April 16, 2023 – John’s Writings – Reaction to God

Reacting to God

Isaiah 66:4-10 - New International Version (NIV)

⁴ so I also will choose harsh treatment for them
    and will bring on them what they dread.
For when I called, no one answered,
    when I spoke, no one listened.
They did evil in my sight
    and chose what displeases me.”

⁵ Hear the word of the Lord,
    you who tremble at his word:
“Your own people who hate you,
    and exclude you because of my name, have said,
‘Let the Lord be glorified,
    that we may see your joy!’
    Yet they will be put to shame.
⁶ Hear that uproar from the city,
    hear that noise from the temple!
It is the sound of the Lord
    repaying his enemies all they deserve.

⁷ “Before she goes into labor,
    she gives birth;
before the pains come upon her,
    she delivers a son.
⁸ Who has ever heard of such things?
    Who has ever seen things like this?
Can a country be born in a day
    or a nation be brought forth in a moment?
Yet no sooner is Zion in labor
    than she gives birth to her children.
⁹ Do I bring to the moment of birth
    and not give delivery?” says the Lord.
“Do I close up the womb
    when I bring to delivery?” says your God.
¹⁰ “Rejoice with Jerusalem and be glad for her,
    all you who love her;
rejoice greatly with her,
    all you who mourn over her.

Who listened when the Lord spoke (verse 4)?

What did people do in the Lord’s sight (verse 4)?

Why do people hate those “who tremble at his word” (verse 5)?

What do people who hate those “who tremble at his word” say (verse 5)?

What is the uproar in the city and the noise in the temple (verse 6)?

What happens “before she goes into labor” (verse 7)?

In your opinion, “can a country be born in a day or a nation be brought forth in a moment” (verse 8)?

Who asks “do I bring to the moment of birth and not give delivery” (verse 9)?

What are those who “mourn over” Jerusalem to do (verse 10)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage show us about how people react to God?

John 19:25-30 - New International Version (NIV)

²⁵ Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. ²⁶ When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to her, “Woman, here is your son,” ²⁷ and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.

²⁸ Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.” ²⁹ A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips. ³⁰ When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

Who stood near the cross of Jesus (verse 25)?

What did Jesus say to His mother about “the disciple whom he loved” (verse 26)?

What did Jesus say to the disciple (verse 27)?

How did the disciple react (verse 27)?

When did Jesus say “I am thirsty” (verse 28)?

What did they soak the sponge in (verse 29)?

How did they get the sponge to Jesus’ lips (verse 29)?

What did Jesus say “when he had received the drink” (verse 30)?

What did Jesus give up (verse 30)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage show us about how people react to God?

In your opinion, how do you reconcile the “harsh treatment” that is promised in Isaiah 66:4-10 for those who do evil and displease God with the Son of God, who is God, hanging on the cross and giving up His spirit in John 19:25-30?

1 John 3:11-18 – New International Version (NIV)

¹¹ For this is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another. ¹² Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother’s were righteous. ¹³ Do not be surprised, my brothers and sisters, if the world hates you. ¹⁴ We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love each other. Anyone who does not love remains in death. ¹⁵ Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him.

¹⁶ This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. ¹⁷ If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? ¹⁸ Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.

When did John’s readers hear the message “we should love one another” (verse 11)?

Who did Cain belong to (verse 12)?

Why did Cain murder his brother (verse 12)?

What should not surprise Christian “brothers and sisters” (verse 13)?

How can we “know that we have passed from death to life” (verse 14)?

Where does someone “who does not love” remain (verse 14)?

Who is a murderer (verse 15)?

How do we know what love is (verse 16)?

How should we love (verse 18)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage show us about how people react to God?

In your opinion, who in Isaiah 66:4-10 is like Cain as he is revealed in 1 John 3:11-18?

In your opinion, how does what Jesus finished in John 19:25-30 help us understand the love that 1 John 3:11-18 tells us about?

Revelation 16:17-21 – New International Version (NIV)

¹⁷ The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and out of the temple came a loud voice from the throne, saying, “It is done!” ¹⁸ Then there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder and a severe earthquake. No earthquake like it has ever occurred since mankind has been on earth, so tremendous was the quake. ¹⁹ The great city split into three parts, and the cities of the nations collapsed. God remembered Babylon the Great and gave her the cup filled with the wine of the fury of his wrath. ²⁰ Every island fled away and the mountains could not be found. ²¹ From the sky huge hailstones, each weighing about a hundred pounds, fell on people. And they cursed God on account of the plague of hail, because the plague was so terrible.

Where did the seventh angel pour out his bowl (verse 17)?

What did the loud voice “from the throne” say (verse 17)?

What did the pouring of the bowl cause (verse 18)?

What split into three parts (verse 19)?

Who got the “cup filled with the wine of the fury of his wrath” (verse 19)?

What did “every island” do (verse 20)?

How heavy were the huge hailstones that fell from the shy (verse 21)?

How did people respond to all of this (verse 21)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage show us about how people react to God?

In your opinion, how does the “uproar from the city” in Isaiah 66:4-10 relate to the events of Revelation 16:17-21?

In your opinion, how is Jesus’s statement from the cross, “it is finished” in John 19:25-30 related to the loud voice from the throne in the temple that says “it is done” in Revelation 16:17-21?

In your opinion, how can you reconcile that the God 1 John 3:11-18 teaches us love by Jesus Christ laying His life down for us being the same God that has a cup filled with the wine of His wrath for Babylon the Great in Revelation 16:17-21? 

In your opinion, what do these passages from Isaiah, John, 1 John and Revelation help us understand about the complexity of God?

In your opinion, how should we, who have received God’s love, know He is the God of love who said “it is finished”, and of wrath who will say “it is done”, live in a world that choses Babylon the Great over Jesus Christ?