Jehovah’s Mighty Acts is a children’s Bible story book by Rev. Nathan Langerak. The book consists of 31 Old Testament Bible stories about savings acts of Jehovah toward His covenant people. Each story is paired with beautiful full-colour illustrations.
Stories of salvation and might: The creation of the world, God’s word to Adam and Eve after the fall, the worldwide flood, God raising up Moses to deliver Israel from Egypt, God’s provision of manna in the wilderness, and the Jews’ return home after seventy years of captivity—these are all saving acts of Jehovah towards his covenant people in the Old Testament. And they all show one of God’s most important perfections: though his people often sin against him and are unfaithful, God is always faithful to his covenant promises he makes with his people in Jesus Christ.
The first book in the Tell His Wonders series of Bible stories, the stories and accompanying illustrations in Jehovah’s Mighty Acts are a tool for parents of the church to use in the instruction of their children about the theme and truth of Jehovah’s mighty acts of salvation in the Old Testament, mighty acts which pointed to the mightiest act of all—salvation in Jesus Christ.
About the author: Nathan J. Langerak is a pastor and author including a two-volume commentary, Walking in the Way of Love, on the book of 1 Corinthians. He and his wife and their six children live in Crete, Illinois.
About the illustrator: Michael Welply has illustrated more than eighty books, including The Random House Book of Bible Stories, and Biblical Times, published by Simon and Schuster. He has two adult children and three grandchildren. He and his wife live in Levet, France.
Book review by Lael Griess. Lael is the wife of Rev. Cory Griess, and mother to their six children. They are members of First Protestant Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Thoroughly covenantal, consistently biblical, and beautifully Christo-centric, Jehovah’s Mighty Acts chronologically highlights stories from Old Testament history for the elementary-aged child, explaining how each story displays a wonder of God’s grace toward his people. As a mother of several children falling in this age group, I especially appreciated Rev. Langerak’s accessible language and simple sentence structure, while at the same time maintaining the depth of spiritual truth contained in each biblical story. In fact, Jehovah’s Mighty Acts both encourages and instructs both the child listening and the adult reading aloud as well!
It is refreshing to use a Bible story book that doesn’t require the Reformed believer to weed out false interpretations or inaccurate accounts of biblical events. And though God has blessed the Reformed church with several lovely classic children’s Bible story books, a fresh recounting of these stories and a creative new format powerfully cements biblical history in our children’s minds anew. Each chapter not only recounts the factual history of the Bible story, but also provides a brief explanation to help children “make sense” of biblical events. The chapters also include a brief summary at the end linking the story to the grand narrative of God’s covenant throughout history centered in the cross of Jesus Christ. I look forward to seeing how these summaries help train my own children to search for the cross throughout all of scripture. Rev. Langerak also approaches each chapter pastorally, seeking not only to fill the heads of children, but also to feed the hearts of the little lambs. His applications are not belabored, but they are adequate to instruct and comfort the heart of a child of God’s covenant. Included with each chapter are vivid and engaging illustrations. Not cartoonish or low-quality, these illustrations enhance a child’s understanding of the account and provide a natural place for an adult to pause and discuss the truths learned while the child examines the picture.
I can easily imagine Jehovah’s Mighty Acts becoming a mainstay of family devotional times, bed-time stories with a grandparent, independent Sunday-afternoon reading for a child, or classroom Bible instruction with a teacher. I look forward to reading and making use of this book and the rest of the series yet to be released!
“Jehovah’s Mighty Acts is wonderful and at a language level that is perfect for reading aloud to younger children! Beautiful illustrations as well.” – New Jersey, USA
“Jehovah’s Mighty Acts is better than any children’s book I had as a Sunday School teacher. It has more information and is more realistic. I also enjoyed reading it to my grandchild.” – Co. Antrim, N. Ireland
“The storytelling, the large print, and the eye catching color pictures make this book an engaging read for children ages 7-10 … My kids love to hear the scripture narrative in story form and I appreciate that the theological truths written in simple language present opportunities for discussion and growth in knowledge and maturity of faith for them.” – Colorado, USA
“My daughter and I are enjoying the Langerak Bible story book.” – England
What others have said about volume 1:
“Using this book is helping my students … and is certainly clarifying the idea of the covenant in their minds.”
“I highly recommend this book … to anyone who wants to be spiritually refreshed going through Old Testament history once again.”
“This book helps the stories of the Bible come alive for my children.”
“[The author’s] ability to balance depth of teaching with readability of form is one of this volume’s most appealing features.”
“Thanks to Michael Welply’s masterful full-colour illustrations, even very young children will enjoy its contents … Much of the artwork is of incredible quality; the images are thoughtfully chosen and tastefully presented.”
