Saturday, February 9, 2019

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)           

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. The people of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regem-Melek, together with their men, to entreat the Lord 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?”

Then the word of the Lord Almighty came to me: “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? And when you were eating and drinking, were you not just feasting for yourselves? 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?’”

And the word of the Lord came again to Zechariah: “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)

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