From Stepping to Transforming
Isaiah 8:19-22 - New International Version (NIV)
19 When someone tells you to
consult mediums and spiritists, who whisper and mutter, should not a people
inquire of their God? Why consult the dead on behalf of the living? 20 Consult God’s instruction
and the testimony of warning. If anyone does not speak according to this word,
they have no light of dawn. 21 Distressed and hungry, they
will roam through the land; when they are famished, they will become enraged
and, looking upward, will curse their king and their God. 22 Then they will look toward
the earth and see only distress and darkness and fearful gloom, and they will
be thrust into utter darkness.
Who should people
inquire of when they are told to “consult mediums and spiritists” (verse
19)?
In your opinion, “why
consult the dead of behalf of the living” (verse 19)?
Who has “no light of
dawn” (verse 20)?
What will the
distressed and hungry do “when they are famished” (verse 21)?
When will they
see “only distress and darkness” (verse 22)?
Where will
they “be thrust” (verse 22)?
In your
opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?
Mark 8:22-26 - New
International Version (NIV)
22 They came to Bethsaida, and some people brought a blind man and
begged Jesus to touch him. 23 He took the blind man by the hand
and led him outside the village. When he had spit on the man’s eyes and put his
hands on him, Jesus asked, “Do you see anything?”
24 He looked up and said, “I see people; they look like trees walking
around.”
25 Once more Jesus put his hands on the man’s eyes. Then his eyes
were opened, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. 26 Jesus
sent him home, saying, “Don’t even go into the village.”
What did the
people of Bethsaida beg for Jesus to do for the blind man (verse 22)?
How did Jesus
lead the blind man outside of the village (verse 23)?
What did Jesus
do for the man’s eyes (verse 23)?
What could the
man see (verse 24)?
How did Jesus
additional help the man (verse 25)?
How was the
man changed (verse 25)?
Where was the
man supposed to go (verse 26)?
Where was the
man not supposed to go (verse 26)?
In your opinion, what is the difference between
the person who “tells you to consult mediums and spiritists” in Isaiah
8:19-22 and the people who brought the blind man to Jesus in Mark 8:22-26?
1 Meanwhile,
Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He
went to the high priest 2 and asked him for letters to the
synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way,
whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. 3 As
he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around
him. 4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him,
“Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”
5 “Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked.
“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he
replied. 6 “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be
told what you must do.”
7 The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless; they heard the
sound but did not see anyone. 8 Saul got up from the ground,
but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand
into Damascus. 9 For three days he was blind, and did not eat
or drink anything.
. . .
17 Then Ananias went to the house and
entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord—Jesus,
who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here—has sent me so that you
may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” 18 Immediately, something like
scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was
baptized, 19 and after taking some food, he
regained his strength.
What was Saul breathing out (verse 1)?
Why did Saul ask the
high priest for letters to the synagogues in Damascus (verse 2)?
When did the “light from heaven” flash around him (verse
3)?
What did Saul hear as he fell to the ground (verse 4)?
In your opinion, why did Saul not know whose voice he heard (verse
5)?
Whose voice did Saul hear (verse 5)?
When was Saul to be told what he “must do” (verse 6)?
How did the men traveling with Saul react (verse 7)?
Why did the men lead Saul be the hand into Damascus (verse
8)?
How long was Saul blind (verse 9)?
Why had Jesus sent Ananias to Saul (verse 17)?
What did Saul do when he could see again (verse 18)?
When did he regain his strength (verse 19)?
In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?
In your opinion, how is Isaiah 8:19-22’s prophecy that those
who do not speak according to God’s instruction and testimony of warning “will become enraged and, looking upward, will curse their king and
their God” shown to be
valid by Saul in Acts 9:1-9, 17-19?
In your opinion, what are the parallels between the healing
of the blind man in Mark 8:22-26 and the “something like scales” falling
off Saul’s eyes in Acts 9:1-9, 17-19?
3 His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life
through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4 Through
these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through
them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in
the world caused by evil desires.
5 For this very reason, make every effort to add
to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6 and to
knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to
perseverance, godliness; 7 and to godliness, mutual affection;
and to mutual affection, love. 8 For if you possess these
qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and
unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 But
whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have
been cleansed from their past sins.
10 Therefore, my brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm
your calling and election. For if you do these things, you will never stumble, 11 and
you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ.
What has God’s divine power given us (verse 3)?
How did we
able to participate “in the divine nature” (verse 4)?
In your
opinion, what does it mean to “add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6 and
to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to
perseverance, godliness; 7 and to godliness, mutual affection;
and to mutual affection, love” (verses 5, 6 and 7)?
How can we
keep from “being ineffective and unproductive in” our “knowledge of
our Lord Jesus Christ” (verse 8)?
Who is “nearsighted
and blind” (verse 9)?
In your
opinion, what does it mean to “confirm your calling and election” (verse
10)?
What kind of
welcome does a Christian who confirms their calling and election receive “into
the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (verse 11)?
In your
opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?
In your opinion, how does the effort of Jesus to give sight
to the blind man in Mark 8:22-26 foreshadow His work as described in 2 Peter
1:3-11 as giving us the knowledge of Himself that is the foundation of our
salvation and also the beginning of the process through which we confirm our
calling and election?
In your
opinion, how does the appearance of Jesus to Saul through the bright light in
Acts 9:1-9, 17-19 give us a physical example of the way all people are called
to come to Christ through His “glory and goodness” according to 2 Peter
1:3-11?
In your
opinion, how do these passages from Isaiah, Mark, Acts and 2 Peter help us
understand the difference between seeing God and becoming enraged and seeing
Jesus and escaping the “corruption in the world”?
In your
opinion, how is escaping the “corruption in the world” only the first
step in a lifetime of transformation that rewards us with a welcome into the “eternal
kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ”?
A Chinese philosopher named Lao Tzu once
said that “a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step”. This is profound, accurate and very
misleading. While it is very true that
you can not move toward anything without the first step, it is also very
possible to have a deep yearning and desire and to take that first step,
followed by many others, and move away from what we are yearning for.
Consider the person who consults mediums
and spiritists in Isaiah 8:19-22. A
yearning within themselves caused them to search for something beyond
themselves, and so they consult the dead.
But, if this is their first step and they continue in this process, they
will inevitably find themselves with an unfulfilled desire that will lead to
their cursing God.
For the first step to lead to the
opportunity for yearning to be satisfied it must be pointed to God. Consider the blind man in Mark 8:22-26, whose
friends brought him to Jesus. Just
because he was in the presence of Jesus did not give him the ability to
see. When he allowed Jesus to lead him
by the hand, then spit on and touch his eyes he then had some sight. When he allowed the hands that would soon be
pierced by nails to touch him again then he saw clearly.
With Saul we get to see both the Isaiah
problem and the Jesus solution. Saul,
who had taken many steps following a god who he would have proclaimed as the
God of his ancestors, had an unanswered yearning that enraged him to the point
that he was not just cursing God but was acting against that who belonged to “the
Way”. He was taking lots of steps,
but they were leading him away from God.
Then he met Jesus and was blinded by His “glory and goodness”. This was the point where the blind man could
see people, but they looked like “trees walking around”. Saul was now ready to start his journey. Then Ananias came, laid his hands on Saul, and
Saul believed and was baptized. He was
finally seeing clearly.
But for Saul, and us, that is just the
first step of the journey. Peter tells
us that escaping the corruption in the world means that we can “participate
in the divine nature”. But for
people who have been yearning and following bad advice that is hard. Peter found it hard also, but he also gives
us a map for the journey when he says “make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness,
knowledge; 6 and to knowledge, self-control; and to
self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7 and
to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love”. The
wonderful thing about this is that it does not expect us to be immediately
perfect, but to take what we are given and build on it.
You
see, we are not taking a journey to heaven.
Salvation is not a ticket that gets us onto a path that ends in
heaven. Salvation itself will get us
into heaven.
But,
we who have been saved still have a yearning for God. We will fill that yearning in some way, and
Peter advises that fill the yearning by starting with salvation and then transforming
ourselves. He does not demand that we move immediately from faith to love, but
suggests that we add to faith goodness.
Think
about that, Peter is not saying that we need to move from salvation to doing
things from love. He suggests that we
move from faith to doing good things.
Then from doing good things to a greater knowledge of who God is and who
we are and how He loves and leads. Then
we move from knowing more to being more under control, or to say it
differently, to becoming free from the corruption of the world. Because acting differently from the world is
hard they we learn perseverance.
Persevering in being different will lead to us being more like God, in
understanding the challenges and difficulties that we face are the same as
others face, which leads us to an affection for them. As we begin to have that affection and truly
see who they are and what they are going through and doing then we can begin to
love.
But
the cycle then only begins again. When
we have begun to see that those who follow God have the same difficulties and
challenges as we do, and we begin to love them for the people that they are we
begin to look at those who are wandering in the darkness and cursing God and
realizing that the difference between us and them is the intervention of God
and the faith that we are blessed with.
This can lead us to begin to do good things for these people who are so
different from us, but also so similar. And
we keep going.
A
journey of a thousand miles may begin with a step, but salvation begins with an
introduction to Jesus.
Let
each of us take a moment to reintroduce ourselves to the “glory and
goodness” of Jesus Christ.
Then,
let each of us bring a blind friend to Jesus.
(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)
