Five years ago I began writing something on the Bible’s whole story and its application to Christians in the new covenant age. I was inspired by the church father Augustine of Hippo (354-430 AD) in his work, On Catechizing the Uninstructed.

What began as a small project developed into a burden that I felt I had to finish before I die. I was writing mainly for the sake of my wife and children (two of them at the time, now four with one on the way). The great duty of a husband to his wife and father to his children is to lead them, especially spiritually. Regular family worship is the normative process God has used down the centuries and in our lives to produce and bolster the faith of His elect. Though I believe in the sufficiency of Scripture, and that God will lead my family if I pass, yet I want to do all I can to ensure they can have a guide (with sentimental value).

This book comes from the heart – my passively regenerated, sin-battling, pierced, heart. With it I love God, love my family, love the brethren, my neighbors, and my enemies. Accordingly, this book is written for all the above in that priority. Soli Deo Gloria!

This book is theological – biblical, systematic, experiential, and doxilogical. It traces the twin themes of the figure and the reign of the King, promised and foreshadowed in the Old Testament, and fulfilled in the New Testament. It then expands on how one gets into said kingdom and lives in light of it’s already-not yet fulfillment. It is for your knowledge of truth to not be shallow, and your heart to not be hollow.

This book is a part of the cure – to fight against the mystery of lawlessness at work since the first century. Every believer and household needs to be solid in a biblical worldview so as not to be taken captive by false teaching or surprised by persecution (the two-prongs that characterize the inaugurated great tribulation).

Words to describe this book would be:

• Evangelistic – knowing that the Gospel needs to be repeatedly and earnestly preached
• Calvinistic – intensely and unapologetically
• Puritanical – they had it right in a lot of ways, and I strive to imitate them
• Homeschoolish – this made-up word means that homeschool parents would appreciate it
• Progressive Covenantal – the best of biblical-theological, redemptive-historical hermeneutics
• Amillennial – the best of eschatological options
• Catechetical – truth is worthy of memorization

Ultimately, I hope that men and women will be moved to glorify God through believing the gospel and then leave legacies of godliness in the home.

In Christ,

Elias J. MacDonald, husband and father, elder at Lighthouse Baptist Church, and professor of Theology, Science, Logic, and Poetry at home.

Behold, a promo video!
The King and His Kingdom | Book Introduction | Written by Elias MacDonald – YouTube