Dr Paul Allen

Genesis 32:6 – And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, “We came to your brother Esau, and he is coming to meet you, and there are four hundred men with him.” There are times in life when it feels like we are in an exhausting battle. Sometimes we even battle with God – struggling to accept His will, unwilling to agree with His word or fighting to get our own way and not do things His way. In this scene of Genesis, Jacob literally wrestles with God in a way that ends up being a good blessing for His future.  Jacob left home as a single man and now returns home as a husband and father who has been toughened up by years of abuse under his father-in-law, Laban.                After 20 years away, Jacob’s homecoming journey was interrupted by two angels who met him at the border of the Promised Land. Not knowing if his brother Esau, whom he had not seen for 20 years, still wanted to kill him, Jacob sent messengers ahead to notify Esau that he...

  The relationship of God to evil and sin is a theological question that almost every Christian cares about. We believe, of course, that God exists and is sovereign. We know evil exists by virtue of our experience.  Therein lies the conundrum. If God is in control of everything and evil exists, then it must exist because God either desires, permits or needs its existence.  The first option produces an evil, twisted deity.  The second makes God a little less warped but portrays him as apparently indifferent and insufficiently moved by our plight to eradicate the cause.  The third prompt the question of how an omniscient God couldn’t come up with a better plan. All three formulations should be rejected. They are all propelled by some flawed thinking.  First, the notion of God’s sovereignty is too often defined as God predestinating everything . God’s foreknowledge does not necessitate predestination. The fact that God knew evil would enter into the world (b...

Isaac Blessing Jacob (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) PROVERBS 11:24–26 “Whoever brings blessing will be enriched, and one who waters will himself be watered” (v. 25). Divine blessings shape a person’s destiny, which is why Jacob conspired to lay hold of the better blessing from Isaac and why Esau mourned greatly when he did not receive it (Gen. 27:1–45). Yet Scripture also speaks of blessings that human beings may bring to one another, and it promises good things to those who use what they have to bless others, as we see in today’s passage. One commentator has noted that God ’s economy does not always work as we might expect it to operate. To become rich and successful according to the world’s standards, one is generally encouraged to invest every penny in himself. The Bible , on the other hand, tells us the one who “gives freely” actually “grows more blessed” ( Prov. 11:24). Paradoxically, the more a person gives away to needy people and the work of the kingdom, the more bless...

Isaac Blessing Jacob, painting by Govert Flinck (Rijksmuseum Amsterdam). (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) “By faith Isaac invoked future blessings on Jacob and Esau ”(Heb. 11:20). The author of Hebrews wisely included a section on the faith of the old covenant saints in his letter. After all, his original audience needed to be reminded to endure in their hope and thus demonstrate true faith—faith that perseveres until the end of life (Heb. 10:36–39). The old covenant saints who died in faith before receiving the ultimate promises of God (11:13) are excellent examples of persevering faith, since many new covenant believers also die before all of God’s promises are fully manifested in the new heavens and the new earth. Those who possess true persevering faith not only live by faith, but also die in faith. Today we shall look at the first of three old covenant saints who not only lived by faith but also died in faith. Hebrews 11:20 tells us that by faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau. ...

Matthias Flacius taught a strong view of what later theologians would call total depravity. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Paul raises in Romans 9:19, we cannot explain God’s sovereignty and man’s inability by appealing to conditional election or libertarian free will . This objection only makes sense if the Calvinistic doctrines of total depravity , unconditional election, and irresistible grace are true. But how is that fair? How can God command that which is impossible, and still hold people accountable? How can He command people to be born again, even though the new birth depends entirely upon “God, who has mercy” (Rom 9:16)? Well, Paul’s answer is to rebuke the questioner who seeks to impugn the righteousness of God: “On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God?” (Rom 9:20). If you seek to find fault with God’s character, you have a skewed understanding of righteousness (Rom 9:14; cf. 3:5b–6) and better put your hand over your mouth fast. But there i...

The Great Day of His Wrath (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) "For the day of the LORD is near upon all the heathen: as thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee: thy reward shall return upon thine own head." ( Obadiah 15 ) The book of Obadiah was possibly the earliest of the prophetic books of the Old Testament and is certainly the shortest, with its single chapter. Its theme is God's coming judgment on the Edomite nation, not only because of their general wickedness, but particularly because of their abusive treatment of their Israelite relatives (Jacob's brother Esau was the father of the Edomites ). The prophecy of Obadiah contains (in our text) the first mention (chronologically) of the coming "day of the LORD." Although it appears at first to focus especially on the Edomites, it is really looking far ahead to the end times, when the judgments of that day will be "upon all the heathen." There have been many precursive and partial fulfil...

The Reunion of Jacob and Esau (1844 painting by Francesco Hayez) (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Election is the term the Bible uses to refer to God ’s act of choosing people to salvation. Paul unpacks this meaning most clearly in Romans 9:10-13, where he sees God announcing and then carrying out his plans in the lives of Jacob and Esau .  He writes, When Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad—in order that God’s purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him who calls—she was told, “The older will serve the younger.” As it is written, “ Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.” Election is a demonstration of the sovereign love of God in knowing, choosing, saving, and safeguarding particular people to be members of his family forever, apart from any merit or credentials on the part of The reconciliation of Jacob and Esau.  those chosen (see Rom...

For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son  (Rom. 8:29). The classic passage in the New Testament on election and predestination is the ninth chapter of Romans. The emphasis in Romans 9 is on God ’s purpose. Romans 9:11–12 tells us that the reason the decision was made before Jacob and Esau were born, before they had done anything good or evil , was so that God’s purpose might stand. This statement is totally opposed to any kind of “foreknowledge” view of predestination, the notion that God based His choice on His foresight of man’s decision. Not only had Jacob and Esau not done anything good or evil in space and time when God made His choice, but by implication they had not “done good or evil” even in the mind of God. In other words, from God’s perspective there was no personal good or evil activity that was taken into account here. His choice was made without regard to the goodness or wickedness of the two boys. English: The rec...

English: Icon of Jesus Christ (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) “You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit ” (John 15:16a). It is a telling sign that in a day when people clamor for “ freedom of choice ,” our society is willing to grant such freedom to any man or woman who demands it, but not to God . We can choose, but for some reason God cannot. What an indictment against a rebellious people! Of course, the theological dogma that denies God His sovereign grace has been around much longer than modern individualism. Still, the doctrine of God’s sovereignty in salvation has been around even longer, reaching back into the history of Scripture. There we find in the unfolding plan of man’s redemption the decisive actions of our sovereign Lord. In the days of Abraham when paganism ran its destructive course through the city of Ur, God called a single man to follow Him and in doing so, a nation was given birth. From that point on, we see, as ...

The Reunion of Jacob and Esau (1844 painting by Francesco Hayez) (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Does God really love you, and does He have a wonderful plan for your life? Not if your name is Esau , in which case He hates you; or if you are a vessel fit for destruction, in which case God’s plan for your life is eternal damnation. How are we to reconcile the seemingly conflicting ideas found in Scripture concerning the love of God and the hatred of God? Are we telling people a falsehood when we announce to people that God has a wonderful plan for their lives? The question focuses on the propriety of assuming the universal love of God for every person in the world. A universal affirmation of anything allows for no exceptions.  We all know the Bible teaches that God is love and that God so loved the world that He gave.… If God so loved the world that He went so far as to give His only begotten Son to die, doesn’t this radical degree of sacrificial love strongly imply that in lov...

Image via Wikipedia By prayer, Esau 's heart was changed toward Jacob, so that they met in a friendly, rather than hostile, manner (Gen. 32). By the prayer of Moses , God brought the plagues upon Egypt and then removed them again (Ex. 7–11). By prayer, Joshua made the sun stand still ( Josh. 10). By prayer, when Samson was ready to perish with thirst, God brought water out of a hollow place for his sustenance ( Judg. 15). By prayer, the strength of Samson was restored. He pulled down the temple of Dagon on the Philistines, so that those whom he killed as he died were more than all he had killed in his life (Judg. 16). By prayer, Elijah held back the rains for three and a half years. Then by prayer, he caused it to rain again ( 1 Kings 17–18). By the prayer of Hezekiah, God sent an angel and killed in one night 185,000 men in Sennacherib's army (2 Kings 19). By the prayer of Asa, God confounded the army of Zerah (2 Chron. 14). Time would fail me to tell of...

Image via Wikipedia Yes, no, no and yes. First, we rightly affirm that there is a form of love that God has for each and every living human. We all bear His image and that is sufficient to elicit His love in a certain sense.   Sometimes called His love of benevolence, the Bible teaches that God has a general good will toward men, such as was announced to the shepherds at the birth of Jesus (Luke 2:14). This does not mean, however, that we ought to embrace a bland universal brotherhood of man and universal fatherhood of God perspective. This love of benevolence, while real, does not undo the reality of the wrath of God on those who sin against Him.  That, we should understand, includes our own children. The love of benevolence does not keep the judgment of God from descending on His creatures, including the very young. So while we can safely affirm that God loves them benevolently, this doesn’t mean by itself that our children are safe from His just wrath. Th...

Image via Wikipedia "And the LORD spake unto me, saying, Ye have compassed this mountain long enough: turn you northward." ( Deuteronomy 2:2-3 )   This was the second time God had to rebuke Israel for staying too long in one place.  Here they were camped adjacent to the region controlled by the descendants of Esau and thus kinsmen of the Israelites , but God told them to go on north toward Canaan.   Long before, they had wanted to stay too long at Mount Sinai (same as Horeb ) where God had given the law to Moses. Finally, "the LORD our God spake unto us in Horeb, saying, Ye have dwelt long enough in this mount: . . . Behold, I have set the land before you: go in and possess the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers" ( Deuteronomy 1:6, 8 ).   It is possible for a Christian to become too satisfied with his level of attainment, when the Lord may well have something more for him to do. Possibly, like Israel at Sinai, we may be content to stay in a situation...