Dr Paul Allen

1 Thessalonians 2:10-12 – You are witnesses, and God also, how holy and righteous and blameless was our conduct toward you believers. For you know how, like a father with his children, we exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and charged you to walk in a manner worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory. For those who know the Lord Jesus and believe in His coming Kingdom, living on this fallen cursed planet can be very dark, discouraging, and disorienting. This longing for Home causes Christians to ask numerous questions. In the New Testament, there are parts of the Bible where the author answers questions that were sent to him by local church leaders on behalf of people in the church.  One example is 1 Corinthians. Throughout the letter, Paul frequently quotes directly from the letter he received from the Corinthians (e.g. 6:12, 6:13, 8:5, 10:23). He also notifies the reader of when he is transitioning from one topic to another with the simple phrase “now” t...

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 instil 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 profound remorse. It would seem that nothing could be more depressing than to anticipate separation from the presence o...

Worship In The Kingdom Luke 9:29 And as he [Jesus] was praying, the appearance of his face was altered, and his clothing became dazzling white. In the kingdom of God, we see Jesus as he really is. While the disciples watched, Jesus’ facial structure changed. From the Greek, we see that the form or shape of his face was “other.” Jesus’ face changed form from his earthly (thirty-something, tanned, Middle-Eastern) face to how he looks in heaven. The Bible tells us Jesus put on human flesh. What he looked like on earth is not what he normally looks like at home. John tells us what Jesus really looks like: Rev 1:14-15, 16 The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze…. …and his face was like the sun shining in full strength. On the mountain his robe wasn’t just white, reflecting the sun’s light, it was incandescent, radiating his own light, dazzling white. In heaven, Jesus is a walking flo...

Has the Lord’s Supper become humdrum for you, something you do mindlessly, something you’ve simply done for years? Is it something that you do as you travel down the path of least resistance, something that is routinely passed to you so you figure you might as well? Luke tells us that it is so much more. His account of the Lord’s Supper ( Luke 22:7–30 ) provides us five magnificent reasons why this meal is above all others. 1. It Is Rooted in Redemption Are you in need of forgiveness, of deliverance, of grace? This meal is for you. Its roots extend deep into the history of God’s people and the riches of God’s character. Luke’s account makes clear that Jesus celebrates a Passover meal ( Luke 22:8 , 11 , 13 , 15 ), recalling God’s deliverance of Israel from slavery in Egypt. We’re reminded that God is eager to save his people ( Psalm 86:5 ). And even as Jesus observes the Passover meal, he elevates it, claiming that it’s ultimately about his own imminent death. Jesus himself is the L...

Many professing evangelicals today believe the kingdom of God is strictly in the future, although there is no biblical foundation for that. This view robs the church of important teachings concerning the kingdom that are clearly set forth in the New Testament. In fact, the New Testament opens with John the Baptist's announcement of the kingdom: "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Matt. 3:2). The Old Testament prophets spoke of the kingdom to come at some point in the future, but at the time of John the Baptist, it was about to burst onto the scene. It was "at hand." If we examine John's message carefully, we see that his announcement of the kingdom contained urgent warnings: "Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees" (Matt. 3:10) and "His winnowing fork is in his hand" (Luke 3:17). Time was running out, and people were not ready. Christ came on the scene just a short time later with the same message: "The ti...

Michael Willmann (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) In Romans 15:12, Paul refers to Isaiah 11:10 to reinforce his claim that Jesus is the Messiah . Isaiah’s prophecy includes three major characteristics of the Messiah: his family line, his position of power over all the nations and the hope he would bring to the Gentiles . First, the prophecy predicts that the Messiah would be a descendant of David’s father, Jesse.   Jesus was indeed born into the royal line of David, the son of Jesse (see Matthew 1:1 –16). This fulfilled the covenant God made with David (see 2 Samuel 7:5–16) as well as the promise God made to Abraham (see Genesis 12:2–3). Second, the prophecy states that the “ Root of Jesse ” would rule over all nations.   Although Jesus rejected earthly positions of authority while on Earth, he now reigns over a spiritual kingdom (see John 18:36) and will one day reign over all, for “the kingdom of the world [will] become the kingdom of our Lo...