Review of: “Man of Sorrows, King of Glory: What the Humiliation and Exaltation of Jesus Mean for Us” by Jonty Rhodes (Crossway, 2021)

One of my favorite hymns is Philip Bliss’s work usually entitled, “Man of Sorrows” or “Hallelujah, What a Savior!” I love the hymn because it leads us through a meaningful meditation on what Christ accomplished for us as prophet, priest, and king through both his estate of humiliation and exaltation. In this book, Jonty Rhodes aims to do the same thing and he does so in a way that is succinct and savory.

This book is succinct. The main contents of the book span a mere 135 pages, which is a very brief read for a book dealing with the full scope of Christ’s redemptive work! Rhodes has made this excellent work of Christological reflection accessible to pastors and laypeople alike by keeping the focus on the main thing in each chapter and avoiding the quagmire of secondary issues. Those secondary issues are not unimportant, but Rhodes stays true to his purpose in this book by occasionally hinting at his own views while leaving the fuller discussion to more academic works. It makes for a quick read informed by historical debates, but not bogged down with them.

The second thing I will say about this book is that it is savory. If you love Jesus Christ, you will find yourself savoring him as you consider, perhaps for the first time, the fact that he did more than simply “die on the cross for your sins.” He absolutely did that as Rhodes makes clear. But he also rose for you, he ascended for you, he reigns for you, and he is coming again for you. Using the traditional threefold office of prophet, priest, and king as categories, Rhodes helps us reflect more deeply on the full breadth of Christ’s work.

While Jonty Rhodes has written a theological work, those who take it up to read it will find it stirs the heart in a devotional manner. The church of Jesus Christ would be well-served to have more devotional books like this: grounded in rich theological tradition without being swamped by tedious theological debate or nuance. Again, debate and nuance have their place, but so does devotional reflection and meditation, and that is what Rhodes provides in this book. I recommend it to all those who would like to spend some intentional time reflecting on who Jesus is and what he has done for you.