Dr Paul Allen

By Dave Mathis Lightning can be majestic. That is, from a safe distance. Or from a secure shelter that frees us from the threat of electrocution, and allows us to enjoy the spectacular show. The concept of majesty first brings to mind great sights, like distant lightning. Whether it’s a scenic vista of purple mountain majesties, the skyline of a great city, the dazzling beauty of gold or precious jewels, or the grandeur of a royal palace and its decorum, we typically associate the noun majesty, and its adjective majestic, with stunning glimpses, panoramas, and sights. Majesty captures a greatness, power, and glory that is both impressive and attractive. And as with lightning, what is majestic from a safe distance can be terrifying when right overhead, without shelter. And so it is when the living God showcases his majesty at the Red Sea — his enemies panic with fear (Exodus 14:24), while his people, whom he rescues, know themselves safe and praise his majesty: In the greatness of your ...

  Luke 1:15-17. All that we know of Zacharias has been recorded in Luke chapter 1. This is a priestly gospel, beginning and ending in the temple, and in these early verses Zacharias, a priest, is burning incense at the golden altar. He is introducing a fragrance which will pervade all the pages that will follow. It has often been said that Zacharias was a priest both morally and officially. What he was in the temple, he was also in his home, a righteous man who walked obediently, prayed constantly, and served faithfully. Israel’s large priesthood was divided into twenty-four courses. Each course ministered twice in the year. According to the historian JOSEPHUS there were then twenty thousand officiating priests in the land and an individual priest might expect to minister at the golden altar only once in his lifetime. This then was a great occasion for Zacharias, and indeed it was to be greater still. This good man was to be privileged to hear the very voice of heaven after four hu...

In the early chapters of The Institutes of the Christian Religion written by John Calvin, Calvin makes a statement that goes something like this:  "Hence that dread and terror by which holy men of old trembled before God, as Scripture uniformly relates." What Calvin was saying is this: that there is a pattern to human responses to the presence of God in the Scripture and it seems that the more righteous the person is described, the more he trembles when he enters the immediate presence of God. There is nothing cavalier or casual about the response of Habakkuk when he meets the holy God. Do you remember Habakkuk's complaint? Where he saw all of the degradation and injustices that were sweeping across the landscape in his homeland and he was so offended by this that he went up into his watchtower and he complained against God and he said "God, you are so holy that you can't even behold iniquity.  How can you stand by and let all of these things come ...