Of all Don Carson’s books this is surely the shortest: forty-seven small pages. It took me all of twenty minutes to read. But it ranks well on the ‘helpfulness-per-minute-of-reading scale’! Based on 2 Timothy 3-4, it’s about how we should live in the light of Jesus’ imminent return. Carson makes five points:

1. We are living in the last days
2. The importance of having and being good mentors
3. We should have few illusions about the world – it is not a nice place
4. We need to hold onto the Bible
5. We should hold out the Bible to others

As always he’s full of biblical common sense and wisdom. I found the section on mentors particularly helpful, which linked with his last chapter on the need to pass on the gospel to the next generation. He doesn’t go into great detail but it’s a helpful reminder of how important this is and how as churches we need to be intentional about doing this. Of course God will ensure the future of His church, but He does that through our taking seriously the need to prepare and equip the next generation for gospel ministry. Free churches (maybe particularly in Wales) have been slower than our Anglican brethren to think about passing on the baton of gospel ministry through strategies like ministry trainees or apprentices.

This is a good little book, a basis for preaching maybe, or a primer for thinking in more detail about what it might look like for us to make these things a priority in the last days.

John Richards