Sunday, October 2, 2022

October 9, 2022 – John’s Writings – The Loving Lamb

 

The Loving Lamb

Ezekiel 21:1-7 - New International Version (NIV)

The word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, set your face against Jerusalem and preach against the sanctuary. Prophesy against the land of Israel and say to her: ‘This is what the Lord says: I am against you. I will draw my sword from its sheath and cut off from you both the righteous and the wicked. Because I am going to cut off the righteous and the wicked, my sword will be unsheathed against everyone from south to north. Then all people will know that I the Lord have drawn my sword from its sheath; it will not return again.’

“Therefore groan, son of man! Groan before them with broken heart and bitter grief. And when they ask you, ‘Why are you groaning?’ you shall say, ‘Because of the news that is coming. Every heart will melt with fear and every hand go limp; every spirit will become faint and every leg will be wet with urine.’ It is coming! It will surely take place, declares the Sovereign Lord.”

Whose word came to Ezekiel (verse 1)?

What was Ezekiel to “preach against” (verse 2)?

Who was Ezekiel to “prophesy against” (verse 2)?

What is the Lord going to cut off from Israel (verse 3)?

Who will the Lord’s sword be unsheathed against (verse 4)?

Who will know that the Lord has drawn His sword from its sheath (verse 5)?

How was Ezekiel supposed to “groan before them” (verse 6)?

Why was Ezekiel groaning (verse 7)?

Who declares “it will surely take place” (verse 7)?

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

In your opinion, what can we learn about the love of the Lamb of God from this passage?

John 6:1-15 - New International Version (NIV)

Some time after this, Jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee (that is, the Sea of Tiberias), and a great crowd of people followed him because they saw the signs he had performed by healing the sick. Then Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down with his disciples. The Jewish Passover Festival was near.

When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?” He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do.

Philip answered him, “It would take more than half a year’s wages to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!”

Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up, “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?”

10 Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass in that place, and they sat down (about five thousand men were there). 11 Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish.

12 When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, “Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.” 13 So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.

14 After the people saw the sign Jesus performed, they began to say, “Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.” 15 Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself.

Where did Jesus cross to (verse 1)?

Why did “a great crowd of people” follow him (verse 2)?

Who did Jesus sit down with (verse 3)?

In your opinion, why do you think that John mentions that the Jewish Passover Festival was near (verse 4)?

How did Jesus test Philip (verses 5 and 6)?

In your opinion, how would you compare the answers of Philip and Andrew (verses 7 through 9)?

How many men sat down (verse 10)?

What did Jesus do after he “took the loaves, gave thanks” (verse 11)?

Why did Jesus want the left over pieces gathered up (verse 12)?

How much was left over (verse 13)?

In your opinion, were the people right when they began to say “Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world” (verse 14)?  In your opinion, could they be right in what they said and wrong in what they believed and wanted?  How?

Why did Jesus withdraw “to a mountain by himself” (verse 15)?

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

In your opinion, what can we learn about the love of the Lamb of God from this passage?

In your opinion, how can the Lord who was going to “cut off the righteous and the wicked” in Ezekiel 21:1-7 be the same person who fed five thousand in John 6:1-15? 

2 John 4-10 – New International Version (NIV)

It has given me great joy to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as the Father commanded us. And now, dear lady, I am not writing you a new command but one we have had from the beginning. I ask that we love one another. And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love.

I say this because many deceivers, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, have gone out into the world. Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist. Watch out that you do not lose what we have worked for, but that you may be rewarded fully. Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of Christ does not have God; whoever continues in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. 10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not take them into your house or welcome them.

What has given John “great joy” (verse 4)?

What is John “not writing” to the dear Lady (verse 5)?

What does John ask (verse 5)?

How does John define love (verse 6)?

How does John define deceivers (verse 7)?

Where have the “many deceivers” gone (verse 7)?

What additional title does John give deceivers (verse 7)?

What does John want the readers to “not lose” (verse 8)?

Who “does not have God” (verse 9)?

Who “has both the Father and the Son” (verse 9)?

How are Christians supposed to respond to those who “do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh” (verse 10)?

In your opinion, is there conflict between the instruction to “love one another” in verse 5 and the instruction to not take the one who does not “continue in the teaching of Christ” “into your house or welcome them” in verse 10?

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

In your opinion, what can we learn about the love of the Lamb of God from this passage?

In your opinion, how could the righteous who were going to be cut off in Ezekiel 21:1-7 be obedient to obey God’s command in 2 John 4-10 to “walk in love”?

In your opinion, how does the right statement about Jesus voiced by people with wrong motives that led Jesus to withdraw to the mountain in John 6:1-15 help us begin to understand how deceivers and antichrists can run ahead and “not continue in the teaching of Christ” in 2 John 4-10?

Revelation 6:1-8 – New International Version (NIV)

I watched as the Lamb opened the first of the seven seals. Then I heard one of the four living creatures say in a voice like thunder, “Come!” I looked, and there before me was a white horse! Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest.

When the Lamb opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” Then another horse came out, a fiery red one. Its rider was given power to take peace from the earth and to make people kill each other. To him was given a large sword.

When the Lamb opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come!” I looked, and there before me was a black horse! Its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand. Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, “Two pounds of wheat for a day’s wages, and six pounds of barley for a day’s wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine!”

When the Lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, “Come!” I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.

What did the Lamb open (verse 1)?

Who said “in a voice like thunder, “Come”!” (verse 1)?

How did the rider of the white horse, who held a bow and was given a crown, ride out (verse 2)?

Who said “Come!” when the Lamb opened the second seal (verse 3)?

What was the second rider given (verse 4)?

Who said “Come!” when the Lamb opened the third seal (verse 5)?

What was the rider of the black horse holding (verse 5)?

In your opinion, what does Two pounds of wheat for a day’s wages, and six pounds of barley for a day’s wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine” mean (verse 6)?

Who said “Come!” when the Lamb opened the fourth seal (verse 7)?

What was the rider of the pale horse named (verse 8)?

Who followed the pale horse and its rider (verse 8)?

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

In your opinion, what can we learn about the love of the Lamb of God from this passage?

In your opinion, what does the prophesy against all Israel in Ezekiel 21:1-7 help us understand about the prophesies against the whole world in Revelation 6:1-8? 

In your opinion, what can we learn from the fact that the Lamb (who had been slain) who is opening the seals in Revelation 6:1-8 is the same person as the One who fed the five thousand just before the Jewish Passover Festival?

In your opinion, does the warning in 2 John 4-10 not to take the deceiver and antichrist “into your house or welcome them” a beginning of preparing Christians for the sending of the horsemen into the world in Revelation 6:1-8? 

In your opinion, how do these passages from Ezekiel, John, 2 John and Revelation show us that the Lamb of God is different from the world?

In your opinion, how does understanding that difference help us to understand how we, as Christians, are to react to God?  How does understanding the difference between the Lamb of God and the world help us understand how we, as Christians, are to react to the world?

 

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)

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