Dr Paul Allen

The Church at large is reeling from more and more exposure of sin in the lives of its leaders, whose greed, sexual immorality, abusive behaviour, and lust for attention have left many weary and wary. In the charismatic world, the list of problems includes failed “prophecies” from those claiming to speak for God. It’s no wonder that even many continuationists have become gun-shy about the supernatural. To be clear, by “continuationists” (more commonly, charismatics), I mean those who believe the Holy Spirit still distributes spiritual gifts today, including supernatural gifts like prophecy. People who believe the Holy Spirit ceased distributing spiritual gifts after the apostolic age are called cessationists. Scripture takes these issues seriously. Jesus warns of false prophets (Matt. 24:11, 24), as does John (1 John 4:1). Likewise, Peter and Paul warn of false teachers, prophets, and apostles (2 Cor. 11:13; 2 Pet. 2:1), and all their warnings are relevant for this moment. With that sai...

  In 2 Samuel 7, God makes a covenant with David. Along with   the other major covenants in the Bible , the Davidic covenant furthers God’s redemptive plan to bless the world through a coming offspring. Interestingly, David himself comments on the significance of this covenant by saying, “this is instruction for mankind” ( 2 Sam 7:19 ). He knew that God’s promise to him had universal significance. Like other covenants of promise, the Davidic covenant is both specific and universal. It has a specific object (David’s household, in this case) and its gracious purpose extends to all peoples. The Davidic covenant also stands as  the  key promissory covenant that God makes  after  the Mosaic era and  before  Jesus brings the new covenant. It bridges the Abrahamic promise and the new covenant blessings by singling out the individual household that would bring blessing to the nations, since sin had deprived humanity of life. The rest of this article seeks...