Dr Paul Allen

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace, you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. (Eph. 2:6) We can all recall a time when we had a seating assignment. Perhaps in schooling, at work, or around the dinner table, a particular chair may come to be known as your seat. We tend to size up the quality of our assigned seat by factors such as visibility, the ambience, and, above all, the surrounding company. If we’re off to a concert or sporting event, our first question may well be “Do we have good seats?” We intuitively recognize that where we sit and (more importantly) whom it is that we sit next to play no small role in our experience. Thus, as Christians, we do well to pause and ask the question, “Do we have good seats?” Christians possess the most awesome of all assigned seats.  How so? In this...

The book of Micah begins by telling us when Micah prophesied and the cities he addressed. “The word of the Lord which came to Micah of Moresheth in the days of Jotham, Ahaz , and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem .” Samaria was the capital of the northern kingdom, Israel , and Jerusalem was the capital of the southern kingdom, Judah. The years of the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah extended from about 735 to 700 BC. So Micah was a contemporary of Isaiah and prophesied during those tragic days when Assyria conquered Samaria, took the ten northern tribes into captivity ( 722 BC ), occupied Judah, and besieged the holy city, Jerusalem. Micah is a hard prophet to understand because the book alternates back and forth between threats of doom and promises of hope. It is hard to figure out what situations he is referring to and how the hope and doom relate to each other. Probably the reason the book is arranged like this is to make the point th...

Now the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God, who has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come. 2 Corinthains 5:5 This is a fascinating concept and a wonderful reality. The indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer is said to be an “deposit”—that is, a pledge or deposit—on an ultimate fulfillment of a magnificent promise from God Himself. The word translated “earnest” (Greek arrhabon) is essentially a transliteration of its Hebrew equivalent (arabown), translated “pledge” in the Old Testament (see Genesis 38:17-20 ). Now if the guiding presence of God, through the Holy Spirit, is merely an earnest payment, the fulfillment must be glorious beyond comprehension. This “selfsame thing,” as our text calls it, is a wonderful “house which is from heaven,” the spiritual body we shall receive when we go to be with the Lord ( 2 Corinthians 5:1-2 ). While 5:4 displayed the dislike of Paul for the interim state, it would be in...

“Thy word is true from the beginning: and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth for ever.” ( Psalm 119:160 ) Very few books survive very long. Only a few survive past the first printing, and science books especially get out of date in just a few years. But one book is eternal! The Bible stands! Even its most ancient chapters are still accurate and up to date. Furthermore, despite all the vicious attacks of both ancient pagans and modern humanists, it will continue to endure. Jesus said: “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away” ( Matthew 24:35 ; Mark 13:31 ; Luke 21:33 ). Even after everything else dies and all the bombastic tirades of skeptics and secularists are long forgotten, the Word endures. “The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever” ( Isaiah 40:8 ). Note the oft-repeated testimony to this same effect in Psalm 119. In addition to the comprehensive promise of today’s text, this great “psalm ...

“And I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth.” ( Genesis 9:11 ) When God gave Noah this promise, the world had just been through the devastating cataclysm that flooded the entire globe and destroyed all except those on Noah’s Ark. The world was fearful and barren and there seemed nothing to prevent another such flood from coming on the earth. Nevertheless, God’s promise—not only to Noah but also to the animals ( Genesis 9:9-10 )—has been kept for years. God later reminded Job of this promise when He told him that He had “shut up the sea with doors. . . . And said, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further: and here shall thy proud waves be stayed” ( Job 38:8 , 11). The psalmist also referred to this covenant. When the whole earth had been covered “with the deep as with a garment: the waters stood above the mountains. At thy rebuke they fled. . . . Thou...

“Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant.” ( Hebrews 13:20 ) This is the only verse in the book of Hebrews that refers specifically to Christ’s resurrection from the dead. It occurs at the climactic conclusion of the book (which had previously referred at least 17 times to the atoning death of Christ) and is associated with God’s everlasting covenant with His people. The covenant theme is strong in the book of Hebrews. The Greek worddiatheke, which is also frequently translated “testament,” occurs more in Hebrews than in all the rest of the New Testament (or “New Covenant”) put together. The word basically means a contract, especially one for disposition of an inheritance. A number of God’s divine covenants are mentioned in Scripture, but the writer of Hebrews is especially concerned with God’s new covenant (or “new testament”). It is surely the most significant of a...