Book Review: Let the Nations be Glad! by John Piper

Let the Nations be Glad  has been called one of the foremost books on modern missions, and I can see why.  Piper is incredibly thorough in presenting his argument for why missions is necessary and why it is a joy to go to the ends of the earth to proclaim the gospel.  Piper offers scriptural evidence for his viewpoints, and gives real-life stories of the mission field bringing a personal depth to his writing.

"Missions is not the ultimate goal of the church.  Worship is.  Missions exists because worship doesn't."  We live in a world that does not glorify God as it should.  When we understand the greatness and glory of God, it is only fitting that we should share that knowledge with the world.  When we find salvation in Christ, we should desire that others find salvation in Him as well.  The gospel of Christ is not something to be hidden away, but is something to be shouted from the rooftops!  Psalm 67: 1-4 says, "May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face shine upon us, that your ways may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations.  May the peoples praise you, O God; may all the peoples praise you.  May the nations be glad and sing for joy."

One chapter in particular was extremely powerful for me and that was the chapter on prayer.  Piper reminds us that we are at war.  Not a war of flesh and blood or of guns and steel, but of spiritual forces.  Second Corinthians 10:3-4 says, "For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does.  The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world.  On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.  We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ."  Piper says, "Life is war.  That's not all it is, but it is always that.  Our weakness in prayer is owing largely to our neglect of this truth.  Prayer is primarily a wartime walkie-talkie for the mission of the church as it advances against the power of darkness and unbelief."

The war Piper refers to is one between the spiritual forces of good and evil.  The battle is for lost souls.  God desires to bring all people to himself through belief in His Son, but Satan struggles to bring us under his control through the bondage of sin.  It truly is a desperate situation requiring a desperate reliance on God.  In wartime there is urgency and a dramatic shift in the way we live and the way we pray.  During times of peace and prosperity we let our guard down.  We are now living in a time of war as if it were a time of peace.  Piper poses that the reason so many of our prayers are ineffective is because we do not view prayer as our lifeline to God as we accomplish our wartime mission.  "Until we feel the force of this, we will not pray as we ought."

Through this book Piper offers incredible and detailed insight into many areas of missions, making it a staple for anyone's library who plans to help fulfill the mission of God in the nations.