Dr Paul Allen

After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high . . . (Hebrews 1:3) Imagine that moment when Jesus first sat down on heaven’s throne. Having taken on our full flesh and blood, lived among us, died sacrificially for us, and risen in triumph, defeating sin and death, he ascended to heaven, pioneering our way, as human, into the very presence of God his Father. Then Jesus stepped forward toward the throne, all heaven captive with history’s great coronation, a ceremony so glorious that even the most extravagant of earthly coronations can barely reflect it. Most of us today don’t even have the categories for the kind of pomp and circumstance that accompanied coronations in the ancient world. We’ve never witnessed an entire kingdom harness all its collective wealth and skill to put on a once-in-a-generation tribute to the glory of its leader. The extravagance communicates the importance of the person and his position. Royal weddings, no do...

English: Jesus Christ - detail from Deesis mosaic, Hagia Sophia, Istanbul (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) The gospel of Luke ends with a supremely jarring statement: "Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands he blessed them. While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven. And they worshiped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple blessing God " (24:50–53). What is jarring about this passage is, as Luke reports the departure of Jesus from this world, the response of His disciples was to return to Jerusalem with "great joy." What about Jesus' departure would instill in His disciples an emotion of sheer elation? This question is made all the more puzzling when we consider the emotions the disciples displayed when Jesus earlier had told them that His departure would come soon. At that time, the idea that their Lord would leave their presence provoked in them a spirit of pr...

English: Jesus and Mary Magdalene (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) There is an appropriate tension in the relationship between Christians and the world. We serve a Lord who came to bring life abundant (John 10:10), who has overcome the world (John 16:33), who is bringing all things under subjection (Ephesians 1:22), who will see every knee bow and every tongue confess that He is Lord, to the glory of the Father (Philippians 2:10). Jesus is the second Adam succeeding where the first Adam failed, not only in obeying God 's law perfectly, not only atoning for our failure to keep the law, but in fulfilling the dominion mandate. The church, which is the second Eve, or bride of the second Adam, is a help suitable to Jesus in fulfilling that calling. We are in union with Him, bone of His bone . We are to be about the business of pressing the crown rights of King Jesus . Trouble is, we, like the disciples before us, are often zealous more for our own success, our own power, our own glory...