Saturday, January 12, 2019

January 20, 2019 – Looking Backward and Forward from Zechariah – Resting in Jesus




Resting in Jesus

Exodus 33:12-20 - New International Version (NIV)

12 Moses said to the Lord, “You have been telling me, ‘Lead these people,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. You have said, ‘I know you by name and you have found favor with me.’ 13 If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you. Remember that this nation is your people.”

14 The Lord replied, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”

15 Then Moses said to him, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. 16 How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?”

17 And the Lord said to Moses, “I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name.”

18 Then Moses said, “Now show me your glory.”

19 And the Lord said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. 20 But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.”

What Has the Lord been telling Moses (verse 12)?

Why did the Moses want to be taught the Lord’s ways (verse 13)?

How does the Lord promise to bless Moses (verse 14)?

Where does Moses want to go “if your Presence does not go with us” (verse 15)?

In your opinion, what else will distinguish Moses and the Israelit people “from all the other people on the face of the earth” (verse 16)?

How does the Lord know Moses (verse 17)?

In your opinion, why does Moses say “now show me your glory” (verse 18)?

What will the Lord proclaim in Moses’s presence (verse 19)?

Who will the Lord have mercy and compassion on (verse 19)?

Why can’t Moses see God’s face (verse 20)?

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

Zechariah 6:1-8 - New International Version (NIV)             

1 I looked up again, and there before me were four chariots coming out from between two mountains—mountains of bronze. The first chariot had red horses, the second black, the third white, and the fourth dappled—all of them powerful. I asked the angel who was speaking to me, “What are these, my lord?”

The angel answered me, “These are the four spirits of heaven, going out from standing in the presence of the Lord of the whole world. The one with the black horses is going toward the north country, the one with the white horses toward the west, and the one with the dappled horses toward the south.”

When the powerful horses went out, they were straining to go throughout the earth. And he said, “Go throughout the earth!” So they went throughout the earth.

Then he called to me, “Look, those going toward the north country have given my Spirit rest in the land of the north.”

Where were the four chariots “coming out from” (verse 1)?

How were the horses that pulled the chariots described (verses 2 and 3)?

Who did Zechariah ask “what are these” (verse 4)?

Who are the “four spirits of heaven” going out from (verse 5)?

In your opinion, what do the “four spirits of heaven” represent (verse 5)?

Where were the horses, that are the four spirits of heaven, “straining to go” (verse 7)?

What had the horse going to the north country accomplished (verse 8)?

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

In your opinion, how is God’s Presence going with Moses and giving Moses rest in Exodus 33:12-20 different from the four chariots representing the four spirits of heaven going forth and giving God’s Spirit rest in Zechariah 6:1-8?

John 10:1-17 – New International Version (NIV)

1  “Very truly I tell you Pharisees, anyone who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.” Jesus used this figure of speech, but the Pharisees did not understand what he was telling them.

Therefore Jesus said again, “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. 13 The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.

14 “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. 17 The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again.

Who does not “enter the sheep pen by the gate” (verse 1)?

How does the “shepherd of the sheep” enter (verse 2)?

How does the shepherd gather his sheep (verse 3)?

Why do the shepherd’s sheep follow the shepherd (verse 4)?

How do the sheep react to the stranger’s voice (verse 5)?

In your opinion, why did the Pharisees “not understand what he was telling them” (verse 6)?

What does Jesus say He is (verse 7)?

What are those who came before Jesus (verse 8)?

Who will be saved (verse 9)?

Why has Jesus come (verse 10)?

In your opinion, why does the good shepherd lay “down his life for the sheep” (verse 11)?

What does the hired hand do when he sees the wolf coming (verse 12)?

Who does the good shepherd know (verse 14)?

What does the good shepherd do (verse 15)?

How many flocks and shepherds will there be (verse 16)?

Why does the Father love Jesus (verse 17)?

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

In your opinion, how does Jesus’s discussion about knowing the names of His sheep in John 10:1-17 enrich God telling Moses in Exodus 33:12-20 “I am very pleased with you and I know you by name”?

In your opinion, how is it better to be one of the sheep who hears Jesus voice and follows Him as Jesus described in John 10:1-17 than to be one of the people out in the world that the chariots with the powerful horses go out to see that Zechariah describes in Zechariah 6:1-8?

Hebrews 4:4-13 – New International Version (NIV)

For somewhere he has spoken about the seventh day in these words: “On the seventh day God rested from all his works.” And again in the passage above he says, “They shall never enter my rest.”

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, 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.”

For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day. 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.

12 For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. 13 Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

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

In your opinion, what does the passage “they shall never enter my rest” mean (verse 5)?

What remains for “some” to do (verse 6)?

When should hearts not be hardened (verse 7)?

What would God not have done If “Joshua had given them rest” what would God not have done (verse 8)?

Who does a “Sabbath-rest” remain for (verse 9)?

In your opinion, what does Paul mean by “anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his” (verse 10)?

What does Paul tell us to “make every effort to” do (verse 11)?

What judges “the thoughts and attitudes of the heart” (verse 12)?

How much is “uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account” (verse 13)?

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

In your opinion, what does knowing that Moses heard the voice of the Lord and went forth with the Presence of the Lord in Exodus 33:12-20 but was not able to go into the promised land help us understand about the “rest” and the “Sabbath-rest” that Paul talks about in Hebrews 4:4-13?

In your opinion, how is the Spirit of the Lord resting in Zechariah 6:1-8 related to the rest and the Sabbath-rest that Paul is calling for people to enter in Hebrews 4:4-13?

In your opinion, what do the words of Jesus recorded in John 10:1-17 help us understand about how we enter the rest and the Sabbath-rest as Paul instructs in Hebrews 4:4-13?

In your opinion, what do these passages from Exodus, Zechariah, John and Hebrews teach us about finding rest?

In your opinion, what must we do to follow instead of hardening out hearts when we hear the voice of Jesus?


(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)

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