October 2, 2022 – John’s Writings – Falling Short and Overcoming

 Falling Short and Overcoming

Ezekiel 20:10-21 - New International Version (NIV)

¹⁰ Therefore I led them out of Egypt and brought them into the wilderness. ¹¹ I gave them my decrees and made known to them my laws, by which the person who obeys them will live. ¹² Also I gave them my Sabbaths as a sign between us, so they would know that I the Lord made them holy.

¹³ “‘Yet the people of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness. They did not follow my decrees but rejected my laws—by which the person who obeys them will live—and they utterly desecrated my Sabbaths. So I said I would pour out my wrath on them and destroy them in the wilderness. ¹⁴ But for the sake of my name I did what would keep it from being profaned in the eyes of the nations in whose sight I had brought them out. ¹⁵ Also with uplifted hand I swore to them in the wilderness that I would not bring them into the land I had given them—a land flowing with milk and honey, the most beautiful of all lands— ¹⁶ because they rejected my laws and did not follow my decrees and desecrated my Sabbaths. For their hearts were devoted to their idols. ¹⁷ Yet I looked on them with pity and did not destroy them or put an end to them in the wilderness. ¹⁸ I said to their children in the wilderness, “Do not follow the statutes of your parents or keep their laws or defile yourselves with their idols. ¹⁹ I am the Lord your God; follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. ²⁰ Keep my Sabbaths holy, that they may be a sign between us. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God.”

²¹ “‘But the children rebelled against me: They did not follow my decrees, they were not careful to keep my laws, of which I said, “The person who obeys them will live by them,” and they desecrated my Sabbaths. So I said I would pour out my wrath on them and spend my anger against them in the wilderness. 

Where did God take the Israelites when He led them out of Egypt (verse 10)?

What did God give the Israelites in the wilderness that they could obey and live (verse 11)?

In your opinion, how would the Sabbaths show the Israelites that “the Lord made them holy” (verse 12)?

What did the Israelites do in the wilderness (verse 13)?

What did God swear (verse 15)?

How did the Israelites feel about their idols (verse 16)?

In your opinion, why did God look at the Israelites “with pity” (verse 17)?

What did God tell the children of the Israelites (verse 18)?

How did God identify Himself to the children (verse 19)?

Why were the children to “keep my Sabbaths holy” (verse 20)?

How did the children respond to God (verse 21)?

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

In your opinion, what can we learn about falling short and/or overcoming in this passage?

John 5:36-47 - New International Version (NIV)

³⁶ “I have testimony weightier than that of John. For the works that the Father has given me to finish—the very works that I am doing—testify that the Father has sent me. ³⁷ And the Father who sent me has himself testified concerning me. You have never heard his voice nor seen his form, ³⁸ nor does his word dwell in you, for you do not believe the one he sent. ³⁹ You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, ⁴⁰ yet you refuse to come to me to have life.

⁴¹ “I do not accept glory from human beings, ⁴² but I know you. I know that you do not have the love of God in your hearts. ⁴³ I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not accept me; but if someone else comes in his own name, you will accept him. ⁴⁴ How can you believe since you accept glory from one another but do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?

⁴⁵ “But do not think I will accuse you before the Father. Your accuser is Moses, on whom your hopes are set. ⁴⁶ If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. ⁴⁷ But since you do not believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say?”

What testimony does Jesus have that is “weightier than that of John” (verse 36)?

What does this testimony testify to (verse 36)?

Why have those listening to Jesus “never heard his voice nor seen his form, nor does his word dwell in you” (verses 37 and 38)?

Why do those same people “study the Scriptures diligently” (verse 39)?

What do those Scriptures do (verse 39)?

In your opinion, why do the people listening to Jesus refuse to come to Him “to have life” (verse 40)?

What does Jesus know they not have in their hearts (verse 42)?

Who will they accept (verse 43)?

Who will accuse these people “before the Father” (verse 45)?

Who would these people believe if they “believed Moses” (verse 46)?

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

In your opinion, what can we learn about falling short and/or overcoming in this passage?

In your opinion, what can we learn from the failure of the Israelites that Ezekiel was speaking because “they were not careful to keep my laws, of which I said, “The person who obeys them will live by them,” that Ezekiel 20:10-21 and the failure of the people that Jesus was talking to in John 5:36-47 who “study the Scriptures diligently” but were not able to believe in Jesus?   

1 John 5:5-13 – New International Version (NIV)

⁵ Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.

⁶ This is the one who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ. He did not come by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. ⁷ For there are three that testify: ⁸ the Spirit, the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement. ⁹ We accept human testimony, but God’s testimony is greater because it is the testimony of God, which he has given about his Son. ¹⁰ Whoever believes in the Son of God accepts this testimony. Whoever does not believe God has made him out to be a liar, because they have not believed the testimony God has given about his Son. ¹¹ And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. ¹² Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.

¹³ I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. 

“Who is it that overcomes the world” (verse 5)?

How did Jesus come (verse 6)?

In your opinion, what does it mean to come “by water and blood” (verse 6)?

Who is the truth who testifies (verse 6)?

Who are the three who testify in agreement (verses 7 and 8)?

Why is God’s testimony greater (verse 9)?

What does “whoever believes in the Son of God” accept (verse 10)?

Who makes God “out to be a liar” (verse 10)?

What is the testimony (verse 11)?

Who has life (verse 12)?

Who does not have life (verse 12)?

Who does John write these things to (verse 13)?

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

In your opinion, what can we learn about falling short and/or overcoming in this passage?

In your opinion, how does 1 John 5:5-13’s discussion about overcoming the world help us understand how that the Israelite people that God was talking about in Ezekiel 20:10-21 rebelled in the wilderness?

In your opinion, how does 1 John 5:5-13’s discussion about overcoming the world help us understand why the people that Jesus was talking to in John 5:36-47 did not find Jesus in the writings of Moses?

Revelation 5:8-14 – New International Version (NIV)

⁸ And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of God’s people. ⁹ And they sang a new song, saying:

“You are worthy to take the scroll
    and to open its seals,
because you were slain,
    and with your blood you purchased for God
    persons from every tribe and language and people and nation.
¹⁰ You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God,
    and they will reign on the earth.”

¹¹ Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. ¹² In a loud voice they were saying:

“Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain,
    to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength
    and honor and glory and praise!”

¹³ Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, saying:

“To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb
    be praise and honor and glory and power,
for ever and ever!”

¹⁴ The four living creatures said, “Amen,” and the elders fell down and worshiped.

What did the “four living creatures and the twenty-four elders” do when Jesus took the scroll (verse 8)?

Where “are the prayers of God’s people” (verse 8)?

Why, according to the new song, was Jesus “worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals” (verse 9)?

What have the “persons from every tribe and language and people and nation” that Jesus purchased been made into (verses 9 and 10)?

Who “encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders” (verse 11)?

What did they say the “Lamb, who was slain” was worthy to receive (verse 12)?

How did “every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them” respond (verse 13)?

What did the four living creatures do (verse 14)?

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

In your opinion, what can we learn about falling short and/or overcoming in this passage?

In your opinion, how are the people that God had brought from slavery in Egypt into the wilderness who could not keep the Sabbath in Ezekiel 20:10-21 and all the rest of us who have failed at keeping ourselves holy and also deserve God’s wrath able to find hope in Revelation 5:8-14? 

In your opinion, what does Revelation 5:8-14 reveal to us about Jesus’s works He was to finish that He said in John 5:36-47 “testify that the Father has sent me”?

In your opinion, what is the difference between what 1 John 5:5-13 and Revelation 5:8-14 reveal about what the blood of Jesus does?  How are both important? 

In your opinion, what do these passages from Ezekiel, John, 1 John and Revelation teach us about how we, like the Israelites freed from slavery in Egypt through mighty acts of God and the people who actually saw Jesus perform miracles, might fall short today?  And what do they teach us about how to overcome today?

In your opinion, how would you describe overcoming the world (this might be considered a trick question)? 

 

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)

September 25, 2022 – John’s Writings – Repent and Love

 

Repent and Love

Ezekiel 18:25-32 - New International Version (NIV)

²⁵ “Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ Hear, you Israelites: Is my way unjust? Is it not your ways that are unjust? ²⁶ If a righteous person turns from their righteousness and commits sin, they will die for it; because of the sin they have committed they will die. ²⁷ But if a wicked person turns away from the wickedness they have committed and does what is just and right, they will save their life. ²⁸ Because they consider all the offenses they have committed and turn away from them, that person will surely live; they will not die. ²⁹ Yet the Israelites say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ Are my ways unjust, people of Israel? Is it not your ways that are unjust?

³⁰ “Therefore, you Israelites, I will judge each of you according to your own ways, declares the Sovereign Lord. Repent! Turn away from all your offenses; then sin will not be your downfall. ³¹ Rid yourselves of all the offenses you have committed, and get a new heart and a new spirit. Why will you die, people of Israel? ³² For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign Lord. Repent and live!

What do the Israelites (and sometimes we in our hearts) say (verse 25)?

In your opinion, how does Ezekiel, on behalf of the Lord, turn the Israelites (and our) statement around in the two questions “Is my way unjust?  Is it not your ways that are unjust” (verse 25)?

What will happen to a righteous person who “turns from their righteousness and commits sin” (verse 26)?

How will a wicked person save their life (verse 27)?

What must the wicked person consider and turn away from (verse 28)?

In your opinion, why does Ezekiel repeat the essence of verse 25 in verse 29?

How will the Lord judge (verse 30)?

What does Ezekiel call for the Israelites to do so that “sin will not be your downfall” (verse 30)?

What are the Israelites to do after they “rid yourselves of all the offenses you have committed” (verse 31)?

Who takes “no pleasure in the death of anyone” (verse 32)?

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

In your opinion, what can we learn about the transformation from being wicked and dead to believing and living in this passage?

John 5:24-30 - New International Version (NIV)

²⁴ “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life. ²⁵ Very truly I tell you, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. ²⁶ For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. ²⁷ And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man.

²⁸ “Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice ²⁹ and come out—those who have done what is good will rise to live, and those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned. ³⁰ By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me.

What does the one who “hears my word and believes him who sent me” have (verse 24)?

What will the one who “hears my word and believes him who sent me” avoid (verse 24)?

Where has the one who “hears my word and believes him who sent me” crossed from and to (verse 24)?

In your opinion, who are the dead in this quote “a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God” (verse 25)?

What will happen to the dead who hear “the voice of the Son of God” (verse 25)?

What has the Father granted the Son (verse 26)?

Why has the Father given the Son the “authority to judge” (verse 27)?

What will all who “are in their graves” hear (verse 28)?

When those who have “done what is good” come out of their graves what will they do (verse 29)?

When those who have “done what is evil” come out of their graves what will they do (verse 29)?

In your opinion, what is the difference between the crossing “over from death to life” in verse 24 and those in the grave hearing His voice and coming out in verses 28 and 29? 

Why is the judgment of Jesus just (verse 30)?

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

In your opinion, what can we learn about the transformation from being wicked and dead to believing and living in this passage?

In your opinion, how does John 5:24-30 help us understand how to be obedient to the Lord’s command to “get a new heart and a new spirit” in Ezekiel 18:25-30?   

1 John 4:17-5:4 – New International Version (NIV)

¹⁷ This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. ¹⁸ There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

¹⁹ We love because he first loved us. ²⁰ Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. ²¹ And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.

5 ¹ Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. ² This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. ³ In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, ⁴ for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.

When love is made complete what will we have on “the day of judgment” (verse 17)?

What are Christians like “in this world” (verse 17)?

What does “perfect love” drive out (verse 18)?

In your opinion, why does fear have something to do with punishment (verse 18)?

Why do we love (verse 19)?

Who is a liar (verse 20)?

What command has been given to those who love God (verse 21)?

Who is “born of God” (verse 1)?

How do we “know that we love the children of God” (verse 2)?

What is “love for God” (verse 3)?

What does “everyone born of God” do (verse 4)?

What is “the victory that has overcome the world” (verse 4)?

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

In your opinion, what can we learn about the transformation from being wicked and dead to believing and living in this passage?

In your opinion, how does 1 John’s statement that “we love because he first loved us” show us how it possible for us to obey Ezekiel’s command to “repent and live!”?

In your opinion, how is the crossing “over from death to life” that Jesus promises those who hear His word and believe “Him who sent me” in John 5:24-30 expanded by John in his discussion of love and overcoming the world in 1 John 4:17-5:4?

Revelation 5:1-7 – New International Version (NIV)

¹ Then I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne a scroll with writing on both sides and sealed with seven seals. ² And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming in a loud voice, “Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?” ³ But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth could open the scroll or even look inside it. ⁴ I wept and wept because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside. ⁵ Then one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.”

⁶ Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing at the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. The Lamb had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. ⁷ He went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who sat on the throne. 

What did John see “in the right hand of him who sat on the throne” (verse 1)?

What did the “mighty angel” proclaim in a loud voice (verse 2)?

In your opinion, why was there “no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth” who could “open the scroll or even look inside it” (verse 3)?

How did John react when “no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside” (verse 4)?

What did the elder who spoke to John say the “Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David” had done (verse 5)?

What was “the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David” able to do (verse 5)?

In your opinion, why does John who had just heard about “the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David” then see “a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain” (verse 6)?

Where was the Lamb standing (verse 6)?

In your opinion, what does it mean to say that the Lamb “had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth” (verse 6)?

What did the Lamb do (verse 7)?

In your opinion, what is in the scroll?

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

In your opinion, what can we learn about the transformation from being wicked and dead to believing and living in this passage?

In your opinion, how is the conflict between a people who thought that God was unjust and the Lord who called for them the “repent and live” in Ezekiel 18:25-32 reflected in the fact that no one could open the scroll, until the “lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David” had triumphed in Revelation 5:1-7? 

In your opinion, what is revealed that the “Son of Man” in John 5:24-30, who is the “Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David” of Revelation 5:1-7, is qualified to do?  What is revealed that the “Son of God” in John 5:24-30, who is the “Lamb, looking at if it had been slain” in Revelation 5:1-7, earned the right to do?

In your opinion, how can the love that 1 John 4:17-5:4 says Jesus has for us move us from a fear of punishment to a confidence that the only one worthy of opening the scroll in Revelation 5:1-7 can move us from a fear of punishment to the confidence to love? 

In your opinion, what do these passages from Ezekiel, John, 1 John and Revelation teach us about the transformation from viewing God as unjust to being confident that Jesus will enable us in our faith to have victory over the world?

In your opinion, how is Jesus transforming you (you do not need to answer this out loud)? 

 

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)

September 18, 2022 – John’s Writings – Power and Love

Power and Love

Ezekiel 1:15-28 - New International Version (NIV)

¹⁵ As I looked at the living creatures, I saw a wheel on the ground beside each creature with its four faces. ¹⁶ This was the appearance and structure of the wheels: They sparkled like topaz, and all four looked alike. Each appeared to be made like a wheel intersecting a wheel. ¹⁷ As they moved, they would go in any one of the four directions the creatures faced; the wheels did not change direction as the creatures went. ¹⁸ Their rims were high and awesome, and all four rims were full of eyes all around.

¹⁹ When the living creatures moved, the wheels beside them moved; and when the living creatures rose from the ground, the wheels also rose. ²⁰ Wherever the spirit would go, they would go, and the wheels would rise along with them, because the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels. ²¹ When the creatures moved, they also moved; when the creatures stood still, they also stood still; and when the creatures rose from the ground, the wheels rose along with them, because the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.

²² Spread out above the heads of the living creatures was what looked something like a vault, sparkling like crystal, and awesome. ²³ Under the vault their wings were stretched out one toward the other, and each had two wings covering its body. ²⁴ When the creatures moved, I heard the sound of their wings, like the roar of rushing waters, like the voice of the Almighty, like the tumult of an army. When they stood still, they lowered their wings.

²⁵ Then there came a voice from above the vault over their heads as they stood with lowered wings. ²⁶ Above the vault over their heads was what looked like a throne of lapis lazuli, and high above on the throne was a figure like that of a man. ²⁷ I saw that from what appeared to be his waist up he looked like glowing metal, as if full of fire, and that from there down he looked like fire; and brilliant light surrounded him. ²⁸ Like the appearance of a rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the radiance around him.

This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. When I saw it, I fell facedown, and I heard the voice of one speaking.

What was on the ground beside “each creature with its four faces” (verse 15)?

How were the wheels structured (verse 16)?

In your opinion, why did the wheels “not change direction as the creatures went” (verse 17)?

What were the rims full of (verse 18)?

What happened when the living creatures moved (verse 19)?

Where was the spirit of the living creatures (verse 20)?

What was spread out “above the heads of the living creatures” (verse 22)?

What did Ezekiel hear when the creatures moved (verse 24)?

Where did the voice come from (verse 25)?

How was the figure described (verse 27)?

What was the appearance the likeness of (verse 28)?

How did Ezekiel react when he saw it (verse 28)?

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

In your opinion, what can we learn about God in this passage?

John 5:16-23 - New International Version (NIV)

¹⁶ So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began to persecute him. ¹⁷ In his defense Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.” ¹⁸ For this reason they tried all the more to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.

¹⁹ Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. ²⁰ For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, and he will show him even greater works than these, so that you will be amazed. ²¹ For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it. ²² Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, ²³ that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him.

Why did the Jewish leaders begin to persecute Jesus (verse 16)?

What did Jesus say “in his defense” (verse 17)?

In your opinion, why would Jesus’s defense cause the Jewish leader to try “all the more to kill him” (verse 18)?

What can the Son do “by himself” (verse 19)?

What can the Son only do (verse 19)?

What does the Father show the Son (verse 20)?

How will the Jewish leaders respond to the greater works that the Father will show the Son (verse 20)?

Who will the Son give life to (verse 21)?

Who is judgment entrusted to (verse 22)?

What may “all” do (verse 23)?

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

In your opinion, what can we learn about God in this passage?

In your opinion, how can Jesus, appearing so magnificent in Ezekiel 1:15-28, have the Jewish leaders persecuting and trying to kill Him in John 5:16-23?  How do you think the Jewish leaders would have responded if Jesus had appeared to them as He appeared to Ezekiel?   

1 John 4:7-16 – New International Version (NIV)

⁷ Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. ⁸ Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. ⁹ This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. ¹⁰ This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. ¹¹ Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. ¹² No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

¹³ This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. ¹⁴ And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. ¹⁵ If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. ¹⁶ And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.

What are the “dear friends” to do (verse 7)?

Where does love come from (verse 7)?

Who loves (verse 7)?

Who does not know God (verse 8)?

How did God show “his love among us” (verse 9)?

What is love (verse 10)?

Why should we love each other (verse 11)?

When is God’s love made complete in us (verse 12)?

How do “we know that we live in him and he in us” (verse 13)?

What does John testify to (verse 14)?

What occurs when someone “acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God” (verse 15)?

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

In your opinion, what can we learn about God in this passage?

In your opinion, how does picturing God as described by Ezekiel 1:15-28 help us understand the definition of love that is in 1 John 4:7-16 “this is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins”?

In your opinion, what does 1 John 4:7-16 help us understand about what Jesus had to do to be able to give “life to whom he is pleased to give it” as He said He would in John 5:16-23?

Revelation 4:1-11 – New International Version (NIV)

¹ After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.” ² At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it. ³ And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and ruby. A rainbow that shone like an emerald encircled the throne. ⁴ Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads. ⁵ From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. In front of the throne, seven lamps were blazing. These are the seven spirits of God. ⁶ Also in front of the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal. 

In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes, in front and in back. ⁷ The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle. ⁸ Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under its wings. Day and night they never stop saying:

“‘Holy, holy, holy

is the Lord God Almighty,’

who was, and is, and is to come.”

⁹ Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever, ¹⁰ the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say:

¹¹ “You are worthy, our Lord and God,
    to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
    and by your will they were created
    and have their being.”

Where was the door that was standing open (verse 1)?

What does the voice like a trumpet tell John (verse 1)?

What was before John “at once” (verse 2)?

How did the One on the throne appear (verse 3)?

In your opinion, what do the twenty-four thrones and elders represent (verse 4)?

What were the seven lamps that were blazing (verse 5)?

What was around the throne (verse 6)?

How did they appear (verse 7)?

What do they “never stop saying” (verse 8)?

What do the twenty-four elders do when the “living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne” (verses 9 and 10)?

What do they say (verse 11)?

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

In your opinion, what can we learn about God in this passage?

In your opinion, how is the response of Ezekiel to God in Ezekiel 1:15-28 and the response of the twenty-four elders to God in Revelation 4:1-11 a lesson to us in how to respond to God?  Why do you think it is hard for us to respond to God in this way? 

In your opinion, why does someone with the power and majesty that is displayed in Revelation 4:1-11 reveal themselves to the world in the way that Jesus does in John 5:16-23?

In your opinion, how does seeing the One who loves so wonderfully in 1 John 4:7-16 also described so powerfully in Revelation 4:1-11 change your understanding of love?  Why would One with that much power and majesty love as completely as 1 John describes? 

In your opinion, what do these passages from Ezekiel, John, 1 John and Revelation show about the power of God and the purpose of love?

In your opinion, how can we move from being people who desire power in some form to being people who display the power of God’s love?

 

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)