Preparing for the
Day of the Lord
Isaiah 66:22-24 –
New International Version (NIV)
22 “As the new heavens and the new earth that
I make will endure before me,” declares the Lord, “so will your name and descendants
endure. 23 From
one New Moon to another and from one Sabbath to another, all mankind will come
and bow down before me,” says the Lord. 24 “And they will go out and look on the dead bodies
of those who rebelled against me; the worms that eat them will not die, the
fire that burns them will not be quenched, and they will be loathsome to all
mankind.”
Who will make the
new heavens and the new earth (verse 22)?
What will endure
before the Lord (verse 22)?
Who will come and
bow down before the Lord (verse 23)?
What will those
who bow down before the Lord go out and look on (verse 24)?
Who do the worms
eat (verse 24)?
What will not be quenched
(verse 24)?
In your opinion,
why will they “be loathsome to all
mankind” (verse 24)?
In your opinion, what is the basic
message of this passage?
Mark 9:42-48 - New
International Version (NIV)
42 “If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe
in me—to stumble, it would be better for them if a large millstone were hung
around their neck and they were thrown into the sea. 43 If your
hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life
maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out.
45 And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is
better for you to enter life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into
hell. 47 And if your eye causes you to
stumble, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with
one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, 48 where
“‘the
worms that eat them do not die,
and the fire is not quenched.’
and the fire is not quenched.’
What would be
better for anyone who causes a little one who believes in Jesus to stumble (verse 42)?
How should the hand that “causes you to stumble” be treated (verse
43)?
What is better
than having two feet and being thrown into hell (verse 45)?
In your opinion,
how can your eye cause you to stumble (verse 47)?
What happens in
hell (verse 48)?
In your opinion, what is the basic message
of this passage?
In your opinion, what does Isaiah 66:22-24
help us to understand about what causes the stumbling that Jesus mentions three
times in Mark 9:42-48?
Galatians 2:11-21
- New International Version (NIV)
11 When Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face,
because he stood condemned. 12 For before certain men came from
James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to
draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those
who belonged to the circumcision group. 13 The other Jews
joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led
astray.
14 When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth
of the gospel, I said to Cephas in front of them all, “You are a Jew, yet you
live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it, then, that you force
Gentiles to follow Jewish customs?
15 “We who are Jews by birth and not sinful Gentiles 16 know
that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus
Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified
by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the
law no one will be justified.
17 “But if, in seeking to be justified in Christ, we Jews find
ourselves also among the sinners, doesn’t that mean that Christ promotes sin?
Absolutely not! 18 If I rebuild what I destroyed, then I really
would be a lawbreaker.
19 “For through
the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. 20 I
have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.
The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved
me and gave himself for me. 21 I do not set aside the grace of
God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for
nothing!”
In
your opinion, who is Cephas (verse 11)?
Why did Paul oppose Cephas (verse 11)?
What did Cephas used to do (verse 12)?
Why did Cephas begin to “draw back and separate himself from the
Gentiles” (verse 12)?
Who joined Cephas in his hypocrisy (verse 13)?
In your opinion, how would Cephas answer
the question “how is it, then, that you
force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs” (verse 14)?
Who knows that “a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in
Jesus Christ” (verses 15 and 16)?
Who will be justified “by the works of the law” (verse 16)?
What absolutely does not mean that Christ
promotes sin (verse 17)?
When would Paul, or we, be lawbreakers (verse
18)?
How did Paul die to the law (verse 19)?
Since Paul has been crucified with Christ,
who lives in him (verse 20)?
Why does Paul not set aside the grace of
God (verse 21)?
In your opinion, what is the basic message
of this passage?
In your opinion, how does Paul’s
discussion in Galatians 2:11-21 about the law and being crucified in Christ help
us understand Jesus’ parable about cutting off in Mark 9:42-48?
In your opinion, how does Paul’s
statements about the law and faith in Galatians 2:11-21 help us understand
those who Isaiah sees in Isaiah 66:22-24 bowing before the Lord?
2 Peter 3:10-18 –
New International Version (NIV)
10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens
will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the
earth and everything done in it will be laid bare.
11 Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of
people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives 12 as
you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring
about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the
heat. 13 But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward
to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.
14 So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to
this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. 15 Bear
in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul
also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. 16 He writes
the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters
contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable
people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.
17 Therefore, dear friends, since you have been forewarned, be
on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of the lawless
and fall from your secure position. 18 But grow in the grace
and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and
forever! Amen.
In your opinion, what does Peter mean when he says that “the day of the Lord will come like a thief”
(verse
10)?
What kind of people should we be “since everything will be destroyed in this
way” (verse 11)?
How will the heavens be destroyed (verse 12)?
Where does righteousness dwell (verse 13)?
Why should we “make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with
him” (verse 14)?
What “means
salvation” (verse 15)?
In your opinion, what does Peter mean when
he says that ignorant and unstable people distort some of the things found in
Paul’s letters to their own destruction (verse 16)?
How do we protect ourselves so that we
might not “be carried away by the error
of the lawless” (verses 17 and 18)?
When should “our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” receive glory (verse 18)?
In your opinion, what is the basic message
of this passage?
In your opinion, how
does 2 Peter 3:10-18 show what Peter learned from Paul about the “error of the lawless” when Paul
confronted him in Galatians 2:11-21?
In your opinion, how do we reconcile the
cutting off and plucking out that Jesus talks about in Mark 9:42-48 with the
patience and salvation that Peter says Jesus has in 2 Peter 3:10-18?
In your opinion, how
does the final message of Isaiah in Isaiah 66:22-24 magnify the forewarning
that Peter gives at the end of his letter in 2 Peter 3:10-18?
In your opinion, how do these passages
from Isaiah, Mark, Galatians, and 2 Peter help us to prepare today for the day
of the Lord that is coming like a thief?
In your opinion, how do these passages speak
to us about ourselves today?
Next, back to John 1:1 –
(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)
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