Fact Filled Friday

As a trivia nut I love interesting facts and great juxtaposition like; the bible starts at the beginning of the world and ends at the end of this world. How cool is that! Name another book with such sweeping scope.

Our relationship with God can bring us Joy as we glorify Him, and some of that joy (for me at least, but then, this is my blog) is found in interesting facts and factoids that bring the Bible to life. Life is full of little connections and tidbits on information that you can gloss over until someone points them out and a little bell goes off and you think "Cool!" and if you look the Bible is full of Cool.

Jesus made his living as a carpenter with hammer, wood, and nails.    
Jesus was killed by the Romans who used a hammer, wood, and nails.

In John 18:18, Peter denied Jesus 3 times beside a charcoal fire.
In John 21:9, Jesus asks Peter 3 times, beside a charcoal fire, if he loves him.

Moses wandered in the desert for 40 years after coming up out of the water of the Red Sea.
Jesus wandered in the desert for 40 days after coming up out of the water of the Jordan River.

Actually 40 is a pretty interesting number in the bible:

• It rained for 40 days and 40 nights when God chose to cleanse the earth 
• Noah waited another 40 days after it rained before he opened a window
• Moses was on the mountain with God for 40 days
• Moses' face shone after the 40 days on the mountain.
• It took the spies 40 days to search out the promised land and bring back fruit
• The Israelites spent 40 years in the wilderness, one year for each day they explored the Promised Land.
• Goliath came for 40 days before being killed by David
• Elijah strengthened by one angelic meal went 40 days to Mount Horeb where the Lord passed by and he heard the voice of God
• Jonah warned the City of Nineveh they had 40 days until God would overthrow the city.
• Jesus was seen in the earth 40 days after His crucifixion

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In Genesis 22, Isaac carried wood up a hill that was to be used for his sacrificial death. His father Abraham was stopped from killing Isaac by God. Abraham says that God Himself would provide the sacrificial lamb.

In Matthew 27, Jesus carried wood up a hill (Golgotha) for his own sacrificial death. Jesus is the Lamb of God who was sacrificed in our place.

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In Matthew 27:26, Pontius Pilate released Barabbas, whose name means “Son of the Father” (bar Abbas).

Jesus, the real Son of The Father, was put to death in his place.

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In Exodus 12, the Jews celebrate the first Passover by killing a spotless lamb, and then they smear its blood over their door with a hyssop branch. They also had to eat bitter herbs. This saved their first-born from the angel of death.

In John 19, Jesus Himself is sacrificed as the new spotless Passover lamb and His blood now saves us from death. In John 10:7, Jesus says that he is the door for His sheep. The Roman soldier used a hyssop branch to give him bitter vinegar to drink.

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In James 2:26, the Bible says that faith without works is dead.

In Matthew 25:31-46, at the final judgment, Jesus tells us exactly what those works are.

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In Genesis 3:18-19, God tells Adam in the garden that the ground shall bring thorns and thistles to him, and that by the sweat of his face he shall eat bread from the ground.

In 1 Corinthians 15:45, Paul says that Jesus is the new Adam, bringing life into the world instead of death. At the crucifixion, Jesus, the Bread of Life (John 6), wears a crown of thorns after sweating blood in a garden.

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The book of Genesis starts out with the three words, “In the beginning”. It then goes through a series of next days to describe the creation of the world from nothing as well as the creation of new life. It talks about “the light” and the dark.

The book of the Gospel of John also starts out with the three words, “In the beginning”. It then goes through a series of next days (John 1:29, 35, 43) to describe “the light of the world”, Jesus Christ, who leads us out of darkness and gives new life to the world.

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