Rejecting or Receiving Mercy
Ezekiel
9:1-11 - New International Version (NIV)
1 Then I
heard him call out in a loud voice, “Bring near those who are appointed to
execute judgment on the city, each with a weapon in his hand.” 2 And
I saw six men coming from the direction of the upper gate, which faces north,
each with a deadly weapon in his hand. With them was a man clothed in
linen who had a writing kit at his side. They came in and stood beside the
bronze altar.
3 Now the glory of the God of Israel went up from above the
cherubim, where it had been, and moved to the threshold of the temple.
Then the Lord called to
the man clothed in linen who had the writing kit at his side 4 and
said to him, “Go throughout the city of Jerusalem and put a mark on
the foreheads of those who grieve and lament over all the detestable
things that are done in it.”
5 As I listened, he said to the others, “Follow him through the city
and kill, without showing pity or compassion. 6 Slaughter the
old men, the young men and women, the mothers and children, but do not
touch anyone who has the mark. Begin at my sanctuary.” So they began with
the old men who were in front of the temple.
7 Then he said to them, “Defile the temple and fill the courts with
the slain. Go!” So they went out and began killing throughout the
city. 8 While they were killing and I was left alone, I
fell facedown, crying out, “Alas, Sovereign Lord! Are you going to destroy the entire remnant of
Israel in this outpouring of your wrath on Jerusalem?”
9 He answered me, “The sin of the people of Israel and Judah is
exceedingly great; the land is full of bloodshed and the city is full of
injustice. They say, ‘The Lord has
forsaken the land; the Lord does
not see.’ 10 So I will not look on them with pity or
spare them, but I will bring down on their own heads what they have done.”
11 Then the man in linen with the writing kit at his side brought
back word, saying, “I have done as you commanded.”
What
are those who are to be brought near appointed to do (verse 1)?
Who was with the six men (verse 2)?
Where was the “glory of God” and where
did it move to (verse 3)?
Who was the “man clothed in linen” to go
and put a mark on (verse 4)?
How were the six men to kill (verse 5)?
Who were the six men not to touch (verse 6)?
Where were they to begin (verse 6)?
In your opinion, why would the Lord tell the
six men to “defile the temple and fill the courts with the slain” (verse
7)?
What did Ezekiel ask the Lord (verse 8)?
What does the Lord say is “exceedingly
great” (verse 9)?
In your opinion, what do the people mean when
they say “the Lord does not see” (verse 9)?
What will the Lord “bring down on their own
heads” (verse 10)?
Who said “I have done as you commanded” (verse
11)?
In
your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?
In your opinion, how does God show mercy in
this passage?
John 6:35-40 - New
International Version (NIV)
35 Then Jesus declared, “I
am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and
whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. 36 But as I told you, you have seen me and still you
do not believe. 37 All those the
Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never
drive away. 38 For I have come down
from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I
shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the
last day. 40 For my Father’s will
is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have
eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.”
What did Jesus declare that He is (verse 35)?
Who will never be hungry (verse 35)?
Who will never be thirsty (verse 35)?
In your opinion, why would those who have
seen Jesus still “not believe” (verse 36)?
Who will come to Jesus (verse 37)?
Who will Jesus “never drive away” (verse
37)?
What has Jesus “come down from heaven”
to do (verse 38)?
When will Jesus raise up those that he
has been given (verse 39)?
What is the Father’s will (verse 40)?
In your opinion, what is the basic
message of this passage?
In your opinion, how
does God show mercy in this passage?
In your opinion, who in Ezekiel 9:1-11 are like the
people in John 6:35-40 that Jesus tells “you have seen me and still you do
not believe”? How do you think their
outcomes are similar?
1
John 1:5-2:2 –
New International Version (NIV)
5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to
you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6 If
we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie
and do not live out the truth. 7 But if we walk in the
light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the
blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.
8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the
truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is
faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all
unrighteousness. 10 If we claim we have not
sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.
2 1My dear
children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody
does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous
One. 2 He is the atoning
sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the
whole world.
What is the message John is declaring (verse 5)?
When do we lie (verse 6)?
When do we “have fellowship with one another” (verse
7)?
What “purifies us from all sin” (verse 7)?
How can we deceive ourselves (verse 8)?
When will God “forgive us our sins and
purify us from all unrighteousness” (verse 9)?
Who
do we make “out to be a liar” if we claim that we have not sinned (verse
10)?
Why
does John “write this” (verse 1)?
Who
is the advocate for the Christian who sins (verse 1)?
Who
is Jesus the atoning sacrifice for (verse 2)?
In
your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?
In your opinion, how does God show mercy in
this passage?
In your opinion, how are the people that “grieve and lament over all the detestable things that are
done in” in Ezekiel 9:1-11 similar to those who confess
their sins in 1 John 1:5-2:2?
In your opinion, what
does 1 John 1:5-2:2 help us understand about what Jesus had to do to not lose
any who have been given to Him, but to “raise them up at the last day” as
he promised in John 6:35-40?
Revelation
7:1-8 – New International Version (NIV)
1 After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of
the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth to prevent any
wind from blowing on the land or on the sea or on any tree. 2 Then I saw another angel coming up from the east,
having the seal of the living God. He called out in a loud voice to
the four angels who had been given power to harm the land and the sea: 3 “Do not harm the land or the sea or the trees
until we put a seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God.” 4 Then I heard the number of those who were
sealed: 144,000 from all the tribes of Israel.
5 From the tribe of Judah 12,000 were sealed,
from the
tribe of Reuben 12,000,
from the
tribe of Gad 12,000,
6 from the tribe of Asher 12,000,
from the
tribe of Naphtali 12,000,
from the
tribe of Manasseh 12,000,
7 from the tribe of Simeon 12,000,
from the
tribe of Levi 12,000,
from the
tribe of Issachar 12,000,
8 from the tribe of Zebulun 12,000,
from the
tribe of Joseph 12,000,
from the
tribe of Benjamin 12,000.
Why are the angels at the four corners of
the holding back the four winds of the earth (verse 1)?
What did the angel “coming from the east” have
(verse 2)?
Who did the angel from the east call out to (verse 2)?
What did the angel from the east say had to happen
before the land or sea or trees were harmed (verse 3)?
How many were sealed (verse 4)?
In your opinion, what is the significance of this
number (verse 4)?
How many were sealed from each tribe (verses 5
through 8)?
This is not something to discuss in class but I find
the difference between the tribes listed in verses 5 through 8 and the sons of
Jacob that are listed in Genesis 49 intriguing.
In your opinion, what is the basic message of this
passage?
In your opinion, how does God show mercy
in this passage?
In your opinion, how are
the servants who are being sealed in Revelation 7:1-8 similar to those in
Ezekiel 9:1-11 who grieved and lamented all the detestable things done in
Jerusalem?
In your opinion, what
does John 6:35-40 help us understand about the “servants of our God” who
were having the seal put on their foreheads in Revelation 7:1-8?
In your opinion, what do these passages from Ezekiel,
John, 1 John and Revelation teach us show about rejecting God’s mercy?
In your opinion, what do these passages teach us
about receiving God’s mercy?
(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)
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