Daniel 2:36-45 - New International Version (NIV)
36 “This was the dream, and now we will interpret it to the king. 37 Your
Majesty, you are the king of kings. The God of heaven has given you dominion and
power and might and glory; 38 in your hands he has placed all
mankind and the beasts of the field and the birds in the sky. Wherever they
live, he has made you ruler over them all. You are that head of gold.
39 “After you, another kingdom will arise, inferior to yours. Next, a
third kingdom, one of bronze, will rule over the whole earth. 40 Finally,
there will be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron—for iron breaks and smashes
everything—and as iron breaks things to pieces, so it will crush and break all
the others. 41 Just as you saw that the feet and toes were
partly of baked clay and partly of iron, so this will be a divided kingdom; yet
it will have some of the strength of iron in it, even as you saw iron mixed
with clay. 42 As the toes were partly iron and partly clay, so
this kingdom will be partly strong and partly brittle. 43 And
just as you saw the iron mixed with baked clay, so the people will be a mixture
and will not remain united, any more than iron mixes with clay.
44 “In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a
kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It
will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself
endure forever. 45 This is the meaning of the vision of the
rock cut out of a mountain, but not by human hands—a rock that broke the iron,
the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold to pieces.
“The great God has shown the king what will take place in the
future. The dream is true and its interpretation is trustworthy.”
What is Daniel
going to do (verse 36)?
What has God given
to the king (verse 37)?
In your
opinion, why is the king the head of gold (verse 38)?
How does the
second kingdom compare to the king’s kingdom
(verse 39)?
What is
different about the third kingdom (verse 39)?
How will the fourth
kingdom treat “all the others” (verse 40)?
Why does
Daniel say the fourth kingdom “will be a divided kingdom” (verse 41)?
Who will “set
up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another
people” (verse 44)?
What did the “rock
cut out of a mountain, but not by human hands” break (verse 45)?
In your
opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?
Mark 4:26-34 - New
International Version (NIV)
26 He also said, “This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man
scatters seed on the ground. 27 Night and day, whether he
sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. 28 All
by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full
kernel in the head. 29 As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts
the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.”
30 Again he said, “What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or
what parable shall we use to describe it? 31 It is like a
mustard seed, which is the smallest of all seeds on earth. 32 Yet
when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such
big branches that the birds can perch in its shade.”
33 With many similar parables Jesus spoke the word to them, as much
as they could understand. 34 He did not say anything to them
without using a parable. But when he was alone with his own disciples, he
explained everything.
What is the
kingdom of God like (verse 26)?
When does the
seed sprout and grow (verse 27)?
How does the
soil produce grain (verse 28)?
What happens
when the grain is ripe (verse 29)?
How is the
mustard seed, which the kingdom of God is like, described (verses 30 and 31)?
What does the
mustard seed become (verse 32)?
How much of
the word did Jesus speak to them (verse 33)?
What was
different about the way Jesus treated the people and His disciples (verse 34)?
In your opinion, how is the description of the
kingdom of God as being like the tiny mustard seed in Mark 4:26-34 instead of
the kingdom crushing mountain of Daniel 36-45 reassuring to members of the
kingdom of God today? Why is the
crushing mountain of Daniel also an important image?
19 Now those who had been scattered by the persecution that broke out
when Stephen was killed traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch,
spreading the word only among Jews. 20 Some of them, however,
men from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to Antioch and began to speak to Greeks also,
telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus. 21 The Lord’s
hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the
Lord.
22 News of this reached the church in Jerusalem, and they sent
Barnabas to Antioch. 23 When he arrived and saw what the grace
of God had done, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord
with all their hearts. 24 He was a good man, full of the Holy
Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord.
25 Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, 26 and
when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. So for a whole year Barnabas and
Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people. The disciples were
called Christians first at Antioch.
What did those who were
“scattered by the persecution that broke out when Stephen was killed” do
(verse 19)?
Who did the “men
from Cyprus and Cyrene” begin to tell the “good news about the Lord
Jesus” to (verse 20)?
What was with the “men from Cyprus and Cyrene” (verse
21)?
Who sent Barnabas to Antioch (verse 22)?
What did Barnabas encourage the Greek believers in Antioch
to do (verse 23)?
How was Barnabas described (verse 24)?
In your opinion, why did Barnabas find Saul and bring him to
Antioch (verses 25 and 26)?
What first happened in Antioch (verse 26)?
In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?
In your opinion, how is the beginning of the fulfillment of the
“vision of the rock cut out of a mountain, but not by human hands” crushing
kingdoms of Daniel 2:36-45 seen in the results of the persecution of Acts
11:19-26?
In your opinion, how is the promise of the kingdom of God
being like the seed sprouting and growing even though the man did not know how
in Mark 4:26-33 fulfilled by the people scattered by persecution in Acts
11:19-26?
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. 6 For in
Scripture it says:
“See, I lay a stone in Zion,
a chosen and precious cornerstone,
and the one who trusts in him
will never be put to shame.”
a chosen and precious cornerstone,
and the one who trusts in him
will never be put to shame.”
7 Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who
do not believe,
“The stone the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone,”
has become the cornerstone,”
8 and,
“A stone that causes people to stumble
and a rock that makes them fall.”
and a rock that makes them fall.”
They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what
they were destined for.
9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation,
God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called
you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10 Once you were
not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received
mercy, but now you have received mercy.
How does Peter
describe the relationship of God with “the living Stone” (verse 4)?
What are “living
stones” being built into (verse 5)?
In your
opinion, why is it significant that Jesus in the “chosen and precious
cornerstone” of the “spiritual house” that Christians are being built
into (verses 5 and 6)?
Why do “those
who do not believe” stumble (verses 7 and 8)?
What are those
who are “a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special
possession” to declare (verse 9)?
What are the
people who once “were not a people” (verse 10)?
In your
opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?
In your opinion, how does Peter combine the growing of the
kingdom of God which Jesus describes as seeds sprouting and growing in Mark
4:26-33 with the Old Testament quotes about stones he uses in 1 Peter 2:4-10?
In your
opinion, how are the persecuted Jewish believers speaking to the Greeks in
Antioch in Acts 11:16-26 a powerful example of the Christians that Peter says “once
were not a people, but now you are the people of God”?
In your
opinion, what do these passages from Daniel, Mark, Acts and 1 Peter teach us
about the kingdom of God?
In your
opinion, as living stones growing into a mountain that endures, what do we learn
from Barnabas who encourages us to remain true to the
Lord with all our hearts?
(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)
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