Saturday, February 4, 2023

February 12, 2023 – John’s Writings – The Son’s Victorious Kingdom

 The Son’s Victorious Kingdom

Daniel 2:36-45 - New International Version (NIV)

36 “This was the dream, and now we will interpret it to the king. 37 Your Majesty, you are the king of kings. The God of heaven has given you dominion and power and might and glory; 38 in your hands he has placed all mankind and the beasts of the field and the birds in the sky. Wherever they live, he has made you ruler over them all. You are that head of gold.

39 “After you, another kingdom will arise, inferior to yours. Next, a third kingdom, one of bronze, will rule over the whole earth. 40 Finally, there will be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron—for iron breaks and smashes everything—and as iron breaks things to pieces, so it will crush and break all the others. 41 Just as you saw that the feet and toes were partly of baked clay and partly of iron, so this will be a divided kingdom; yet it will have some of the strength of iron in it, even as you saw iron mixed with clay. 42 As the toes were partly iron and partly clay, so this kingdom will be partly strong and partly brittle. 43 And just as you saw the iron mixed with baked clay, so the people will be a mixture and will not remain united, any more than iron mixes with clay.

44 “In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever. 45 This is the meaning of the vision of the rock cut out of a mountain, but not by human hands—a rock that broke the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold to pieces.

What was Daniel going to do with the dream (verse 36)?

Who has given the king “dominion and power and might and glory” (verse 37)?

What is the king (verse 38)?

How will the next kingdom compare to the current kingdom (verse 39)?

What will the fourth kingdom do (verse 40)?

How do we know that the fourth kingdom will “be a divided kingdom” (verse 41)?

Why will the people of the fourth kingdom not remain united (verse 43)?

When will the God of heaven “set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed” (verse 44)?

What will this kingdom do to “all those kingdoms” (verse 44)?

How long will this kingdom “endure” (verse 44)?

What did not cut the rock that is the kingdom that will never be destroyed out of the mountain (verse 45)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about our part in God’s victorious and eternal kingdom?

John 8:30-38 - New International Version (NIV)

30 Even as he spoke, many believed in him.

31 To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

33 They answered him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?”

34 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. 35 Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. 37 I know that you are Abraham’s descendants. Yet you are looking for a way to kill me, because you have no room for my word. 38 I am telling you what I have seen in the Father’s presence, and you are doing what you have heard from your father.”

What happened while Jesus spoke (verse 30)?

Who did Jesus tell “if you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples” (verse 31)?

What else will happen if the hold to Jesus teaching (verse 32)?

In your opinion, why would the Jews say “we are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone” (verse 33)?

How did Jesus respond to them (verse 34)?

Where does the son belong forever (verse 35)?

What happens when the Son sets you free (verse 36)?

Why were the Jews looking to kill Jesus (verse 37)?

What are the Jews doing (verse 38)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about our part in God’s victorious and eternal kingdom?

In your opinion, what do the words of Jesus in John 8:30-38 help us understand about the kingdom that Daniel 2:36-45 says God will set up?

2 John 4-11 – 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. 11 Anyone who welcomes them shares in their wicked work.

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

What is the command “we have had from the beginning” (verse 5)?

What is love (verse 6)?

Who does “not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh” (verse 7)?

Who is the antichrist (verse 7)?

What are the readers to “watch out” for (verse 8)?

Who “does not have God” (verse 9)?

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

How should we respond to someone who “does not bring this teaching” (verse 10)?

Who “shares in their wicked work” (verse 11)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about our part in God’s victorious and eternal kingdom?

In your opinion, what does 2 John 4-11 help us understand about how the kingdom that God is setting up in Daniel 2:36-45 is different from the worldly kingdoms that will be crushed?

In your opinion, what differences do John 8:30-38 and 2 John 4-11 show us between the kingdom of God and worldly kingdoms?

Revelation 13:1-10 – New International Version (NIV)

The dragon stood on the shore of the sea. And I saw a beast coming out of the sea. It had ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on its horns, and on each head a blasphemous name. The beast I saw resembled a leopard, but had feet like those of a bear and a mouth like that of a lion. The dragon gave the beast his power and his throne and great authority. One of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed. The whole world was filled with wonder and followed the beast. People worshiped the dragon because he had given authority to the beast, and they also worshiped the beast and asked, “Who is like the beast? Who can wage war against it?”

The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise its authority for forty-two months. It opened its mouth to blaspheme God, and to slander his name and his dwelling place and those who live in heaven. It was given power to wage war against God’s holy people and to conquer them. And it was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation. All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written in the Lamb’s book of life, the Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world.

Whoever has ears, let them hear.

10 “If anyone is to go into captivity,
    into captivity they will go.
If anyone is to be killed with the sword,
    with the sword they will be killed.”

This calls for patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of God’s people.

Where did the dragon stand (verse 1)?

Where did the beast come from (verse 1)?

What did the dragon give the beast (verse 2)?

How did the “whole world” respond to the beast (verse 3)?

Who did people worship (verse 4)?

Why was the beast given a mouth (verse 5)?

Who did the beast slander (verse 6)?

What was the beast given the power to do (verse 7)?

Who will worship the beast (verse 8)?

What are people with ears to do (verse 9)?

What is called for “on the part of God’s people” verse 10)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about our part in God’s victorious and eternal kingdom?

In your opinion, what does Daniel 2:36-45 help us understand about the seeming dominance of the beast in Revelation 13:1-10?

In your opinion, how does the conflict between Jesus doing what He saw in His Father’s presence and the Jews doing what they heard from their father in John 8:30-38 help us better understand the conflict between those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life and those whose names are not in Revelation 13:1-10?

In your opinion, why is 2 John 4-11’s command to “love one another” important in relationship to the worldwide worship of the dragon and the beast revealed by Revelation 13:1-10? 

In your opinion, what do these passages from Daniel, John, 1 John and Revelation teach us about how we are freed from the seemingly overwhelmingly powerful world kingdom?

In your opinion, what part do we have in the conflict between the world and Jesus?

 

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)

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