Dr Paul Allen

Third window in the north aisle with two lights depicting the Raising of the Daughter of Jairus. This window was created by Patrick Pollen in 1958. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) “James and John the sons of Zebedee approach him, saying to him, ‘Teacher, we wish that you might do for us whatever we might ask you.’ ” The disciples James and John have previously been mentioned together, along with Jesus and Peter , in Mark 5:37 on the occasion of raising up the daughter of Jairus .  These three were with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration (9:2), and they will be together again in Mark 13:3 when they ask for further clarification of Jesus’ prophecy of the temple’s coming destruction.  According to Mark 3:17 Jesus surnamed James and John Boanerges, that is, the “ sons of thunder ” (on this problematical epithet, see Guelich, 161–62).  They approach Jesus, the “teacher” (διδάσκαλε—on the lips of the disciples in 4:38; 9:38; on the lips of others in 5:35; 9:17;...

Ruins of the synagogue in Capernaum. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) The view from Tiberias, Galilee, Israel, northward across the Sea of Galilee. The snowy peak in the distance is Mount Hermon. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) The reason the geography of Israel is important is because of what it tells me about Jesus . You can see on the map towards the top is the Sea of Galilee . This is where Jesus lived, in a town called Capernaum .  The thing I want you to notice is how far down Jerusalem is from the Sea of Galilee on the map. In a car today, you can get from the Sea of Galilee to Jerusalem in little over 2 hours.  But in the time of Jesus, there weren’t any cars. And so to get there, you walked. This journey would typically take around 7 days. John 21 tells the event of Jesus appearing to the disciples at the Sea on Galilee after he had been crucified.  Jesus was crucified in Jerusalem. He was buried in Jerusalem. He came back to life in Jerusalem. ...

Sign and diagram in Jordan of the Dead Sea. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Scripture often speaks of the entire creation awaiting the final act of redemption. To destroy something completely and to replace it with something utterly new is not an act of redemption. To redeem something is to save that which is in imminent danger of being lost. The renovation may be radical. It may involve a violent conflagration of purging, but the purifying act ultimately redeems rather than annihilates. The new heaven and the new earth will be purified. There will be no room for evil in the new order. A hint of the quality of the new heaven and new earth is found in the somewhat cryptic words, "Also there was no more sea" (Rev. 21:1). For people who have a love for the seashore and all that it represents in terms of beauty and recreation, it may seem strange to contemplate a new earth without any sea. But to the ancient Jew , it was a different matter. In Jewish literature, the sea was often...

Matthew 17:22–23 “ Jesus said to them, ‘ The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him, and he will be raised on the third day’” (vv. 22–23). Peter ’s great confession of Christ marks a turning point in our Lord’s life and ministry (16:13–20). Following the events that happen in and around Caesarea Philppi, a town 25 miles north of the Sea of Galilee , Jesus begins His final journey south, setting His face toward Jerusalem where He will atone for the sins of His people ( Luke 9:51–53). He is single-minded in His efforts to arrive in the Holy City and will not deviate from His course, though He will continue to fulfill His messianic calling along the way (Matt. 17:14–20; 20:29–34). Teaching remains integral to this calling, and in today’s passage Jesus makes the second major prediction of His death and resurrection (17:22–23). Notably, unlike Peter after Christ’s first prediction, none of the disciples contests this news (...

Jesus and the miraculous catch of fish, in the Sea of Galilee, by Raphael (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Matthew 8:23–27 “The men marveled, saying, ‘What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey him?’” ( v. 27 ). Having explained the cost of discipleship to two would-be followers, Jesus and His disciples set out to cross the Sea of Galilee ( Matt. 8:23 ). Little do the disciples know that this journey will give their teacher an opportunity to show forth His identity in a way they have not yet seen. Because of its geographical location, violent squalls frequently occur on the open water of the Sea of Galilee, especially in the period between May and October. Seasoned fishermen like Peter, Andrew, James, and John ( 4:18–22 ) are certainly familiar with such storms, and so their fear, evident in Matthew 8:24–27 , shows that the turbulence in which they find themselves is unusually fierce. However, despite the storm’s ferocity, Jesus is able to sleep peacefully as the boat tra...

Sea of Galilee near Tabgha (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Capernaum, Sea of Galilee (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) English: Tomb of Hiram, King of Tyre (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Mark Driscoll recently interviewed John Piper on the topic of advice for young bible teachers. In that discussion, John reflected personally on a troubling scripture namely, Luke 10:13-14. Piper states for Godly holy unknown reasons Jesus willingly withheld performing any miracles in Tyre and Sidon. Jesus infers the performance of such miracles would have brought the towns to salvation, yet Jesus chose not to perform miracles. Why? Ezekiel 28:11-18 says  "Son of Man, raise a lament over the king of Tyre and say to him: Thus says the Lord God: You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and flawless beauty. You were in Eden, in the Garden of God; every precious stone was your adornment... and gold beautifully wrought for you, mined for you, prepared the day you were created." This ...

Israel, Sea of Galilee (Lake of Tiberias) (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) "Thou rulest the raging of the sea: when the waves thereof arise, thou stillest them." ( Psalm 89:9 ) There are few things in nature more fearsome or more uncontrollable by man than a mighty storm at sea. Only the One who created the waters of the sea can really control them. But He can! "For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof . . . . He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still" ( Psalm 107:25 , 29 ). One of the most striking demonstrations of the deity of Christ was in a storm on the Sea of Galilee when "he arose, and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water: and they ceased, and there was a calm" ( Luke 8:24 ). Note also the experience of the mariners sailing to Tarshish when they realized that the storm that was about to destroy them had been sent by the God of heaven because of Jonah . "So they took up...

Sigmund Freud, founder of psychoanalysis, smoking cigar. Español: Sigmund Freud, fundador del psicoanálisis, fumando. Česky: Zakladatel psychoanalýzy Sigmund Freud kouří doutník. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) But He said to them, “Why are you so fearful ? How is it that you have no faith?” And they feared exceedingly …(Mark 4:40–41a). “I don’t need your religion,” hearers of the Christian message sometimes reply. “That’s just a crutch for those who are too weak to cope with life on their own.” So goes one of the most frequently heard objections to the faith. How should we respond? The roots of this response go back to the Enlightenment of the eighteenth century. Many of the leading thinkers of that period were skeptical as to the existence of God . But as means of travel improved and Westerners began to move about the world, an undeniable truth began to make itself clear—there was religious activity everywhere. Man, it seemed, was incurably religious. This presented a problem for...

Icon of Jesus Christ (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Medieval book illustration of Christ Exorcising the Gerasenes demonic (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Jesus and the miraculous catch of fish, in the Sea of Galilee, by Raphael (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Matthew 8:23-27 "The men marveled, saying, 'What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey him?'" ( v. 27 ). Having explained the cost of discipleship to two would-be followers, Jesus and His disciples set out to cross the Sea of Galilee ( Matt. 8:23 ). Little do the disciples know that this journey will give their teacher an opportunity to show forth His identity in a way they have not yet seen. Because of its geographical location, violent squalls frequently occur on the open water of the Sea of Galilee, especially in the period between May and October. Seasoned fishermen like Peter, Andrew, James, and John ( 4:18-22 ) are certainly familiar with such storms, and so their fear, evident in Matthew 8:24-27 , sh...

Image via Wikipedia Others have questioned the efficacy of prayer from a more naturalistic consideration. They put forward the idea that we live in a world that operates according to fixed natural laws. It has been fashionable, in the past century or two, to think of God as merely the Architect and Creator of the universe, who set the universe in motion and decreed how it should operate, then stepped back and let it run without His direct involvement. This idea is almost like the Deist view that God made the world, just as a watchmaker makes a watch, then wound it up, so that it is now running by its own mechanism. He Himself makes no interruption, no interference, no intrusion into the plane of history. That is not the God of Scripture. The sovereign God is the Lord of providence, who provides daily for His people and responds to their cries. The laws of the universe are not fixed, immutable, abstract, regulatory principles of inert nature. What we call laws simply refer to the ord...