January 15, 2023 – John’s Writings – Putting the “Umph” in Triumph

Putting the “Umph” in Triumph

Ezekiel 37:1-14 - New International Version (NIV)

¹ The hand of the Lord was on me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. ² He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. ³ He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?”

I said, “Sovereign Lord, you alone know.”

⁴ Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! ⁵ This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. ⁶ I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’”

⁷ So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. ⁸ I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.

⁹ Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come, breath, from the four winds and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’” ¹⁰ So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army.

¹¹ Then he said to me: “Son of man, these bones are the people of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.’ ¹² Therefore prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: My people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel. ¹³ Then you, my people, will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. ¹⁴ I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the Lord have spoken, and I have done it, declares the Lord.’”

What filled the valley that the “hand of the Lord” set Ezekiel in the middle of (verse 1)?

How did Ezekiel describe the bones in the valley (verse 2)?

How did Ezekiel answer the Lord’s question “son of man, can these bones live” (verse 3)?

What was Ezekiel to say to the bones (verse 4)?

How was the Lord going to give the bones life (verse 5)?

When will the bones know that God is the Lord (verse 6)?

What happened when Ezekiel prophesied (verse 7)?

In your opinion, what does it mean that there were tendons, flesh and skin, but no breath (verse 8)?

What did Ezekiel prophesy to next (verse 9)?

What happened when Ezekiel “prophesied as he commanded me” (verse 10)?

Who did the bones represent (verse 11)?

What does the “Sovereign Lord” say (verse 12)?

When will the people of Israel know that God is Lord (verse 13)?

What will the Lord do that will cause them to live (verse 14)?

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

In your opinion, what triumph of God is displayed in this passage?

John 7:37-43 - New International Version (NIV)

³⁷ On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. ³⁸ Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” ³⁹ By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.

⁴⁰ On hearing his words, some of the people said, “Surely this man is the Prophet.”

⁴¹ Others said, “He is the Messiah.”

Still others asked, “How can the Messiah come from Galilee? ⁴² Does not Scripture say that the Messiah will come from David’s descendants and from Bethlehem, the town where David lived?” ⁴³ Thus the people were divided because of Jesus. 

Which day was the greatest of the festival (verse 37)?

What did Jesus say “in a loud voice” (verse 37)?

Who will have “rivers of living water” flowing from within (verse 38)?

What did the “rivers of living water” mean (verse 39)?

Why had the Spirit not been given yet (verse 39)?

What did some people say after “hearing his words” (verse 40)?

What did others say (verse 41)?

Why did “still others” doubt Jesus was the Messiah (verse 41)?

Where did the Scripture say the Messiah would come from (verse 42)?

Why were the people divided (verse 42)?

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

In your opinion, what triumph of God is displayed in this passage?

In your opinion, how are the dry bones in Ezekiel 37:1-14 and the people who believe in Jesus in John 7:37-43 similar?

1 John 4:7-17 – 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.

God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. 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.

Where does love come from (verse 7)?

Who “has been born of God and knows God” (verse 7)?

What is God (verse 8)?

How did God express love for us (verse 9)?

How might we live (verse 9)?

What is love (verse 10)?

Why should we “love one another” (verse 11)?

When does God live in us (verse 12)?

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

Who does God live in (verse 15)?

What do we “rely on” (verse 16)?

Who are Christians like (verse 17)?

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

In your opinion, what triumph of God is displayed in this passage?

In your opinion, how are God’s promise in Ezekiel 37:1-14 that “I will put my Spirit in you and you will live” and John’s statement in 1 John 4:7-17 that “This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit” related?

In your opinion, does the statement in 1 John 4:7-17 that “If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God” help us understand how to respond to Jesus’s invitation in John 7:37-17 “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink”?

Revelation 11:11-19 – New International Version (NIV)

¹¹ But after the three and a half days the breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet, and terror struck those who saw them. ¹² Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here.” And they went up to heaven in a cloud, while their enemies looked on.

¹³ At that very hour there was a severe earthquake and a tenth of the city collapsed. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the survivors were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.

¹⁴ The second woe has passed; the third woe is coming soon.

¹⁵ The seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, which said:

“The kingdom of the world has become
    the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah,
    and he will reign for ever and ever.”

¹⁶ And the twenty-four elders, who were seated on their thrones before God, fell on their faces and worshiped God, ¹⁷ saying:

“We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty,
    the One who is and who was,
because you have taken your great power
    and have begun to reign.
¹⁸ The nations were angry,
    and your wrath has come.
The time has come for judging the dead,
    and for rewarding your servants the prophets
and your people who revere your name,
    both great and small—
and for destroying those who destroy the earth.”

¹⁹ Then God’s temple in heaven was opened, and within his temple was seen the ark of his covenant. And there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake and a severe hailstorm.

When did the breath of life enter them (verse 11)?

How did “those who saw them” respond when they “stood on their feet” (verse 11)?

What did their enemies do when they “went up to heaven in a cloud” (verse 12)?

How did the survivors respond to the severe earthquake (verse 13)?

What is coming soon (verse 14)?

What do the “loud voices in heaven” say after the second woe (verse 15)?

What do the “the twenty-four elders, who were seated on their thrones before God” say that the Lord God Almighty has begun to do (verses 16 and 17)?

How did the nations respond (verse 18)?

Who will be judged (verse 18)?

Who will be rewarded (verse 18)?

What is opened (verse 19)?

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

In your opinion, what triumph of God is displayed in this passage?

In your opinion, how is the breath from the four winds entering the dry bones and making them into a mighty army in Ezekiel 37:1-14 similar to “breath of life from God” entering the two witnesses in Revelation 11:11-19?

In your opinion, are the people who respond to Jesus’s invitation to “come to me and drink” in John 7:37-43 a part of the “the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah” proclaimed in Revelation 11:11-19?

In your opinion, how can the love that 1 John 4:7-17 proclaims help us understand what the “kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah” that Revelation 11:11-19 proclaims has come after the seventh trumpet sounds will be like? 

In your opinion, what do these passages from Ezekiel, John, 1 John and Revelation teach us about God’s ability to bring the victory of life and love into every circumstance of our lives?

In your opinion, how can our lives today be the “umph” in God’s triumph?

 

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)