A Review by Dennae Pierre
The Unquenchable Flame by Michael Reeves gives us a glimpse into a world where “justification by faith alone” was a truth that had been "hidden" from the Christian world for a long time. It reminds us there was a time when hundreds of years passed in which believers had little direct access to the Bible and were often at the mercy of a priest to explain God’s living word to them.
This work reminds us that Luther, Zwingli, Calvin, Tyndale, Knox, and many others spent their lives and often died for the Reformation. They did so because they knew that central to the heart of the gospel is the fact that we can only be justified (be made right with God) through the blood of Christ Jesus. They ached for people to know that they could not merit God’s favor through works and good deeds.
A basic understanding of the Reformation should drive each of us into God’s word with greater fervor. As a Puritan once said,
“Lord, whatsoever thou dost to us, take not thy Bible from us; kill our children, burn our houses, destroy our goods; only spare us thy Bible, only take not away thy Bible.”
This statement may sound extreme in a Christian culture where we all have multiple Bibles in our home yet still “struggle” to find the time or the desire to read God’s word but, as Reeves explains “for the Puritan, the Bible was the most valuable thing this world affords.” How I pray that would be true for me as well!
I just finished reading this book and enjoyed every paragraph. If you love history, especially church history, you will enjoy this book. If you don’t like to read and especially do not like history, I still think you will enjoy this book because Reeves uses words to paint such a vivid picture of the Reformation.
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