THE

GOD

WHO IS

THERE

Finding Your Place in God’s Story

D. A. CARSON

Baker Books

a division of Baker Publishing Group

Grand Rapids, Michigan

© 2010 by D. A. Carson

Published by Baker Books

a division of Baker Publishing Group

P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287

www.bakerbooks.com

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Carson, D. A.

The God who is there: finding your place in God’s story / D. A. Carson.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-8010-1372-0 (pbk.)

1. Bible—Criticism, interpretation, etc. 2. God (Christianity) I. Title.

BS511.3.C376 2010

220.6′1—dc22

2010013664

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture is taken from the Holy Bible, Today’s New International Version®. TNIV®. Copyright © 2001, 2005 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com

Scripture marked ESV is taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture marked NIV is taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com.

For Ben and Lynae Peays

Contents

Preface

1. The God Who Made Everything

2. The God Who Does Not Wipe Out Rebels

3. The God Who Writes His Own Agreements

4. The God Who Legislates

5. The God Who Reigns

6. The God Who Is Unfathomably Wise

7. The God Who Becomes a Human Being

8. The God Who Grants New Birth

9. The God Who Loves

10. The God Who Dies—and Lives Again

11. The God Who Declares the Guilty Just

12. The God Who Gathers and Transforms His People

13. The God Who Is Very Angry

14. The God Who Triumphs

Scripture Index

Preface

If you know nothing at all about what the Bible says, the book you are now holding in your hands is for you.

If you have recently become interested in God or the Bible or Jesus but quite frankly you find the mass of material rather daunting and do not know where to begin, this book is for you.

If you have been attending a Christian church for many years in an indifferent fashion—it’s a nice extracurricular activity now and then—but have recently come to the conclusion you really ought to understand more than you do, this book is for you.

If you have quite a few of the pieces of the Bible stored in your mind but have no idea how the exodus relates to the exile or why the New Testament is called the New Testament, this book is for you.

If in your experience the Bible has lots of data but you do not see how it conveys God to you or introduces Jesus in a fashion that is utterly ...