September 17, 2023 – Isaiah in the New Testament – Children of God

Children of God

Isaiah 8:16-9:2 - New International Version (NIV)

¹⁶ Bind up this testimony of warning
    and seal up God’s instruction among my disciples.
¹⁷ I will wait for the Lord,
    who is hiding his face from the descendants of Jacob.
I will put my trust in him.

¹⁸ Here am I, and the children the Lord has given me. We are signs and symbols in Israel from the Lord Almighty, who dwells on Mount Zion.

¹⁹ When someone tells you to consult mediums and spiritists, who whisper and mutter, should not a people inquire of their God? Why consult the dead on behalf of the living? ²⁰ Consult God’s instruction and the testimony of warning. If anyone does not speak according to this word, they have no light of dawn. ²¹ Distressed and hungry, they will roam through the land; when they are famished, they will become enraged and, looking upward, will curse their king and their God. ²² Then they will look toward the earth and see only distress and darkness and fearful gloom, and they will be thrust into utter darkness.

9¹Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honor Galilee of the nations, by the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan—

² The people walking in darkness
    have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of deep darkness
    a light has dawned.

What is Isaiah to “bind up” (verse 16)?

Who will Isaiah put his trust in (verse 17)?

Who is with Isaiah (verse 18)?

Who should we inquire of when “someone tells you to consult mediums and spiritists, who whisper and mutter” (verse 19)?

Who has “no light of dawn” (verse 20)?

What do those who have “no light of dawn” do when they “become enraged” (verses 20 and 21)?

What will they see when they “look toward the earth” (verse 22)?

What will He do in the future (verse 1)?

What have the “people walking in darkness” seen (verse 2)?

Where has “a light dawned” (verse 2)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage help us understand about the way people react to God?

John 1:9-18 - New International Version (NIV)

⁹ The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. ¹⁰ He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. ¹¹ He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. ¹² Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— ¹³ children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

¹⁴ The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

¹⁵ (John testified concerning him. He cried out, saying, “This is the one I spoke about when I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’”) ¹⁶ Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. ¹⁷ For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. ¹⁸ No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.

What was “coming into the world” (verse 9)?

How did the world respond (verse 10)?

Who did not receive Him (verse 11)?

What happened to “all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name” (verse 12)?

How were these children born (verse 13)?

Who “became flesh and made his dwelling among us” (verse 14)?

Who testified and said “He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me” (verse 15)?

What have we all received “out of his fullness” (verse 16)?

What came through Jesus Christ (verse 17)?

Who has made God known (verse 18)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage help us understand about the way people react to God?

In your opinion, how are the children that Isaiah says the Lord gave him in Isaiah 8:16-9:2 like the children that John 1:9-18 discusses?

Matthew 11:25-30 – New International Version (NIV)

²⁵ At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. ²⁶ Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do.

²⁷ “All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

²⁸ “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. ²⁹ Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰ For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Who had the Father “hidden these things” from (verse 25)?

Who had the Father revealed them to (verse 25)?

What has been committed to Jesus (verse 27)?

Who knows the Father (verse 27)?

What will Jesus give to those “who are weary and burdened” (verse 28)?

Why should we take Jesus’s yoke (verse 29)?

What will we find in we take Jesus’s yoke (verse 29)?

What is easy (verse 30)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage help us understand about the way people react to God?

In your opinion, would both Isaiah and the children that are with him in Isaiah 8:16-9:2 fit into the description of little children as Jesus uses it in Matthew 11:25-30?

In your opinion, what does John 1:9-18 help us understand about the little children that the Father reveals the hidden things to in Matthew 11:25-30?

Hebrews 2:10-18 – New International Version (NIV)

¹⁰ In bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through what he suffered. ¹¹ Both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters. ¹² He says,

“I will declare your name to my brothers and sisters;
    in the assembly I will sing your praises.”

¹³ And again,

“I will put my trust in him.”

And again he says,

“Here am I, and the children God has given me.”

¹⁴ Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— ¹⁵ and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. ¹⁶ For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham’s descendants. ¹⁷ For this reason he had to be made like them, fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. ¹⁸ Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.

How was the pioneer of the salvation of the “many sons and daughters” made perfect (verse 10)?

Who are “of the same family” (verse 11)?

What is Jesus not ashamed to call them (verse 11)?

Where will Jesus sing praises to His “brothers and sisters” (verse 12)?

Who does Jesus say is with Him (verse 13)?

Why did Jesus share the “flesh and blood” of the children (verse 14)?

Who did Jesus free (verse 15)?

Who doesn’t Jesus help (verse 16)?

In your opinion, who are “Abraham’s descendants” (see Galatians 3:7) (verse 16)?

Why did Jesus have to “be made like them, fully human in every way” (verse 17)?

Why is Jesus “able to help those who are being tempted” (verse 18)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage help us understand about the way people react to God?

In your opinion, what does Hebrews 2:10-18 reveal about why it was necessary for Isaiah to say that he would “wait for the Lord” in Isaiah 8:16-9:2?

In your opinion, how does Jesus being with “the children God has given me” in Hebrews 2:10-18 deepen and enrich the promise that “to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” found in John 1:9-18?

In your opinion, how does Hebrews 2:10-18 help us understand why Jesus in Matthew 11:25-30 can say that His yoke is easy and His burden is light? 

In your opinion, what do these passages from Isaiah, John, Matthew, and Hebrews teach us about how the children of God respond to Jesus?

In your opinion, how can we release our weariness and burdens today to become children in the presence of Jesus?

 

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)

September 10, 2023 – Isaiah in the New Testament – Stumbling into Salvation

Stumbling into Salvation

Isaiah 8:11-16 - New International Version (NIV)

¹¹ This is what the Lord says to me with his strong hand upon me, warning me not to follow the way of this people:

¹² “Do not call conspiracy
    everything this people calls a conspiracy;
do not fear what they fear,
    and do not dread it.
¹³ The Lord Almighty is the one you are to regard as holy,
    he is the one you are to fear,
    he is the one you are to dread.
¹⁴ He will be a holy place;
    for both Israel and Judah he will be
a stone that causes people to stumble
    and a rock that makes them fall.
And for the people of Jerusalem he will be
    a trap and a snare.
¹⁵ Many of them will stumble;
    they will fall and be broken,
    they will be snared and captured.”

¹⁶ Bind up this testimony of warning
    and seal up God’s instruction among my disciples.

Whose “strong hand” was on Isaiah (verse 11)?

What way was Isaiah not to follow (verse 11)?

What is Isaiah not to fear (verse 12)?

Who is Isaiah to regard as holy (verse 13)?

Who will be a “holy place” (verse 14)?

In your opinion, what does it mean to say that the Lord Almighty will be “a stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall” (verse 14)?

What is Isaiah to do with this testimony (verse 16)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage help us understand about why a stone that causes stumbling is important in salvation?

Luke 2:25-35 - New International Version (NIV)

²⁵ Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him. ²⁶ It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. ²⁷ Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, ²⁸ Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying:

²⁹ “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised,
    you may now dismiss your servant in peace.
³⁰ For my eyes have seen your salvation,
³¹     which you have prepared in the sight of all nations:
³² a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
    and the glory of your people Israel.”

³³ The child’s father and mother marveled at what was said about him. ³⁴ Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, ³⁵ so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.”

Who was Simeon waiting for (verse 25)?

What had been revealed to Simeon (verse 26)?

Why did Simeon go “into the temple courts” (verse 27)?

How did Simeon react when he saw Jesus (verses 27 and 28)?

In your opinion, what did Simeon mean by “you may now dismiss your servant in peace” (verse 29)?

What had Simeon seen (verse 30)?

What did Simeon say Jesus was for the Gentiles (verse 32)?

What did Simeon say Jesus was for Israel (verse 32)?

How did Jesus’s parents respond to what Simeon said (verse 33)?

What was Jesus destined to cause in Israel (verse 34)?

What will happen to Mary (verse 35)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage help us understand about why a stone that causes stumbling is important in salvation?

In your opinion, how do the words of Simeon in Luke 2:25-35 echo the prophecy in Isaiah 8:11-16?

Romans 9:30-10:4 – New International Version (NIV)

³⁰ What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; ³¹ but the people of Israel, who pursued the law as the way of righteousness, have not attained their goal. ³² Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone. ³³ As it is written:

“See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes people to stumble
    and a rock that makes them fall,
    and the one who believes in him will never be put to shame.”

¹ Brothers and sisters, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. ² For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. ³ Since they did not know the righteousness of God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. ⁴ Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.

What have Gentiles obtain that they did not pursue (verse 30)?

How have they obtained it (verse 30)?

What have the “people of Israel, who pursued the law as the way of righteousness” not attained (verse 31)?

What did the people of Israel stumble over (verse 32)?

What did the Lord lay in Zion (verse 33)?

Who will never be “put to shame” (verse 33)?

What is Paul’s “heart’s desire and prayer” (verse 1)?

What could Paul testify about (verse 2)?

Why did they “not submit to God’s righteousness” (verse 3)?

Why may there “be righteousness for everyone who believes” (verse 4)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage help us understand about why a stone that causes stumbling is important in salvation?

In your opinion, how does Isaiah 8:11-16 perfectly prophesy the problem with Jesus Christ that we read about in Romans 9:30-10:4?  How is the solution that God offers for that problem also revealed?

In your opinion, how is Simeon in Luke 2:25-35 an example of how the solution to the lack of righteousness found in Romans 9:30-10:4 can be claimed by any of us?

1 Peter 2:4-10 – New International Version (NIV)

⁴ As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him— ⁵ you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. ⁶ For in Scripture it says:

“See, I lay a stone in Zion,
    a chosen and precious cornerstone,
and the one who trusts in him
    will never be put to shame.”

⁷ Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe,

“The stone the builders rejected
    has become the cornerstone,”

⁸ and,

“A stone that causes people to stumble
    and a rock that makes them fall.”

They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for.

⁹ But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. ¹⁰ Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

Who is “rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him” (verse 4)?

What are the “living stones” being built into (verse 5)?

What kind of sacrifices are “acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (verse 5)?

Who will “never be put to shame” (verse 6)?

What is the stone “to those who do not believe” (verse 7)?

What does the stone cause people to do (verse 8)?

Why do people stumble (verse 8)?

What may “a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession” do (verse 9)?

What have “the people of God” received (verse 10)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage help us understand about why a stone that causes stumbling is important in salvation?

In your opinion, how does the stone that people stumble over in Isaiah 8:11-16 become so much more in 1 Peter 2:4-10?

In your opinion, how do Simeon’s words that “this child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel” in Luke 2:25-35 anticipate how Peter would see Jesus in 1 Peter 2:4-10? 

In your opinion, how does Paul in Romans 9:30-10:41 when he says “Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes” help us understand how Jesus can be both the stumbling stone and the cornerstone in 1 Peter 2:4-10?

In your opinion, what do these passages from Isaiah, Luke, Romans and 1 Peter help us understand about the stone that Jesus is in our lives?

In your opinion, how do we “declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light”?

 

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)

September 3, 2023 – Isaiah in the New Testament – From Fear to Faith

From Fear to Faith

Isaiah 8:5-13 - New International Version (NIV)

⁵ The Lord spoke to me again:

⁶ “Because this people has rejected
    the gently flowing waters of Shiloah
and rejoices over Rezin
    and the son of Remaliah,
⁷ therefore the Lord is about to bring against them
    the mighty floodwaters of the Euphrates—
    the king of Assyria with all his pomp.
It will overflow all its channels,
    run over all its banks
⁸ and sweep on into Judah, swirling over it,
    passing through it and reaching up to the neck.
Its outspread wings will cover the breadth of your land,
    Immanuel!”

⁹ Raise the war cry, you nations, and be shattered!
    Listen, all you distant lands.
Prepare for battle, and be shattered!
    Prepare for battle, and be shattered!
¹⁰ Devise your strategy, but it will be thwarted;
    propose your plan, but it will not stand,
    for God is with us.

¹¹ This is what the Lord says to me with his strong hand upon me, warning me not to follow the way of this people:

¹² “Do not call conspiracy
    everything this people calls a conspiracy;
do not fear what they fear,
    and do not dread it.
¹³ The Lord Almighty is the one you are to regard as holy,
    he is the one you are to fear,
    he is the one you are to dread.

Who spoke to Isaiah (verse 5)?

What have the people of Judah rejected (verse 6)?

Who will the Lord bring against the people of Judah (verse 7)?

What will the “mighty floodwaters of the Euphrates” do in Judah (verses 7 and 8)?

What will happen to those who “prepare for battle” (verse 9)?

Why will the proposed plan not stand (verse 10)?

What way did the Lord warn Isaiah not to follow (verse 11)?

What is Isaiah not to call conspiracy (verse 12)?

What is Isaiah not to fear (verse 12)?

Who is holy (verse 13)?

Who should be feared (verse 13)?

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

In your opinion, how does this passage help us stop fearing as the world does?

Matthew 10:24-33 - New International Version (NIV)

²⁴ “The student is not above the teacher, nor a servant above his master. ²⁵ It is enough for students to be like their teachers, and servants like their masters. If the head of the house has been called Beelzebul, how much more the members of his household!

²⁶ “So do not be afraid of them, for there is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. ²⁷ What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs. ²⁸ Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. ²⁹ Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care. ³⁰ And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. ³¹ So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.

³² “Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. ³³ But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven.

Who is not above the teacher (verse 24)?

What “is enough” (verse 25)?

In your opinion, what does Jesus mean when He says “If the head of the house has been called Beelzebul, how much more the members of his household” (verse 25)?

Why should the followers of Jesus not be afraid of governors and kings (verse 26)?

What should we do with what Jesus tells us in the dark (verse 27)?

Who should we be afraid of (verse 28)?

What cannot fall to the ground outside our Father’s care (verse 29)?

What is numbered (verse 30)?

Why should we not be afraid (verse 31)?

Who will Jesus acknowledge (verse 32)?

Who will Jesus disown (verse 33)?

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

In your opinion, how does this passage help us stop fearing as the world does?

In your opinion, how does understanding that God knows you so completely that he knows the numbers of hairs on your head as Jesus taught in Matthew 10:24-33 help keep you from fearing what the world fears as Isaiah warned in Isaiah 8:5-13?

Romans 10:5-13 – New International Version (NIV)

⁵ Moses writes this about the righteousness that is by the law: “The person who does these things will live by them.” ⁶ But the righteousness that is by faith says: “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’” (that is, to bring Christ down) ⁷ “or ‘Who will descend into the deep?’” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). ⁸ But what does it say? “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,” that is, the message concerning faith that we proclaim: ⁹ If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰ For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. ¹¹ As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.” ¹² For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, ¹³ for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

What did Moses write about “the righteousness that is by the law” (verse 5)?

What does “who will ascend into heaven” mean (verse 6)?

What does “who will descend into the deep” mean (verse 7)?

What does “the righteousness that is by faith” say (verse 8)?

When will we be saved (verse 9)?

What are you when “with your heart . . . you believe” (verse 10)?

What are you when “with your mouth . . . you profess your faith” (verse 10)?

Who will “never be put to shame” (verse 11)?

Who does the Lord richly bless (verse 12)?

Who will be saved (verse 13)?

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

In your opinion, how does this passage help us stop fearing as the world does?

In your opinion, what does Romans 10:5-13 help us understand about why the tactics’ of raising the war cry, preparing for battle and devising strategy in Isaiah 8:5-13 are doomed to fail?

In your opinion, how does Romans 10:5-13 help us understand the rewards of acknowledging Jesus as discussed in Matthew 10:24-33?

1 Peter 3:13-18 – New International Version (NIV)

¹³ Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? ¹⁴ But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. “Do not fear their threats; do not be frightened.” ¹⁵ But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, ¹⁶ keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander. ¹⁷ For it is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. ¹⁸ For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit. 

In your opinion, “who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good” (verse 13)?

What happens “if you should suffer for what is right” (verse 14)?

What should Christians not fear (verse 14)?

How should our hearts relate to Christ (verse 15)?

What should we always be prepared to give (verse 15)?

How should we give this (verse 15)?

What should we keep (verse 16)?

What is better than suffering for doing evil (verse 17)?

Why did Christ suffer “once for sins” (verse 18)?

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

In your opinion, how does this passage help us stop fearing as the world does?

In your opinion, how do Isaiah 8:5-13 and 1 Peter 3:13-18 differ in their reaction to the Lord?

In your opinion, how does 1 Peter 3:13-18 show us in the way that we should acknowledge Jesus as commanded in Matthew 10:24-33?

In your opinion, how can the belief that “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” in Romana 10:5-13 help us transform from being people who are afraid of the threats that 1 Peter 3:13-18 says we should not fear into a people who revere “Christ Jesus as Lord” in our hearts? 

In your opinion, what do these passages from Isaiah, Matthew, Romans and 1 Peter help us understand about how to move from fear in the world to revering Christ as Lord in our hearts?

In your opinion, how do we move from just acknowledging God before others to being ready to “give an answer to everyone who asks”?

 

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)