Dr Paul Allen

Does prayer make any difference? Absolutely! And prayer makes a difference because the living God , the Holy Spirit , lives inside the one praying. Further, when God’s people get together and pray as a community, amazing things happen! I’m sure you’ve seen plenty of those before-and-after photos advertising the latest weight loss and fitness program. The Bible gives us a pretty neat before-and-after picture of the early church. Before the Holy Spirit empowered the church at Pentecost , the apostles are waiting, hiding, and hoping. And they’re praying. Then Pentecost occurs. The fire falls. The Spirit empowers. And things begin to happen. Thousands are saved and added to the church. Miracles occur. Healing takes place. The impact is so tangible that the church leaders start getting in trouble for bringing attention to the crime of the unfair crucifixion of Jesus. Peter and John heal a crippled man at one of the Temple gates and it lands them in jail where they take a beating and...

Giotto's depiction of Jesus before Caiaphas in the morning based on Luke 22 (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) The next day the “rulers” (the executives or official members of the Sanhedrin, the Jewish Senate and Supreme Court ) with the “elders and teachers of the law” (experts in the interpretation of the law of Moses; professional teachers of the Law) who were in Jerusalem assembled. With them came, specifically, Annas , Caiaphas , John, Alexander, and all the rest of the relatives of the high priest who happened to be in the city. This was probably not an official meeting of the Sanhedrin, but “may simply have been a rather ad hoc gathering instigated by the family of Annas.” Annas here is called the high priest. He was officially high priest from a.d. 6–15. Then his son Jonathan was appointed for about three years. Next Caiaphas, the son-in-law of Annas, was made the official high priest (a.d. 18–36). But Annas remained the power behind the position and kept his honorary title....

Wenceslas Hollar - Jesus before Caiaphas (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Matthew 26:1–5 “The chief priests and the elders…plotted together in order to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him. But they said, ‘Not during the feast, lest there be an uproar” ( vv. 3–4 ). Matthew 26 opens with Jesus’ fourth prediction of His passion and resurrection. After ending His Olivet Discourse , Matthew tells us that our Lord has finished “all these sayings” ( v. 1 ), which likely refers to all the instruction He has thus far given in this gospel. In other words, Christ’s teaching ministry is done and it is time for Him to atone for sin and seal His victory. The Savior has already told His disciples three times that He will die and be raised ( 16:21 ; 17:22–23 ; 20:17–19 ), but in today’s passage He explains for the first time that this will take place during Passover . This provides a theological framework for understanding the significance of the Messiah ’s death. Just as the angel of death passed ...

Image via Wikipedia MATTHEW 26:1–5 “The chief priests and the elders … plotted together in order to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him. But they said, ‘Not during the feast, lest there be an uproar” (vv. 3–4). Matthew 26 opens with Jesus’ fourth prediction of His passion and resurrection. After ending His Olivet Discourse , Matthew tells us that our Lord has finished “all these sayings” (v. 1), which likely refers to all the instruction He has thus far given in this gospel. In other words, Christ’s teaching ministry is done and it is time for Him to atone for sin and seal His victory. The Savior has already told His disciples three times that He will die and be raised (16:21; 17:22–23; 20:17–19), but in today’s passage He explains for the first time that this will take place during Passover . This provides a theological framework for understanding the significance of the Messiah ’s death. Just as the angel of death passed over all of those who were covered by the blood of th...