Appearing within the Essential Studies in Biblical Theology series, Face to Face with God focuses on “those aspects of Jesus Christ’s life that are associated with the related concepts of priest and mediator” (p. 1). Fittingly, The Epistle to the Hebrews, which acknowledges both the one time offering of Christ and his ongoing mediatorial intercession, plays a major role in this work. Therefore, Alexander readily admits that the book’s attention to priesthood is not comprehensive but devoted to Jesus’s priesthood. Broadly, the nine chapters are organized according to place, person, and then community.The first two chapters focus on the tabernacle in the Scriptures of Israel and some interpretations about it, including its role as a footstool of the heavenly throne, its evocation of Eden and a model of the cosmos, as well as its resonance as a horizontal and portable Mount Sinai. Throughout these descriptive chapters, Alexander writes with arresting phrases such as, “God will occupy a tent like the Israelites” (p. 13).The third chapter focuses upon the degrees of holiness in the spaces of the tabernacle as well as between the people and priests. He includes discussion of the process of consecration that sets apart the priests and the ethical response demanded for all those who are in covenant with a Holy God. In this discussion, he provides a helpful insight into the connection between deliverance and sanctification: “Their rescue from death sets them apart from everyone else, consecrating them so that they belong to God” (p. 55). The chapter closes with a discussion of Exod 24 where the whole people of Israel are consecrated through blood.The fourth chapter, which bears the title of the book “Face to Face with God,” turns its attention fully to priesthood, the place where the priests served (the tent of meeting), and their vestments. It devotes significant time to Moses’s interactions with God in the tent of meeting, the place of his intercession for the people of Israel.Chapter 5 continues to focus on the tent of meeting and specifically the altar of incense where the high priest ministers daily. Alexander shows how this daily offering is connected both to what happens on the bronze altar and therefore to atonement as well as to the ark in the holiest section of the tent. He then turns to Hebrews, 1 John, and Paul to discuss Jesus’s continual intercession.Next, Alexander emphasizes the centrality of the cross and resurrection for the sacrifice of Christ. Considering recent debates energized by the work of David Moffitt, Alexander asserts that “Christ’s death on the cross is undoubtedly what he has in mind” when the author of Hebrews refers to him “offering himself as a sacrifice” (p. 85). On the other hand, Alexander also acknowledges that “the offering must ascend into the heavenly sanctuary” (p. 86). The rest of the chapter compares Christ’s offering and its effects with the Levitical priesthood, a comparison joined by the law of Israel’s assertion, as illuminated by recent scholarship, that blood symbolizes life (p. 50).The seventh chapter of this book, like the seventh chapter of Hebrews, takes up the enigmatic figure of Melchizedek. With close attention to Hebrews, Ps 110, Gen 14, as well as Ps 2, Face to Face with God navigates Hebrews’ complex assertions that Jesus is Son of God, Messiah, and priest in the order of Melchizedek.Similarly, as Heb 8 focuses on the covenant, so too does Alexander’s eighth chapter. He discusses the dynamics of Hebrews “new” or “better” covenant in dialogue with the text of Jeremiah and other events recorded in Israel’s history. Alexander draws attention to the fact that the author of Hebrews does not associate covenant with Abraham, but with Sinai, whereas Abraham is known as the recipient of the promise. The previous chapters of the book have set him up well to show how covenant and priesthood are intertwined for the author of Hebrews. Because Christ is the permanent priest, so too will the New Covenant endure, because it is the covenant made with his effective blood.The final chapter connects the supremacy of Christ with the royal priesthood he grants to all his followers, fulfilling God’s original plan for humanity. Christ’s priesthood serves the ultimate end of bringing in God’s kingdom.In conclusion, Alexander reflects on the meaning of Christ’s priesthood for humanity today. Without presuming on the grace of God, in Christ all can find reconciliation and the encouragement to endure.At times, I wondered if the tone toward Israel’s sacrificial system was unnecessarily negative. For example, he describes the tabernacle as “merely a model” of the heavenly one (p. 76), but this is the model that allowed the continuation of the presence of God among the people as well as a framework to understand the work of Christ. He suggests that the sacrifices were presented to “gain God’s favor” (p. 8), but many interpreters would say they functioned within a system in which God had already given divine favor in election. Finally, he states that contact with God was “severely restricted” (p. 40), but Jewish texts do not seem to convey that sense, especially because the people are posited so close around the divine meeting place, as he acknowledges (p. 47). It seemed possible that the lack of attention to the Old Testament priests and priestly function, in preference for a focus on Christ in the New Testament, could have led to these overstatements.On the other hand, Alexander’s close attention to the priesthood of Jesus and clear engagement with original languages allows him to emphasize not only the cross but also the importance of the ascension and Christ’s ongoing work “happening for our benefit this very minute in God’s heavenly presence” (p. 12), a healthy redress, in my opinion, in light of previous lack of attention to this aspect of the Christian confession.This book does not make assumptions about previous knowledge but provides enough introduction so that any reader can proceed through the material with understanding (helpful charts throughout add illuminating visual aids). The downside to that accessibility is that interpretive decisions are sometimes presented, but not argued for, so nonexperts might not realize when decisions have been made for them. For example, one of the best features of the book is the way it frequently sheds light on the importance of the altar of incense, and yet I found his arguments for the intercession of the Aaronic high priest elided to become more similar to Jesus’s priesthood than the text of the Old Testament makes clear. Whereas the high priest brings the names of the tribes before God when presenting the incense, seemingly facilitating God’s holiness among the people, Hebrews makes clear that Jesus’s followers can ask for whatever they need at a particular time (Heb 4:16) because he advocates for the breadth of their needs so that they can endure in their journey to perpetual life and rest with God (7:28).These qualms are evidence, therefore, that Alexander’s text provoked me to consider biblical mediation seriously. This text would be an excellent supplement to an introductory study of Hebrews, with the added benefit of showing its connections to Israel’s Scriptures and other New Testament authors who consider the mediatorial nature of the Messiah’s work.