March 19, 2017 – Genesis and John (Gospel and Revelation) – Birthrights and Grace

Birthrights and Grace

Genesis 25:27-34 – New International Version (NIV)

²⁷ The boys grew up, and Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the open country, while Jacob was content to stay at home among the tents. ²⁸ Isaac, who had a taste for wild game, loved Esau, but Rebekah loved Jacob.

²⁹ Once when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau came in from the open country, famished. ³⁰ He said to Jacob, “Quick, let me have some of that red stew! I’m famished!” (That is why he was also called Edom.)

³¹ Jacob replied, “First sell me your birthright.”

³² “Look, I am about to die,” Esau said. “What good is the birthright to me?”

³³ But Jacob said, “Swear to me first.” So he swore an oath to him, selling his birthright to Jacob.

³⁴ Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and some lentil stew. He ate and drank, and then got up and left.

So Esau despised his birthright.

Who became a “skillful hunter, a man of the open country” (verse 27)?

What did Isaac have a taste for (verse 28)?

Where did Esau come in from (verse 29)?

What did Esau say to Jacob (verse 30)?

In your opinion, why did Jacob want Esau’s birthright (verse 31)?

How did Esau feel about his birthright (verse 32)?

What did Esau do (verse 33)?

In your opinion, how does Esau’s behavior support the statement “so Esau despised his birthright” (verse 34)?

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

John 17:6-19 - New International Version (NIV)

⁶ “I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word. ⁷ Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. ⁸ For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me. ⁹ I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. ¹⁰ All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them. ¹¹ I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one. ¹² While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled.

¹³ “I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. ¹⁴ I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. ¹⁵ My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. ¹⁶ They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. ¹⁷ Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. ¹⁸ As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. ¹⁹ For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.

Who has Jesus revealed the Father to (verse 6)?

What do they know (verse 7)?

How did they respond to Jesus giving them the Father’s words (verse 8)?

Who is Jesus not praying for (verse 9)?

What has come to Jesus through the ones He was praying for (verse 10)?

In your opinion, what does Jesus mean when He asks the Father to “protect them by the power of your name” (verse 11)?

Who has been lost (verse 12)?

Why is Jesus saying these things (verse 13)?

Why has the world hated them (verse 14)?

What does Jesus pray for instead of asking for them to be taken out of the world (verse 15)?

Are the disciples “of the world” (verse 16)?

What does Jesus ask for the disciples (verse 17)?

Where has Jesus sent them (verse 18)?

Why does Jesus sanctify himself (verse 19)?

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

In your opinion, what is the difference between Esau, who despised his birthright in Genesis 25:27-34, and Jesus, who protected His disciples and is praying for the Father to continue to protect them in John 17:6-19?

In your opinion, what is the difference between Jacob, who coveted Esau’s birthright in Genesis 25:27-34, and Jesus, who is willing to sanctify Himself for His disciples in John 17:6-19?

Hebrews 12:14-17 - New International Version (NIV)

¹⁴ Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. ¹⁵ See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. ¹⁶ See that no one is sexually immoral, or is godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son. ¹⁷ Afterward, as you know, when he wanted to inherit this blessing, he was rejected. Even though he sought the blessing with tears, he could not change what he had done.

What are we to “make every effort” to live with everyone in (verse 14)?

What can bitter roots grow up and do (verse 15)?

How did Esau prove he was godless (verse 16)?

What happened when he “wanted to inherit this blessing” (verse 17)?

In your opinion, why could seeking the blessing with tears “not change what he had done” (verse 17)?

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

In your opinion, how does the sanctification that Jesus says He is doing for Himself so that his followers may be sanctified in John 17:6-19 related to the holiness and the grace of God that Paul talks about in Hebrews 12:14-17?

In your opinion, how does the discussion of Esau despising his birthright in Genesis 25:27-34 help us to understand Paul’s instructions to us in Hebrews 12:14-17?

Revelation 15:1-4 – New International Version (NIV)

¹ I saw in heaven another great and marvelous sign: seven angels with the seven last plagues—last, because with them God’s wrath is completed. ² And I saw what looked like a sea of glass glowing with fire and, standing beside the sea, those who had been victorious over the beast and its image and over the number of its name. They held harps given them by God ³ and sang the song of God’s servant Moses and of the Lamb:

“Great and marvelous are your deeds,
    Lord God Almighty.
Just and true are your ways,
    King of the nations.
⁴ Who will not fear you, Lord,
    and bring glory to your name?
For you alone are holy.
All nations will come
    and worship before you,
for your righteous acts have been revealed.”

Why are the seven angels with the seven plagues the last (verse 1)?

Who was standing beside the sea of glass (verse 2)?

What were they singing (verse 3)?

Whose deeds are “great and marvelous” (verse 3)?

In your opinion, why is God alone holy (verse 4)?

What has been revealed (verse 4)?

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

In your opinion, how does Paul’s warnings and instructions in Hebrews 12:14-17 help us to understand how those standing by the sea of glass in Revelation 15:1-4 were “victorious over the beast and its image”?

In your opinion, how is the prayer of Jesus in John 17:6-19 for the Father to “protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one ” shown to be fulfilled by the Father in Revelation 15:1-14?

In your opinion, how dramatic is the transformation that will have to happen to move from a world where the norm is to be like Esau, who despised his birthright in Genesis 25:27-34, to a world where “all nations will come and worship before you” as portrayed in Revelation 15:1-14?

In your opinion, what do these passages from Genesis, John, Hebrews and Revelation help us understand about our birthright in the world and our sanctification by Christ to a victory over the world?

In your opinion, how do these passages help us to understand what it means to us today that Jesus prayed “not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one”?                                  

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)