Dr Paul Allen

John the Baptist is mentioned and recorded in the pages of the book called the New Testament. But in terms of redemptive history, he belongs to the period of the Old Testament—that is, to that period in redemptive history when all of the procedures of the old covenant are still in place.”  Jesus says that the law and the prophets ruled until John, and the little word there, “until,” means “up to and including” John. And Jesus also said of John the Baptist, “Of all of those who are born of woman, there is none greater than John the Baptist. Yet,” He said, “he who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than John.” That’s an extremely enigmatic statement. Is Jesus saying, for example, that I’m greater than John the Baptist? I certainly qualify for being the least in the kingdom. So, if I’m least in the kingdom, that must make me greater than John the Baptist. What Jesus is obviously saying here is that John still belongs to that period of preparation for the breakthrough of the kingdom

Doubting Thomas gets most of the press, but for me, John the Baptist is a more compelling New Testament example of a doubter. He was a godly man whom Scripture identifies as “the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord’” (John 1:23; cf. Isa. 40:3), because he was the precursor to the Messiah. At one point, John directed his own disciples to stop following him and instead follow Christ, “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). He obviously believed, right? I mean, he made it clear to those who asked: he was not the Messiah (John 1:20) and Jesus was. As an unborn baby, John the Baptist leaped inside his mother’s womb at the presence of Christ (Luke 1:41). He even got to hear the voice of God the Father and see the heavens opened as the Holy Spirit descended on Jesus after John baptized him in the Jordan River (Matt. 3:13–17). That’s right—John heard God’s voice thunder, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased”

The 1947 classic film, Miracle on 34th Street, is a courtroom-drama-meets-Christmas-story. The protagonist, Kris Kringle, is the resident Santa Claus at Macy’s department store, where he brings yuletide cheer to customers. Through a complicated turn of events, he ends up labelled as insane for claiming that he is the real Santa Claus. The judge presiding over his case won’t rule that there is no such thing as Santa, as he worries that his own political aspirations will be negatively affected by popular backlash. Who wants to be the judge who declares Santa to be mythical? So, he humours Kringle’s defence attorney, Fred Gailey, by allowing the case and he assumes that since there is no way to win the case the blame will fall on Fred and not himself. In order to build a case, Fred calls witnesses to testify that they believe Kringle is Santa. The prosecuting attorney demands that Fred further prove that Kringle is the one and only true Santa on the basis of a competent authority, not jus

With the exception of Christ Himself, there is probably more material on John the Baptist in the Gospels than any other individual. What are the roots of such a man? What are some of the things that pushed into his life and caused him to go out into the world and proclaim the coming of Christ? I believe that the greatness of a soul, the greatness of a man begins with a godly family. John’s parents, Zechariah and Elizabeth, were heaven’s agents to touch an entire generation. They lived during the time of Herod—a cruel, sadistic king. There was oppression, injustice, death, and murder, yet Zechariah and Elizabeth were both in tune to the voice of God . They were the son and daughter of other priests down through the generations. They were righteous before God and lived lives marked by absolute religious integrity. In Luke 1:8 an angel visits Zechariah and tells him that his son will be great before the Lord; that he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother’s wo

“And John was clothed with camel’s hair, and with a girdle of a skin about his loins; and he did eat locusts and wild honey.” ( Mark 1:6 ) At times we tend to think of John the Baptist as a wild man, one who would have been either an offense or a laughingstock to those he was trying to reach, but in reality quite the opposite was true. He was greatly respected and believed; some even wondered if he should have been worshiped as “that prophet” (i.e., the Messiah) or revered as Elijah ( John1:21 ). His “preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins” ( Luke 3:3 ) was so effective that not only the common people ( Luke3:10 ) but also the publicans (v. 12), soldiers (v. 14), priests, and Levites ( John 1:19 ), as well as the Pharisees and the Sadducees ( Matthew 3:7 ), came to hear his teaching. Many repented and were baptized. Far from lacking credibility, John’s style was what was expected of a prophet. Indeed, his ministry and message were in fulfillment of those of

He must increase, but I must decrease. — John 3:30 . If you become a necessity to a soul , you are out of God ’s order. As a worker, your great responsibility is to be a friend of the Bridegroom. When once you see a soul in sight of the claims of Jesus Christ , you know that your influence has been in the right direction, and instead of putting out a hand to prevent the throes, pray that they grow ten times stronger until there is no power on earth or in hell that can hold that soul away from Jesus Christ. Over and over again, we become amateur providences; we come in and prevent God, and say — “This and that must not be.” Instead of proving friends of the Bridegroom, we put our sympathy in the way, and the soul will one day say — “That one was a thief, he stole my affections from Jesus, and I lost my vision of Him.” Beware of rejoicing with a soul in the wrong thing, but see that you do rejoice in the right thing. “The friend of the Bridegroom…rejoiceth greatly because of the Brid

English: A fire axe. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Remember in the Old Testament the prophets, particularly Isaiah , talked about the coming of the Messiah , but that before the Messiah would arrive there would be a forerunner. One who would come and prepare the way for the Messiah. And John is that one who is anointed by God to be the one who's crying as a voice in the wilderness, "Prepare the way of the Lord; make straight His paths." And so in this preparatory mission to which John is sent, and for which he is consecrated by God, he's now calling the whole nation of Israel to be subjected to baptism. Why? What was his message? He comes on the scene and his message is simply this: "Repent . . . " Why? ". . . for the kingdom of God is at hand." The kingdom of God that the Jews looked forward to in the prophecies of the Old Testament was in the nebulous, distant, far-off future. No specific time frame had been given for their expectation of t

Two Biblical Promises Concerning Healing     1.      Isaiah 35 It is widely argued that the description in Isa. 35 is of conditions that will prevail in the Messianic age to come. Premillennialists place the fulfillment of this text in the 1,000 year reign of Christ upon the earth following his second coming. Amillennialists believe it will be fulfilled in the New Heaven and New Earth of Rev. 21–22.  What is important to note, however, is that Jesus appealed to this passage as proof that He was the Messiah and that the Kingdom of God had come in his ministry.     In Matthew 11 we read about the doubt that entered the mind of John the Baptist following his arrest and imprisonment. He sent word to Jesus with one question: “Are you the expected one or should we look for someone else?” (v. 3). Jesus answered by appealing to both Isa. 35 and 61. The fact that now, through the ministry of Jesus, the blind receive sight and the lame walk and lepers are cleansed and the deaf he

Many Christians believe that for faith to be authentic, it must be free from any doubt. While this may be an ideal, it’s far from realistic. Many characters in God’s Word—including Abraham and John the Baptist —experienced episodes of doubt. Though hopefully such experiences are the exception rather than the norm, the truth is, most Christians occasionally struggle with doubt—even apologists . So what is the proper relationship between faith and doubt in the lives of believers? To even come close to answering that question, we must confront an even more fundamental issue. Do we have to prove Christianity beyond a reasonable doubt? Dr. Mike Licona has grappled with such questions for years. This has led him to dispel  claims about contradictions in the Gospels and, most notably, look to the resurrection of Jesus as a litmus test for the truth of Christianity. Christians claim that the resurrection of Jesus was a historical event with theological implications. If Jesus rose from

Making a poor decision doesn't mean we're forever out of God 's will. That's part of the beauty of Scripture: It has story after story of people who make bad decisions, but God still uses them mightily. Just look at Abraham and David . They both did some things that were clearly wrong, but God worked through them to accomplish great things. God can use all of our decisions, whether they're right, wrong, or neutral. Also, we need to remember God is our Father . God is not here to condemn us, but to help us become more like Christ . If we are focused on Jesus , and on holiness, some of those other things will fall into place. God is not a cosmic trickster who only gives us one shot to get things right. Related articles We are friends of God (thesheridanpress.com) Major Ian Thomas - 20 Very Good Quotes (crossquotes.org) Head and not the tail (disciplesofhope.wordpress.com) God will provide the Lamb. (dalrock.wordpress.com) 3-23-2016 Evil For Good (fel

When John the Baptist said, “Therefore this joy of mine is now complete. [Jesus] must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:29-30), he wasn’t talking about his inner life. He was talking about his ministry calling as a prophet and his public influence. He delighted that Jesus’s influence was eclipsing his own. But he could only delight in his public diminishment because in his private life, in his heart, Christ had become supreme. And since the Bible shows that it is never easy for a sinful person to come to such a place of joyful submission, it is safe to assume that John’s public joy was likely the result of much wrestling with God and hard fighting against sin in the private place. A mark of our increasing maturity as disciples is an increasing experience of joy in Jesus’s influence eclipsing our own, both internally and externally. And God delights in such humble joy, which is one reason Jesus said that no one born of women was greater than John the Baptist (Luke  7:28 )

John the Baptizer was not your average guy. His wardrobe consisted of fur de desert rat. His diet, grasshoppers and unfiltered honey. His domicile, the desert. His message, repent. His career, ended sometime in his 30’s with jail and execution. And yet, God said of him, “Truly I say to you, among those born of women there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptist!” (Matt. 11:11). For most of us, that’s probably not the first thing that would pop into our mind if we encountered a guy like him. Among other things, something which Jesus identifies in John’s life was his unwavering commitment to God and his truth. John was no spineless man-pleaser: unlike river reeds, he stood firm in the midst of fallen, cultural winds (“What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind?”, Matt. 11:7). We do not have record of everything John every preached, but from that which God has given us in Scripture, we have enough to observe a few characteristics of his prea

Some people have pointed to two texts that may shed light on the age of Jesus at the time of his baptism. We are told in Luke 3:23 that Jesus “was about thirty years old” when he began his public ministry. Some have suggested that perhaps Luke used the round number thirty in order to draw a parallel between Jesus and David, whose kingship began at that age (2 Sam. 5:3–4; cf. also Joseph in Gen. 41:46 and Ezekiel in Ezek. 1:1). In John 8:57 we read that the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?” Stein points out that “this should not be taken as an exact reference by Jesus’ opponents to his actual age. The statement seeks rather to emphasize the difference between Jesus’ age and the time of Abraham more than fifteen centuries earlier. How could Jesus and Abraham have known each other, as Jesus claimed (Jn. 8:56)? Fifty years is most probably a generous exaggeration of Jesus’ age for the sake of argument. Even if Jesus was attributed an age old

Stained glass at St John the Baptist's Anglican Church : Wikipedia ) The apostle Paul starts all of his letters with the prayer that “grace and peace” will come to the reader. But he never uses a verb . He never says, “ Grace and peace  be  to you,” or, “Grace and peace  come  to you.” He assumes the verb. Peter makes it explicit. He begins both his letters, “May grace and peace  be multiplied  to you.” Paul would be very happy with this verb. It’s what he means when he says thirteen times, “Grace to you and peace.” The verb behind “be multiplied” is used twelve times in the New Testament and always means “increase” — move from lesser to greater. There are at least seven important implications in these words for our lives. 1. Grace and peace are experienced. Grace and peace are not only the objective status we enjoy before God . They are also the experiential enjoyment of that status. It is gloriously true that God made an  objective  peace between him and us by t