Have you ever stood admiringly in a building hundreds of years old, perhaps one of the great cathedrals or palaces in Europe? You standin awe, conscious that you are privileged to look at the handwork that may have taken hundreds of years to erect. Here is the fruit of manyhours of labor by men who knew sacrifice for the sake of the finished product. They labored and you have entered into the fruit of their toil.Something akin to that feeling is what came over me as I looked over the contents of this volume. We are looking at the fruit of a lifetime ofstudy of God's Word. It represents hours alone with the Master, poring over the Scriptures of Truth. What has come down to us is the distilledproduct of those many hours so spent. We are the richer as a result of the sacrifice of our brother.
His diligent study of God's Word is admirable. But there is an added ingredient that makes this of even greater value. The wise man hassought out "acceptable words . words as goads . and as nails fastened by the master of assemblies" (Eccl 12:10, 11). Truth is presented ina way that is easy to grasp and remember, with no compromising of its depth and doctrinal clarity. Those of us who were privileged to knowand hear our brother would have expected nothing less than the volume you are now perusing.Modern educators tell us that we have a generation of learners who absorb material best by a visual display, mostly on a computer screen.
Graphs and summaries that appeal to those who use the media for researching information are what appeal to this group. There are others,perhaps a bit older, who prefer a more didactic and traditional form for transmitting information. This volume should satisfy both.For those who like to get the "big picture" from a chart or graph, there is ample here to satisfy, in the charts which summarize eachN. T. book. For others who prefer a more in depth commentary approach, the written material, affording the main themes of the book underconsideration provide a wealth of material. In short, the outlines and explanatory notes are a rich mine waiting for the diligent student toimmerse himself and uncover greater wealth for himself.
Along with each individual book of the New Testament being outlined and summarized and its themes traced, there are very helpfulsections dealing with areas of special importance. Some of these include: the Sermon on the Mount (Matt 5-7); the chronology of the life ofthe Apostle Paul, the Parables of the Lord Jesus, the message to the Ephesian elders (Acts 20), and the trials of the Lord before the varioustribunals prior to the cross, to name a few.The contents and layout of this book assure its usefulness for the student of Scripture at every level of study. So enter its pages, stand inawe with me, and profit from the wealth of material that has been provided. May you know the Lord's richest blessing as you begin to learnfrom this "master of assemblies.".