so insistently on both my mind and affections. I really have no context for Vos other than "redemptive-historical preaching," and I barely know what that means, but if this is a consummate example of the latter, then...I need more.

[Jesse · Rating 5 out of 5]

A favorite!

[Andy Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some highs and lows, the sermon on the Christian ministry is the highest.

[Jordan Carl · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful collection of 16 Vos sermons, most preached at Princeton Seminary around the turn of the 20th century. As always, if you aren’t used to reading Vos, he has a particular theological vernacular which takes some adjusting to. Regardless, here you will find some of the best examples of faithful redemptive-historical preaching which turns the corner on seeking Jesus on every page of scripture to moving us to holy action by the imminent and eschatological implications of the Word of God. His singular ability to draw out deep truths of scripture and to carry us by his rhetorical style and ethical impulse towards the glory and majesty of the Triune God is unparalleled. This should be required reading at all seminaries. Of particular glory are the sermons:

I The Wonderful Tree
III Seeking and Saving the Lost
IV Rabboni
VI Heavenly Mindedness
X Songs from the Soul
XIII The Spiritual Resurrection of Believers
XVI Our Holy and Glorious God (unfortunately this sermon is missing the first page of the manuscript so you lose some of the initial context)

[Matt Crawford · Rating 4 out of 5]

Grace and glory is not read the same way as most of Vos. You’re not gonna read it like Biblical Theology. You’re not gonna read it like his brief, but not brief five volumes on Reformed Dogmatics. It’s a sermon set. You’re going to want to read the by line of each sermon to see the context and the audience. This was his way of teaching would be ministers. And if you know the story, you know that those students at Princeton did not heed this lesson. It is a reminder for those in ministry. Do not be intimidated by Vos but hear what he says. Present God how He reveals Himself. The gospel needs to be unveiled. We should live in light of our eschatological hope. Do not neglect the devotional spirit of the Old Testament. Everything we pray has consequences. We should not run from them but like a martyr welcome them.

[Mark Seeley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I gave "Grace and Glory" 5 stars because these sermons are deep, profound, and God-centered. I gave it 5 stars mainly for the content. Vos is a Dutchman and so his writing style may seem obtuse at times. I had to read some sentences and whole paragraphs two or three times, but payoff is rich and tremendously edifying. Read these sermons slowly. In the end, you will worship. Vos exudes the glory and transcendence of God and the beauty of His Son.

[Matt Pelto · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic collection of Sermons that will not only cultivate your love for God, but will also demonstrate some of the riches if scripture that are "hiding in plain sight." They are all good and profitable to read, but "The Wonderful Tree" is a particularly profound exhibition of Vos's Biblical-Theological insight and "Our Holy and Glorious God" was particularly nourishing for my love for God's holiness.

[Peter Stonecipher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vos at his absolute best. The groundwork laid in his "Biblical Theology", the polemical engagement of "The Kingdom of God and the Church", the warm scholarship of "The Teaching of the Epistle to the Hebrews" are all here put in service of the preaching of God's holy word.

[Michael Kidd · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an excellent selection of sermons. Vos has the ability to see things in the text which should have been so obvious to any of us, yet we might never have seen them had he not pointed them out, and then explaining them in such an experiential manner.

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

Highly recommended. These sermons are deep, well-prepared and studied, and profoundly thought-provoking.

[Ryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A thoroughly God-centered book of sermons. What a rich blessing Vos is! I am thankful for this collection.

[William · Rating 5 out of 5]

Purchased this book for the purpose of reading his sermon "Heavenly-Mindedness." It did not disappoint.

[James Denard · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve been reading this alongside Biblical Theology, and it makes a great companion piece for someone first delving into Vos. ‘Rabboni!’ and The Spiritual Resurrection of Believers are just sublime.

[Jay King · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nothing bad about it, just a bit difficult and felt that there are other books more worth reading.

[Neil Edward J. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vos can seem to complicate simple ideas at times but he also nails clarifying basic theological frameworks to merry classic ideas and reformation theology.