The end of the Scarlet Thread. A final round up of all 66 books of the bible’s historical fact as recorded by eyewitnesses of God’s gracious, merciful and loving dealings with mankind and how it is all about Jesus. From the literal 6-24 hour day creation of the Universe and everything in it, to Adam’s sin and then God’s amazing loving gift of grace to save us paid for in Jesus’ blood. Here we have a quick overview of some of the scriptures all through the bible that show that it is supernatural and all points to Jesus. Including Jesus’ place of birth (Bethlehem), Jesus’ virgin birth, Jesus’ death by crucifixion, Jesus’ burial and Jesus’ resurrection to take the wrath of God on our behalf so that God can justly and lovingly forgive us. All prophesied hundreds of years before the events even happened. You can trust the Jesus and the promises in the bible for your salvation. The Scarlet Thread in the Bible was always about Jesus, It is all about Jesus and always will be about Jesus.

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Revelation – the last book of the bible in the Scarlet Thread series. A slightly bizaar, to us, and disturbing book. It is where we get the word ‘Apocalypse’ from so you have an idea that this is not going to have a lot of good in it. Or does it? It is not the ‘Revelation of John’ but a ‘Revelation given to John’ while in exile on Patmos for preaching and teaching about Jesus as the only way to Heaven for the forgiveness of sins. The books first line spells it out. THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST. It is all about Jesus and when he comes back to judge the earth and all who live and have lived on it. Many fruit loops have used elements in this book to freak people out when they get their prophecy charts out but it is just an amazing book wrapping up human history and God’s dealings with man. And it is going to get very ugly, as if it isn’t already. Get ready to be shocked at what has already come true and what is coming and what the number of the beast (666) really means. But ultimately Revelation is a book of comfort for Christians. Especially the persecuted multitudes (not in England just yet). Tthat God is going to judge fairly and send those to Hell who have chosen that path and take those who have repented of their sins, turned from their detestable filthy lives and put their faith in Jesus the Saviour to heaven. Oh yeah Jesus is in charge of Hell. This is not a book on its own but with 500 quotes and allusions to the Old Testament and New Testament Letters in its 404 verses it is a book that not only wraps up the bible in pointing us to the Scarlet Thread of Jesus. But is a book that wraps up human history. That God foretold all the amazing things of Jesus’ virgin birth, life and death, Elements of Israel’s history and other nations hundreds of years before they happened in the Old Testament scriptures, you can trust this book that it is all going to end in a very nasty way. Some will go to Hell and some to Heaven. Which are you? And are you going to repent, turn from your sins and trust the scarlet thread woven in 1500 year of scripture that all lead to the amazing gift of grace given through Jesus Christ?

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Jude, the half brother of Jesus. Jude thought his brother was a loon and denied he was the Christ (Matthew 13:55, Mark 6:3 and John 7:5) but then repented and put his faith in his step brother when after a full public execution and guarded burial he rose from the dead to prove he was God! No argument there then. Jude deals exclusively with the judgement on false teachers who deny that Jesus is God in human form who rose from the dead to pay the price for our sins. And Jude would know! He doesn’t hold back and is vary scathing of the wing dings who pervert scripture and don’t teach the truth about Jesus. Jude plainly states that they are going to get judged along with everyone who lives unrepentant, ungodly lives! Jude ends with a great promise of assurance that God is able to keep all his children (God can not lose a Christian) who have repented and put their faith in Jesus, the only God and saviour.

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John’s letters. The disciple whom Jesus loved. 1st John is a ‘Back to Basics’ letter teaching us to trust in Jesus as our advocate in Heaven who removed the wrath of God through his gift of grace via his death, burial and resurrection. John uses the ‘big religious word’ propitiation. Twice! John encourages us to live Godly lives too because of this grace and makes it really simple. If anyone is continually sinning they are of the Devil! And we are not to love the world or anything in or of the world. John is not advocating go and join a monastery but to live free from the pursuit of ‘stuff for stuff’s sake’ and idolatry. Jesus knows we need to work and clothe and feed ourselves. Letters 2 and 3 are short letters that deal with the wing nut false teachers that abounded in their day as well as ours! Don’t take all of what is on Christian TV to be the truth about Jesus! If it looks bonkers then it is! If they are teaching repentance and faith in Jesus for the forgiveness of sins, check it against scripture, repent and turn form your sins, getting back to basics as John puts it, and love Jesus for His amazing gift of grace.

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1st and 2nd Peter are wonderful rich books that encourage us to be faithful to Jesus while suffering as a Christian. This remember was Peter who denied Jesus 3 times before his crucifixion and was then reinstated by grace after Jesus’ resurrection. A reliable eye witness who was driven from Jerusalem by persecution and here as an old man is preparing for his own execution. Crucified upside down! For those who think Peter was a thick fisherman he would have known Aramaic, the Hebrew scriptures, Greek for trade and maybe even a little Latin. How many of us are tri or quad lingual? Peter also deals with holy living in all areas for Christians, with the rise of false teaching and what will happen at the end of the world. It doesn’t look good for a lot of people. All thyis to lead people to the amazing gift of grace of the forgiveness of our sins given through Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection when we repent and put our faith in Jesus.

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James. What a book, this was Jesus half brother and fantastic proof that Jesus was exactly who he said he is. God in the flesh. Imagine being the step brother of a guy who claims to be God, you mock him, watch him get executed and then a little later he comes back to you, not as a ghost but risen from the dead! You are going to worship him aren’t you. This book though is the ‘Proverbs’ of the New Testament and there is no simple ‘thread’ to the book. It is the earliest book written in the New Testament and written exclusively to Jewish Christians. James pulls no punches and with over 50 commands on right living because of the grace of God it is like having multiple slaps in the face with a big wet Gallilean fish! James tells it like it is and just hits the nail on the head so many times. It is a book to encourage us to consider trials as joy and not to even consider boasting about what we are going to do tomorrow as we don’t have a clue what is coming! It is election time now in England with all parties going to ‘save the economy’ and God nails us with a volcanic ash cloud that grounds all flights in and out of the UK. Think 9/11, Tsunami, Haiti earthquake, daily deaths on the roads… We just don’t know what is coming next. All we do know is, and James points it out, is that Jesus is coming back and our lives should match our profession of faith.

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Hebrews. An amazing theological book written exclusively to Hebrew (Jewish) Christians. We don’t know who wrote it but he had a HUGE biblical and theological brain that knew the Old Testament scriptures incredibly well to point the scarlet thread of blood right from Genesis to Jesus with most of the ‘Big Names’ in the Old Testament inbetween. This book exclusively points to Jesus as our great High Priest and how his blood shed on the cross was the perfect, sufficient sacrifice for sins so they, the Hebrews, no longer had to sacrifice animals anymore. Jesus was and is, their and our sacrifice. They are warned to not spurn the grace of God through Jesus sacrifice and as they were given all the pointers to Jesus in the Old Testament they should wake up and praise God for the fulfilment of scripture, or else nothing remains but a fearful expectation of judgement. But there is grace, undeserved favour, through Jesus’ blood for our sins. This book is an amazing example of how supernatural the Old Testament is in pointing to Jesus. That he came as the sacrifice to save us, to become our advocate in Heaven and to come again to rule in righteousness. Thank you Jesus.

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Easter Sunday. The most pivotal day in history – Jesus risen from the grave to defeat death and forgive our sin – only if we repent, turn from our sin and put our faith in Jesus to save us from the wrath that we deserve from God the father. Love Jesus or loath him you will meet him one day. Here we examine how 1500 years of writings culminate in this most amazing weekend. ‘The Scarlet Thread’ woven into the Old Testament scriptures comes true in Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection. Eye witness accounts tell us of the weekend but here we look at the internal evidence of scripture to show how Jesus was beaten to death by professional executioners but then on the third day rose perfectly healthy to chat with girls in the garden and walk 7 miles to Emmaus. Jesus then appeared to all the other disciples, one ‘untimely born’ man who murdered Christians then became one and then 500 people. All this just points to the conclusive evidence that Jesus rose from the dead and you and all mankind will meet him and give an account. Only those who have repented and received Jesus’ gift of grace will go to be with Him in Heaven and the rest will go to Jesus’ jail to receive his justice in his eternal jail Hell.

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Paul’s letter to his friend and co-worker ‘Philemon’ at Colossae is an absolute gem. It is 25 verses of absolute grace because of Jesus, through Jesus and to the glory of Jesus. It is very simple to skip over this little letter but it is pivotal to the Christian faith. Thhis is about the transformation of a two people from being filthy rotten sinners to sinners forgiven by an amazingly gracious God through Jesus. This letter covers not only forgiveness but evangelism, predestination and election, God’s sovereignty, redemption and restitution and doctrine and duty. The basic Gist is that Philemon is a rich dude with slaves and one of them, Onesimus, runs away from his Christian master and the church that meets in his house (so Onesimus will have heard all about Jesus and the gosple of grace) having probably stole from his master too, and ends up in Rome where he meets the imprisoned Paul – murderer of Christians now missionary of Christ – in jail for the gospel of and to the glory of… Jesus! Onesimus gets saved through repenting, turning from his sin and putting his faith in Jesus and then the trouble for not only Onesimus but also for Philemon starts. Onesimus has to face the music (runaway slaves could be killed – one was thrown into a pool of man eating fish!) and Philemon now has a repentant brother in Christ, who is also his runaway slave, come back home… What dilemmas has your Christian faith put you in? If it hasn’t then you probably are not living and sharing your faith appropriately. To find out what happened to both Philemon and Onesimus listen to the preach and be prepared to hear another story of amazing grace because of Jesus.

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Paul’s letter to Titus on the island of Crete is an amazing 3 chapter goldmine of the marriage of doctrine and duty. How the gospel of Jesus should affect the individuals life. If it doesn’t then they are not a Christian. Dead simple. Paul tackles what an elder leading the church should be like, how wing-nut, heretic teachers back then and now (Rob Bell, Brian MacLaren et al) should be muzzled like dogs and how straight, right, biblical doctrine should be taught and not what anyone ‘feels’ is ok. From fluffy stuff, right through to dancing in piles of cash to chopping the end of male parts away. Paul deals with them all and wants them silenced because the gospel of Jesus and scripture is too precious to be messed with. It then goes into the home and the feminists won’t be happy (are they ever?). But then they just jump to conclusions and really deep down just want to have what scripture and the gospel has to offer through Jesus and obedience. They just love their sin more though and won’t stand up to their stupid friend’s preaching at them. The real big sadness though is how this is all the fault of stupid men, and God has a lot to say to them. Paul finishes with how the gospel of Jesus should affect how you are in the world. At work, school or in teh local neighbourhood. If Jesus hasn’t changed you then you don’t know Jesus. Paul all the way through keeps exhorting ‘good works’ and this isn’t the ‘social gospel’ which is ‘no gospel’ (listen to Galatians pt 41) but what we do in response to the gospel of Jesus. And there is a brief show of ‘good works’ done by Christians throughout history. All because of Jesus, through Jesus to the Glory of Jesus.

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