Wednesday, July 26, 2023

August 13, 2023 – John’s Writings – God’s Invitation to the Banished

God’s Invitation to the Banished

Genesis 3:17-23 - New International Version (NIV)

17 To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’

“Cursed is the ground because of you;
    through painful toil you will eat food from it
    all the days of your life.
18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you,
    and you will eat the plants of the field.
19 By the sweat of your brow
    you will eat your food
until you return to the ground,
    since from it you were taken;
for dust you are
    and to dust you will return.”

20 Adam named his wife Eve, because she would become the mother of all the living.

21 The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. 22 And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” 23 So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. 24 After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.

What had Adam done with the fruit from the tree that God commanded “you must not eat from it” (verse 17)?

What happened to the ground because of Adam (verse 17)?

How will Adam eat food from the ground (verse 17)?

What will the ground produce (verse 18)?

Where will Adam return (verse 19)?

Why did Adam name his wife Eve (verse 20)?

Who made garments and clothed Adam and Eve (verse 21)?

How had Adam and Eve become like God (verse 22)?

How did God keep Adam and Eve from eating from the tree of life (verse 23)?

Why were the cherubim and the flaming sword placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden (verse 24)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about our opportunity to come to eternal life?

John 1:35-39 - New International Version (NIV)

35 The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. 36 When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!”

37 When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. 38 Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, “What do you want?”

They said, “Rabbi” (which means “Teacher”), “where are you staying?”

39 “Come,” he replied, “and you will see.”

So they went and saw where he was staying, and they spent that day with him. It was about four in the afternoon.

Who was with John (verse 35)?

What did John say when he saw Jesus (verse 36)?

Who followed Jesus (verse 37)?

What did Jesus ask them (verse 38)?

How did Jesus answer when they said “where are you staying” (verse 39)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about our opportunity to come to eternal life?

In your opinion, how is the banishment of Genesis 3:17-23 beginning to be rescinded by the invitation of Jesus in John 1:9-18?

1 John 5:5-13 – New International Version (NIV)

Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.

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. For there are three that testify: the Spirit, the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement. 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. 

What does the one “who believes that Jesus is the Son of God” do (verse 5)?

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

Who is “the truth” (verse 6)?

Who are the “three that testify” (verses 7 and 8)?

Why is God’s testimony greater (verse 9)?

Who “accepts this testimony” (verse 10)?

What is the testimony (verse 11)?

Who has life (verse 12)?

Why did John “write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God” (verse 13)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about our opportunity to come to eternal life?

In your opinion, how does 1 John 5:5-13 provide an answer to the banishment of Genesis 3:17-23?

In your opinion, how is the invitation of Jesus to the two disciples to “come” in John 1:9-18 expanded from a day to an eternity in 1 John 5:5-13?

Revelation 22:16-21 – New International Version (NIV)

16 “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star.”

17 The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let the one who hears say, “Come!” Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life.

18 I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this scroll: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to that person the plagues described in this scroll. 19 And if anyone takes words away from this scroll of prophecy, God will take away from that person any share in the tree of life and in the Holy City, which are described in this scroll.

20 He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon.”

Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.

21 The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God’s people. Amen.

Who sent the angel “to give you this testimony for the churches” (verse 16)?

Who is “the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star” (verse 16)?

What do the Spirit and the bride say (verse 17)?

What should the “one who hears say” (verse 17)?

Who is to be allowed to “take the free gift of the water of life” (verse 17)?

What will happen to the one who adds to the “words of prophecy of this scroll” (verse 18)?

What will happen to the one who “takes words away from this scroll of prophecy” (verse 19)?

Who says “yes, I am coming soon” (verse 20)?

What does John pray will “be with God’s people” (verse 21)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about our opportunity to come to eternal life?

In your opinion, how is the banishment of Genesis 3:17-23 resolved by the invitation of “the Spirit and the bride” in Revelation 22:16-21?

In your opinion, how is the prayer “Amen. Come Lord Jesus” in Revelation 22:16-21 the perfect response to Jesus’s invitation in John 1:9-18 to “Come”?

In your opinion, what does 1 John 5:5-13 help us understand about the “free gift of the water of life” that Revelation 22:16-21 invites the thirsty to take? 

In your opinion, what do these passages from Genesis, John, 1 John and Revelation teach us about how those who were once banned from eternal life are invited by God to enter it?

In your opinion, how can you confidently pray “Come, Lord Jesus”?

 

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)

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