September 17, 2023 – Isaiah in the New Testament – Children of God

Children of God

Isaiah 8:16-9:2 - New International Version (NIV)

¹⁶ Bind up this testimony of warning
    and seal up God’s instruction among my disciples.
¹⁷ I will wait for the Lord,
    who is hiding his face from the descendants of Jacob.
I will put my trust in him.

¹⁸ Here am I, and the children the Lord has given me. We are signs and symbols in Israel from the Lord Almighty, who dwells on Mount Zion.

¹⁹ When someone tells you to consult mediums and spiritists, who whisper and mutter, should not a people inquire of their God? Why consult the dead on behalf of the living? ²⁰ Consult God’s instruction and the testimony of warning. If anyone does not speak according to this word, they have no light of dawn. ²¹ Distressed and hungry, they will roam through the land; when they are famished, they will become enraged and, looking upward, will curse their king and their God. ²² Then they will look toward the earth and see only distress and darkness and fearful gloom, and they will be thrust into utter darkness.

9¹Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honor Galilee of the nations, by the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan—

² The people walking in darkness
    have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of deep darkness
    a light has dawned.

What is Isaiah to “bind up” (verse 16)?

Who will Isaiah put his trust in (verse 17)?

Who is with Isaiah (verse 18)?

Who should we inquire of when “someone tells you to consult mediums and spiritists, who whisper and mutter” (verse 19)?

Who has “no light of dawn” (verse 20)?

What do those who have “no light of dawn” do when they “become enraged” (verses 20 and 21)?

What will they see when they “look toward the earth” (verse 22)?

What will He do in the future (verse 1)?

What have the “people walking in darkness” seen (verse 2)?

Where has “a light dawned” (verse 2)?

In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?

In your opinion, what does this passage help us understand about the way people react to God?

John 1:9-18 - New International Version (NIV)

⁹ The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. ¹⁰ He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. ¹¹ He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. ¹² Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— ¹³ children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

¹⁴ The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

¹⁵ (John testified concerning him. He cried out, saying, “This is the one I spoke about when I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’”) ¹⁶ Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. ¹⁷ For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. ¹⁸ No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.

What was “coming into the world” (verse 9)?

How did the world respond (verse 10)?

Who did not receive Him (verse 11)?

What happened to “all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name” (verse 12)?

How were these children born (verse 13)?

Who “became flesh and made his dwelling among us” (verse 14)?

Who testified and said “He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me” (verse 15)?

What have we all received “out of his fullness” (verse 16)?

What came through Jesus Christ (verse 17)?

Who has made God known (verse 18)?

In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?

In your opinion, what does this passage help us understand about the way people react to God?

In your opinion, how are the children that Isaiah says the Lord gave him in Isaiah 8:16-9:2 like the children that John 1:9-18 discusses?

Matthew 11:25-30 – New International Version (NIV)

²⁵ At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. ²⁶ Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do.

²⁷ “All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

²⁸ “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. ²⁹ Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰ For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Who had the Father “hidden these things” from (verse 25)?

Who had the Father revealed them to (verse 25)?

What has been committed to Jesus (verse 27)?

Who knows the Father (verse 27)?

What will Jesus give to those “who are weary and burdened” (verse 28)?

Why should we take Jesus’s yoke (verse 29)?

What will we find in we take Jesus’s yoke (verse 29)?

What is easy (verse 30)?

In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?

In your opinion, what does this passage help us understand about the way people react to God?

In your opinion, would both Isaiah and the children that are with him in Isaiah 8:16-9:2 fit into the description of little children as Jesus uses it in Matthew 11:25-30?

In your opinion, what does John 1:9-18 help us understand about the little children that the Father reveals the hidden things to in Matthew 11:25-30?

Hebrews 2:10-18 – New International Version (NIV)

¹⁰ In bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through what he suffered. ¹¹ Both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters. ¹² He says,

“I will declare your name to my brothers and sisters;
    in the assembly I will sing your praises.”

¹³ And again,

“I will put my trust in him.”

And again he says,

“Here am I, and the children God has given me.”

¹⁴ Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— ¹⁵ and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. ¹⁶ For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham’s descendants. ¹⁷ For this reason he had to be made like them, fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. ¹⁸ Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.

How was the pioneer of the salvation of the “many sons and daughters” made perfect (verse 10)?

Who are “of the same family” (verse 11)?

What is Jesus not ashamed to call them (verse 11)?

Where will Jesus sing praises to His “brothers and sisters” (verse 12)?

Who does Jesus say is with Him (verse 13)?

Why did Jesus share the “flesh and blood” of the children (verse 14)?

Who did Jesus free (verse 15)?

Who doesn’t Jesus help (verse 16)?

In your opinion, who are “Abraham’s descendants” (see Galatians 3:7) (verse 16)?

Why did Jesus have to “be made like them, fully human in every way” (verse 17)?

Why is Jesus “able to help those who are being tempted” (verse 18)?

In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?

In your opinion, what does this passage help us understand about the way people react to God?

In your opinion, what does Hebrews 2:10-18 reveal about why it was necessary for Isaiah to say that he would “wait for the Lord” in Isaiah 8:16-9:2?

In your opinion, how does Jesus being with “the children God has given me” in Hebrews 2:10-18 deepen and enrich the promise that “to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” found in John 1:9-18?

In your opinion, how does Hebrews 2:10-18 help us understand why Jesus in Matthew 11:25-30 can say that His yoke is easy and His burden is light? 

In your opinion, what do these passages from Isaiah, John, Matthew, and Hebrews teach us about how the children of God respond to Jesus?

In your opinion, how can we release our weariness and burdens today to become children in the presence of Jesus?

 

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)

February 24, 2019 – Looking Backward and Forward from Zechariah – Jealousy and Grace

-            The

 Jealousy and Grace

1 Samuel 7:3-12 - New International Version (NIV)

³ So Samuel said to all the Israelites, “If you are returning to the Lord with all your hearts, then rid yourselves of the foreign gods and the Ashtoreths and commit yourselves to the Lord and serve him only, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.” ⁴ So the Israelites put away their Baals and Ashtoreths, and served the Lord only.

⁵ Then Samuel said, “Assemble all Israel at Mizpah, and I will intercede with the Lord for you.” ⁶ When they had assembled at Mizpah, they drew water and poured it out before the Lord. On that day they fasted and there they confessed, “We have sinned against the Lord.” Now Samuel was serving as leader of Israel at Mizpah.

⁷ When the Philistines heard that Israel had assembled at Mizpah, the rulers of the Philistines came up to attack them. When the Israelites heard of it, they were afraid because of the Philistines. ⁸ They said to Samuel, “Do not stop crying out to the Lord our God for us, that he may rescue us from the hand of the Philistines.” ⁹ Then Samuel took a suckling lamb and sacrificed it as a whole burnt offering to the Lord. He cried out to the Lord on Israel’s behalf, and the Lord answered him.

¹⁰ While Samuel was sacrificing the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to engage Israel in battle. But that day the Lord thundered with loud thunder against the Philistines and threw them into such a panic that they were routed before the Israelites. ¹¹ The men of Israel rushed out of Mizpah and pursued the Philistines, slaughtering them along the way to a point below Beth Kar.

¹² Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer, saying, “Thus far the Lord has helped us.”

What did Samuel tell the Israelites they needed to get rid of if they were “returning to the Lord with all your hearts” (verse 3)?

Who were the Israelites to serve (verse 3)?

What did the Israelites do with their Baals and Ashtoreths (verse 4)?

Where were the Israelites to assemble (verse 5)?

What did the Israelites do before confessing “we have sinned against the Lord” (verse 6)?

In your opinion, why did the Philistines come to attack the Israelites (verse 7)?

Why did the Israelites want Samuel to keep crying out to the Lord (verse 8)?

How did the Lord respond to Samuel’s crying out (verse 9)?

How did the Philistines respond to the Lord’s loud thunder (verse 10)?

What did the men of Israel do (verse 11)?

Why did Samuel name the stone Ebenezer (verse 12)?

In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?

Zechariah 8:1-17 - New International Version (NIV)           

¹ The word of the Lord Almighty came to me.

² This is what the Lord Almighty says: “I am very jealous for Zion; I am burning with jealousy for her.”

³ This is what the Lord says: “I will return to Zion and dwell in Jerusalem. Then Jerusalem will be called the Faithful City, and the mountain of the Lord Almighty will be called the Holy Mountain.”

⁴ This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Once again men and women of ripe old age will sit in the streets of Jerusalem, each of them with cane in hand because of their age. ⁵ The city streets will be filled with boys and girls playing there.”

⁶ This is what the Lord Almighty says: “It may seem marvelous to the remnant of this people at that time, but will it seem marvelous to me?” declares the Lord Almighty.

⁷ This is what the Lord Almighty says: “I will save my people from the countries of the east and the west. ⁸ I will bring them back to live in Jerusalem; they will be my people, and I will be faithful and righteous to them as their God.”

⁹ This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Now hear these words, ‘Let your hands be strong so that the temple may be built.’ This is also what the prophets said who were present when the foundation was laid for the house of the Lord Almighty. ¹⁰ Before that time there were no wages for people or hire for animals. No one could go about their business safely because of their enemies, since I had turned everyone against their neighbor. ¹¹ But now I will not deal with the remnant of this people as I did in the past,” declares the Lord Almighty.

¹² “The seed will grow well, the vine will yield its fruit, the ground will produce its crops, and the heavens will drop their dew. I will give all these things as an inheritance to the remnant of this people. ¹³ Just as you, Judah and Israel, have been a curse among the nations, so I will save you, and you will be a blessing. Do not be afraid, but let your hands be strong.”

¹⁴ This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Just as I had determined to bring disaster on you and showed no pity when your ancestors angered me,” says the Lord Almighty, ¹⁵ “so now I have determined to do good again to Jerusalem and Judah. Do not be afraid. ¹⁶ These are the things you are to do: Speak the truth to each other, and render true and sound judgment in your courts; ¹⁷ do not plot evil against each other, and do not love to swear falsely. I hate all this,” declares the Lord.

How did the Lord feel about Zion (verse 2)?

What does the Lord say He will do (verse 3)?

In your opinion, what is significant about the promise that “men and women of ripe old age will sit in the streets of Jerusalem” (verse 4)?

Who will fill the city streets (verse 5)?

In your opinion, why would something seem marvelous to the people but not to God (verse 6)?

Who will the Lord Almighty save (verse 7)?

Who said “let your hands be strong so that the temple may be built” (verse 9)?

Why could no one “go about their business safely” (verse 10)?

Who will the Lord not deal with as He did in the past (verse 11)?

What will the Lord give “as an inheritance to the remnant of this people” (verse 12)?

How are Judah and Israel to respond to the salvation and blessing of the Lord (verse 13)?

When did the Lord determine to “bring disaster on you and showed no pity” (verse 14)?

What has the Lord determined to do (verse 15)?

What are the Israelites do do (verse 16)?

What does the Lord hate (verse 17)?

In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?

In your opinion, what did the Israelites that Samuel was speaking to in 1 Samuel 7:3-12 and the Israelites that Zechariah was speaking to in Zechariah 8:1-17 have in common?

John 1:9-18 – New International Version (NIV)

⁹ The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. ¹⁰ He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. ¹¹ He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. ¹² Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— ¹³ children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

¹⁴ The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

¹⁵ (John testified concerning him. He cried out, saying, “This is the one I spoke about when I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’”) ¹⁶ Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. ¹⁷ For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. ¹⁸ No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.

Who was coming into the world (verse 9)?

In your opinion, why could the world that was made through Him not recognize Him (verse 10)?

How did “his own” respond to Him (verse 11)?

Who did He give the “right to become children of God” (verse 12)?

How were these children born (verse 13)?

Who “became flesh and made his dwelling among us” (verse 14)?

Who “came from the Father, full of grace and truth” (verse 14)?

Why had John said “He who comes after me has surpassed me” (verse 15)?

From where have we “all received grace in place of grace already given” (verse 16)?

In your opinion, what is the “grace already given” (verse 16)?

Where do “grace and truth” come through (verse 17)?

Who has made God known (verse 18)?

In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?

In your opinion, how does the Israelites returning to God with all their hearts and getting rid “of the foreign gods and the Ashtoreths” in 1 Samuel 7:3-12 help us understand what the people did “to become children of God” in John 1:9-18?

In your opinion, how do we reconcile the promise of Zechariah 8:1-17 that God will “return to Zion and dwell in Jerusalem” with John 1:9-18’s statement that “He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him”?

James 4:1-10 – New International Version (NIV)

¹ What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? ² You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. ³ When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

⁴ You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. ⁵ Or do you think Scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us? ⁶ But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says:

“God opposes the proud
    but shows favor to the humble.”

⁷ Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. ⁸ Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. ⁹ Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. ¹⁰ Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

“What causes fights and quarrels among you” (verse 1)?

Why do people “quarrel and fight” (verse 2)?

What wrong motives do people have when they ask God (verse 3)?

In your opinion, why does “friendship with the world” mean “enmity against God” (verse 4)?

What does God jealously long for  (verse 5)?

What does God give us (verse 6)?

In your opinion, why does God oppose the proud and “show favor to the humble” (verse 6)?

When does the devil flee (verse 7)?

When will God come near to us (verse 8)?

In your opinion, how can the double-minded purify their hearts (verse 8)?

In your opinion, why should laughter change to mourning and joy to gloom (verse 9)?

When will the Lord lift us up (verse 10)?

In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?

In your opinion, how is the action that Samuel ask the Israelites to take in 1 Samuel 7:3-12 similar to the action that James instructs us to take in James 4:1-10?

In your opinion, how are the jealousy that the Lord Almighty had for Zion in Zechariah 8:1-17 and the jealous longing the Spirit has to dwell in us according to James 4:1-10 similar?

In your opinion, what does James 4:1-10 help us understand about those who received the one who “came from the Father, full of grace and truth” and “believed in his name” in John 1:9-18?

In your opinion, what do these passages from 1 Samuel, Zechariah, John and James teach us about the choice that every person has to make?

In your opinion, how can we, who have our own idols, put them aside and welcome God’s jealousy and grace today?

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)