By Ted Dekker
I love Ted Dekker’s books, but AD 30 did not begin as I expected it to. I had this idea in my head that Jesus or someone very close to Jesus would be the main character and that this story would revolve around Jesus’ ministry. While the book certainly involved Jesus and made a powerful statement about Jesus’ teachings, the character of Jesus did not come into the book until about half way through.
The story began with a lot of desert scenes, descriptions of camels and of the desert people called the Bedu. The story that unfolded was quite foreign to me and at first I found it difficult to relate to and also to accept that Jesus was not a main character introduced from the beginning of the book.
Though I struggled with the first half of the book, I absolutely loved the last half. Ted’s depiction of Yeshua (Jesus) was powerful and his interpretation of the gospel – which he preached through the characters and their stories throughout the last half of the book – was, in my opinion, divine! The point of the gospel is forgiveness. It is only by forgiving every and all offence, whether human or circumstantial, that we live a life of true faith, totally unafraid of any storm or danger. If there is no offence, then there is no legitimate threat.
I highlighted so many amazing lines toward the end of the book, I was absolutely riveted! Ted Dekker has tapped into the very heart of the Gospel message: the forgotten way. One can only pray that we can do this in real life, by forgiving all offence and having faith that the mountains in our lives are what we make of them. And in the blink of an eye, they can be moved.