Many are quick to say such things as “this is [insert writer’s name here] best book!” or “if you are going to read any book by [insert writer’s name here] this is it!” And so when I say that Spectacular Sins is John Piper’s greatest work to date, I do so carefully, especially considering the number and depth of his works.
But this IS Piper’s best work, for here, in the very center of opposition to God, to Christ, Piper masterfully shows God’s sovereignty, removing every last argument pitted against it. For if sin, the cosmic rebellion against a holy God, is ultimately under the authority of God, and not just that, but if God is actually using said rebellion to actually bring Himself more glory, how can our knees not hit the ground, how can our hearts not leap, how can our eyes not rain tears, and how can our voice not belt out praise?
The book begins with an introduction by Piper where he exhorts his readers to worship a larger God, because without a big God believers will not be able to handle the suffering that is to come.
People who don’t like Christians are all around us. Only a strange providence keeps our churches from being bombed. It is only a matter of time till the reality of the rest of the world comes home. And all the while we are called by Christ to go to them, love them, sacrifice for them, bring the gospel to them. The Great Commission is not child’s play. It is costly. Very costly.
The coddled Western world will sooner or later give way to great affliction. And when it does, whose vision of God will hold? Where are Christians being prepared for great global sorrows? Where is the Christian mind and soul being prepared for the horrors to come?
After writing in Chapter 1 the impulses that fuel the reason for the book, Piper deconstructs the passage that acts as the backbone of his argument, Colossians 1:9-20. For if all things were created by, through, and for Christ then “everything that exists, exists to make the greatness of Christ more fully known.”
All that came into being exists for Christ – that is, everything exists to display the greatness of Christ. Nothing – nothing! – in the universe exists for its own sake. Everything – from the bottom of the oceans to the top of the mountains, from the smallest particle to the biggest star, from the most boring school subject to the most fascinating science, from the ugliest cockroach to the most beautiful human, from the greatest saint to the most wicked genocidal dictator – everything that exists, exists to make the greatness of Christ more fully known – including you, and the person you have the hardest time liking.
In Chapter 3, Piper focuses on God’s sovereignty over Satan, showing how it is God who governs the moves of Satan and effortlessly answers the question of evil. Why does God not just wipe out Satan? “For the fullness of Christ’s glory.”
A single, sudden, and infinitely holy display of power to destroy Satan immediately after his fall would have been a glorious display of power and righteousness. But it would not have been the fullest possible display of all the glories in the Son and the Father. God chose an infinitely wise way of displaying the full array of divine glories in letting Satan fall and do his work for millennia.
The glory of Christ reaches its highest point in the obedient sacrifice of the cross where Jesus triumphed over the devil (Col 2:15).
Then Piper goes through the Bible to show God’s sovereignty over sin in the history of humanity, from the fall of man, to Babel, Joseph, the kings of Israel and ultimately to death of Christ.
Could the God of the Bible allow his Son to die by anyone’s hands but His own. Piper confidently proclaims “No!”
Why should this matter to you? It should matter because if God were not the main Actor in the death of Christ, then the death of Christ could not save us from our sins, and we would perish in hell forever (Matt. 25:46; 2 Thess. 1:9). The reason the death of Christ is the heart of the gospel—the heart of the good news—is that God was doing it. Romans 5:8: “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” If you separate God’s activity from the death of Jesus, you lose the gospel. This was God’s doing. It is the highest and deepest point of his love for sinners. His love for you.
This book is a must read for all believers. Not only will it prepare you for suffering, curing you of “wimpy worldviews” as Piper calls it, it will bring you to your knees in humility and praise.
How could a God who takes an act, which purpose is to defame the name of God, and twist it to have it do the opposite and glorify the name of Christ, not cause to cry out “How great is our God!”
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You can download the book for free in PDF form, or purchase it.