December 18, 2016 – Genesis and John (Gospel and Revelation) – Sabbath-Rest or Torment

Sabbath-Rest or Torment

Genesis 2:1-3 – New International Version (NIV)

¹ Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array.

² By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. ³ Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.

What was “completed in all their vast array” (verse 1)?

When had God “finished the work he had been doing” (verse 2)?

What did God do when He “finished the work he had been doing” (verse 2)?

In your opinion, what does it mean to say that God made the seventh day holy (verse 3)?

Why did God bless the seventh day and make it holy (verse 3)?

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

John 7:14-24 - New International Version (NIV)

¹⁴ Not until halfway through the festival did Jesus go up to the temple courts and begin to teach. ¹⁵ The Jews there were amazed and asked, “How did this man get such learning without having been taught?”

¹⁶ Jesus answered, “My teaching is not my own. It comes from the one who sent me. ¹⁷ Anyone who chooses to do the will of God will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own. ¹⁸ Whoever speaks on their own does so to gain personal glory, but he who seeks the glory of the one who sent him is a man of truth; there is nothing false about him. ¹⁹ Has not Moses given you the law? Yet not one of you keeps the law. Why are you trying to kill me?”

²⁰ “You are demon-possessed,” the crowd answered. “Who is trying to kill you?”

²¹ Jesus said to them, “I did one miracle, and you are all amazed. ²² Yet, because Moses gave you circumcision (though actually it did not come from Moses, but from the patriarchs), you circumcise a boy on the Sabbath. ²³ Now if a boy can be circumcised on the Sabbath so that the law of Moses may not be broken, why are you angry with me for healing a man’s whole body on the Sabbath? ²⁴ Stop judging by mere appearances, but instead judge correctly.”

Where did Jesus go “halfway through the festival” (verse 14)?

What did He do there (verse 14)?

Who was amazed (verse 15)?

In your opinion, who did Jesus’ teaching come from (verse 16)?

What will everyone who does the will of God find out (verse 17)?

What does someone who speaks on their own seek (verse 18)?

Who is “a man of truth” (verse 18)?

In your opinion, why does Jesus say “not one of you keeps the law” (verse 19)?

Who says that Jesus is demon-possessed (verse 20)?

How did Jesus amaze the crowd (verse 21)?

Who gave them circumcision (verse 22)?

What do they do on the Sabbath (verse 22)?

In your opinion, why does Jesus use the circumcision on the Sabbath to justify healing on the Sabbath (verse 23)?

How does Jesus say judging should not be done (verse 24)?

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

In your opinion, what does Jesus defense of healing on the Sabbath in John 7:14-24 help us to understand about what God intended when He made the Sabbath holy in Genesis 2:1-3?

Hebrews 4:1-11 - New International Version (NIV)

¹ Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it. ² For we also have had the good news proclaimed to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because they did not share the faith of those who obeyed. ³ Now we who have believed enter that rest, just as God has said,

“So I declared on oath in my anger,
    ‘They shall never enter my rest.’”

And yet his works have been finished since the creation of the world. ⁴ For somewhere he has spoken about the seventh day in these words: “On the seventh day God rested from all his works.” ⁵ And again in the passage above he says, “They shall never enter my rest.”

⁶ Therefore since it still remains for some to enter that rest, and since those who formerly had the good news proclaimed to them did not go in because of their disobedience, ⁷ God again set a certain day, calling it “Today.” This he did when a long time later he spoke through David, as in the passage already quoted:

“Today, if you hear his voice,
    do not harden your hearts.”

⁸ For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day. ⁹ There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; ¹⁰ for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his. ¹¹ Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience.

In your opinion, what is the “promise of entering his rest” (verse 1)?

Why was the message “of no value to them” (verse 2)?

Who will enter the rest (verse 3)?

When were God’s works finished (verse 3)?

What did God do on the seventh day (verse 4)?

Where will some enter (verse 6)?

Who did God speak through “a long time later” (verse 7)?

What were people not to do “today, if you hear his voice” (verse 7)?

In your opinion, what does Paul mean when he says that God spoke “later about another day” (verse 8)?

Who is the Sabbath-rest for (verse 9)?

Who rests “from their works” (verse 10)?

What should we make every effort to do (verse 11)?

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

In your opinion, what does the fact that Jesus said He healed on the Sabbath in John 7:14-24 help us to understand about the Sabbath-rest that Paul is talking about in Hebrews 4:1-11?

In your opinion, what does the fact that Genesis 2:1-3 shows God resting from His work and then blessing the Sabbath help us to understand about the Sabbath rest that Paul in Hebrews 4:1-11 says is for the people of God?

Revelation 14:6-13 – New International Version (NIV)

⁶ Then I saw another angel flying in midair, and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth—to every nation, tribe, language and people. ⁷ He said in a loud voice, “Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come. Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs of water.”

⁸ A second angel followed and said, “‘Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great,’ which made all the nations drink the maddening wine of her adulteries.”

⁹ A third angel followed them and said in a loud voice: “If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives its mark on their forehead or on their hand, ¹⁰ they, too, will drink the wine of God’s fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. They will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb. ¹¹ And the smoke of their torment will rise for ever and ever. There will be no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and its image, or for anyone who receives the mark of its name.” ¹² This calls for patient endurance on the part of the people of God who keep his commands and remain faithful to Jesus.

¹³ Then I heard a voice from heaven say, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.”

“Yes,” says the Spirit, “they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them.”

Who did the angel “flying in midair” have the eternal gospel to proclaim to (verse 6)?

How should people respond to the “hour of his judgment” (verse 7)?

What does the second angel proclaim (verse 8)?

Who is the third angel talking about (verse 9)?

In your opinion, what does it mean to “drink the wine of God’s fury” (verse 10)?

For whom will there be “no rest day or night” (verse 11)?

Who is called to have “patient endurance” (verse 12)?

Who says “blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on” (verse 13)?

What is the blessing that those “who die in the Lord from now on” will receive (verse 13)?

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

In your opinion, how does John in Revelation 14:6-13 continue the discussion of the ones who don’t or do share the faith in Christ that Paul began in Hebrews 4:1-11?

In your opinion, how does John’s discussion of who receives torment and who receives rest in Revelation 14:6-13 help us to understand what Jesus meant in John 7:14-24 when He said to “stop judging by mere appearances, but instead judge correctly”?

In your opinion, what does it mean that the gospel the angel proclaimed to “every nation, tribe, language and people” in Revelation 14:6-13 was to worship God who “made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs of water” that Genesis 2:1-13 shows God blessing the seventh day because He was resting from creating?

In your opinion, what do these passages from Genesis, John, Hebrews and Revelation help us understand about the holy rest that God has blessed?

In your opinion, how do these passages encourage us to choose rest in God and be patient in the torment of the world?

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)