February 5, read the Bible in a year in PowerPoint; commented.

Matthew 3:1-12 presents John the Baptist preaching repentance. He came to prepare the way of the Lord. John the Baptist baptized in water for repentance. He prophesied that Jesus would baptize in the Holy Spirit and fire. John the Baptist is still under the law but prepares the way for Jesus.

In stark contrast to the New Testament gospel Exodus 21 and Exodus 22 contain regulations on servanthood and slavery, penalties for manslaughter and personal injuries, all Mosaic law.

John the Baptist was a transition figure. He still preached repentance to return to full obedience of the Mosaic law. Bot he also prepared the way of the Lord. He proclaimed that Jesus would baptize in the Holy Spirit and fire, giving new life, as Jesus would later explain. For now, Jesus also preached repentance and promised the Kingdom of heaven was near.

I for one is thankful we are no longer under Mosaic law, but under God’s perfect law; Follow the Lord Jesus Christ, love one another, pray continually, rejoice always, in everything give thanks etc.

February 4, read the Bible in a year in PowerPoint; commented.

Matthew 2:13-23. After the wise men had visited Jesus they returned back East via another way. Meanwhile Joseph was told to get out of Bethlehem and flee to Egypt. Herod was furious that he had been had and murdered all male children under the age of 2 in and around Bethlehem. Herod died soon after, and the little family went back to Nazareth. (As a side note, in the Middle East Christians are nowadays called Nazarenes.)

In Exodus 19, time had come to visit Mount Sinai. God declared that the Israelites would be a Kingdom of Priests and a holy nation. The chapter deals with the three-day consecration that was to occur before Moses went up to meet with God.

Exodus 20. Moses went up Mount Sinai, and there God gave him the ten commandments.

Matthew describes the early life of Jesus in detail; born in Bethlehem fled to Egypt and then raised in Nazareth. His emphasis is to portray Jesus as legitimate King through the prophecies. Mark gives no genealogy, he portrays Jesus a servant. Luke portrays Jesus as the man and finally John declares Jesus is God.

February 3, read the Bible in a year in PowerPoint; commented.

Matthew 2:1-12 . We get to read about the Magi (probably about 15 of them including servants) who came to Jerusalem to ask about the King of the Jews. This worried King Herod and all Jerusalem, and Herod asked the Scribes and the other learned men where he was to be born. They answered “In Bethlehem of Judea”, but were otherwise remarkably uninterested. The wise men went to Jesus (he is by now at least a few months old), but did not report back to Herod, instead they returned another way.

In Exodus 16  God gave them Manna (what is it?) and quail, and Moses gave the instructions on how to gather it. And they ate Manna for 40 years.

In Exodus 17, lack of water is a recurring theme in the desert. In Rephidim there was no water at all, so God told Moses to strike the rock at the foot of Mount Horeb. Water gushed out and they were all filled with good water. Good it was, for the Amalekites attacked them right afterwards. Joshua and his men fought a good fight, and Moses helped by raising his hands, and as long as he held them high Joshua prevailed. But Moses got tired, so Aaron and Hur held up his hands until sunset, and so the Amalekites were defeated.

Exodus 18 tells of Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law when he visited Moses, who now was in a difficult situation trying to lead his people all by himself, and Jethro gave Moses good advice about real leadership, delegation of management, a practice essential for all governing.

The lesson for today is the wise men acted on what they saw,; the teachers of the Law seemed uninterested and were afraid to find out. The people that had miraculously escaped Egypt complained and wanted to go back to slavery. Moses wore himself out trying to govern, but Jethro, his father in law gave good governing advice. So began in earnest the 40 year journey.

February 2, read the Bible in a year in PowerPoint; commented.

Matthew 1 tells of the spiritual genealogy of Jesus, starting with Abraham. Joseph was of the kingly line of David and he; not being the physical father, adopted Jesus after having a dream that it was okay to take Mary as his wife. It then tells of the birth of Jesus. It also tells of Mary remaining a virgin until after Jesus’ birth.

Exodus 14 describes the miraculous crossing of the Red Sea and how the pursuing Egyptian army drowned.

Exodus 15 contains the songs of Moses and Miriam as God delivered them from the Egyptians. As the wandering began they arrived at the bitter waters of Marah and the sweet waters of Elim.

The genealogy of Jesus in Matthew is from the kingly line of David, starting with Abraham. However, God declared the kingly line cut off and there will never be another king from David’s line. This is why it is so important that Jesus was adopted by Josef. Joseph was in line for the kingdom, but ineligible. Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit, which made him eligible to be both King and God. The genealogy according to Luke is the genealogy of Mary, also of the line of David, but not the kingly line. It starts with Adam, establishing Jesus as man.

February 1, read the Bible in a year in PowerPoint; commented.

John 21 tells of the eighth miracle of Jesus. This miracle, a great catch of fish happened after Jesus resurrection and was a sign of new beginnings. Jesus reinstated Peter and told him: “Feed my sheep.”

Exodus 12 tells of how God instituted the Passover. The name comes from the action of the night the angel of death came to kill every firstborn in Egypt; if he saw the blood of the pascal lamb om the doorposts and the lentil of the house, he would pass over that house. The chapter is fantastic, read it and marvel!

In Exodus 13 the feast of unleavened bread is defined and the consecrating of the firstborn to the LORD. The Hebrews have escaped from Egypt, and a proposed route is suggested.

We are in the middle of the battle of the centuries, and it is spiritual. Bear with me as I try to explain. Jesus asked Peter 3 times : Do you love me?; the first 2 times using agape (Gods love) and the third time using brotherly love, and every time Peter answered positively with brotherly love. Jesus then says “Feed my sheep”, but Peter answered “What about John”? and Jesus answered “What is that to thee, follow thou me”. Peter then understood that all authority was still Christs, and they were to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit. Under heavy persecution Christianity grew rapidly, and in 313 A.D. Emperor Constantine declared Christianity protected. This meant that a lot of people became Christians in name only, and to solidify Christian beliefs the Apostles’ creed was formalized in 325 A.D. establishing our belief i God the Father, God the Son and God, the Holy spirit, and Christ’s return and final judgement. Many kept their old beliefs and added Christianity to advance in society. With people in power and authority with little or no knowledge of Christ there was a period of anarchy and strife in the papacy. The Umayyad caliphate had just arisen ande declared the triune God blasphemy, only Allah, and waged war to conquer. Out of this arose Pope Leo III a byzantine from the Eastern brench of the Catholic church. He was declared Pope in 795 A.D. and in 800 A.D. Crowned emperor Charlemagne on Christmas Day in 800, thereby initiating what would become the Holy Roman Empire, which certainly wasn’t holy, nor was it Roman or even very much of an empire. Which brings us to today when Pope Leo XIV seems to undo many of the traditions that sought to cement the Papacy as a worldly power, such as the infallability of the Pope when he speaks “Ex Cathedra”. There are many old traditions going by the wayside. Time will tell if it is a restoration to original Christianity or just another upheaval in the Roman Catholic Church.

Meanwhile, every Passover Seder ends with “Next year in Jerusalem”

January 31, read the Bible in a year in PowerPoint; commented.

John 20 deals with the resurrection, and Jesus was not there, only his grave clothes, strips of cloth, not the “Turin Shroud.” It was the first day of the week and Jesus showed himself to all the disciples except Thomas. He doubted their testimony, and it is from this we have the expression “Doubting Thomas.” Later, when even he saw Jesus, he bowed down and worshiped him saying “My Lord, and my God”. Jesus also gave the promise they would receive the Holy Spirit.

Exodus 10: Two more plagues, the plague of locusts and the plague of darkness. For these two plagues the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart.

In Exodus 11 Moses and Aaron proclaimed the tenth and final plague: The death of the firstborn. Interestingly enough the plagues of Egypt are also in the Quran, four are the same, five are different, and one is missing altogether. Guess which one!

Psalm 11 has the phrase “flee as a bird to the mountain”, which bring back memories of songs we used to sing in choir.

Yes, it was a long time ago, and our pastor wanted us to sing it, but our choir director thought otherwise. However, in obedience we sang it, and it was well received. The disagreement centered around: We are supposed to be in the world, but not of it. To flee to avoid all sin is not in the Gospel commandment.

When Jesus breathed on the disciples, they received the Holy Spirit, but they still had to wait until they received power from above. The Holy Spirit dwells in us, but the power of the Holy Spirit is still given only by God and only to do His will in His opportune time. This is why daily communication with God is so important, in thanksgiving , prayer, and yes ; in spiritual songs.

January 30, read the Bible in a year in PowerPoint; commented.

John 19:16b-42. I took the liberty to incorporate all the “seven words of Christ on the cross.” This requires to take passages from the Gospel of Luke, as well as from the Gospel pf Matthew or Mark. It helped me a lot to get the time-order of events as well as the completeness of Christ substitutionary sacrifice on the Cross. It is finished!

In Exodus 9 there are three more plagues, the plague of livestock, the plague of boils and the plague of hail. In the fifth and seventh plague Pharaoh’s heart remained hard, but for the sixth plague the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart.

In most predominately Christian nations Good Friday is a holiday, second only to Easter Sunday, but in U.S.A. only Christmas Day and Easter Sunday are religious holidays. In Sweden Good Friday is called Long Friday because in Church they read the whole Litany, and because of the length of the reading the Congregation is asked to sit down during the reading. All other readings from Scripture is supposed to be listened to standing up in reverence. Then as children we were not allowed to play or have any kind of fun. This was the most solemn day of the year.

The commemoration of the death of Christ on Friday was instituted by the Catholic Church o fit the readings for the Holy week. In the Gospel of John it says it was the day of preparation for the “special Sabbath” when Jesus was buried. In the Gospel of Matthew the resurrection occurred “Opse de Sabbaton” or after the Sabbaths. This means it was a double Sabbath, which happens every seventh year on average. This was the case in A.D.30 so we know when it happened exactly, but we stick to the tradition of having it close to the Jewish Passover.

January 29, read the Bible in a year in PowerPoint; commented.

John 19:1-16. The trial of Jesus continued under Pilate. He tried his best to get out of it by placing a crown of thorn on Jesus, let the soldiers mock him and hit him, hoping that would placate the Jews. But they cried Crucify! He tried and tried, but they cried “We have no King but Caesar” so Pilate finally gave in and handed Jesus over to be crucified.

In Exodus 7 God promised Moses to give him all the words he must say, and Aaron was to tell it to Pharaoh. God also said he would harden Pharaoh’s heart and not let the people go. Aaron threw down his rod and it became a snake. The Egyptians duplicated it. The first plague out of ten occurred, turning the water of the Nile to blood.

Exodus 8 is very interesting. It tells of three more plagues of Egypt, the plague of frogs, the plague of gnats and the plague of flies. The Egyptian magicians had no trouble duplicating elements of the plague of frogs, but when it came to the plague of gnats they threw up their hands and said “This is the finger of God”. From then on they could not duplicate any of the plagues.

What we have here is a failure to communicate. Pilate did what he could to get out of his dilemma. He knew Jesus was not guilty of anything under Roman law, and his wife had warned him, but the mob action was so strong that he gave in.

With Pharaoh on the other hand he wanted total control, and all insurrections, no matter how costly must be stopped.

January 28, read the Bible in a year in PowerPoint; commented.

John 18:28-40 deals with the last 24 hours of Jesus’ life, from the trial before Annas and the Sanhedron Jesus was paraded before Pilate, seeing a way out, Pilate sent him to Herod, who sent him back to Pilate, Pilate offered to release Jesus or Barabbas and the people demanded that Barabbas be released.

In Exodus 4 God gave Moses his call. At first Moses came up with one objection after another, but God persuaded him with signs that he must go back to Egypt, face Pharaoh and lead his people.

In Exodus 5 Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and asked for a 3 day reprieve for their people so they could go and worship God. Like all dictators Pharaoh reacted to this petition by making life even more miserable for the Hebrews; he wanted them to gather their own straw and still make as many bricks as before. The Hebrews blamed Moses for stirring up trouble for them.

And in Exodus 6 the LORD (Jehovah) promised deliverance from Pharaoh and He would give them the land He had promised Abraham. The narrative continues with an interlude where the names of the heads of the clans of Israel are listed. Moses protested and did not want to talk to Pharaoh any more, so Aaron would have to do the speaking.

Yesterday I didn’t comment on the momentous events when Jesus was taken into custody, ans Moses finally understood who God is and why it mattered, but the events of the trial reminded me of recent events in Minnesota. This is the Barabbas effect, one part of the government incites a mob to demand something that would be ridiculous for any thinking person to even contemplate. In this case the mob sides with the criminal, like the mob sided with Barabbas.

With Moses, his request was met with punishment of a whole group for a demand given by one person, a typical response for a ruler keeping control.

January 27, read the Bible in a year in PowerPoint; commented.

John 18:1-27 deals with some of the last 24 hours of Jesus life, the prayer in the garden of Gethsemane and the subsequent arrest of Jesus, the trial before Annas, Peter’s first denial, Jesus trial before Caiaphas, Peter’s second and third denial and the cock crowing.

Exodus 3 tells where God revealed Himself to Moses in the form of a burning bush and declared “I am that I am”. Jesus made a similar declaration in John 8:58 “Before Abraham, I am”.

In the Septuagint Psalm 9 and Psalm 10 belong together. They speak of God’s faithfulness and the only temporary victories of the wicked one.