February 5, 2023 – John’s Writings – Sanctuary’s Gate

Sanctuary’s Gate

Ezekiel 37:15-28 - New International Version (NIV)

¹⁵ The word of the Lord came to me: ¹⁶ “Son of man, take a stick of wood and write on it, ‘Belonging to Judah and the Israelites associated with him.’ Then take another stick of wood, and write on it, ‘Belonging to Joseph (that is, to Ephraim) and all the Israelites associated with him.’ ¹⁷ Join them together into one stick so that they will become one in your hand.

¹⁸ “When your people ask you, ‘Won’t you tell us what you mean by this?’ ¹⁹ say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am going to take the stick of Joseph—which is in Ephraim’s hand—and of the Israelite tribes associated with him, and join it to Judah’s stick. I will make them into a single stick of wood, and they will become one in my hand.’ ²⁰ Hold before their eyes the sticks you have written on ²¹ and say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will take the Israelites out of the nations where they have gone. I will gather them from all around and bring them back into their own land. ²² I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel. There will be one king over all of them and they will never again be two nations or be divided into two kingdoms. ²³ They will no longer defile themselves with their idols and vile images or with any of their offenses, for I will save them from all their sinful backsliding, and I will cleanse them. They will be my people, and I will be their God.

²⁴ “‘My servant David will be king over them, and they will all have one shepherd. They will follow my laws and be careful to keep my decrees. ²⁵ They will live in the land I gave to my servant Jacob, the land where your ancestors lived. They and their children and their children’s children will live there forever, and David my servant will be their prince forever. ²⁶ I will make a covenant of peace with them; it will be an everlasting covenant. I will establish them and increase their numbers, and I will put my sanctuary among them forever. ²⁷ My dwelling place will be with them; I will be their God, and they will be my people. ²⁸ Then the nations will know that I the Lord make Israel holy, when my sanctuary is among them forever.’”

What was Ezekiel to write on the first stick of wood (verse 15)?

What was Ezekiel to write on the second stick of wood (verse 15)?

What was Ezekiel to do with the two sticks of wood (verse 16)?

How was Ezekiel to answer when the people ask “won’t you tell us what you mean by this” (verses 18 and 19)?

What is the Sovereign Lord going to do with the Israelites (verse 21)?

How many kings will the formerly two nations have (verse 22)?

What will the Sovereign Lord save them from (verse 23)?

What will the people be (verse 23)?

How many shepherds will they have (verse 24)?

Where will they live (verse 25)?

How long will the covenant of peace last (verse 26)?

Where will God’s dwelling place be (verse 27)?

What will the nations know (verse 28)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about God’s sanctuary and our need for it?

John 10:7-18 - New International Version (NIV)

⁷ Therefore Jesus said again, “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. ⁸ All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. ⁹ I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture. ¹⁰ The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

¹¹ “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. ¹² The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. ¹³ The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.

¹⁴ “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— ¹⁵ just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. ¹⁶ I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. ¹⁷ The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. ¹⁸ No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.”

How did Jesus describe Himself (verse 7)?

Who came before (verse 8)?

What will happen to those who enter through Jesus (verse 9)?

Why has Jesus come (verse 10)?

What does the “good shepherd” do (verse 11)?

What happens after the hired hand abandons the sheep (verse 12)?

Why does the man run away (verse 13)?

Who do the sheep know (verse 14)?

What does Jesus do for His sheep (verse 15)?

In your opinion, what does Jesus mean when He says “I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen” (verse 16)?

How many flocks will there be (verse 16)?

Why does the Father love Jesus (verse 17)?

What authority does Jesus have (verse 18)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about God’s sanctuary and our need for it?

In your opinion, how are the two sticks of Ezekiel 37:15-28 different from the two flocks of John 10:7-18? 

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 overcomes the world (verse 5)?

Who “came by water and blood” (verse 6)?

Who testifies (verse 6)?

What three are in agreement (verses 7 and 8)?

What is greater than “human testimony” (verse 9)?

Who “accepts this testimony” (verse 10)?

What is “the testimony” (verse 11)?

Who has life (verse 12)?

Why does John write (verse 13)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about God’s sanctuary and our need for it?

In your opinion, how is God promise to call all the dispersed descendants of Israel and Judah back “into their own land” in Ezekiel 37:15-28 related to 1 John 5:5-13’s promise that everyone “who believes that Jesus is the Son of God” has overcome the world?

In your opinion, what do both John 10:7-18 and 1 John 5:5-13 teach us about the importance of individual discernment?

Revelation 12:13-17 – New International Version (NIV)

¹³ When the dragon saw that he had been hurled to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. ¹⁴ The woman was given the two wings of a great eagle, so that she might fly to the place prepared for her in the wilderness, where she would be taken care of for a time, times and half a time, out of the serpent’s reach. ¹⁵ Then from his mouth the serpent spewed water like a river, to overtake the woman and sweep her away with the torrent. ¹⁶ But the earth helped the woman by opening its mouth and swallowing the river that the dragon had spewed out of his mouth. ¹⁷ Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to wage war against the rest of her offspring—those who keep God’s commands and hold fast their testimony about Jesus.

What did the dragon do when he “saw that he had been hurled to the earth” (verse 13)?

Why was the woman “given the two wings of a great eagle” (verse 14)?

How long would the woman “be taken care of” (verse 15)?

Why did the serpent spew “water like a river” (verse 15)?

What did the earth do (verse 16)?

Who was the dragon’s next target (verse 17)?

How are the rest of the woman’s offspring described (verse 17)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about God’s sanctuary and our need for it?

In your opinion, how is the pursuit of the woman in Revelation 12:13-17 related to the covenant of peace promised to God’s people in Ezekiel 37:15-28?

In your opinion, what does Jesus’s discussion about the sheep who are in the pen and those who are not in John 10:7-18 help us understand about those who the dragon is pursuing and making war against in Revelation 12:13-17?

In your opinion, how does 1 John 5:5-13 reassure us about the outcome of the dragon’s war in Revelation 12:13-17 against “those who keep God’s commands and hold fast their testimony about Jesus”? 

In your opinion, what do these passages from Ezekiel, John, 1 John and Revelation teach us about the outcome of the confrontation of the Good Shepherd and the wolf/dragon?

In your opinion, how do these four very different big picture overviews help us understand about “Sanctuary’s Gate”?

 

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)