To intimately know God is the substance of this work by Burgess. It is not only to know God as God has revealed his essence, but Burgess, as all good, practical preachers do, presses the reader to then take what they learn about God, and see how it necessarily links to practical truths, such as those necessary for salvation; to know God and to be saved by Jesus Christ.

Burgess covers three important questions. Question 1: What conceptions should we have of the blessed God? Question 2: What are those truths of the knowledge of God which appear indispensably necessary and spiritually desirable to our salvation? Question 3: What is that change brought about in a man by God’s holy Word and Spirit, before he can safely conclude himself to be passed from death to life? These are, most assuredly, three of the most important questions that can be drawn from Scripture and applied to the life of any fallen son of Adam.

In showing these as utterly important as they refer to eternal realities, Burgess not only explains who God is, but also the work that God has done in Jesus Christ who is the perfect God and perfect man in one person to overcome the horrible effects of a fallen world. To know salvation, is to know, first, the blessed God, and then what this God does in and through his Christ to redeem sinners. He will explain Jesus as the great Prophet, Priest and King in both his states of humiliation and exaltation; that in Christ’s humiliation he was made under the law, obeying the precepts, and suffering its curse. And in his exaltation, in rising from the dead as he did, ascending into heaven, and having all power in heaven and earth given him, he is made higher than any mere creature could possibly be exalted to. In this Christ is able to save to the uttermost and willing to save even the chief of sinners, and he welcomes all that penitently come to him for salvation.

To hold steadfastly to the knowledge of God and of his salvation, is indispensably necessary to our eternal salvation, the glorification of the Christ, and honor we owe to the blessed God. This blessed God, then, will make us happy by these truths, and eternally blessed by them in the power of his Holy Spirit; for these show God’s loveliness and blessedness to all that hear his voice.

Daniel Burgess