Dr Paul Allen

Here are three reasons why I teach that Christians are not under the Sabbath law of the Old Testament , and that it is unwise to call Sunday “the Christian Sabbath .” The Sabbath restrictions are found in the Old Testament and are part of the law given to Israel as they entered the Promised Land . The fourth commandment makes clear that the Sabbath law applies to anyone in Israel, regardless of their own personal convictions about the legitimacy of the Covenant. In other words, in OT Israel, just because a person didn’t believe in Yahweh , didn’t mean that they could break the Sabbath. It was a basic component of Israelite Law given to the members of the Old Covenant for their time in the Promised Land. I have never been convinced that the Old Testament law can rightly be divided up into three categories—civil, ceremonial, and moral . I see benefits of that tri-fold scheme in that it is helpful to provoke the student to understand diverse reasons behind the giving of the law. But...

English: The Prophet Isaiah (Is. 1:1-7,16-31) Русский: Пророк Исайя (Ис. 1:1-7,16-31) (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) This is a highly complex question, and an answer less than book length barely scratches the surface. There has been more discussion of the unity of Isaiah by both defenders and critics than any other prophetic book of the Old Testament .  It is the unanimous opinion of the critical school of thought that the Book of Isaiah is not a unity. Chapters 40–66 are supposedly written by an unknown author or authors living at the end of the Babylonian captivity (after 540 B.C.) and are designated as Deutero-Isaiah or Second Isaiah.  Many overlapping and equally unfounded lines of argument are used to support this contention. The critics contend that chapters 40–66 presuppose the exile. The city of Jerusalem is portrayed as ruined and deserted (44:26; 58:12), and the people are portrayed as suffering at the hands of the Chaldeans (42:22, 25; 47:6).  Those who...

English: The Flight of the Prisoners, c. 1896-1902 , gouache on board, 8 15/16 x 11 5/8 in. (22.7 x 29.7 cm), Jewish Museum, New York, NY. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Many times when we suffer, the first Bible book and Bible character that pops up in our mind is Job. And that makes sense. That’s why the book of Job is in the Bible—to teach us how to actually trust in God’s sovereignty and respond to suffering righteously. But the suffering that Jeremiah , the weeping prophet, endured at the time of the Babylonian captivity was just as severe. Job’s sufferings were indeed horrifying, yet there’s something to be said for the fact that his sufferings were fairly personal. Jeremiah’s sufferings, on the other hand, were on behalf of an entire nation wickedly brutalized and ripped from its land. On top of that, Jeremiah himself had not followed in the unfaithfulness of his countrymen which brought this judgment upon them. All the while, he acted righteously and proclaimed the word ...

Before we can appreciate this truth, we must get our bearings. Ezekiel was a prophet to the people of Judah during their years of captivity in Babylon. This captivity came about in three stages. In 605 B.C. when Daniel and his friends were taken. In 597 B.C. when ten thousand more of Judah’s citizens, including Ezekiel, were taken. In 586 B.C. when Nebuchadnezzar and his forces dealt the final blow to Judah by destroying the city of Jerusalem and carrying away even more captives. Ezekiel seems to have begun his prophetic ministry around 592 B.C. and continued it until the year 570. It was there in Babylon that Ezekiel received this vision of the cherubim. What did this mean? Many of the Jews had a tendency to believe that God was present only in the temple. On the basis of this vision, Ezekiel could assure his fellow captives that God was present there in Babylon just as he was in the temple of Jerusalem. Our circumstances can be such that we can also be tempted to belie...

c. 840 (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) The Spirit’s Work Within the Old Testament Period The first matter for our consideration is whether there is an empowering work of the Spirit within the Old Testament period itself that is different from his inner-transforming work. As a matter of fact, the empowering work of the Spirit is much more evident than the inner-transforming. For example, select individuals are anointed with the Spirit to prophesy (e.g., Num. 11:24–27; 1 Sam. 10:6, 10; 19:20; 2 Sam. 23:2; 1 Chron. 12:18; 2 Chron. 20:14–17; 24:20; and throughout the prophetic writings), perform miraculous feats (Judg. 14:6, 19; 15:14–17; 1 Kings 18:12), exercise spiritual power in leadership (Judg. 3:10; 6:34; 11:29; 1 Sam. 16:13), or simply carry out their appointed service within God’s household (Ex. 35:30–35). Additionally, in numerous miracle narratives where the Spirit receives no explicit mention, the human agents are prophets whose definitive qualification is the Spirit’s anointi...

A favorite point of attack on the Bible for those who deny its divine origin and inerrancy is the two varying genealogies of Jesus Christ . Not only is this a favorite point of attack by unbelievers, but it is also a point that often puzzles earnest students of the Bible. It is perfectly clear that the two genealogies differ widely from one another, and yet each is given as the genealogy of Christ. How can they by any possibility both be true? There is a very simple answer to this apparently difficult question. 1. The genealogy given in Matthew is the genealogy of Joseph, the reputed father of Jesus, his father in the eyes of the law. The genealogy given in Luke is the genealogy of Mary, the mother of Jesus , and is the human genealogy of Jesus Christ in actual fact. The gospel of Matthew was written for Jews. All through it Joseph is prominent, Mary is scarcely mentioned. In Luke, on the other hand, Mary is the chief personage in the whole account of the Saviour’s conception and b...

Image via Wikipedia The LORD is well pleased for His righteousness’ sake; He will exalt the law and make it honorable (Isa. 42:21). One of God ’s chief concerns in the deliverance of His people from Babylon was the re-establishment of His law in the nation. He made this point in verse 21, when Isaiah said, “The LORD is well pleased for His righteousness’ sake; He will exalt the law and make it honorable.” Until that time, the law of God had been mostly forgotten or forsaken. Isaiah said, “For they would not walk in His ways, nor were they obedient to His law.” The prophet was speaking not only of Nebuchadnezzar but of his own people, those who would suffer under war and famine because they had forsaken the Lord ’s ways. From this we can assume that God will punish not only His own for failing to follow His law, but pagan nations as well. His righteous standards are for all men because all people are made in the image of God and are to live according to His holiness. We see th...