Revelation 1. The final book of the Bible begins with an introduction and promises a blessing to all who read it and take it to heart. It sends a greeting to the seven Churches followed by the most wonderful vision of the Son of Man.
Nahum 3. The prophet Nahum ended with a “woe to Nineveh.”
Jude. Greetings from the half-brother of Jesus Christ to the called ones. Jude told the followers to contend for the faith for there had crept in apostates in the church, and since they lived in the last days he urged them to maintain their life with God and give all glory to God.
Nahum 1 speaks of God’s wrath on His enemies, in this case the coming destruction of Nineveh.
Nahum 2 is a prophesy of the coming fall of Nineveh.
3 John. The Apostle sent a greeting to Gaius, who was commended for his love and generosity, and urged to follow good people like Demetrius, but to avoid bad people like Diotrephes. The letter ends with a farewell greeting. That’s it.
Proverbs 25 is a collection of more proverbs of Solomon collected after his death during the reign of Hezekiah.
Psalm, 141, of David. A short Psalm telling that confession without compromise comes before God’s protection and victory over evildoers.
Psalm 142, of David. When all strength fails “The LORD is my only refuge.”
Psalm 143, of David. There is hope, even in the deepest despair.
Psalm 144, of David. He is a man of war, but gives praise to God with a new song, for God is the one who grants victory.
2 John is a very short letter, greeting the elect lady with joy that she and some of her children walk in Christ’s commandments, but also warning her to beware of Antichrist deceivers.
Micah 5. The promise of the coming Messiah: “But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.” But first, God promised punishment of Israel’s injustice.
Micah 6. The LORD laid out His a case against Israel and how He will punish Israel’s injustice. One remedy: “He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?“
Micah 7. The prophet expressed deep sorrow for Israel’s sins, coupled with the hope that the nation will rise again and that God will forgive Israel.
We find this in Genesis 1:6-8 (NIV) And God said, “Let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water.” 7 So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it. And it was so. 8 God called the expanse “sky.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day. But God did NOT say: “It was good”
The creation story is interesting reading. God takes a whole day out His busy schedule of creation just to form an environment with water in all its forms in what we call the atmosphere or “sky”. He has yet to create life. Could it be, that water in all its forms are necessary to form and sustain life, so a sustainable ecosystem had to be prepared first?
God created the earth too be just heavy enough to hold on to water vapor, and water is unique because its melting point and boiling point is within the range of bring able to participate in sustaining life. It also has the second (after ammonia) highest specific heat capacity of all known substances. To melt 1 gram of ice takes 80 calories, to heat it takes 1 calorie per gram and to boil it at ground levels takes 539 calories. (The calories you eat are actually kilo-calories). This makes water the ideal substance to moderate and regulate climate. Water vapor evaporates from the ocean, cooling it down and water vapor, being lighter than air rises and condenses as clouds form. The clouds are the most important temperature regulator, much more important than all other greenhouse gases combined. Clouds transport heat from the equator to the temperate areas and to the poles. Without this the equator temperature would be in excess of 145 F. In addition clouds have a high reflection of incoming sunlight, reflecting incoming heat back into space. The earth has never been to warm to sustain complicated life, nor is there any danger of overheating unless clouds disappear. In fact, the next major climate change is the next ice age.
The picture above shows the friendly earth we are living in today. On the second “day” of creation situation was quite different. The sun was not fully created yet, and the earth was still in its chaotic state. All God did was to prepare the ecosystem. The earth was still cooling down from creation, and water evaporated and formed a cloud that covered the whole earth. This is why God did NOT say “it was good” on the second day, it was just the preparation.
Next: The creation of life.
1 John 5. Being born of God and believing in the son of God means exercising obedience by Faith. The certainty of God’s witness is : “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.” There is confidence and compassion in prayer, We must follow the true one and reject the false. And so the letter ends: “Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.”
Micah 1. The prophet told of the coming judgment on Israel with mourning for Israel and Judah.
Micah 2. The prophet proclaimed woe to evildoers and lying prophets. After that Israel will be restored.
Micah 3. There was wicked rulers and wicked prophets. Micah still had full confidence in God.
Micah 4 speaks of the LORD’s future reign in Zion and Zion’s triumph.
1 John 4. Test the spirits. There is the spirit of God, and then there are many spirits of the Antichrist. Remember: “greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.” We know God through love and we see God through love, “We love him, because he first loved us.”
Proverbs 24 completes the sayings of the wise, and begins some more sayings of the wise. The two last verses are notable: “Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth; and thy want as an armed man.
Psalm 137. When the Jews were exiled into captivity they were forced to sing songs on their way. So somebody wrote a psalm about it. Compare that to when Paul and Silas were put in jail, they voluntarily sang songs of praise to God.
Psalm 138. David, as psalmist reminds us that God will honor His word and perform it to completion.
Psalm 139, of David. God knows everything, and He knows me much better than I know myself. Fittingly, the Psalm ends up with a song: “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”
Psalm 140, of David. A heartfelt prayer for deliverance from evildoers.
1 John 3:11-24. We are children of God. As children of God we no longer sin, but it is important we love and show the outworking of love, for in it is the spirit of truth.
Jonah. The short but great story of Jonah, the famous solar eclipse of 763 B.C. the great solar eclipse of 2017, the eclipse of 2024 and the tearing down of statues.
Psalm 136 is called the Great Hallel (or Great Psalm of Praise). Each one of its 26 verses repeats the phrase, “His mercy endureth forever.” It was sung responsively by the Levites and the assembly of people at both Solomon’s and Zerubbabel’s temple dedication and is now sometimes sung or recited at the Passover Seder.
Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
What did God create? Continuing in Genesis 1:2; Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. The earth was formless, meaning chaotic and unorganized; and empty meant without any form of life. But there was water; yes, that is right; water existed in abundance way before the sun was formed. Water is necessary for life to exist, and its unique property of freezing at 0 C and boiling at 100C makes it ideal for organic life. The fact that ice is lighter than water makes ir possible for marine life to survive the winters even in shallow lakes since the ice sits on top of the lake and isolates for further freezing.. Here is introduced God’s Spirit moving over the waters, doing what?
Then in Genesis 1:3; And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. Light is very interesting. It is just a massless piece of energy traveling at the speed of light. Since it travels at the speed of light it has no time. It is created and extinguished at the same time but in different places. From our perspective we see it as traveling at the speed of light, but that is because we are stuck in place in time and space. Dead matter cannot do anything, but with the energy in form of light it might be possible. Therefore
in Genesis 1:4; God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness.
So in Genesis 1:5: God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day. At this time God just defined the term day and night. But notice that darkness comes before light.
But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. (2 Peter 3:8)
Next installment deals with the second day.
1 John 3:1-10. We are children of God, or as the King James Bible calls it “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God:” As children of God we do not continue to sin, for if we do, we don’t have the spirit of God in us.
Proverbs 23, Sayings of the Wise. Do not be a glutton, do not desire riches, do not be a moocher, do not argue with a fool, do not change ancient landmarks, do not withhold correction from a child, do not envy sinners because they are having fun, do not drink wine to excess, do not despise your mother when she is old, honor your father and mother, keep away from harlots, stay sober and do not succumb to alcohol.
Psalm 134 is the last of the songs of ascents. 3 verses short and to the point. Bless the Lord and He will bless you from Zion.
Psalm 135 is a Psalm of praise and thanksgiving to the uniqueness and superiority of the LORD, His name and all that He has done! Compare that to the worthless idols!
Len Bilén's blog, a blog about faith, politics and the environment. 