God’s Story – The Bible Explained by Matt Searles – A Review

This is a delightful treasure-trove of a book that gives readers a visually compelling and knowledge-enriching tour of the storyline of Scripture. It will inform, equip and thrill!

Now on the whole, Christian books tend to be a bit bland inside. There’s not many Christians books on my bookshelves that aren’t just text inside. Yet this is where God’s Story is so different. Matt’s role as Director of Training for the South Central Gospel Partnership means he is well qualified to help readers grapple with the different genres, contexts and time periods of the Bible. But the team at Lion Hudson have done an incredible job at presenting Matt’s rich Bible knowledge and teaching gifts in such a way that they are accompanied by relevant photos, helpful tables/graphs, and inspiring artwork from throughout history.

The result feels like a cross between the kind of glossy and browsable book that you may have on your coffee table, and a genuinely stretching resource that you would draw on time and time again in the study.

Fifty-six double-page spread chapters take the reader from the Genesis account of God creating the world all the way to the portrayal of the new creation in Revelation. Along the journey Matt either gives time to most books of the Bible, or chooses to focus on key events/elements, e.g. he gives an introduction to Joshua and Judges, but then does a deep-dive into  key aspects of Paul’s theology such as justification by faith and union with Christ. Each chapter also has a super helpful ‘Looking ahead to Jesus’ section, which helps us see how the whole story is one story. An opening chapter on ‘The Bible – God Speaks’ gives us a helpful guide to how we should approach Scripture as Christians.

This book is both beautiful and informative – and would make a precious gift for young Christians and experienced Bible teachers/preachers alike. Highly recommended and this reader is very grateful for it.

Disclaimer: I received a review copy of the book from the author, but I hope this is still a fair review.