Patiently Waiting
17 You have
wearied the Lord with your words.
“How have we wearied him?” you ask.
By saying, “All who do evil are good in the eyes of the Lord, and he is pleased with them” or “Where is the
God of justice?”
3 1“I will send my
messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the
Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the
covenant, whom you desire, will come,” says the Lord Almighty.
2 But who can endure the
day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like
a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap. 3 He will sit as a refiner and
purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like
gold and silver. Then the Lord will have men who will bring offerings in
righteousness, 4 and the offerings of
Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the Lord, as in days gone by, as in former years.
5 “So I will come to put you on
trial. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers and
perjurers, against those who defraud laborers of their wages, who
oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive the foreigners among
you of justice, but do not fear me,” says the Lord Almighty.
How was the Lord wearied (verse 17)?
What will the messenger do (verse 1)?
In your opinion, “who can endure the day of his coming” (verse
2)?
What will happen to the Levites (verse 3)?
What “will be acceptable to the Lord” (verse 4)?
Who will the Lord “be quick to testify against” (verse 5)?
Who says “do not fear me” (verse 5)?
In your opinion, what is the basic message of this
passage?
In your opinion, what does this
passage teach us about the Lord’s coming?
Matthew 11:7-19 - New International Version (NIV)
7 As
John’s disciples were leaving, Jesus began to speak to the crowd about
John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed swayed
by the wind? 8 If not, what did you go out to see? A man
dressed in fine clothes? No, those who wear fine clothes are in kings’
palaces. 9 Then what did you go out to see? A
prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. 10 This
is the one about whom it is written:
“‘I will
send my messenger ahead of you,
who will prepare your way before you.’
11 Truly I
tell you, among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than
John the Baptist; yet whoever is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than
he. 12 From the days of John the Baptist until now, the
kingdom of heaven has been subjected to violence, and violent people have
been raiding it. 13 For all the Prophets and the Law
prophesied until John. 14 And if you are willing to accept
it, he is the Elijah who was to come. 15 Whoever has ears,
let them hear.
16 “To what
can I compare this generation? They are like children sitting in the
marketplaces and calling out to others:
17 “‘We
played the pipe for you,
and you did not dance;
we sang a dirge,
and you did not mourn.’
18 For John
came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a
demon.’ 19 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and
they say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and
sinners.’ But wisdom is proved right by her deeds.”
When
did Jesus begin “to speak to the crowd about John” (verse 7)?
Where are those “who wear fine clothes” (verse 8)?
What did they “go out to see” (verse 9)?
What was written about John (verse 10)?
Who will be “greater than” John (verse 11)?
What has the kingdom of heaven been “subjected to” (verse 12)?
What did “the Prophets and the Law” do until John (verse 13)?
Who was John (verse 14)?
What does Jesus compare “this generation” to (verse 16)?
How did the generation react to the singing of the dirge (verse 17)?
What was said about John when he did not eat or drink (verse 18)?
What did they say about the Son of Man when He “came eating and
drinking” verse 19)?
In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?
In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about the Lord’s coming?
In your opinion, what message is Jesus sending to those listening to him
in Matthew 11:7-19 by using the quote from Malachi 3:1 (2:17-3:5)?
James 5:1-11 - New International
Version (NIV)
1 Now
listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery
that is coming on you. 2 Your wealth has rotted, and moths
have eaten your clothes. 3 Your gold and silver are
corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like
fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. 4 Look!
The wages you failed to pay the workers who mowed your fields are crying
out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the
Lord Almighty. 5 You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence.
You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter. 6 You
have condemned and murdered the innocent one, who was not opposing
you.
7 Be
patient, then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s coming. See how the
farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, patiently
waiting for the autumn and spring rains. 8 You too,
be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near. 9 Don’t
grumble against one another, brothers and sisters, or you will be judged.
The Judge is standing at the door!
10 Brothers
and sisters, as an example of patience in the face of suffering, take the
prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. 11 As you
know, we count as blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of
Job’s perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought
about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.
Why should rich people
“weep and wail” (verse 1)?
What happened
to their wealth (verse 2)?
When did the
rich hoard wealth (verse 3)?
What are “crying
out” against the rich (verse 4)?
What have the
rich done “in the day of slaughter” (verse 5)?
Who was “condemned
and murdered” (verse 6)?
How long are
the “brothers and sisters” to be patient (verse 7)?
What “is
near” (verse 8)?
Where is the
Judge (verse 9)?
Who is an
example of “patience in the face of suffering” (verse 10)?
What is the
Lord “full of” (verse 11)?
In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?
In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about the
Lord’s coming?
In your opinion, what does Malachi 2:17-3:5 help us
understand about the coming of the Lord that James is encouraging “brothers
and sisters” to patiently wait for in James 5:1-11?
In
your opinion, how can the “brothers and sisters” who are ask to wait
patiently in James 5:1-11 be greater than John the Baptist in Matthew 11:7-19?
Revelation 6:9-16 - New International Version (NIV)
9 When he opened the fifth seal, I saw
under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of
the word of God and the testimony they had maintained. 10 They
called out in a loud voice, “How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and
true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our
blood?” 11 Then each of them was given a white
robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the full number of
their fellow servants, their brothers and sisters, were killed just as
they had been.
12 I watched as he opened the sixth seal.
There was a great earthquake. The sun turned black like
sackcloth made of goat hair, the whole moon turned blood red, 13 and
the stars in the sky fell to earth, as figs drop from a fig tree when
shaken by a strong wind. 14 The heavens receded like a
scroll being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its
place.
15 Then the kings of the earth, the
princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and everyone else, both slave and
free, hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains. 16 They
called to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from
the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the
Lamb! 17 For the great day of their wrath has
come, and who can withstand it?”
Whose souls does John see “under the alter” (verse 9)?
What did they call out (verse 10)?
How long were they “to wait” (verse 11)?
When did the “great earthquake” happen (verse 12)?
What fell “as figs drop from a fig tree when shaken by a
strong wind” (verse 13)?
Where were “every mountain and island” removed from (verse
14)?
Who “hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains”
(verse 15)?
What did the ones who hid want the “the mountains and
the rocks” to do (verse 16)?
What “has come” (verse 17)?
In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?
In your opinion,
what does this passage teach us about the Lord’s coming?
In your opinion, how
does Revelation 6:9-16 help us understand the answer to the question, “But who can endure the
day of his coming” in Malachi 2:17-3:6?
In your opinion, how
are the people of the generation that Jesus was talking to in Matthew 11:7-19
like the “the kings of the earth, the princes, the
generals, the rich, the mighty, and everyone else, both slave and free” in
Revelation 6:9-16?
In your opinion, who
in Revelation 6:9-16 are like the rich people who “weep and wail” in
James 5:1-11?
In your opinion, what do these Scriptures from Malachi, Matthew,
James, and Revelation teach us about the Lord’s compassion and mercy?
In your
opinion, what helps us wait patiently today?
(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)
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