March 3, 2019 – Looking Backward and Forward from Zechariah – Remaining or Leaving

-            The

Remaining or Leaving

Ruth 1:19-21 and 4:13-17 - New International Version (NIV)

¹⁹ So the two women went on until they came to Bethlehem. When they arrived in Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them, and the women exclaimed, “Can this be Naomi?”

²⁰ “Don’t call me Naomi,” she told them. “Call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very bitter. ²¹ I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? The Lord has afflicted me; the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me.”

²² So Naomi returned from Moab accompanied by Ruth the Moabite, her daughter-in-law, arriving in Bethlehem as the barley harvest was beginning.

¹³ So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. When he made love to her, the Lord enabled her to conceive, and she gave birth to a son. ¹⁴ The women said to Naomi: “Praise be to the Lord, who this day has not left you without a guardian-redeemer. May he become famous throughout Israel! ¹⁵ He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age. For your daughter-in-law, who loves you and who is better to you than seven sons, has given him birth.”

¹⁶ Then Naomi took the child in her arms and cared for him. ¹⁷ The women living there said, “Naomi has a son!” And they named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David.

Who was stirred when Naomi and Ruth arrived (verse 19)?

Why did Naomi tell the people to call her Mara (verse 20)?

Who had afflicted Naomi (verse 21)?

When did Naomi and Ruth arrive in Bethlehem (verse 22)?

Who did Ruth marry (verse 13)?

In your opinion, why did the women say that the Lord had not left Naomi “without a guardian-redeemer” (verse 14)?

Who is better to Naomi “than seven sons” (verse 15)?

How did Naomi react to her grandson (verse 16)?

Who was Naomi’s grandson’s grandson (verse 17)?

In your opinion, what happened to change Naomi’s situation so drastically?

Zechariah 8:18-23 - New International Version (NIV)         

¹⁸ The word of the Lord Almighty came to me.

¹⁹ This is what the Lord Almighty says: “The fasts of the fourth, fifth, seventh and tenth months will become joyful and glad occasions and happy festivals for Judah. Therefore love truth and peace.”

²⁰ This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Many peoples and the inhabitants of many cities will yet come, ²¹ and the inhabitants of one city will go to another and say, ‘Let us go at once to entreat the Lord and seek the Lord Almighty. I myself am going.’ ²² And many peoples and powerful nations will come to Jerusalem to seek the Lord Almighty and to entreat him.”

²³ This is what the Lord Almighty says: “In those days ten people from all languages and nations will take firm hold of one Jew by the hem of his robe and say, ‘Let us go with you, because we have heard that God is with you.’”

Whose word came to Zechariah (verse 18)?

In your opinion, what is the significance of the “fasts of the fourth, fifth, seventh and tenth months” becoming joyful and glad occasions (verse 19)?

Who will come (verse 20)?

Who are the “inhabitants of one city” going to entreat and seek (verse 21)?

What will “many peoples and powerful nations” come to Jerusalem to do (verse 22)?

Why will “ten people from all languages and nations” take hold on the hem on a Jew’s robe (verse 23)?

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

In your opinion, how are the decisions of Naomi between the Ruth 1:19-21 and Ruth 4:13-17 similar to the decisions that the Jews that Zechariah is talking to must make before the time when the peoples and nations “come to Jerusalem to seek the Lord Almighty and to entreat him”?

John 6:60-71 – New International Version (NIV)

⁶⁰ On hearing it, many of his disciples said, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?”

⁶¹ Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, “Does this offend you? ⁶² Then what if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before! ⁶³ The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life. ⁶⁴ Yet there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him. ⁶⁵ He went on to say, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled them.”

⁶⁶ From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.

⁶⁷ “You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve.

⁶⁸ Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. ⁶⁹ We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.”

⁷⁰ Then Jesus replied, “Have I not chosen you, the Twelve? Yet one of you is a devil!” ⁷¹ (He meant Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, who, though one of the Twelve, was later to betray him.)

Who said “this is a hard teaching” (verse 60)?

In your opinion, why would Jesus respond by asking “does this offend you” (verse 61)?

Where did Jesus indicate that the Son of Man would acscend to (verse 62)?

Who gives life (verse 63)?

In your opinion, why were there some “who do not believe” (verse 64)?

What has to happen for someone to come to Jesus (verse 65)?

Who “turned back and no longer followed him” (verse 66)?

What did Jesus ask the Twelve (verse 67)?

What did Simon Peter say that Jesus had (verse 68)?

Who did they know that Jesus was (verse 69)?

What was one of the Twelve (verse 70)?

Who was going to betray Jesus (verse 71)?

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

In your opinion, how are the decisions that Naomi had to make in the time between the Ruth 1:19-21 and 4:13-17 similar to the decision that the Twelve had to make about Jesus when His teaching was hard and many left?

In your opinion, how is the isolation of the Jews prior to the people of the world coming and holding on the hems of their robes in Zechariah 8:18-23 and the isolation of the Twelve after the hard teaching of Jesus similar?

1 John 2:18-27 – New International Version (NIV)

¹⁸ Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour. ¹⁹ They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.

²⁰ But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth. ²¹ I do not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it and because no lie comes from the truth. ²² Who is the liar? It is whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a person is the antichrist—denying the Father and the Son. ²³ No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also.

²⁴ As for you, see that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you. If it does, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father. ²⁵ And this is what he promised us—eternal life.

²⁶ I am writing these things to you about those who are trying to lead you astray. ²⁷ As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit—just as it has taught you, remain in him.

What time is it (verse 18)?

Who have come (verse 18)?

How do we know that antichrists “did not really belong to us” (verses 18 and 19)?

In your opinion, how is “an anointing from the Holy One” related to knowing “the truth” (verse 20)?

What does not come “from the truth”  (verse 21)?

“Who is the liar” (verse 22)?

Who is the antichrist (verse 22)?

What does the person who “acknowledges the Son” have (verse 23)?

How do the readers assure themselves they will “remain in the Son and in the Father” (verse 24)?

What is promised (verse 25)?

Who is John writing about (verse 26)?

What does “his anointing” teach (verse 27)?

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

In your opinion, how does John’s instruction to “see that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you”  in 1 John 2:18-27 help us understand how Naomi was able to move from bitter in Ruth 1:19-21 to blessed by a guardian-redeemer (grandson) in Ruth 4:13-17?

In your opinion, how does discerning and remaining in the Truth as instructed by 1 John 2:18-27 help us get to the point where people might say about us what they say about the Jew in Zechariah 8:18-23 “we have heard that God is with you”?

In your opinion, how do the people leaving Jesus because of the “hard teaching” in John 6:60-71 help us understand why antichrists might leave the truth and come back to believers with lies in 1 John 2:18-27?

In your opinion, what do these passages from Ruth, Zechariah, John and 1 John help us understand about remaining in him?

In your opinion, how should we acknowledge our Guardian-Redeemer today?

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)

February 24, 2019 – Looking Backward and Forward from Zechariah – Jealousy and Grace

-            The

 Jealousy and Grace

1 Samuel 7:3-12 - New International Version (NIV)

³ So Samuel said to all the Israelites, “If you are returning to the Lord with all your hearts, then rid yourselves of the foreign gods and the Ashtoreths and commit yourselves to the Lord and serve him only, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.” ⁴ So the Israelites put away their Baals and Ashtoreths, and served the Lord only.

⁵ Then Samuel said, “Assemble all Israel at Mizpah, and I will intercede with the Lord for you.” ⁶ When they had assembled at Mizpah, they drew water and poured it out before the Lord. On that day they fasted and there they confessed, “We have sinned against the Lord.” Now Samuel was serving as leader of Israel at Mizpah.

⁷ When the Philistines heard that Israel had assembled at Mizpah, the rulers of the Philistines came up to attack them. When the Israelites heard of it, they were afraid because of the Philistines. ⁸ They said to Samuel, “Do not stop crying out to the Lord our God for us, that he may rescue us from the hand of the Philistines.” ⁹ Then Samuel took a suckling lamb and sacrificed it as a whole burnt offering to the Lord. He cried out to the Lord on Israel’s behalf, and the Lord answered him.

¹⁰ While Samuel was sacrificing the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to engage Israel in battle. But that day the Lord thundered with loud thunder against the Philistines and threw them into such a panic that they were routed before the Israelites. ¹¹ The men of Israel rushed out of Mizpah and pursued the Philistines, slaughtering them along the way to a point below Beth Kar.

¹² Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer, saying, “Thus far the Lord has helped us.”

What did Samuel tell the Israelites they needed to get rid of if they were “returning to the Lord with all your hearts” (verse 3)?

Who were the Israelites to serve (verse 3)?

What did the Israelites do with their Baals and Ashtoreths (verse 4)?

Where were the Israelites to assemble (verse 5)?

What did the Israelites do before confessing “we have sinned against the Lord” (verse 6)?

In your opinion, why did the Philistines come to attack the Israelites (verse 7)?

Why did the Israelites want Samuel to keep crying out to the Lord (verse 8)?

How did the Lord respond to Samuel’s crying out (verse 9)?

How did the Philistines respond to the Lord’s loud thunder (verse 10)?

What did the men of Israel do (verse 11)?

Why did Samuel name the stone Ebenezer (verse 12)?

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

Zechariah 8:1-17 - New International Version (NIV)           

¹ The word of the Lord Almighty came to me.

² This is what the Lord Almighty says: “I am very jealous for Zion; I am burning with jealousy for her.”

³ This is what the Lord says: “I will return to Zion and dwell in Jerusalem. Then Jerusalem will be called the Faithful City, and the mountain of the Lord Almighty will be called the Holy Mountain.”

⁴ This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Once again men and women of ripe old age will sit in the streets of Jerusalem, each of them with cane in hand because of their age. ⁵ The city streets will be filled with boys and girls playing there.”

⁶ This is what the Lord Almighty says: “It may seem marvelous to the remnant of this people at that time, but will it seem marvelous to me?” declares the Lord Almighty.

⁷ This is what the Lord Almighty says: “I will save my people from the countries of the east and the west. ⁸ I will bring them back to live in Jerusalem; they will be my people, and I will be faithful and righteous to them as their God.”

⁹ This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Now hear these words, ‘Let your hands be strong so that the temple may be built.’ This is also what the prophets said who were present when the foundation was laid for the house of the Lord Almighty. ¹⁰ Before that time there were no wages for people or hire for animals. No one could go about their business safely because of their enemies, since I had turned everyone against their neighbor. ¹¹ But now I will not deal with the remnant of this people as I did in the past,” declares the Lord Almighty.

¹² “The seed will grow well, the vine will yield its fruit, the ground will produce its crops, and the heavens will drop their dew. I will give all these things as an inheritance to the remnant of this people. ¹³ Just as you, Judah and Israel, have been a curse among the nations, so I will save you, and you will be a blessing. Do not be afraid, but let your hands be strong.”

¹⁴ This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Just as I had determined to bring disaster on you and showed no pity when your ancestors angered me,” says the Lord Almighty, ¹⁵ “so now I have determined to do good again to Jerusalem and Judah. Do not be afraid. ¹⁶ These are the things you are to do: Speak the truth to each other, and render true and sound judgment in your courts; ¹⁷ do not plot evil against each other, and do not love to swear falsely. I hate all this,” declares the Lord.

How did the Lord feel about Zion (verse 2)?

What does the Lord say He will do (verse 3)?

In your opinion, what is significant about the promise that “men and women of ripe old age will sit in the streets of Jerusalem” (verse 4)?

Who will fill the city streets (verse 5)?

In your opinion, why would something seem marvelous to the people but not to God (verse 6)?

Who will the Lord Almighty save (verse 7)?

Who said “let your hands be strong so that the temple may be built” (verse 9)?

Why could no one “go about their business safely” (verse 10)?

Who will the Lord not deal with as He did in the past (verse 11)?

What will the Lord give “as an inheritance to the remnant of this people” (verse 12)?

How are Judah and Israel to respond to the salvation and blessing of the Lord (verse 13)?

When did the Lord determine to “bring disaster on you and showed no pity” (verse 14)?

What has the Lord determined to do (verse 15)?

What are the Israelites do do (verse 16)?

What does the Lord hate (verse 17)?

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

In your opinion, what did the Israelites that Samuel was speaking to in 1 Samuel 7:3-12 and the Israelites that Zechariah was speaking to in Zechariah 8:1-17 have in common?

John 1:9-18 – New International Version (NIV)

⁹ The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. ¹⁰ He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. ¹¹ He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. ¹² Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— ¹³ children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

¹⁴ The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

¹⁵ (John testified concerning him. He cried out, saying, “This is the one I spoke about when I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’”) ¹⁶ Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. ¹⁷ For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. ¹⁸ No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.

Who was coming into the world (verse 9)?

In your opinion, why could the world that was made through Him not recognize Him (verse 10)?

How did “his own” respond to Him (verse 11)?

Who did He give the “right to become children of God” (verse 12)?

How were these children born (verse 13)?

Who “became flesh and made his dwelling among us” (verse 14)?

Who “came from the Father, full of grace and truth” (verse 14)?

Why had John said “He who comes after me has surpassed me” (verse 15)?

From where have we “all received grace in place of grace already given” (verse 16)?

In your opinion, what is the “grace already given” (verse 16)?

Where do “grace and truth” come through (verse 17)?

Who has made God known (verse 18)?

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

In your opinion, how does the Israelites returning to God with all their hearts and getting rid “of the foreign gods and the Ashtoreths” in 1 Samuel 7:3-12 help us understand what the people did “to become children of God” in John 1:9-18?

In your opinion, how do we reconcile the promise of Zechariah 8:1-17 that God will “return to Zion and dwell in Jerusalem” with John 1:9-18’s statement that “He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him”?

James 4:1-10 – New International Version (NIV)

¹ What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? ² You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. ³ When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

⁴ You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. ⁵ Or do you think Scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us? ⁶ But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says:

“God opposes the proud
    but shows favor to the humble.”

⁷ Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. ⁸ Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. ⁹ Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. ¹⁰ Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

“What causes fights and quarrels among you” (verse 1)?

Why do people “quarrel and fight” (verse 2)?

What wrong motives do people have when they ask God (verse 3)?

In your opinion, why does “friendship with the world” mean “enmity against God” (verse 4)?

What does God jealously long for  (verse 5)?

What does God give us (verse 6)?

In your opinion, why does God oppose the proud and “show favor to the humble” (verse 6)?

When does the devil flee (verse 7)?

When will God come near to us (verse 8)?

In your opinion, how can the double-minded purify their hearts (verse 8)?

In your opinion, why should laughter change to mourning and joy to gloom (verse 9)?

When will the Lord lift us up (verse 10)?

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

In your opinion, how is the action that Samuel ask the Israelites to take in 1 Samuel 7:3-12 similar to the action that James instructs us to take in James 4:1-10?

In your opinion, how are the jealousy that the Lord Almighty had for Zion in Zechariah 8:1-17 and the jealous longing the Spirit has to dwell in us according to James 4:1-10 similar?

In your opinion, what does James 4:1-10 help us understand about those who received the one who “came from the Father, full of grace and truth” and “believed in his name” in John 1:9-18?

In your opinion, what do these passages from 1 Samuel, Zechariah, John and James teach us about the choice that every person has to make?

In your opinion, how can we, who have our own idols, put them aside and welcome God’s jealousy and grace today?

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)

February 17, 2019 – Looking Backward and Forward from Zechariah – Hardened or Sincere

-            The

Hardened or Sincere

Leviticus 23:26-32 - New International Version (NIV)

²⁶ The Lord said to Moses, ²⁷ “The tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement. Hold a sacred assembly and deny yourselves, and present a food offering to the Lord. ²⁸ Do not do any work on that day, because it is the Day of Atonement, when atonement is made for you before the Lord your God. ²⁹ Those who do not deny themselves on that day must be cut off from their people. ³⁰ I will destroy from among their people anyone who does any work on that day. ³¹ You shall do no work at all. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come, wherever you live. ³² It is a day of sabbath rest for you, and you must deny yourselves. From the evening of the ninth day of the month until the following evening you are to observe your sabbath.”

Who spoke to Moses (verse 26)?

What are the Isralites to do on the “Day of Atonement” (verse 27)?

What is supposed to happen instead of work on the “Day of Atonement” (verse 28)?

Who will be “cut off from their people” (verse 29)?

In your opinion, why will God “destroy from among their people anyone who does any work on that day” (verse 30)?

How long is this ordinance supposed to last (verse 31)?

What kind of rest is this supposed to be (verse 32)?

When is this sabbath to be observed (verse 33)?

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

Zechariah 7:1-14 - New International Version (NIV)           

¹ In the fourth year of King Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month, the month of Kislev. ² The people of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regem-Melek, together with their men, to entreat the Lord ³ by asking the priests of the house of the Lord Almighty and the prophets, “Should I mourn and fast in the fifth month, as I have done for so many years?”

⁴ Then the word of the Lord Almighty came to me: ⁵ “Ask all the people of the land and the priests, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months for the past seventy years, was it really for me that you fasted? ⁶ And when you were eating and drinking, were you not just feasting for yourselves? ⁷ Are these not the words the Lord proclaimed through the earlier prophets when Jerusalem and its surrounding towns were at rest and prosperous, and the Negev and the western foothills were settled?’”

⁸ And the word of the Lord came again to Zechariah: ⁹ “This is what the Lord Almighty said: ‘Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. ¹⁰ Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor. Do not plot evil against each other.’

¹¹ “But they refused to pay attention; stubbornly they turned their backs and covered their ears. ¹² They made their hearts as hard as flint and would not listen to the law or to the words that the Lord Almighty had sent by his Spirit through the earlier prophets. So the Lord Almighty was very angry.

¹³ “‘When I called, they did not listen; so when they called, I would not listen,’ says the Lord Almighty. ¹⁴ ‘I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations, where they were strangers. The land they left behind them was so desolate that no one traveled through it. This is how they made the pleasant land desolate.’”

When did the “word of the Lord” come to Zechariah (verse 1)?

Who “sent Sharezer and Regem-Melek” to “entreat the Lord” (verse 2)?

What question was ask of the “priests of the house of the Lord Almighty and the prophets” (verse 3)?

How did the Lord respond to the question (verses 4 and 5)?

In your opinion, what did God want to people to realize when He ask “was it really for me that you fasted” (verse 5)?

Who did the Lord accuse the people of feasting for (verse 6)?

When were “the words of the Lord proclaimed through the earlier prophets” (verse 7)?

Who said “administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another” (verses 8 and 9)?

What was not to be ploted “against each other” (verse 10)?

How did the people respond to the word of the Lord (verse 11)?

What did the people do to their hearts when they “would not listen to the law or to the words that the Lord Almighty had sent by his Spirit” (verse 12)?

Why did God not listen “when they called” (verse 13)?

Who “made the pleasant land desolate” verse 13)?

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

In your opinion, what is the difference between the reason for the Day of Atonement that the Lord commands the Israelites to observe in Leviticus 23:26-32 and the days of mourning that the Israelites had been observing for seventy years in Zechariah 7:1-14?

John 16:16-24 – New International Version (NIV)

¹⁶ Jesus went on to say, “In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me.”

¹⁷ At this, some of his disciples said to one another, “What does he mean by saying, ‘In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me,’ and ‘Because I am going to the Father’?” ¹⁸ They kept asking, “What does he mean by ‘a little while’? We don’t understand what he is saying.”

¹⁹ Jesus saw that they wanted to ask him about this, so he said to them, “Are you asking one another what I meant when I said, ‘In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me’? ²⁰ Very truly I tell you, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy. ²¹ A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world. ²² So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy. ²³ In that day you will no longer ask me anything. Very truly I tell you, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. ²⁴ Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.

Who will the Disciples see “no more” and then see again (verse 16)?

In your opinion, what does “in a little while you will see me no more” mean (verse 17)?

What did Jesus ask the disciples (verse 19)?

Who will rejoice while the disciples “weep and mourn” (verse 20)?

Why does the woman giving birth forget “the anguish” (verse 21)?

In your opinion, why will no one take away the disciples joy (verse 22)?

What will the disciples no longer do (verse 23)?

When will the disciples’ joy be complete (verse 24)?

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

In your opinion, what part of the grief to joy process that Jesus tells the disciples about in John 16:16-24 does the Day of Atonement mentioned in Leviticus 23:26-32 most resemble?

In your opinion, how are the people who Zechariah was responding to in Zechariah 7:1-14 different from the disciples Jesus was talking to in John 16:16-32?

Hebrews 10:19-25 – New International Version (NIV)

¹⁹ Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, ²⁰ by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, ²¹ and since we have a great priest over the house of God, ²² let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. ²³ Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. ²⁴ And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, ²⁵ not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

Why do Christians “have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place” (verse 19)?

What is the “new and living way opened for us through the curtain” (verse 20)?

Who do we have (verse 21)?

How should we draw near to God (verse 22)?

How are we cleansed “from a guilty conscience”  (verse 22)?

What should we “hold unswervingly to” (verse 23)?

What are we to “spur one another on toward” (verse 24)?

In your opinion, why should we “not give up meeting together” (verse 25)?

What is approaching (verse 25)?

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

In your opinion, how is the assembly that God commands the Israelite people to have in Leviticus 23:26-32 different from the meetings that Paul is encouraging in Hebrews 10:19-25?

In your opinion, what does the fasting and feasting in Zechariah 7:1-14 reveal about the diffences between the people of Bethel and the people Paul is addressing in Hebrews 10:19-25?

In your opinion, how is the confidence that Paul claims for Christians entering the “Most Holy Place” in Hebrews 10:19-25 related to the joy that Jesus tells the disciples they will have after their grief in John 16:16-24?

In your opinion, what do these passages from Leviticus, Zechariah, John and Hebrews help us understand about the dangers of a hardened heart and to approach God with sincerity?

In your opinion, how can we spur ourselves and others “on toward love and good deeds”?

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)

February 10, 2019 – Looking Backward and Forward from Zechariah – Living Stones in the House of the Lord

Living Stones in the House of the Lord

I Chronicles 17:3-15 - New International Version (NIV)

³ But that night the word of God came to Nathan, saying:

⁴ “Go and tell my servant David, ‘This is what the Lord says: You are not the one to build me a house to dwell in. ⁵ I have not dwelt in a house from the day I brought Israel up out of Egypt to this day. I have moved from one tent site to another, from one dwelling place to another. ⁶ Wherever I have moved with all the Israelites, did I ever say to any of their leaders whom I commanded to shepherd my people, “Why have you not built me a house of cedar?”’

⁷ “Now then, tell my servant David, ‘This is what the Lord Almighty says: I took you from the pasture, from tending the flock, and appointed you ruler over my people Israel. ⁸ I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have cut off all your enemies from before you. Now I will make your name like the names of the greatest men on earth. ⁹ And I will provide a place for my people Israel and will plant them so that they can have a home of their own and no longer be disturbed. Wicked people will not oppress them anymore, as they did at the beginning ¹⁰ and have done ever since the time I appointed leaders over my people Israel. I will also subdue all your enemies.

“‘I declare to you that the Lord will build a house for you: ¹¹ When your days are over and you go to be with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, one of your own sons, and I will establish his kingdom. ¹² He is the one who will build a house for me, and I will establish his throne forever. ¹³ I will be his father, and he will be my son. I will never take my love away from him, as I took it away from your predecessor. ¹⁴ I will set him over my house and my kingdom forever; his throne will be established forever.’”

¹⁵ Nathan reported to David all the words of this entire revelation.

When did the “word of God” come to Nathan (verse 3)?

Who was Nathan to tell “you are not the one to build me a house to dwell in” (verse 4)?

What has God not done “from the day I brought Israel up out of Egypt to this day” (verse 5)?

In your opinion, why do you think God asks if He had ever said to any of the leaders “whom I commanded to shepherd my people” to build Him a house (verse 6)?

What had God appointed David to be (verse 7)?

Whose name will David’s name be like (verse 8)?

In your opinion, what does God mean when He says “I will provide a place for my people Israel and will plant them so that they can have a home of their own and no longer be disturbed”” (verse 9)?

What will the Lord do for David (verse 10)?

Who will the Lord “raise up” (verse 11)?

Whose throne will be established forever (verse 12)?

In your opinion, why is the quote “I will be his father, and he will be my son” so important to identifying who the Son is (verse 13)?

What will this son of David, and of the Lord, be set over (verse 14)?

Who did Nathan report this revelation to (verse 15)?

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

Zechariah 6:9-15 - New International Version (NIV)           

⁹ The word of the Lord came to me: ¹⁰ “Take silver and gold from the exiles Heldai, Tobijah and Jedaiah, who have arrived from Babylon. Go the same day to the house of Josiah son of Zephaniah. ¹¹ Take the silver and gold and make a crown, and set it on the head of the high priest, Joshua son of Jozadak.  ¹² Tell him this is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘Here is the man whose name is the Branch, and he will branch out from his place and build the temple of the Lord. ¹³ It is he who will build the temple of the Lord, and he will be clothed with majesty and will sit and rule on his throne. And he will be a priest on his throne. And there will be harmony between the two.’ ¹⁴ The crown will be given to Heldai, Tobijah, Jedaiah and Hen son of Zephaniah as a memorial in the temple of the Lord. ¹⁵ Those who are far away will come and help to build the temple of the Lord, and you will know that the Lord Almighty has sent me to you. This will happen if you diligently obey the Lord your God.”

Whose word came to Zechariah (verse 9)?

What is Zechariah to take from the exiles “Heldai, Tobijah and Jedaiah, who have arrived from Babylon” (verse 10)?

Where is Zechariah to place the crown he makes (verse 11?

In your opinion, what is the significance of the name “Branch” (verse 12)?

What will the one named “Branch” do (verse 12)?

How will the one named Branch” be clothed (verse 13)?

In your opinion, what does it mean that He will “rule on his throne” and also “be a priest on his throne” (verse 14)?

What will “those who are far away” do (verse 15)?

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

In your opinion, how are the descendant of David who the Lord promises to establish a throne for forever in 1 Chronicles 17:3-15 and the “priest on his throne” that Zechariah sees in Zechariah 6:9-15 related?

John 17:1-5 – New International Version (NIV)

¹  After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed:

“Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. ² For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. ³ Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. ⁴ I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. ⁵ And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.

Where did Jesus look as He prayed (verse 1)?

What does Jesus ask for (verse 1)?

Why had the Father granted authority to the Son (verse 2)?

What is eternal life (verse 3)?

How has Jesus brought God “glory on earth” (verse 4)?

How does Jesus ask to glorified (verse 5)?

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

In your opinion, how does 1 Chronicles 17:3-15 and John 17:1-5 help us identify the son of David that was promised to David through Nathan?

In your opinion, what does John 17:1-5 help us understand about how the “Branch” promised in Zechariah 6:9-15 will “build the temple of the Lord”?

1 Peter 2:1-5 – New International Version (NIV)

¹ Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. ² Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, ³ now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.

⁴ As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him— ⁵ you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

What did Peter instruct Christians to do with “all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind” (verse 1)?

Why does Peter tell Christians to “crave pure spiritual milk” (verse 2)?

What does Peter says that Christians have tasted (verse 3)?

In your opinion, why does Peter call Jesus “the living Stone” (verse 4)?

How have humans reacted to “the living Stone” (verse 4)?

How does God feel about “the living Stone” (verse 4)?

What does Peter say that Christians are being built into (verse 5)?

What is the “holy priesthood” of Christians to offer to God (verse 5)?

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

In your opinion, how does 1 Peter 2:1-5 help us understand how the house that David’s offspring was to build to God in Chronicles 17:3-15 will be constructed?

In your opinion, how does 1 Peter 2:1-5 help us understand how the temple that the Branch is going to build in Zechariah 6:9-15 will be built?

In your opinion, what does 1 Peter 2:1-5 reveal about our next steps to “grow up” in our salvation to we who have received the blessing of eternal life, knowing the “only true God” and Jesus Christ as described in John 17:1-15?

In your opinion, what do these passages from 1 Chronicles, Zechariah, John and 1 Peter teach us about the the roles and purposes of Jesus?

In your opinion, what is our place as Christians in the House of the Lord?

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)