Dr Paul Allen

  The term “angel of the Lord” (or “of God”) appears 48 times in the Old Testament in 14 different books and 19 times in the New Testament in 3 books. What that description means is not clearly known. Ramm is helpful in his statement, “There is some obscurity … which an honest exegesis will not overlook.”9 Following are several different suggestions for the meaning of “angel of the Lord”: 1.      A representation and a type of God.10 2.      God himself. This suggestion is gleaned from the fact that “angel of the Lord” is interchanged many times with “the Lord” or “God.”11 3.      A manifestation of Christ prior to His incarnation on earth.12 This suggestion relates to the fact that the term, “angel of the Lord” is interchanged with only “the Lord” in a few places. 4.      A special servant of God.13 5.      An angel of higher stature than others with special ministries for Yahweh.14 6.      T...

The Old Testament tells us that no person can see the face of God and live (Exod 33:20). The New Testament echoes this prohibition (John 1:18). The prophet Hosea, however, seems to disagree. In Hosea 12:3–4, the prophet revisits the story of Jacob as told in Genesis:     In the womb he [Jacob] deceived his brother,       and in his manhood he struggled with God.       He struggled with the angel and prevailed;          he pleaded for his mercy.       He met him at Bethel,          and there he spoke with him. (LEB) If we turn back to Genesis, we find that Jacob “struggled” (sarah) with “a man” in a physical scuffle (Gen 32:24 LEB). The same Hebrew word is also used in Hosea 12:3 for Jacob’s struggle with God, thereby linking these two passages. As Jacob wrestled the stranger, he came to realize he was struggling with God (elohim) in human form (Gen 32:28). He named th...

1 JOHN 2:27 “But the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie—just as it has taught you, abide in him.” Having explored the significance of the title Christ and its relation to our Savior’s anointing as our Prophet , Priest, and King, we will now consider the meaning of the term Christian, or “one who belongs to Christ.” There are important reasons why we call ourselves “ Christians ” that go beyond our profession of faith. Scripture explains that we have been baptized into Christ by faith, uniting us to Him “spiritually and mystically, yet really and inseparably” (WLC, Q&A 66). Jesus still enjoys the messianic anointing that is His by virtue of His status as the Son of David, and He shares this anointing in some sense with us.  According to 1 John 2:27, believers have an abiding anointing that means we “have no need that anyone sh...

There’s a section in department stores these days called “shapewear.” It’s in both women’s and men’s clothing. These stores are banking on our concern with the shape of our bodies and our willingness to invest in garments that promise to give us the shape we’re looking for. But when we read Paul’s letter to the church in Rome , we discover it’s not what is shaping our bodies that he is most concerned about. He’s concerned about what is shaping our perspective, our priorities, our pursuits, and our opinions . He writes: Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God , what is good and acceptable and perfect. (Rom. 12:2) His words force us to ask ourselves:   What external forces are shaping my internal dialogue about what matters?  What pressures me to make the choices I am making about how I spend my money, my time, and my energies?  Am I self-aware enough to know? Eve...

In 2011, a magnitude 9 earthquake and a resulting tsunami took nearly 19,000 lives and destroyed 230,000 homes in the region northeast of Tokyo . In its aftermath, The Nozomi Project, named for the Japanese word for “hope,” was born to provide sustainable income, community, dignity, and hope in a God who provides. Nozomi women sift through the rubble of homes and furnishings to discover broken china shards that they sand and insert into fittings to form jewelry. The jewelry is sold around the world, providing a livelihood for the women while sharing symbols of their faith in Christ . In New Testament times, it was customary to hide valuables in the unlikely vessels of simple clay pots. Paul describes how the treasure of the gospel is contained in the human frailty of followers of Christ : jars of clay (2 Cor. 4:7). He suggests that the meager—and even at times broken—vessels of our lives actually can reveal God’s power in contrast to our imperfections. When God inh...

Christianity is a religion of joy. Real joy comes from God , who has invaded us, conquered us, and liberated us from eternal death and sadness —who has given us hope and joy because He has poured out His love within our hearts by the Holy Spirit whom He has given us (Rom. 5:5). Joy comes from God, not from within. When we look within, we just get sad. We have joy only when we look outside ourselves to Christ . Without Christ, joy is not only hard to find, it’s impossible to find. The world desperately seeks joy, but in all the wrong places. However, our joy comes because Christ sought us, found us, and keeps us. We cannot have joy apart from Christ, because it doesn’t exist. Joy is not something we can conjure up. Joy isn’t the absence of sadness—it’s the presence of the Holy Spirit. And although the Holy Spirit produces joy within us, He often does so by humbling us so that we would take our eyes off ourselves and fix our eyes on Christ. Real joy exists even amid real sadness, an...

Jesus himself seeks God ’s glory as his highest end 1. Jn. 7:18 —“He who speaks from Himself seeks his own glory; but He who is seeking the glory of the one who sent Him, He is true, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.” 2. Jn. 12:27–28 —“Now My soul has become troubled; and what shall I say, ‘Father, save Me from this hour?’ But for this purpose I came to this hour. Father, glorify Thy name. There came therefore, a voice out of heaven: ‘I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.’ ” Edwards points out that this utterance of Jesus came as he reflected on his impending journey to Jerusalem and the inevitable sufferings he was to face there. He writes:   “Under this distress of mind, in so terrible a view, he supports himself with a prospect of what would be the consequence of his sufferings, viz. God’s glory. Now, ‘tis the end that supports the agent in any difficult work that he undertakes, and above all others, his ultimate and supreme end. For this i...

What does the Bible say about the Trinity? (2 Cor. 13:14) The Trinity is one of the great theological mysteries. There are some who think that because we believe in monotheism, one God , we cannot accept the concept of the Trinity. Yet the Bible teaches that the Godhead consists of three divine Persons — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit —each fully God, each showing fully the divine nature (Luke 3:21, 22). The Father is the fountainhead of the Trinity, the Creator, the first cause. He is the primary thought, the concept of all that has been and will be created. Jesus said, " My Father has been working until now, and I have been working" (John 5:17). The Son is the "Logos" or expression of God—the "only begotten" of the Father—and He Himself is God. Further, as God incarnate, He reveals the Father to us (John 14:9). The Son of God is both the agent of creation and mankind’s only Redeemer. The Holy Spirit , the third Person of the Trinity, proceeds from t...

What is God like? ( Acts 17:23) Theologians have tried to describe God in many ways. He is the substance of all human virtues. He is all–wise and all–knowing. He can do anything and everything we cannot do, and He is everything good that we would like to be. So we say that He is omnipotent (all–powerful) or omniscient (all–knowing) or omnipresent (present everywhere). On the other hand, we can describe God by contrasting Him with our human limitations. For example, we are mortal, but God is immortal. We are fallible, but God is infallible. God is the Father of all creation, the Creator of all. He is all–powerful and sustains the universe. He exists outside the universe (theologians call this transcendence), yet He is present throughout the universe (theologians say He is immanent) and is its ruler. He exists in nature, but He is not nature, nor is He bound by the laws of nature as the pantheists assert. He is the source of all life and everything that is. The best description of ...

The restoration to a sound physical or psychological state or to the greatest degree of health (Heb. šālōm “completeness, welfare”) possible given such limits as age and dismemberment. The process might involve regeneration as well as restoration, which included rectification of a sinful condition for which disease was often considered divine punishment (Ps. 38:3; cf. Isa. 38:10–20). Ultimately, God is the source of healing (e.g., Gen. 20:17; Exod. 15:16). Healing might be effected through prophets who acted as God’s agents (e.g., 2 Kgs. 5:3–14; 2 Kgs. 20:1–7 par. Isa. 38) as well as purification rituals performed by priests (cf. Lev. 15). By the Hellenistic period professional physicians had gained a prominent role, relying on magic and superstition as much as actual medical treatment (cf. Sir. 38:1–15). As part of his ministry of restoring humanity to wholeness, Jesus healed a variety of physical and psychological ailments (e.g., Luke 7:21–22; cf. 4:18). Although in some ins...

Frans Floris - The Sacrifice of Jesus Christ, Son of God, Gathering and Protecting Mankind - WGA7949 (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) “Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father , and it sufficeth us. Jesus saith unto him . . . he that hath seen me hath seen the Father.” ( John 14:8-9 )   Theologians have wrestled with the dual nature of the Lord Jesus since the beginning. On the one hand, there are those who deny or belittle His humanity, and on the other hand, there are those who deny His deity. Both natures are completely true: Jesus is fully human and fully God .   The prophets identified the coming Messiah as fully God. Isaiah 9:6 is the “naming” prophecy that specifies that the Messiah would be called “Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace .”  Isaiah  7:14  specifies that “the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel .” Matth...

Priest head-Assyria-IMG 0102 (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) As the Westminster Confession states , “ God from all eternity, did, by the most wise and holy counsel of His own will, freely, and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass” (WCF, 3.1). Whenever you say something like that in a theological discussion, immediately the question is raised: How can God be the ultimate cause of whatsoever comes to pass—even actions and events that are evil and sinful, things which God Himself prescribes against—and yet not be rightly charged with unrighteousness? This is a good question. Perhaps the most common answer to that question is an appeal to the notion of divine “permission.” In other words, though God is ultimately in control, He doesn’t ordain evil; He merely allows it. But this solution is unsatisfactory, both theologically and biblically. After considering a number of passages that don’t shy away from attributing to God a very active role in the bringing about of evil events...