Mercy for those who See
Hosea 6:4 – 7:1a - New International
Version (NIV)
4 “What can I do with you,
Ephraim?
What can I do with you, Judah?
Your love is like the morning mist,
like the early dew that disappears.
5 Therefore I cut you in pieces with my prophets,
I killed you with the words of my mouth—
then my judgments go forth like the sun.
6 For I desire mercy, not sacrifice,
and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt
offerings.
7 As at Adam, they have broken the covenant;
they were unfaithful to me there.
8 Gilead is a city of evildoers,
stained with footprints of blood.
9 As marauders lie in ambush for a victim,
so do bands of priests;
they murder on the road to Shechem,
carrying out their wicked schemes.
10 I have seen a horrible thing in Israel:
There Ephraim is given to prostitution,
Israel is defiled.
11 “Also for you, Judah,
a harvest is appointed.
“Whenever I would restore the fortunes of my people,
1 whenever I would heal Israel,
the sins of Ephraim are exposed
and the crimes of Samaria revealed.
What is the love of Ephraim and Judah like (verse 4)?
How did the Lord cut Ephraim and Judah in
pieces (verse 5)?
What does the Lord desire instead of sacrifice (verse
6)?
How are Ephraim and Judah like Adam (verse 7)?
What is Gilead (verse 8)?
How are marauders and bands of priests similar (verse
9)?
What horrible things has the Lord seen in
Israel (verse 10)?
What is appointed for Judah (verse 11)?
When are the sins of Ephraim exposed and the
crimes of Samaria revealed (verses 11 and 1)?
In
your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?
In your opinion, what does this passage show us
about God’s mercy?
John
9:24-34 - New
International Version (NIV)
24 A second time they summoned the man who had been blind. “Give
glory to God by telling the truth,” they said. “We know this man is a
sinner.”
25 He replied, “Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One
thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!”
26 Then they asked him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your
eyes?”
27 He answered, “I have told you already and you did not listen.
Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples too?”
28 Then they hurled insults at him and said, “You are this fellow’s
disciple! We are disciples of Moses! 29 We know that God
spoke to Moses, but as for this fellow, we don’t even know where he comes
from.”
30 The man answered, “Now that is remarkable! You don’t know where he
comes from, yet he opened my eyes. 31 We know that God
does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly person who does his
will. 32 Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a
man born blind. 33 If this man were not from God, he
could do nothing.”
34 To this they replied, “You were steeped in sin at birth; how
dare you lecture us!” And they threw him out.
Who did the Pharisees summon a second time (verse 24)?
How did they want the man to “give glory to God”
(verse 24)?
What did the Pharisees know (verse 24)?
What did the man know (verse 25)?
In your opinion, why did they ask the man “how did
he open your eyes” (verse 26)?
What had the man told the Pharisees before (verse 27)?
Who did the Pharisees say they were disciples of (verse
28)?
What did the Pharisees know (verse 29)?
In your opinion, how does the man’s statement “we
don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes” expose the Pharisees
hypocrisy (verse 30)?
Who does the man say that God does not listen to
(verse 31)?
Who does the man say that God does listen to (verse 31)?
What had no one “ever heard of” (verse 32)?
In your opinion, is the man’s statement that “if
this man were not from God, he could do nothing” valid (verse 33)?
How did the Pharisees respond (verse 34)?
In your opinion, what is the basic message of this
passage?
In your opinion, what
does this passage show us about God’s mercy?
In
your opinion, how is God’s plea in Hosea:4-7:1a that mercy is desired instead
of sacrifice demonstrated again in John 9:24-34?
1 John 2:7-14 – New International Version (NIV)
7 Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old
one, which you have had since the beginning. This old command is the
message you have heard. 8 Yet I am writing you a new
command; its truth is seen in him and in you, because the darkness is
passing and the true light is already shining.
9 Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or
sister is still in the darkness. 10 Anyone who loves
their brother and sister lives in the light, and there is nothing in
them to make them stumble. 11 But anyone who hates a
brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the
darkness. They do not know where they are going, because the darkness has
blinded them.
12 I am writing to you,
dear children,
because your sins have been forgiven on account of his
name.
13 I am writing to you, fathers,
because you know him who is from the beginning.
I am writing to you, young men,
because you have overcome the evil one.
14 I write to you, dear
children,
because you know the Father.
I write to you, fathers,
because you know him who is from the beginning.
I write to you, young men,
because you are strong,
and the word of God lives in you,
and you have overcome the evil one.
Since
when did John’s friends have the commandment that he is writing (verse 7)?
Why
is the command new (verse 8)?
Who
is in the darkness (verse 9)?
Who
does not have anything “in them to make them stumble” (verse 10)?
Why
do people who hate their brother or sister “not know where they are going”
(verse 11)?
Whose sins are forgiven (verse 12)?
Who has “known him
who is from the beginning” (verse 13)?
Who has “overcome
the evil one” (verse 13)?
What do the “dear children”
now know (verse 14)?
In your opinion, why
has what the fathers know not changed (verse 14)?
What has changed for
the young men (verse 14)?
In your opinion, what
is the basic message of this passage?
In your opinion, what does this passage show us
about God’s mercy?
In your opinion, how can
God’s desire for mercy in Hosea 6:4-7:1a, which is replaced in 1 John 2:7-14
with the command to love, be not a new command but at the same time be a new
command (as stated in the 1 John passage)?
In
your opinion, what does 1 John 2:7-14 help us understand about why the
Pharisees in John 9:24-34 threw out the man who had been born blind?
Revelation 14:14-20 – New International
Version (NIV)
14 I looked, and there before me was a white cloud, and seated
on the cloud was one like a son of man with a crown of gold on his
head and a sharp sickle in his hand. 15 Then another angel
came out of the temple and called in a loud voice to him who was sitting
on the cloud, “Take your sickle and reap, because the time to reap has
come, for the harvest of the earth is ripe.” 16 So he
who was seated on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was
harvested.
17 Another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a
sharp sickle. 18 Still another angel, who had charge of
the fire, came from the altar and called in a loud voice to him who had
the sharp sickle, “Take your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of
grapes from the earth’s vine, because its grapes are ripe.” 19 The
angel swung his sickle on the earth, gathered its grapes and threw them into
the great winepress of God’s wrath. 20 They were trampled
in the winepress outside the city, and blood flowed out of the
press, rising as high as the horses’ bridles for a distance of 1,600 stadia.
Where was the “one like a son of man” seated
(verse 14)?
What
was He wearing (verse 14)?
What
was He holding (verse 14)?
Who
called out to “him who was sitting on the cloud” (verse 15)?
What
was called out (verse 15)?
In
your opinion, who was harvested from the earth (verse 16)?
What
did the angel who came from the temple have (verse 17)?
Who
said “take your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of grapes from the
earth’s vine” (verse 18)?
Where
did the angel throw the grapes that were harvested (verse 19)?
What
happened to the grapes (verse 20)?
In
your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?
In your opinion, what does this passage
show us about God’s mercy?
In your opinion, how is the harvest of
Judah that God has appointed in Hosea 6:4-7:1a related to the two harvests of
Revelation 14:14-20?
In
your opinion, which of the harvests of Revelation 14:14-20 do you think the man
in John 9:24-34 who said “One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!” will be taken away in?
In your opinion, what does 1 John 2:7-14
help us understand about those who are harvested by the one “seated on the
cloud was one like a son of man with a crown of gold on his head and
a sharp sickle in his hand” in Revelation 14:14-20 and about those who are
harvested by the “angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a
sharp sickle” from the same passage?
In
your opinion, what do these passages from Hosea, John, 1 John and Revelation teach
us about how God reacts to a sinful people?
In
your opinion, how do these four very different passages teach us about how to
respond to a merciful God?
(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)
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