Saturday, December 7, 2019

December 15, 2019 – Mark’s Good News about Jesus – Enter That Rest



Enter That Rest

Exodus 31:12-18 - New International Version (NIV)

12 Then the Lord said to Moses, 13 “Say to the Israelites, ‘You must observe my Sabbaths. This will be a sign between me and you for the generations to come, so you may know that I am the Lord, who makes you holy.

14 “‘Observe the Sabbath, because it is holy to you. Anyone who desecrates it is to be put to death; those who do any work on that day must be cut off from their people. 15 For six days work is to be done, but the seventh day is a day of sabbath rest, holy to the Lord. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day is to be put to death. 16 The Israelites are to observe the Sabbath, celebrating it for the generations to come as a lasting covenant. 17 It will be a sign between me and the Israelites forever, for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.’”

18 When the Lord finished speaking to Moses on Mount Sinai, he gave him the two tablets of the covenant law, the tablets of stone inscribed by the finger of God.

Who was talking to Moses (verse 12)?

What was observing the Lord’s Sabbaths to be (verse 13)?

In your opinion, how will the Sabbaths help the Israelites “know that I am the Lord, who makes you holy” (verse 13)?

What is to happen to the person who works on the Sabbath (verse 14)?

When is work to be done (verse 15)?

How long are the Israelites to observe the Sabbath (verse 16)?

What is the Sabbath to be between the Lord and the Israelites (verse 17)?

How were the “tablets of stone” inscribed (verse 18)?

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

Mark 2:23-28 - New International Version (NIV)

23 One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and as his disciples walked along, they began to pick some heads of grain. 24 The Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?”

25 He answered, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need? 26 In the days of Abiathar the high priest, he entered the house of God and ate the consecrated bread, which is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions.”

27 Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. 28 So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”

Where was Jesus going on the Sabbath (verse 23)?

What did His disciples began to do (verse 23)?

In your opinion, why did the Pharisees ask “look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath” (verse 24)?

Who was Jesus example in His answer (verse 25)?

What did David do (verse 26)?

In your opinion, what does Jesus mean by “the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath” (verse 27)?

What is the Son of Man Lord of (verse 28)?

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

In your opinion, how does Jesus saying that “the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath” in Mark 2:23-28 help us understand why the Lord was instructing Moses in the observation of the Sabbath in Exodus 31:12-18?

Acts 18:1-8 – New International Version (NIV)

After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. There he met a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had ordered all Jews to leave Rome. Paul went to see them, and because he was a tentmaker as they were, he stayed and worked with them. Every Sabbath he reasoned in the synagogue, trying to persuade Jews and Greeks.

When Silas and Timothy came from Macedonia, Paul devoted himself exclusively to preaching, testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Messiah. But when they opposed Paul and became abusive, he shook out his clothes in protest and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am innocent of it. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.”

Then Paul left the synagogue and went next door to the house of Titius Justus, a worshiper of God. Crispus, the synagogue leader, and his entire household believed in the Lord; and many of the Corinthians who heard Paul believed and were baptized.

Where did Paul go (verse 1)?

Why was Aquila in Corinth (verse 2)?

What did Paul, Aquila and Priscilla have in common (verse 3)?

What did Paul do on the Sabbath (verse 4)?

To whom did Paul testify in his preaching that “Jesus was the Messiah” (verse 5)?

How did Paul react when the Jews opposed him and became abusive (verse 6)?

Who was Titius Justus (verse 7)?

What did Crispus, the synagogue leader and his household believe (verse 8)?

What happened to the Corinthians “who heard Paul” and believed (verse 8)?

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

In your opinion, what do the conflicts in Acts 18:1-8 between Paul and the Jews in the synagogue reveal about their different views of the Sabbath and the Lord who gave them the Sabbath commandment in Exodus 31:12-18?

In your opinion, what does the Jews rejection of Paul in the synagogue in Acts 18:1-8 reveal about their acceptance of Jesus who proclaimed in Mark 2:23-28 that He was “Lord even of the Sabbath”?

Hebrews 4:1-13 – New International Version (NIV)

1 Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it. For we also have had the good news proclaimed to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because they did not share the faith of those who obeyed. Now we who have believed enter that rest, just as God has said,

“So I declared on oath in my anger,
    ‘They shall never enter my rest.’”

And yet his works have been finished since the creation of the world. 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 still stands (verse 1)?

Why was “the message they heard” of no value to them (verse 2)?

Who enters “that rest” (verse 3)?

What did God speak about the seventh day (verse 4)?

In your opinion, who will “never enter my rest” (verse 5)?

Why did “those who formerly had the good news proclaimed to them” not enter the rest (verse 6)?

In your opinion, what does it mean to “harden your hearts” (verse 7)?

What remains for “the people of God” (verse 9)?

How are people who enter God’s rest similar to God (verse 10)?

Why should we try to enter that rest (verse 11)?

What is “alive and active” (verse 12)?

What is “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, how is the Sabbath that the Israelite people are commanded to observe in Exodus 31:12-18 different from the Sabbath-rest that Paul is urging us to enter in Hebrews 4:1-13?


In your opinion, what does Hebrews 4:1-13 teach us about the difference between the abusive Jews who opposed Paul and Crispus, the synagogue leader and his family, who believed in the Lord in Acts 18:1-8?

In your opinion, what do these passages from Exodus, Mark, Acts and Hebrews teach us about what it means to observe the Sabbath today?

In your opinion, how do we “make every effort to enter that rest”?



(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)

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