Sunday, November 13, 2016

November 20, 2016 – Genesis and John (Gospel and Revelation) – Breath of Life and Water of Life



Breath of Life and Water of Life

Genesis 2:5-17 – New International Version (NIV)
Now no shrub had yet appeared on the earth and no plant had yet sprung up, for the Lord God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no one to work the ground, but streams came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground. Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.
Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
10 A river watering the garden flowed from Eden; from there it was separated into four headwaters. 11 The name of the first is the Pishon; it winds through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold. 12 (The gold of that land is good; aromatic resin and onyx are also there.) 13 The name of the second river is the Gihon; it winds through the entire land of Cush. 14 The name of the third river is the Tigris; it runs along the east side of Ashur. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.
15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”

Why had no shrub appeared or plant sprung up (verse 5)?

How was the “whole surface of the ground” watered (verse 6)?

What did the Lord God form man from (verse 7)?

When did man become a living being (verse 7)?

Where was the garden planted (verse 8)?

In your opinion, why did God place the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the middle of the garden (verse 9)?

Where did the river watering the garden flow from (verse 10)?

What is in the land of Havilah (verse 11)?

Where does the second river wind (verse 13)?

What is the name of the fourth river (verse 14)?

Why did God put man in the Garden of Eden (verse 15)?

What was the consequence of eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (verses 16 and 17)?

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

John 5:24-29 - New International Version (NIV)
24 “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life. 25 Very truly I tell you, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. 26 For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. 27 And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man.
28 “Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice 29 and come out—those who have done what is good will rise to live, and those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned.

Who has eternal life and will not be judged but has “crossed over from death to life” (verse 24)?
What is coming and has now come (verse 25)?
In your opinion, who are the dead (verse 25)?
Where does the Son have life (verse 26)?
Why does the Son of God have the authority to judge (verse 27)?
What is coming (verse 28)?
In your opinion, who are the “all who are in their graves” (verse 28)?
Who will rise to live (verse 29)?
Who will be condemned (verse 29)?
In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?
In your opinion, what is the difference between the life that was breathed into man in Genesis 2:5-17 and the life that is being given to those who believe in John 5:24-29?

2 Corinthians 5:14-21 - New International Version (NIV)
14 For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. 15 And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.
16 So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

What compels Paul (verse 14)?
In your opinion, what does Paul mean when he says “one died for all, and therefore all died” (verse 14)?
How should those who live, live (verse 15)?
In your opinion, what does it mean to regard someone “from a worldly point of view” (verse 16)?
What is anyone who is in Christ (verse 17)?
How did God reconcile us to Himself (verse 18)?
What has God given us (verse 18)?
In your opinion, what is the message of reconciliation (verse 19)?
Who does God make His appeal through (verse 20)?
Who became sin for us (verse 21)?
Why did He become sin for us (verse 21)?
In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?
In your opinion, what does Paul’s discussion of Christ’s death in 2 Corinthians 5:14-21 help us to understand how Jesus was able to say in John 5:24-29 that whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life”?

In your opinion, how does Paul’s statement that one died for all, and therefore all died” in 2 Corinthians 5:14-21 help us to understand how God’s statement to Adam that “you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die” in Genesis 2:5-17 is fulfilled for those who Paul says are reconciled to God?

Revelation 22:16-17 – New International Version (NIV)
16 “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star.”
17 The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let the one who hears say, “Come!” Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life.

Who sent the angel to give testimony (verse 16)?
What does the Spirit and the bride say (verse 17)?
What is the one who hears to say (verse 17)?
Who is to come (verse 17)?
In your opinion, what is the “free gift of the water of life” (verse 17)?
In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?

In your opinion, what does Revelation 22:16-17 help us understand about the “ministry of reconciliation” that Paul in 2 Corinthians 5:14-21 says he (and John in Revelation says that the one who hears) has?
In your opinion, what do the words of Jesus in John 5:24-29 help us to understand about the source of the “water of life” that John quotes Jesus as offering in Revelation 22:16-17?

In your opinion, what is the difference between the people who receive the breath of life from God in Genesis 2:5-17 and the people who take “the free gift of the water of life” in Revelation 22:16-17?
In your opinion, what do these passages from Genesis, John, 2 Corinthians and Revelation help us understand about life and crossing from death to life?
In your opinion, what should these passages inspire in us today?


(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)

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