Dr Paul Allen

Octavius Winslow once famously said, “Who delivered up Jesus to die? Not Judas, for money; not Pilate, for fear; not the Jews, for envy—but the Father for love.” 1  We could just as easily edit this statement in the following way: “Who put Jesus on the cross? Judas, for money; Pilate, for fear; the Jews, for envy; and you and me, for enmity.”  We should never tire of hearing this truth, to which we must often return. Our understanding of the nature of our depravity is essential if we are to rightly understand the nature of Jesus's death. In short, the doctrine of human depravity helps us better understand who delivered Jesus up to the death on the cross. When considering the nature of sin, many professing Christians focus on the horizontal relationships they sustain with those around them. In a genuine sense, we have all been culturally conditioned to think of the manifold ways we violate the last six—rather than the first four—commandments.  Perhaps it is because the rel...

Even though we may not be able to fully explain why Satan came into being, we know he does exist, and he was there from the beginning of mankind because he tempted Adam and Eve in the third chapter of Genesis.  We also know that Jesus commanded “the unclean spirits, and they obey him” (Mark 1:27), Which is a fantastic statement. He said to Satan in the wilderness, “Be gone!” and he was gone (Matthew 4:10). And we know at the end of history, God will throw Satan into the lake of fire so that he can’t influence God’s people anymore or harm us anymore (Revelation 20:10). So, from all this, we know God could have bound Satan completely the moment he fell or at any point in history in between. We know he doesn’t because, in the end, the whole New Testament is telling the story of Satan’s activity in this world and how he deceives, how he tempts, and how we need to do warfare against the principalities and powers. “Seeing and savoring the superior beauty of Christ is the way we defeat th...

Philip Ryken When archaeologists dig through the ruins of antiquity, they have one certain way to identify a place of Christian worship. They look for a cross. When they find it painted on a wall, carved into stone, or even worked into a floor plan, they know they’ve found a church. Since the beginning, Christians have identified themselves with the cross on which Jesus died. And whether it’s carved in wood or etched on our hearts, the cross is the chief symbol and defining reality of the Christian faith. Why is the cross of Christ so essential? There are several reasons. Necessary to Fulfill God’s Plan First, the cross was necessary to fulfill God’s eternal plan. Not long after Jesus returned to heaven, his friend Peter preached to the people of Jerusalem. He said, “This man [Jesus] was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross” (Acts 2:23, NIV). God knew about the crucifixion of hi...

“If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross!” (Matt 27:40) There’s Mary, standing near the base of the blood-stained heath, hearing this taunt hurled at her son. If only they knew what she knew, their wagging heads would have bowed low. If only they had heard what she had heard, their mocking lips would have been shut in a terrible silence. If only they knew that he wasn’t Joseph’s son! The tradesman from Nazareth, descendent in the line of David, betrothed to the pious young Mary. Though totally pure and righteous in his conduct towards her, he found out she was pregnant (Matt 1:18-19).  Who knows what he said to her, what she said to him? Instead of legal retribution or a public scandal, he chose a quiet courthouse divorce to protect his reputation and her life. Until the angel told him in a dream that this child was “from the Holy Spirit” (1:20). Joseph knew that he wasn’t the father, but he had never imagined that God himself would be the Father. Why did it matter that...

At this time of the year, we often reflect on the events surrounding the suffering and death of the Lord Jesus Christ. One such event is Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem (Matt. 21:1–11; Mark 11:1–10; Luke 19:29–40; John 12:12–19). The gospel accounts of Christ’s triumphal entry point us back to the prophecy of Zechariah, a prophecy made hundreds of years before this event took place. In Zechariah 9:9–17, the prophet tells God’s people what to expect of their King when He comes. Zechariah prophesied wonderful things about the character of this coming King. First, this King would be a righteous King, one who does God’s will as a faithful covenant keeper. Jesus comes as a perfectly righteous King, who serves His Father in heaven with absolute and perfect righteousness. Second, Zechariah describes this coming King as having salvation . We could also translate this phrase to mean “showing himself a savior.” Jesus entered Jerusalem having already shown Himself a powerful Savior. In J...

The ESV’s Old Testament has 103 mentions of ‘atone’ or ‘atonement.’ But the ESV’s New Testament doesn’t contain any mention of ‘atone’ or ‘atonement.’ Is that because the Hebrew word ‘kaphar’ means ‘to cover’ and Christ’s death and resurrection actually erases or forgives our sins rather than merely covering our sins?” The English word atonement originally meant at-one-ment (spelled the same) and referred to any reconciliation of estranged parties. It wasn’t originally just a theological or biblical word. For example, when Thomas More said in 1535 (Oxford English Dictionary), “having more regard to their old variance than their new at-one-ment,” or atonement — that is unity, reconciliation, oneness. But as time passed, the English word atonement became almost entirely a theological word, referring very generally to the way the broken relationship between God and man could be made right. So, the Oxford English Dictionary says, “As applied to the redemptive work of Ch...

The doctrine of limited atonement (also known as "definite atonement" or "particular redemption") says that the atonement of Christ was limited (in its scope and aim) to the elect; Jesus did not atone for the sins of everybody in the world. We examine men and women going into the ministry, and invariably somebody will ask a student, "Do you believe in limited atonement?" The student will respond by saying, "Yes, I believe that the atonement of Christ is sufficient for all and efficient for some," meaning the value of Christ's death on the cross was great enough to cover all of the sins of every person that ever lived, but that it applies only to those who put their faith in Christ. However, that statement doesn't get at the real heart of the controversy, which has to do with God's purpose in the cross. WELL, THEN WHAT WAS THE COMPLETE PURPOSE? There are basically two ways in which to understand God's eternal plan. 1. ...

The burnt offering is one of the oldest and most common offerings in history. It’s entirely possible that Abel’s offering in Genesis 4:4 was a burnt offering, although the first recorded instance is in Genesis 8:20 when Noah offers burnt offerings after the flood. God ordered Abraham to offer his son, Isaac, in a burnt offering in Genesis 22, and then provided a ram as a replacement. After suffering through nine of the ten plagues, Pharaoh decided to let the people go from bondage in Egypt, but his refusal to allow the Israelites to take their livestock with them in order to offer burnt offerings brought about the final plague that led to the Israelites’ delivery (Exodus 10:24–29). The Hebrew word for “burnt offering” actually means to “ascend,“literally to “go up in smoke.”  The smoke from the sacrifice ascended to God, “a soothing aroma to the LORD” (Leviticus 1:9). Technically, any offering burned over an altar was a burnt offering, but in more specific terms, a burnt...

He hath made Him to be sin for us,…that we might be made the righteousness of God.… 2 CORINTHIANS 5:.21 The modern view of the death of Jesus is that He died for our sins out of sympathy. The New Testament view is that He bore our sin not by sympathy, but by identification. He was made to be sin. Our sins are removed because of the death of Jesus, and the explanation of His death is His obedience to His Father, not His sympathy with us. We are acceptable with God not because we have obeyed, or because we have promised to give up things, but because of the death of Christ, and in no other way. We say that Jesus Christ came to reveal the Fatherhood of God, the loving-kindness of God; the New Testament says He came to bear away the sin of the world (RV mg). The revelation of His Father is to those to whom He has been introduced as Saviour: Jesus Christ never spoke of Himself to the world as one Who revealed the Father, but as a stumbling block (see John 15:22-24). John 14:9 was spoke...

“And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.” ( 1 John 2:2 ) Most words in the King James Bible have one or two syllables. Our text verse, for example, has 21 such short words and only one big word; but that word, “propitiation,” has five syllables, and so has elicited many complaints from folks who don’t like to use dictionaries. What does “propitiation” mean? The Greek word is 'hilasmos' and occurs just two other times. These are as follows: “Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God” ( Romans 3:25 ). “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins” ( 1 John 4:10 ). As an aside, note that these two verses contain two words of two syllables, three of three syllables, and 48 of one syllable. But both also include “...

The story of Abraham and his “one and only son” Isaac actually foreshadows God the Father’s offering the redemptive sacrifice of the “second Isaac”—his “one and only Son” (John 3:16 NET). Rather than this being forced upon the Son—divine “child abuse,” as Richard Dawkins calls it—the Father is not pitted against the Son. Christ willingly laid down his life and then took it up again (John 10:15, 17–18). God sent his Son into the world (John 3:17) to bear Israel’s and humanity’s curse and alienation on the cross. Yet, God the Son himself came into the world (John 9:39) to save it. With three wills of Father, Son, and Spirit united as one, the Triune God gave his very self to rescue and redeem humankind: “God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself” (2 Cor. 5:19). Abraham’s unquestioning yet difficult obedience to the covenant God not only helped shape and confirm Israel’s identity in Abraham but also provided a context for understanding God’s immense self-giving love in the...

The historical evidence for Jesus of Nazareth is both long-established and widespread. Within a few decades of his supposed lifetime, he is mentioned by Jewish and Roman historians , as well as by dozens of Christian writings. Compare that with, for example, King Arthur , who supposedly lived around AD500. The major historical source for events of that time does not even mention Arthur, and he is first referred to 300 or 400 years after he is supposed to have lived. The evidence for Jesus is not limited to later folklore, as are accounts of Arthur. What do Christian writings tell us? The value of this evidence is that it is both early and detailed. The first Christian writings to talk about Jesus are the epistles of St Paul , and scholars agree that the earliest of these letters were written within 25 years of Jesus’s death at the very latest, while the detailed biographical accounts of Jesus in the New Testament gospels date from around 40 years after he died. These all appeared ...

If we look at the intricacy of the drama of the events of Jesus’ crucifixion , we see that some amazing things took place so that Old Testament prophetic utterances were fulfilled to the minutest detail.  In the first instance, the Old Testament said that the Messiah would be delivered to the Gentile s (“dogs” or “congregation of the wicked”) for judgment (Ps. 22:16). It just so happened in the course of history that Jesus was put on trial during a time of Roman occupation of Palestine .  The Romans allowed a certain amount of home rule by their conquered vassals, but they did not permit the death penalty to be imposed by the local rulers, so the Jews did not have the authority to put Christ to death. The only thing they could do was to meet in council and take Jesus to Pontius Pilate , the Roman governor, asking him to carry out the execution. So Jesus was delivered from His own people to the Gentiles—those who were “outside the camp.” He was delivered into the ...

The most difficult part of ministry is when people walk away from the Lord. Of course, the death of fellow saints is painful, but our theology allows us to be joyful at the same time; unbelievers rejecting the Gospel is sad, but it is expected apart from God opening their eyes.  It must be said that there is nothing like having someone with whom you’ve spent hours with, discussing Scripture, theology, doing evangelism with them, and spending Sunday after Sunday singing incredible truths with, only to watch them walk away from it all in order to satisfy some worldly temporary pleasure while forsaking the church that Christ died for. Thomas Watson’s words ring true when he said, “What a fool who, for a drop of pleasure, would drink in a sea of wrath.” What are we to do?  How are we to think about it?  It doesn’t matter if you’ve been a pastor for decades and have watched dozens of people walk away, or if you’re new in the ministry and it has happened only a h...

Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. (Isaiah 53:4–5) There is no question who Isaiah is talking about here. This is the suffering servant, God’s Messiah, our Lord Jesus Christ. And this is one of the clearest passages in all of Scripture about what he has done for us. It is crystal clear, and it is simple. There are two central ideas in this passage worth seeing as you prepare your heart to worship this weekend: First, Isaiah shows us what Jesus has done; Second, Isaiah shows us that what Jesus has done has been done for us. Isaiah tells us that he has borne grief and carried sorrow. He was pierced for transgressions, even crushed. He was punished. He was wounded. To be sure, there is a lot happening here. A lot of terrible things — a ...