Memoirs of the Way Home: Ezra and Nehemiah as a Call to Conversion
Few people know the history of Ezra and Nehemiah and their God-given work to reestablish Israel in the Promised Land after their Babylonian exile. Memoirs of the Way Home offers an easily accessible survey and devotional reflection upon these overlooked but nevertheless vibrant books of the Bible. Readers will certainly benefit from this simple exploration of the many rich and vital truths that we find in Ezra and Nehemiah and the way Gerald Bilkes connects them to Christ and the church. --J. V. Fesko, academic dean and professor of systematic and historical theology, Westminster Seminary CaliforniaGod s people are a redeemed people; that fact is evident in that the Old Testament both begins and ends with redemption, first from Egypt and then from Babylon. In these events, God prepared his people for the great act of redemption through Jesus Christ. In this study of Ezra and Nehemiah, Dr. Bilkes focuses on elements of the redemption of God s covenant people from the power of Babylon. As he works his way through these great books of the Old Testament, Dr. Bilkes shows us how God's prodigal son Israel returned home, to the Father s house. This is a wonderful resource: penetrating in analysis, faithful in interpretation, personal in application. It shows how the gospel is the means by which God gathers sinners into His kingdom and has powerful lessons to teach us on the nature of individual conversion, as well as on the need for prayer and the place of preaching in the contemporary church. --Iain D. Campbell, minister, Free Church of Scotland, Isle of Lewis.