Dr Paul Allen

Christ Carrying the Cross (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) "Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God , and there is none else." ( Isaiah 45:22 ) Ever since sin entered into God's created world, His message to all people of all ages has been the same.  At the time of the curse, God prophesied that there soon would be a coming Redeemer --the seed of the woman who would crush the head of the serpent, although the Redeemer Himself would be made to suffer in order to do away with the effects of sin ( Genesis 3:15 ).  "For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul" ( Leviticus 17:11 ). God repeatedly warned the people of His hatred of sin and wickedness (see, for example,  Psalm 5:4-6 ;  Proverbs 6:16-19 ), but He recognized that humankind was totally incapable of measuring up to His standar...

Mary Writing the Magnificat (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Matthew 1:22–25 “This took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: ‘Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name ‘ Immanuel ’” (vv. 22–23). Liberals have long scrutinized Matthew 1:22–23 and the passage it quotes, Isaiah 7:14, leading them to deny the virgin birth. They say that since Isaiah uses almah, a Hebrew term literally translated as “maiden,” he is not affirming the virgin birth. This argument has no merit, for almah almost always refers to a young woman who is also a virgin. Also, the Septuagint , an ancient Greek translation of the Old Testament , understands that Isaiah is talking about a virgin as it renders almah with parthenos, the normal Greek word for “virgin.” We wholeheartedly affirm the virgin birth of Jesus based on today’s passage and Luke 1:26–38. But let us note that Matthew may not be reading Isaiah as...

The Theotokos of Vladimir, one of the most venerated of Orthodox Christian icons of the Virgin Mary. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Isaiah 7:14 “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel” ( v. 14 ). Isaiah 7:14 , is cited by Matthew ( 1:23 ). Since Isaiah’s text has inspired so much controversy, we will look at its fulfillment again from a slightly different angle in order to understand it better. That Jesus was supernaturally conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary has always been a defining tenet of Christianity. The virgin birth appears in every major creed and confession, and it sets our Lord apart from all of Israel ’s prophets, indeed, from every person that has ever lived. Yet when many church leaders began to embrace the naturalism increasingly prevalent at the beginning of the twentieth century, they repudiated the virgin birth as an essential truth. Even today some...

Psalm 21, Initial D. In: Albani-Psalter (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Icon of Jesus Christ (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) "I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee." ( Psalm 2:7 ) There are many today (especially Muslims, Jews, and Christian "liberals") who are monotheists, believing in one supreme God but rejecting the deity of Christ . They argue that the doctrine that Jesus was the unique Son of God was invented by the early Christians and that the God of the Old Testament had no Son. Orthodox Jews in particular emphasize Deuteronomy 6:4 : "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD." The fact is, however, that there are a number of Old Testament verses that do speak of God's only begotten Son. Note the following brief summary. First, there is God's great promise to David: "I will set up thy seed after thee, . . . I will be his father, and he shall be my son. . . . thy throne sh...