Invitations
and Mercy
Genesis 28:10-22 –
New International Version (NIV)
10 Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Harran. 11 When
he reached a certain place, he stopped for the night because the sun had set.
Taking one of the stones there, he put it under his head and lay down to sleep.
12 He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the
earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending
and descending on it. 13 There above it stood the Lord, and he said: “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and
the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you
are lying. 14 Your descendants will be like the dust of the
earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to
the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring.
15 I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I
will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I
have promised you.”
16 When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not
aware of it.” 17 He was afraid and said, “How awesome is this
place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.”
18 Early the next morning Jacob took the stone he had placed
under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on top of it. 19 He
called that place Bethel, though the city used to be called Luz.
20 Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and
will watch over me on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and
clothes to wear 21 so that I return safely to my father’s
household, then the Lord will be
my God 22 and this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be
God’s house, and of all that you give me I will give you a tenth.”
Where was Jacob
going (verse 10)?
What did he put
under his head when he laid down to sleep (verse 11)?
What did he dream (verse 12)?
In your opinion,
why did the Lord identify Himself as the “God
of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac” (verse 13)?
What land did the
Lord promise to give Jacob and his descendants (verse 13)?
Who will be
blessed through Jacob and his offspring (verse 14)?
Where is the Lord
going to bring Jacob (verse 15)?
What did Jacob
think when he woke up (verse 16)?
In your opinion,
why was Jacob afraid (verse 17)?
How did Jacob
treat the stone he slept on (verse 18)?
What did Jacob
call the place (verse 19)?
What vow did Jacob
make (verses 20, 21 and 22)?
In your opinion, what is the basic
message of this passage?
John 1:43-51 - New
International Version (NIV)
43 The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding
Philip, he said to him, “Follow me.”
44 Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of
Bethsaida. 45 Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have
found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also
wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”
46 “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Nathanael
asked.
“Come
and see,” said Philip.
47 When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, “Here
truly is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.”
48 “How do you know me?” Nathanael asked.
Jesus
answered, “I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip
called you.”
49 Then Nathanael declared, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you
are the king of Israel.”
50 Jesus said, “You believe because I told you I saw you under
the fig tree. You will see greater things than that.” 51 He
then added, “Very truly I tell you, you will see ‘heaven open, and the angels
of God ascending and descending on’ the Son of Man.”
Who did Jesus tell
“follow me” (verse 43)?
Where were Philip, Andrew and Peter from (verse
44)?
What did Philip
tell Nathanael (verse 45)?
How did Nathanael
react to what Philip said (verse 46)?
In your opinion,
why is Philip’s invitation to “come and
see” a great response to Nathanael’s doubts (verse 46)?
How did Jesus
describe Nathanael (verse 47)?
What did Nathanael
want to know (verse 48)?
When did Jesus see
Nathanael under the fig tree (verse 48)?
Now that Nathanael has met Jesus, what
does he think about Him (verse 49)?
What does Jesus say that Nathanael will
see (verse 50)?
Who will Nathanael see “the angels of God ascending and descending
on” (verse 51)?
In your opinion, what is the basic message
of this passage?
In your opinion, how are God’s message
that He gave to Jacob in a vision from Genesis 28:10-22 and what Jesus tells
Nathanael he will see in John 1:43-51 connected?
Romans 9:6-16 - New
International Version (NIV)
6 It is not as though God’s word had failed. For not all who
are descended from Israel are Israel. 7 Nor because they are
his descendants are they all Abraham’s children. On the contrary, “It is
through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” 8 In other
words, it is not the children by physical descent who are God’s children, but
it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham’s offspring. 9 For
this was how the promise was stated: “At the appointed time I will return, and
Sarah will have a son.”
10 Not only that, but Rebekah’s children were conceived at the
same time by our father Isaac. 11 Yet, before the twins were
born or had done anything good or bad—in order that God’s purpose in election
might stand: 12 not by works but by him who calls—she was told,
“The older will serve the younger.” 13 Just as it is written:
“Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”
14 What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! 15 For
he says to Moses,
“I
will have mercy on whom I have mercy,
and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”
and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”
16 It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but
on God’s mercy.
In your opinion, what does Paul mean when he says “not all who are descended from Israel are
Israel” (verse 6)?
Through which of Abraham’s children will
his “offspring be reckoned” (verse 7)?
Who is reckoned as
Abraham’s offspring (verse 8)?
What was the promise (verse 9)?
Whose children were “conceived at the same time” (verse 10)?
In your opinion, why is it important that God
made the decision that the younger would be severed by the older before they
had been born or done anything important (verses 11 and 12)?
Who was it written that God loved (verse
13)?
Who was it written that God hated (verse
13)?
Does that make God unjust (verse 14)?
Who will God have mercy on (verse 15)?
What does it depend on (verse 16)?
In your opinion, what is the basic message
of this passage?
In your opinion, what does Nathanael’s
reaction to Jesus in John 1:43-51 help us to understand about the “children of the promise” that Paul
talks about in Romans 9:6-16?
In
your opinion, how is the dream of the stairway to heaven with angels ascending
and descending in Genesis 28:10-22 a gift of God’s mercy that Paul talks about
in Romans 9:6-16?
Revelation 19:6-10
– New International Version (NIV)
6 Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the
roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting:
“Hallelujah!
For our Lord God Almighty reigns.
7 Let us rejoice and be glad
and give him glory!
For the wedding of the Lamb has come,
and his bride has made herself ready.
8 Fine linen, bright and clean,
was given her to wear.”
For our Lord God Almighty reigns.
7 Let us rejoice and be glad
and give him glory!
For the wedding of the Lamb has come,
and his bride has made herself ready.
8 Fine linen, bright and clean,
was given her to wear.”
(Fine
linen stands for the righteous acts of God’s holy people.)
9 Then the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those
who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!” And he added, “These are
the true words of God.”
10 At this I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to
me, “Don’t do that! I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers and
sisters who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For it is the Spirit
of prophecy who bears testimony to Jesus.”
What did the great multitude that John heard sound like (verse 6)?
Why did the great multitude shout “hallelujah” (verse 6)?
In your opinion, why does the wedding of
the Lamb mean that the great multitude should “rejoice and be glad” (verse 7)?
What is the bride given to wear (verse 8)?
What does fine linen stand for (verse 8)?
Who is blessed (verse 9)?
Who is John supposed to worship (verse
10)?
Who bears testimony to Jesus (verse 10)?
In your opinion, what is the basic message
of this passage?
In your opinion, how
does Paul’s discussion about God’s mercy in Romans 9:6-16 prepare us to
understand those who have been blessed with an invitation to the “wedding supper of the Lamb” in
Revelation 19:6-10?
In your opinion, how is work of the Spirit
of prophecy bearing the testimony to Jesus as promised to John in Revelation
19:6-10 demonstrated by Philip’s invitation to Nathanael in John 1:43-51?
In your opinion, why
or why is not the vision of John in Revelation 19:6-16 greater than the vision
of Jacob in Genesis 28:10-22?
In your opinion, what do these passages
from Genesis, John, Romans and Revelation help us understand about the blessing
that all peoples on earth are to receive through Jacob and his offspring?
In your opinion, how
do these passages help us understand how people like us can be recipients of an
invitation to the “wedding supper of the
Lamb”?
(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)
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