Rainbows and
Reality
Genesis 9:8-16 –
New International Version (NIV)
8 Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him: 9 “I
now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you 10 and
with every living creature that was with you—the birds, the livestock and all
the wild animals, all those that came out of the ark with you—every living
creature on earth. 11 I establish my covenant with you: Never
again will all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood; never again will
there be a flood to destroy the earth.”
12 And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making
between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all
generations to come: 13 I have set my rainbow in the clouds,
and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 14 Whenever
I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, 15 I
will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every
kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. 16 Whenever
the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting
covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.”
Who did God speak
to (verse 8)?
What did God
establish (verse 9)?
In your opinion,
why are the living creatures included in the covenant (verse 10)?
What is the
covenant (verse 11)?
How many
generations is the covenant with (verse 12)?
What has God set
as a sign of the covenant (verse 13)?
When will God
remember the covenant (verses 14, 15 and 16)?
In your opinion, what is the basic
message of this passage?
John 16:5-15 - New
International Version (NIV)
5 but now I am going to him who sent me. None of you asks me,
‘Where are you going?’ 6 Rather, you are filled with grief
because I have said these things. 7 But very truly I tell you,
it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will
not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. 8 When he
comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness
and judgment: 9 about sin, because people do not believe in me;
10 about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where
you can see me no longer; 11 and about judgment, because the
prince of this world now stands condemned.
12 “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear.
13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you
into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he
hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. 14 He will
glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known
to you. 15 All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why
I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.”
Where is Jesus
going (verse 5)?
What are the disciples filled with (verse 6)?
In your opinion,
why is it good that Jesus in going away (verse 7)?
What will the
Advocate prove the world to be wrong in (verse 8)?
Why is the world
wrong about sin (verse 9)?
Why is the world
wrong about righteousness (verse 10)?
Why is the world
wrong about judgment (verse 11)?
In your opinion,
why can the disciples not bear to hear more of what Jesus has to say (verse 12)?
What will the Spirit of truth do (verse 13)?
What will the Spirit of truth speak (verse
13)?
How will the Spirit of truth glorify Jesus
(verse 14)?
What belongs to Jesus (verse 15)?
In your opinion, what is the basic message
of this passage?
In your opinion, how is Jesus’ promise to
send the Advocate in John 16:5-15 an extension of the promise for the future
shown in the covenant that God makes in Genesis 9:8-16?
Colossians 2:6-17
- New International Version (NIV)
6 So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue
to live your lives in him, 7 rooted and built up in him,
strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with
thankfulness.
8 See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and
deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental
spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ.
9 For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily
form, 10 and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is
the head over every power and authority. 11 In him you were
also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Your whole
self ruled by the flesh was put off when you were circumcised by Christ, 12 having
been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through
your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.
13 When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of
your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 14 having
canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and
condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. 15 And
having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them,
triumphing over them by the cross.
16 Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or
drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a
Sabbath day. 17 These are a shadow of the things that were to
come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.
What are the Colossians to continue in (verse 6)?
How are the Colossians to be rooted (verse
7)?
What were the
Colossians to overflow with (verse 7)?
In your opinion, how could “hollow and deceptive philosophy” take
someone captive (verse 8)?
What lives in Christ (verse 9)?
What have the Colossians been brought to
in Christ (verse 10)?
In your opinion, what does the “circumcised with a circumcision not
performed by human hands” mean (verse 11)?
How were the Colossians “buried with him” (verse 12)?
How were the Colossians “raised with him” (verse 12)?
What did God do when the Colossians were
dead in their sins (verse 13)?
How did God cancel our legal indebtedness (verse 14)?
What did God do after He disarmed the
powers and authorities (verse 15)?
What were the Colossians not to let anyone
judge them by (verse 16)?
Where is the reality found (verse 17)?
In your opinion, what is the basic message
of this passage?
In your opinion, how is Jesus’ promise
that the Spirit will guide us into all truth in John 16:5-15 shown to be
fulfilled as Paul talks about faith, life and forgiveness of sins in Colossians
2:6-17?
In
your opinion, how is the promise of the rainbow that all life will not be taken
in a flood in Genesis 9:8-16 dwarfed by the opportunity of new life through
Christ as we are shown by Paul in Colossians 2:6-17?
Revelation 4:1-11 –
New International Version (NIV)
1 After this I looked, and there before me was a door
standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a
trumpet said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after
this.” 2 At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a
throne in heaven with someone sitting on it. 3 And the one who
sat there had the appearance of jasper and ruby. A rainbow that shone like an
emerald encircled the throne. 4 Surrounding the throne were
twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders. They
were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads. 5 From
the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. In front
of the throne, seven lamps were blazing. These are the seven spirits of God. 6 Also
in front of the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as
crystal.
In
the center, around the throne, were four living creatures, and they were
covered with eyes, in front and in back. 7 The first living
creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like
a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle. 8 Each of the four
living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under
its wings. Day and night they never stop saying:
“‘Holy,
holy, holy
is
the Lord God Almighty,’
who
was, and is, and is to come.”
9 Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks
to him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever, 10 the
twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne and worship him
who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say:
11 “You are worthy, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
and by your will they were created
and have their being.”
to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
and by your will they were created
and have their being.”
Where did John see the open door (verse 1)?
What was before John when he was in the
Spirit (verse 2)?
What encircled the throne (verse 3)?
Who were seated on the 24 thrones (verse 4)?
Who is the seven lamps (verse 5)?
What covered the four living creatures (verse
6)?
What were the four living creatures like
(verse 7)?
What did the four living creatures always
say (verse 8)?
Who falls down before the throne and
worship “him who lives for ever and ever”
(verse 10)?
Who is worthy to “receive glory and honor and power” (verse 11)?
In your opinion, what is the basic message
of this passage?
In your opinion, how
does the grandeur of God portrayed in Revelation 4:1-11, and shown by Paul in
Colossians 2:6-17 to be the opposite of human tradition and elemental spiritual
forces of this world, help us to avoid hollow and deceptive philosophy?
In your opinion, how does Jesus, through
John in Revelation 4:1-11, answer the question “where are you going” that He said no one was asking in John 16:5-15?
In your opinion, why
is it significant that the rainbow, a reminder of the covenant in Genesis
9:8-16, encircled the throne in Revelation 4:1-11?
In your opinion, how do these passages
from Genesis, John, Colossians and Revelation help us move from the promise not
to destroy all life in the flood to the celebration in heave of the God who “created all things” and in who all things “have their being”?
In your opinion, how
do these passages help us to contrast the hollow promises of the world with the
magnificent promises of God?
(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)
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