Dr Paul Allen

“I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by My name LORD I was not known to them … Therefore say to the children of Israel: I am the LORD” (Ex. 6:3, 6). Moses and all of Israel had given up on God . Now things were worse than they had been, there was no hope of freedom, and now their misery was more than they could bear. How could God let them down? Why had He not delivered them? Before we are too hard on Israel, let us consider our own history. How many times have we doubted God and asked, “Why have you not delivered me?” Man is weak-willed, demanding, and impatient. We find it so difficult to wait on the Lord, to trust in His timing, to look at the worst of situations as opportunities for God to show forth His power and glory. Like Israel, we are quick to doubt. God, who had been known to the patriarchs as El-Shaddai, the Almighty One, the Sufficient One, was certainly capable of delivering His people. A sniveling, vengeful, prideful human was not...

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 (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) GENESIS 27:1–45 “Let the peoples serve you, and nations bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers, and may your mothers sons bow down to you. Cursed be everyone who curses you, and blessed be everyone who blesses you!” (v. 29). Blessings and cursings play a prominent role in Scripture (Lev. 26; Deut. 28: Matt. 5:1–12; 23), indicating their importance in God’s governance of His covenant community. One of the earliest appearances of the theme of blessing in the Bible occurs in Genesis 27:1–45, and it is to this passage that we now turn our attention. The Word of God does not view blessings as mere wishes for good that may or may not come true. Instead, a blessing is determinative of destiny when the hand of the Lord is in it. This is seen most clearly in the blessings that our Creator declares on His servants in Scripture. The blessing on Abraham in Genesis 12:1–3, for example, is a word that forms the future for the patriarch ...

Jacob Blessing the Sons of Joseph by Rembrandt, 1656. Genesis 48 describes how Jacob blessed Ephraim and Manasseh. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) “By faith Jacob , when dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph , bowing in worship over the head of his staff” (Heb. 11:21). In Hebrews 11:20 we saw how Isaac by faith blessed his two sons at the end of his life. This evidence of faith shows that those with true persevering faith will hold onto God ’s promises even if they die before they are all fully realized. In Hebrews 11:21 we read another example of faith drawn from the last days of an old covenant saint. This time our model is Jacob who when dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph while “bowing in worship over the head of his staff” (v. 21). This verse reflects upon the book of Genesis and the story of Jacob blessing his two grandsons, Ephraim and Manasseh . We read in Genesis 48:8–16 that near the end of Jacob’s life, Joseph brought his two sons to their grandfather. Manasse...

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. ...

Rembrandt Abraham en Isaac, 1634 (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) The Sacrifice of Isaac by Caravaggio, (1590-1610; Oil on canvas; Uffizi). Abraham is holding the sacrificial knife. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) “By faith Abraham , when he was tested, offered up Isaac ” (Heb. 11:17). Though we have the privilege of living under the new covenant, we still wait to receive some of the things that have been promised. These things—the new heavens and the new earth, perfect holiness, uninterrupted fellowship with God —are not yet here in our day-to-day experience. But they are a positional reality, anticipating the future. Jesus has done the work necessary to achieve all of these things. Those of us who are in Christ are seated with Him in the heavenlies (Eph. 2:4–7). Therefore this promised inheritance really is ours even though God has delayed its full manifestation in our everyday lives. Only through true persevering faith are we granted these promises, first as a positional reality and...

Meeting of Isaac and Rebekah (engraving by Gustave Doré from the 1865 La Sainte Bible) (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Genesis 24:14 Abraham ’s servant did not ask for some extraordinary sign, like fire to fall from heaven. What he asked for was to see some indication of one who would make a valuable wife in that culture—one who was friendly, hospitable and hardworking.  The unusual circumstances, however, ultimately proved Rebekah was chosen by God to be Isaac ’s wife. Does this Biblical example teach a fail- proof method of knowing God’s will? No. God promises us his guidance and his presence, not necessarily external signs. He may choose to grant us events that, upon looking back, we can trace to his leading. But that should not be expected. Much of God’s will is learned in the struggle of doubt and faith. He wants us to live by the principles he’s laid down in the Bible. He is concerned about how we live as much as what we do.  That doesn’t mean that what we do...

Icon depicting the First Council of Nicaea. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Few doctrines spark as much controversy or provoke as much consternation as the doctrine of predestination . It is a difficult doctrine that demands to be handled with great care and caution. Yet it is a biblical doctrine and therefore demands to be handled. We dare not ignore it. Virtually all Christian churches have some doctrine of predestination. This is unavoidable since the concept is clearly found in Holy Scripture . Those churches, however, disagree, sometimes strongly, over its meaning. The Methodist view differs from the Lutheran view, which disagrees with the Presbyterian view. Though their views differ, each is trying to come to grips with this difficult matter. What predestination means, in its most elementary form, is that our final destination, heaven or hell, is decided by God not only before we get there, but before we are even born. It teaches that our ultimate destiny is in the h...

The Reconciliation of Jacob and Esau, as in Genesis 33, oil on panel, at the National Galleries of Scotland (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) God has always been selective. The blessing came through Isaac . Then the blessing came through Jacob . "Jacob I loved, Esau I hated." (Rom. 9:13) You say, "Wow, you mean God is that discriminating?" Verse 14 then says (and this is what the responder would say) "What shall we say then? Is this unjust? There is no injustice with God is there?" Mē genoito—the strongest negative in the Greek language —no, no, no, no. This isn't out of character for God to be selective. God never intended every Jew to be in the kingdom. For He says to Moses, God says, "I'll have mercy on whom I'll have mercy. I'll have compassion on whom I'll have compassion." And it doesn't depend on "the man who wills or the man who runs but on God who has mercy" (Rom. 9:15-16). And then He goes to Pharaoh, ...

An angel prevents the sacrifice of Isaac. Abraham and Isaac, Rembrandt, 1634 (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Genesis 26:1–6 Now there was a famine in the land—besides the previous famine in Abraham ’s time—and Isaac went to Abimelek king of the Philistines in Gerar . 2 The Lord appeared to Isaac and said, “Do not go down to Egypt ; live in the land where I tell you to live. 3 Stay in this land for a while, and I will be with you and will bless you. For to you and your descendants I will give all these lands and will confirm the oath I swore to your father Abraham. 4 I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and will give them all these lands, and through your offspring[ a ] all nations on earth will be blessed,[ b ] 5 because Abraham obeyed me and did everything I required of him, keeping my commands, my decrees and my instructions.” 6 So Isaac stayed in Gerar. The events recorded in Genesis occurred hundreds of years before Moses was born, yet the Bible att...

Zadkiel was said to be the Angel who prevented Abraham from sacrificing his son, Isaac. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) One way in which the secular mind-set has made inroads into the Christian community is through the worldview that assumes that everything happens according to fixed natural causes, and God , if He is actually there, is above and beyond it all. He is just a spectator in heaven looking down, perhaps cheering us on but exercising no immediate control over what happens on earth. Historically, however, Christians have had an acute sense that this is our Father's world and that the affairs of men and nations, in the final analysis, are in His hands. That is what Paul is expressing in Romans  8:28 —a sure knowledge of divine providence. "And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose." Immediately thereafter, Paul moves into a predestination sequence: "For those whom he forek...