Desolation Destroyed
Daniel
11:29-35 - New International Version (NIV)
29 “At the appointed time he will invade the South again, but this
time the outcome will be different from what it was before. 30 Ships
of the western coastlands will oppose him, and he will lose
heart. Then he will turn back and vent his fury against the holy
covenant. He will return and show favor to those who forsake the holy covenant.
31 “His armed forces will rise up to desecrate the temple fortress
and will abolish the daily sacrifice. Then they will set up the
abomination that causes desolation. 32 With flattery he
will corrupt those who have violated the covenant, but the people who know
their God will firmly resist him.
33 “Those who are wise will instruct many, though for a time
they will fall by the sword or be burned or captured or plundered. 34 When
they fall, they will receive a little help, and many who are not
sincere will join them. 35 Some of the wise will
stumble, so that they may be refined, purified and made spotless until the
time of the end, for it will still come at the appointed time.
When will “he . . . invade the South again” (verse 29)?
What will the invader do after losing heart and
turning back (verse 30)?
Who will he “show favor to” (verse 30)?
In your opinion, what is the “abomination
that causes desolation” (verse 31)?
How will he “corrupt those who have violated
the covenant” (verse 32)?
What will “the people who know their God” do
(verse 32)?
What will happen to the wise “for a time” (verse
33)?
How much help will they receive (verse 34)?
What will happen to the wise who stumble (verse
35)?
When will the “time of the end” come (verse
35)?
In
your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?
Mark 13:14-23 - New
International Version (NIV)
14 “When you see ‘the abomination that causes
desolation’ standing where it does not belong—let the reader
understand—then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 15 Let
no one on the housetop go down or enter the house to take anything out. 16 Let
no one in the field go back to get their cloak. 17 How
dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! 18 Pray
that this will not take place in winter, 19 because those
will be days of distress unequaled from the beginning, when God created the
world, until now—and never to be equaled again.
20 “If the Lord had not cut short those days, no one would survive.
But for the sake of the elect, whom he has chosen, he has shortened them. 21 At
that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah!’ or, ‘Look, there
he is!’ do not believe it. 22 For false messiahs and false
prophets will appear and perform signs and wonders to deceive, if
possible, even the elect. 23 So be on your guard; I
have told you everything ahead of time.
What are those who are in Judea supposed
to do when “the abomination that causes desolation” stands where it does
not belong (verse 14)?
In your opinion, what does it mean that
they are not to “enter the house to take anything out” or to “go back
to get their cloak” (verses 15 and 16)?
Who will it be dreadful for (verse 17)?
What is to be prayed for (verse 18)?
What will be unequaled (verse 19)?
Why will the Lord “cut short those
days” (verse 20)?
In your opinion, why should anyone who
says “’Look, here is the Messiah!’ or ‘Look, there he is!” not be
believed (verse 21)?
What will false messiahs and false
prophets do (verse 22)?
What has Jesus told the disciples (verse 23)?
In your opinion, what is the basic
message of this passage?
In your opinion, why is the focus in Daniel
11:29-35 to “vent his fury against the holy covenant” and in Mark
13:14-23 “to deceive, if possible, even the elect”?
Acts
21:27-29 –
New International Version (NIV)
27 When the seven days were
nearly over, some Jews from the province of Asia saw Paul at the temple. They
stirred up the whole crowd and seized him, 28 shouting,
“Fellow Israelites, help us! This is the man who teaches everyone everywhere
against our people and our law and this place. And besides, he has brought
Greeks into the temple and defiled this holy place.” 29 (They had previously seen Trophimus the
Ephesian in the city with Paul and assumed that Paul had brought him into
the temple.)
Who did the “Jews from the province of Asia”
see (verse 27)?
What did they do (verse 27)?
What did they accuse Paul of teaching
against (verse
28)?
In
your opinion, why would they accuse Paul of defiling the temple (verses 28)?
What
did they assume (verse 29)?
In
your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?
In your opinion, how might the Jews from the province of
Asia who saw Paul in the temple in Acts 21:27-29 fit into the category of “false
messiahs and false prophets” that Jesus warned about in Mark 13:14-23?
2 Thessalonians
2:1-15 –
New International Version (NIV)
1 Concerning
the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, we
ask you, brothers and sisters, 2 not to become easily
unsettled or alarmed by the teaching allegedly from us—whether by a prophecy or
by word of mouth or by letter—asserting that the day of the Lord has
already come. 3 Don’t let anyone deceive you in any
way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of
lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. 4 He
will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or
is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself
to be God.
5 Don’t you remember that when I was with you I used to tell you
these things? 6 And now you know what is holding him
back, so that he may be revealed at the proper time. 7 For
the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds
it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way. 8 And
then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow
with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his
coming. 9 The coming of the lawless one will be in
accordance with how Satan works. He will use all sorts of displays of
power through signs and wonders that serve the lie, 10 and
all the ways that wickedness deceives those who are perishing. They perish
because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. 11 For
this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will
believe the lie 12 and so that all will be condemned who
have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.
13 But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers and
sisters loved by the Lord, because God chose you as firstfruits to be
saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief
in the truth. 14 He called you to this through our
gospel, that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
15 So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast to
the teachings we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by
letter.
What were
people saying that Paul had said about the “day of the Lord” (verses 1
and 2)?
What must happen to the “man of lawlessness”
before that day will come (verse 3)?
Where will the “man of lawlessness” proclaim
that he is God (verse 4)?
When will the “man of lawlessness” be revealed
(verse 6)?
What is “already at work” (verse 7)?
How will the Lord Jesus overthrow and destroy the
lawless one (verse 8)?
How will Satan work (verses 9 and 10)?
Who will be condemned (verse 12)?
How are “brothers and sisters loved by the Lord” saved
(verse 13)?
What are “brothers and sisters” going to share
in (verse 14)?
What should “brothers and sisters” do (verse 15)?
In your opinion, what is the basic message of this
passage?
In your opinion, how
can those who “know their God” in Daniel 11:29-35 and the “brothers
and sisters” who stand firm in 2 Thessalonians 2:11-15 resist the power and
lies of the ones who are opposed to the Lord?
In your opinion, what might the
relationship be between the “abomination that causes desolation” that
Jesus warns of in Mark 13:14-23 and the “man of lawlessness” of 2
Thessalonians 2:1-15?
In your opinion, what
is achieved by the “Jews from the province of Asia” lying when they saw
Paul in the temple in Acts 21:27-29 and Satan using signs and wonders to build
up the lies about the “man of lawlessness” in 2 Thessalonians 2:1-15?
In your opinion, what do these passages from Daniel,
Mark, Acts and 2 Thessalonians teach us about how the world responds to the
truth about the Lord Jesus?
In your
opinion, how does knowing that the Lord Jesus will overcome the “man of
lawlessness” with “the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his
coming”
help us deal with the challenges of today; hatred, distress, lies, signs and
wonders?
(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)
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