I think I have been waiting--actively waiting--for *a* Spurgeon Study Bible to be released, at least eight or ten years. I found out last year that one would actually be released in 2017! It would be in the Christian Standard Bible translation. It would be edited by Alistair Begg. To say I was excited would be an understatement. The year seemed like one long wait until the release date in November.
I received this one for a birthday present in mid-November. I was THRILLED from the start. The print size is very good. The notes were of the "just right" variety. Not too few, not too many. The content of the notes was great. And it was black letter, not red letter. It seemed like it was designed cover to cover with me in mind.
The only thing that would make this one even better would be if it was also available in other translations. I'm thinking the King James Version, since that is the translation Spurgeon used. OR the English Revised Version from 1885, again because Spurgeon would have read.
For the record, I did find one typo in one of the notes in Revelation. They say something about "hating" a new heart--from the context, I'm guessing it's supposed to be HAVING a new heart. Since those in heaven certainly won't be hating their new hearts.
Here are ten of my favorite quotes:
It is a great truth that you will rise again. It is a sweeter truth that you will "always be with the Lord." Whatever else you draw comfort from, neglect not this deep, clear, and over-flowing well of delight. There are other sources of good cheer in connection with the glory to be revealed, for heaven is a many-sided joy, but still none can excel the glory of communion with Jesus Christ, wherefore comfort one another in the first place and most constantly, with these words, "So we will always be with the Lord." Spurgeon Study Bible, 1 Thessalonians 4:17
"Sharper than any double-edged sword." A sword with two edges has no blunt side; it cuts both this way and that. The Word of God is edge all over. It is alive in every part, and in every part keen to cut the conscience and wound the heart. Depend on it: not a verse in the Bible is superfluous or a chapter that is useless. Spurgeon Study Bible, Hebrews 4:12
If we do not love the Bible, we certainly do not love the God who gave it to us; but if we do love God, then no other book in the entire world will be comparable in our minds. When God speaks, it is the delight of our ears to hear what he says. In other books there is some truth and some error. Apart from the Bible, the best book ever written has mistakes in it. It is not possible for fallible men to write infallible books. Somehow or other we either say more than is true or less than is true. The most skillful writer does not always keep along that hairline of truth that is more difficult to tread than a razor's edge. But Scripture never errs. Spurgeon Study Bible, Psalm 119:97-99
Nothing in the past has shaken the foundation of our faith. Nothing in the present can move it. Nothing in the future will undermine it. Whatever may occur in the ages to come, there will always be good reason for believing in Jehovah and his faithful Word. The great truths he has revealed will never be disproved. The great promises he has made will never be retracted. The great purposes he has devised will never be abandoned. So long as we live, we will always have a refuge, a hope, a confidence, that can never be removed. "I will bear you up when you turn gray" is not just a promise for those in old age. But it is also a promise to the people of God at any and every period between their birth and their death. Spurgeon Study Bible, Isaiah 46:3-4
Let us trace all the mercies we get to our God, for he has worked all our works in us. He has chosen us, he has redeemed us, he has called us, he has quickened us, he has preserved us, he has sanctified us, and he will perfect us in Christ Jesus. The glory is all the Lord's. When we read human history, we should read it to see the finger of God in it--trace through the human story the silver line of covenant working--observe how the Lord casts the horse and his rider into the sea when they come out against him or his people. Spurgeon Study Bible, Exodus 15:1
It is not sin as we see it that was laid on Christ but sin as God sees it, not sin as our conscience feebly reveals it to us but sin as God beholds it in all its unmitigated malignity and unconcealed loathsomeness. Sin, in its exceeding sinfulness, Jesus has put away. But when we perceive sin, then we are to trust the blood. Leviticus 4:3, Spurgeon Study Bible
We are all sowing; we cannot help it. No one goes forth in the morning without a seed-basket. As we are all sowing, the great question we have to consider is, :What will the harvest be?" Hosea 8:7; Spurgeon Study Bible
Walking with God denotes an active habit, a communion in the common movements of the day. Some bow humbly before God in the hour of prayer. Other sit humbly in his presence at the time of meditation, and others work themselves up to draw near to God in seasons of religious excitement. But all this falls short of walking with God. Walking is a common pace, an ordinary rate of progress, and it does not seem to require great effort; but then it is a practical working pace, a rate at which one can continue on and on and make a day's journey by the time the sun is down. So walking with God means being with God always, being with him in common things, being with him on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday--as well as on the Sabbath. It means being with him in the shop, with him in the kitchen, with him in the field, feeling his presence in buying and selling, in weighing and measuring, in plowing and reaping--doing as for the Lord the most common acts of life. Then comes the in the qualifying word of "humbly". When our walk with God is closest and clearest, we must be overwhelmed with adoring wonder at the condescension that permits us to think of speaking with the eternal one. To this reverence must be added a constant sense of dependence--walking humbly with God in the sense of daily drawing all supplies from him and gratefully admitting that it is so. We are never to indulge a thought of independence from God, as if we were anything or could do anything apart from him. Spurgeon Study Bible, Micah 6:8
Walking implies the possession of life...Walking is also a position that signifies activity. As genuine Christians we do no merely learn; we practice what we know. We are to be engaged in displaying to others the blessings we have received and are to exhibit in our daily actions the fruits we have gathered from communion with God. "We walk" is more than some can say. They can affirm, "We talk; we think; we experience; we feel:--but true Christians say, "We walk." Walking also implies progress. A person who walks makes some headway. True believers are always making advances; we are to be going from faith in its beginnings to faith in its perfections, waxing stronger and stronger. There is a progress to be made in every Christian grace...
Walking also implies perseverance. When a person only takes a step or two and then stops, we do not call that walking. The true Christian keeps on going. Further, walking is the ordinary manner of the Christian life. Running is not best for progress; it cannot be kept up for long; it fatigues and tires. But walking is that kind of progress in which a person continues hour after hour, and after a night's rest he rises again to walk on as before until reaching the goal...Walking also implies perseverance. When a person only takes a step or two and then stops, we do not call that walking. The true Christian keeps on going. Further, walking is the ordinary manner of the Christian life. Running is not best for progress; it cannot be kept up for long; it fatigues and tires. But walking is that kind of progress in which a person continues hour after hour, and after a night's rest he rises again to walk on as before until reaching the goal... Walking also implies perseverance. When a person only takes a step or two and then stops, we do not call that walking. The true Christian keeps on going. Further, walking is the ordinary manner of the Christian life. Running is not best for progress; it cannot be kept up for long; it fatigues and tires. But walking is that kind of progress in which a person continues hour after hour, and after a night's rest he rises again to walk on as before until reaching the goal...Walking by sight is just this--"I believe in myself." Whereas walking by faith is this--"I believe in God." Spurgeon Study Bible, 2 Corinthians 5:7
"Our Father in heaven" -- I am a child away from home."Your name be honored as holy"--I am a worshiper."Your kingdom come"--I am a subject."Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven"--I am a servant."Give us today our daily bread"--I am a beggar."And forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors"--I am a sinner."And do not bring us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one"--I am a sinner in danger of being a still greater sinner. ~ Spurgeon Study Bible, Matthew 6:13
© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible
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