Hope in the Last Days
Isaiah 2:1-5 - New International
Version (NIV)
1 This is what Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and
Jerusalem:
2 In the last days
the mountain of
the Lord’s temple will be established
as
the highest of the mountains;
it will be exalted above the hills,
and
all nations will stream to it.
3 Many peoples will come and say,
“Come, let us go up to
the mountain of the Lord,
to
the temple of the God of Jacob.
He will teach us his ways,
so
that we may walk in his paths.”
The law will go out from Zion,
the
word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
4 He will judge between the nations
and
will settle disputes for many peoples.
They will beat their swords into plowshares
and
their spears into pruning hooks.
Nation will not take up sword against nation,
nor
will they train for war anymore.
5 Come, descendants of Jacob,
let
us walk in the light of the Lord.
Who was given this prophecy of Judah and
Jerusalem (verse 1)?
When will it happen (verse 2)?
What will be established “as the highest of
the mountains . . . and all nations will stream to it” (verse 2)?
Who will say “come, let us go up to the
mountain of the Lord, to the temple of the God of Jacob” (verse 3)?
What will go out from Jerusalem (verse 3)?
What will happen to swords (verse 4)?
In your opinion, why will they not “train
for war anymore” (verse 4)?
What are the “descendants of Jacob” invited
to do (verse 5)?
In
your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?
In your opinion, how does this passage help us
to have hope in the midst of our challenges?
Psalm
122 - New
International Version (NIV)
1 I rejoiced with those who said to me,
“Let
us go to the house of the Lord.”
2 Our feet are standing
in
your gates, Jerusalem.
3 Jerusalem is built like a city
that
is closely compacted together.
4 That is where the tribes go up—
the
tribes of the Lord—
to praise the name of the Lord
according
to the statute given to Israel.
5 There stand the thrones for judgment,
the
thrones of the house of David.
6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:
“May
those who love you be secure.
7 May there be peace within your walls
and
security within your citadels.”
8 For the sake of my family and friends,
I
will say, “Peace be within you.”
9 For the sake of the house of the Lord our God,
I
will seek your prosperity.
Who does the Psalmist rejoice with (verse 1)?
Where are the Psalmist’s feet (verse 2)?
In your opinion, what does it mean that “Jerusalem
is built like a city that is closely compacted together” (verse 3)?
Why do the “tribes of the Lord” go up to
Jerusalem (verse 4)?
What are the thrones for (verse 5)?
What does the Psalmist pray for (verse 6)?
In your opinion, why does the prayer ask for “peace
within your walls and security within your citadels” (verse 7)?
What will the Psalmist say “for the sake of my
family and friends” (verse 8)?
What is the Psalmist seeking “for the sake of the
house of the Lord our God” (verse 9)?
In your opinion, what is the basic message of this
passage?
In your opinion, how
does this passage help us to have hope in the midst of our challenges?
In
your opinion, how is the temple “in the last days” that Isaiah 2:1-5
tells us about different from the temple that the Psalmist sings of in Psalms
122?
Romans 13:11-14 – New International Version (NIV)
11 And do this, understanding the present time: The
hour has already come for you to wake up from your slumber, because
our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. 12 The
night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the
deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. 13 Let
us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in carousing and
drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension
and jealousy. 14 Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord
Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the
flesh.
In
your opinion, why does Paul insert the words “understanding the present time”
in his instruction of what to do (verse 11)?
What
hour has come (verse 11)?
What
is “nearer now than when we first believed” (verse 11)?
How
far along is the night (verse 12)?
What
are we to put on after we “put aside the deeds of darkness” (verse 12)?
How are we to behave (verse 13)?
What behaviors are we
to avoid (verse 13)?
How are we to be
clothed (verse 14)?
What thoughts are we to
avoid (verse 14)?
In your opinion, what
is the basic message of this passage?
In your opinion, how does this passage help us
to have hope in the midst of our challenges?
In your opinion, how
close are the “last days” of Isaiah 2:1-5 to the day that Paul says in
Romans 13:11-14 “is almost here”?
In
your opinion, why might Psalm 122, which rejoices in going to the “house of
the Lord” and prays for peace, be an appropriate song for those who are
living where Romans 13:11-14 says “the night is nearly over; the day is
almost here”?
Matthew 24:36-44 – New International
Version (NIV)
36 “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in
heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 37 As it
was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of
Man. 38 For in the days before the flood, people were
eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah
entered the ark; 39 and they knew nothing about what would
happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at
the coming of the Son of Man. 40 Two men will be in the
field; one will be taken and the other left. 41 Two women
will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.
42 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your
Lord will come. 43 But understand this: If the owner of
the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would
have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. 44 So
you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when
you do not expect him.
What does
no one “not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father” know
(verse 36)?
What
will be like it was “in the days of Noah” (verse 37)?
How
were people behaving “up to the day that Noah entered the ark” (verse 38)?
How
will it “be at the coming of the Son of Man” (verse 39)?
What
will happen to the two men in the field (verse 40)?
What
will happen to the two women “grinding with a hand mill” (verse 41)?
Why
are we to “keep watch” (verse 42)?
What
are we to understand (verse 43)?
When
will the Son of Man come (verse 44)?
In
your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?
In your opinion, how does this passage
help us to have hope in the midst of our challenges?
In your opinion, where, in time, will
the temple prophesied in Isaiah 2:1-5 fit in relation to the hour that Jesus tells
us to be ready for in Matthew 24:36-44?
In your opinion, are the prayers for
peace that are modeled in Psalm 122 appropriate to pray as we obey Jesus’s
command in Matthew 22:36-44 to “keep watch, because you do not know on what
day your Lord will come”? Why or why
not?
In your opinion, how do the instructions
in Romans 13:11-14 help us understand what we need to do to be ready for “the
Son of Man” to come even if we don’t know when that will be?
In
your opinion, what do these passages from Isaiah, Psalms, Romans, and Matthew teach
us about how we should view our proximity to the “hour” when the Son of
Man will return?
In
your opinion, how, in the midst of the eating and drinking and carousing we
live in, can we find hope?
(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)
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