Saturday, June 17, 2023

June 25, 2023 – John’s Writings – From Death to Life

From Death to Life

Ezekiel 37:1-10 - New International Version (NIV)

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. 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. He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?”

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

Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the LordThis is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. 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.’”

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. I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.

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.

What was in the valley that the Spirit of the Lord brought Ezekiel to (verse 1)?

In your opinion, what does it mean that they “were very dry” (verse 2)?

How did Ezekiel respond to the Lord’s question “can these bones live” (verse 3)?

Whose words were the bones to hear (verse 4)?

What will happen when the Lord makes breath enter the bones (verse 5)?

What will the bones know (verse 6)?

What did Ezekiel hear as he prophesied (verse 7)?

What did the bones not have after the tendons and flesh appeared and were covered with skin (verse 8)?

What was Ezekiel to prophesy to (verse 9)?

Why were the four winds to breathe into the slain (verse 9)?

What happened when Ezekiel prophesied as commanded (verse 10)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about God’s ability to give life?

John 5:24-30 - New International Version (NIV)

24 “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life. 25 Very truly I tell you, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. 26 For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. 27 And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man.

28 “Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice 29 and come out—those who have done what is good will rise to live, and those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned. 30 By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me.

Who has eternal life (verse 24)?

What has the one who has eternal life crossed over (verse 24)?

What time has now come (verse 25)?

In your opinion, who are the dead (verse 25)?

When do the dead live (verse 25)?

What has the Father granted the Son (verse 26)?

Who has authority to judge (verse 27)?

What time is coming (verse 28)?

In your opinion, what is the difference between the dead (verse 25) and those in the graves (verse 28)?

What will those who rise from their graves rise to (verse 29)?

Who does Jesus seek to please (verse 30)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about God’s ability to give life?

In your opinion, are the dry bones that come to life in Ezekiel 37:1-10 representative of the ones that Jesus says in John 5:24-30 are dead, or the ones that Jesus said are “in their graves”?  Why?

1 John 2:24-3:3 – New International Version (NIV)

24 As for you, see that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you. If it does, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father. 25 And this is what he promised us—eternal life.

26 I am writing these things to you about those who are trying to lead you astray. 27 As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit—just as it has taught you, remain in him.

28 And now, dear children, continue in him, so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming.

29 If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of him.

3 See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.

What does John say that Christians are to see “remains in you” so that they “remain in the Son and in the Father” (verse 24)?

What did Jesus promise us (verse 25)?

Who is John writing about (verse 26)?

What remains in Christians (verse 27)?

What teaches Christians “all things” (verse 27)?

Who will be “confident and unashamed before him as his coming” (verse 28)?

How do we know that “everyone who does what is right has been born of him” (verse 29)?

In your opinion, what does it mean to you that the Father has lavished great love on you (verse 3:1)?

What has not been made known (verse 2)?

When will we know (verse 2)?

Who purifies themselves (verse 3)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about God’s ability to give life?

In your opinion, how are the four winds breathing into the slain in Ezekiel 37:1-10 and the anointing in 1 John 2:24-3:3 similar?

In your opinion, how does Jesus’s promise in John 5:24-30 that “whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life” help us understand how great the love is that God lavished on the “children of God” in 1 John 2:24-3:3?

Revelation 20:1-6 – New International Version (NIV)

And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain. He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be set free for a short time.

I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years. (The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.) This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years.

What two things did the “angel coming down out of heaven” have (verse 1)?

How long did the angel bind Satan (verse 2)?

Where did he throw Satan (verse 3)?

What was Satan unable to do (verse 3)?

Who were seated on the thrones (verse 4)?

Who “reigned with Christ a thousand years” (verse 4)?

Who “did not come to life until the thousand years were ended” (verse 5)?

What is the “first resurrection” (verses 4 and 5)?

Who is “blessed and holy” (verse 6)?

What has no power over the “blessed and holy” (verse 6)?

What will the “blessed and holy” do (verse 6)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about God’s ability to give life?

In your opinion, where does the vivid picture of the dry bones coming to life in Ezekiel 37:1-10 fit into the discussion of the dead coming to life in Revelations 20:1-6 (it is okay to have different opinions on this)?

In your opinion, where does the one who Jesus says in John 5:24-30 hears my word and believes him who sent me” fit into the Revelation 20:1-6 discussion of first resurrection and second death?

In your opinion, what does 1 John 2:24-3:3 help us understand about those who won’t be affected by the “second death” that Revelation 20:1-6 talks about? 

In your opinion, what do these passages from Ezekiel, John, 1 John and Revelation teach about spiritual death and life?

In your opinion, how enduring is the spiritual life that God gives?

 

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)

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