November 5, 2023 – Isaiah in the New Testament – Two Flocks become One

Two Flocks become One

Isaiah 27:6-13 - New International Version (NIV)

⁶ In days to come Jacob will take root,
    Israel will bud and blossom
    and fill all the world with fruit.

⁷ Has the Lord struck her
    as he struck down those who struck her?
Has she been killed
    as those were killed who killed her?
⁸ By warfare and exile you contend with her—
    with his fierce blast he drives her out,
    as on a day the east wind blows.
⁹ By this, then, will Jacob’s guilt be atoned for,
    and this will be the full fruit of the removal of his sin:
When he makes all the altar stones
    to be like limestone crushed to pieces,
no Asherah poles or incense altars
    will be left standing.
¹⁰ The fortified city stands desolate,
    an abandoned settlement, forsaken like the wilderness;
there the calves graze,
    there they lie down;
    they strip its branches bare.
¹¹ When its twigs are dry, they are broken off
    and women come and make fires with them.
For this is a people without understanding;
    so their Maker has no compassion on them,
    and their Creator shows them no favor.

¹² In that day the Lord will thresh from the flowing Euphrates to the Wadi of Egypt, and you, Israel, will be gathered up one by one. ¹³ And in that day a great trumpet will sound. Those who were perishing in Assyria and those who were exiled in Egypt will come and worship the Lord on the holy mountain in Jerusalem.

How will Jacob (Israel) change the world (verse 6)?

In your opinion, what is different between the way Lord struck Jacob (Israel) and the way He struck “those who struck her” (verse 7)?

How does the Lord “contend with” Jacob (verse 9)?

What will happen to Jacob “when he makes all the altar stones to be like limestone crushed to pieces” (verse 9)?

How does the “fortified city stand” (verse 10)?

Why does “their Maker” have “no compassion on them” (verse 11)?

How will Israel be gathered when the Lord “will thresh from the flowing Euphrates to the Wadi of Egypt” (verse 12)?

Who will come to “worship the Lord on the holy mountain in Jerusalem” on that day (verse 13)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage reveal to us about how the Lord gathers His people?

John 10:11-18 – New International Version (NIV)

¹¹ “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. ¹² The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. ¹³ The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.

¹⁴ “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— ¹⁵ just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. ¹⁶ I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. ¹⁷ The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. ¹⁸ No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.”

How did Jesus describe Himself (verse 11)?

Who “lays down his life for the sheep” (verse 11)?

What does the hired man do when “he sees the wolf coming” (verse 12)?

Who “cares nothing for the sheep” (verse 13)?

Who knows Jesus (verse 14)?

What does Jesus do (verse 15)?

In your opinion, what does Jesus mean when He says “I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen” (verse 16)?

How many flocks will there be (verse 16)?

Why does the Father love Jesus (verse 17)?

What does Jesus have the authority to do (verse 18)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage reveal to us about how the Lord gathers His people?

In your opinion, are the people being gathered in Isaiah 27:6-13 who will “worship the Lord on the holy mountain in Jerusalem” part of either of the flocks that Jesus is talking about in John 10:11-18?  Why?

Romans 11:25-32 - New International Version (NIV)

²⁵ I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in, ²⁶ and in this way all Israel will be saved. As it is written:

“The deliverer will come from Zion;
    he will turn godlessness away from Jacob.
²⁷ And this is my covenant with them
    when I take away their sins.”

²⁸ As far as the gospel is concerned, they are enemies for your sake; but as far as election is concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs, ²⁹ for God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable. ³⁰ Just as you who were at one time disobedient to God have now received mercy as a result of their disobedience, ³¹ so they too have now become disobedient in order that they too may now receive mercy as a result of God’s mercy to you. ³² For God has bound everyone over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all.

Why does Paul not want the Christians in Rome “to be ignorant of this mystery” (verse 25)?

What is the mystery (revelation of something not clear in the Old Testament) of why “Israel has experienced a hardening in part” (verse 25)?

In your opinion, does the context of the passage that Paul lifts the quote from (Isaiah 27:9) change the way that you interpret “all Israel” (verse 26)?

What will the Deliverer who comes from Zion do (verse 26)?

When is this covenant active (verse 27)?

In your opinion, who are the “enemies for your sake” (verse 28)?

What are irrevocable (verse 29)?

What have the Roman Christians received “as a result of their disobedience” (verse 30)?

What may they receive “as a result of God’s mercy on you” (verse 31)?

Why has God “bound everyone over to disobedience” (verse 32)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage reveal to us about how the Lord gathers His people?

In your opinion, what does Romans 11:25-32 help us understand about how the promise in Isaiah 27:6-13 that “Israel will bud and blossom and fill all the world with fruit” will be fulfilled?

In your opinion, what does Paul in Romans 11:25-32 help us understand about the two flocks that Jesus was talking about in John 10:11-18?  Is the way God’s mercy is received different or the same for the two flocks?

Hebrews 8:7-13 – New International Version (NIV)

⁷ For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another. ⁸ But God found fault with the people and said:

“The days are coming, declares the Lord,
    when I will make a new covenant
with the people of Israel
    and with the people of Judah.
⁹ It will not be like the covenant
    I made with their ancestors
when I took them by the hand
    to lead them out of Egypt,
because they did not remain faithful to my covenant,
    and I turned away from them,
declares the Lord.
¹⁰ This is the covenant I will establish with the people of Israel
    after that time, declares the Lord.
I will put my laws in their minds
    and write them on their hearts.
I will be their God,
    and they will be my people.
¹¹ No longer will they teach their neighbor,
    or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’
because they will all know me,
    from the least of them to the greatest.
¹² For I will forgive their wickedness
    and will remember their sins no more.”

¹³ By calling this covenant “new,” he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear.

What would not have happened if “there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant” (verse 7)?

Who will the Lord make the new covenant with (verse 8)?

Why will it “not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt” (verse 9)?

Where will the Lord put His laws (verse 10)?

What will the people be (verse 10)?

Why will they no longer “teach their neighbor” (verse 11)?

What will the Lord remember “no more” (verse 12)?

Why will the first covenant “soon disappear” (verse 13)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage reveal to us about how the Lord gathers His people?

In your opinion, how does comparing Isaiah 27:6-13 and Hebrews 8:9-13 help us understand what some of the differences between the old and the new covenants are?

In your opinion, is the covenant that Hebrews 8:7-13 talks about being with the people of Israel and Judah for both of the flocks that Jesus was talking about in John 10:11-18?

In your opinion, is the new covenant of Hebrews 8:7-13 connected to the way “Jacob’s guilt” will be atoned for in Isaiah 27:6-13?  

In your opinion, what do these passages from Isaiah, John, Romans, and Hebrews teach us about how salvation is accomplished?

In your opinion, how are two flocks made into one?

 

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)

October 29, 2023 – Isaiah in the New Testament – Rejoice and Be Glad

Rejoice and Be Glad

Isaiah 25:1-9 - New International Version (NIV)

¹ Lord, you are my God;
    I will exalt you and praise your name,
for in perfect faithfulness
    you have done wonderful things,
    things planned long ago.
² You have made the city a heap of rubble,
    the fortified town a ruin,
the foreigners’ stronghold a city no more;
    it will never be rebuilt.
³ Therefore strong peoples will honor you;
    cities of ruthless nations will revere you.
⁴ You have been a refuge for the poor,
    a refuge for the needy in their distress,
a shelter from the storm
    and a shade from the heat.
For the breath of the ruthless
    is like a storm driving against a wall
⁵     and like the heat of the desert.
You silence the uproar of foreigners;
    as heat is reduced by the shadow of a cloud,
    so the song of the ruthless is stilled.

⁶ On this mountain the Lord Almighty will prepare
    a feast of rich food for all peoples,
a banquet of aged wine—
    the best of meats and the finest of wines.
⁷ On this mountain he will destroy
    the shroud that enfolds all peoples,
the sheet that covers all nations;
⁸     he will swallow up death forever.
The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears
    from all faces;
he will remove his people’s disgrace
    from all the earth.
The Lord has spoken.

⁹ In that day they will say,

“Surely this is our God;
    we trusted in him, and he saved us.
This is the Lord, we trusted in him;
    let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation.”

 

When were the “wonderful things” the Lord has done planned (verse 1)?

What has the Lord made of the fortified town (verse 2)?

Who will revere the Lord (verse 3)?

What is the Lord to the “needy in their distress” (verse 4)?

How is the “song of the ruthless” stilled (verse 5)?

Who will the Lord prepare “a feast of rich food” for (verse 6)?

Where will the Lord destroy “the shroud that enfolds all peoples” (verse 7)?

What will the Lord do to death (verse 8)?

How should we respond to what “our God” has done (verse 9)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage reveal to us about the power the Lord has over death?

John 5:21-29 – New International Version (NIV)

²¹ For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it. ²² Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, ²³ that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him.

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. 

What does the Father give the dead (verse 21)?

Who does the Son give life to (verse 21)?

Who has the Father entrusted “all judgment” to (verse 22)?

Who “does not honor the Father” (verse 23)?

What does the one who “hears my word and believes him who sent me” have (verse 24)?

Who will not “be judged” (verse 24)?

What time “has now come” (verse 25)?

Who has “granted the Son also to have life in himself” (verse 26)?

Why has the Father “given him authority to judge” (verse 27)?

What will “all who are in their graves” hear (verse 28)?

Who will “rise to live” (verse 29)?

Who will “rise to be condemned” (verse 29)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage reveal to us about the power the Lord has over death?

In your opinion, how does John 5:21-29 help us understand the Lord Almighty’s promise in Isaiah 25:1-9 to “swallow up death forever”?

1 Corinthians 15:50-57 - New International Version (NIV)

⁵⁰ I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. ⁵¹ Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— ⁵² in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. ⁵³ For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. ⁵⁴ When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”

⁵⁵ “Where, O death, is your victory?
    Where, O death, is your sting?”

⁵⁶ The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. ⁵⁷ But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

What cannot “inherit the kingdom of God” (verse 50)?

In your opinion, why is it impossible for the “perishable” to inherit the “imperishable” (verse 50)?

What will happen to everyone (verse 51)?

When will the dead “be raised imperishable” (verse 52)?

In your opinion, will everyone, regardless of their status with Jesus, “be raised imperishable” (verse 52)?

What must the mortal clothe itself with (verse 53)?

When will the saying “death has been swallowed up in victory” come true (verse 54)?

In your opinion, where is death’s victory (verse 55)?

What is the “power of sin” (verse 56)?

Why should we thank God (verse 57)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage reveal to us about the power the Lord has over death?

In your opinion, how does 1 Corinthians 15:50-57 help us understand the salvation that is promised by the swallowing up of death in Isaiah 25:1-9?

In your opinion, what is the difference between the life that believers have already passed from death to in John 5:21-29 and the raising of the dead in 1 Corinthians 15:50-57 that will happen at the sounding of the trumpet?

Revelation 2:8-11 – New International Version (NIV)

⁸ “To the angel of the church in Smyrna write:

These are the words of him who is the First and the Last, who died and came to life again. ⁹ I know your afflictions and your poverty—yet you are rich! I know about the slander of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. ¹⁰ Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you life as your victor’s crown.

¹¹ Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who is victorious will not be hurt at all by the second death.

Who was the letter to (verse 8)?

How is Jesus described (verse 8)?

Who is rich (verse 9)?

Who are “those who say they are Jews” (verse 9)?

What are they not to “be afraid of” (verse 10)?

Who will put some of them in prison (verse 10)?

In your opinion, why is it significant that the persecution is limited to “ten days” (verse 10)?

What will those who are faithful, “even to the point of death” receive (verse 10)?

Who will not “be hurt at all by the second death” (verse 11)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage reveal to us about the power the Lord has over death?

In your opinion, what is the difference between the “death” that Isaiah 25:1-9 says will be swallowed up forever and the “second death” that Revelation 2:8-11 says the victorious will not be hurt by?

In your opinion, what does John 5:21-29 reveal to us about the people that Revelation 2:8-11 calls “victorious”?

In your opinion, how is the discussion about the perishable and imperishable in 1 Corinthians 15:50-57 different from the discussion of death and life in Revelation 2:8-11? 

In your opinion, what do these passages from Isaiah, John, 1 Corinthians, and Revelation teach us about how can we be both imperishable and victorious?

In your opinion, how does God swallowing up death give us the ability to “rejoice and be glad in his salvation”?

 

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)

October 22, 2023 – Isaiah in the New Testament – The Key to Heaven

The Key to Heaven

Isaiah 22:20-25 - New International Version (NIV)

²⁰ “In that day I will summon my servant, Eliakim son of Hilkiah. ²¹ I will clothe him with your robe and fasten your sash around him and hand your authority over to him. He will be a father to those who live in Jerusalem and to the people of Judah. ²² I will place on his shoulder the key to the house of David; what he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open. ²³ I will drive him like a peg into a firm place; he will become a seat of honor for the house of his father. ²⁴ All the glory of his family will hang on him: its offspring and offshoots—all its lesser vessels, from the bowls to all the jars.

²⁵ “In that day,” declares the Lord Almighty, “the peg driven into the firm place will give way; it will be sheared off and will fall, and the load hanging on it will be cut down.” The Lord has spoken.

How is “Eliakim son of Hilkiah” described (verse 20)?

What will Eliakim be handed (verse 21?

Who will Eliakim “be a father to” (verse 21)?

What will be placed on Eliakim’s shoulder (verse 22)?

In your opinion, why will “what he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open” (verse 22)?

Where will he be driven “like a peg” (verse 23)?

What will hang from Eliakim (verse 24)?

What will happen to the peg (verse 25)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage reveal to us about the One who gives the key and the one who receives it?

Revelation 3:7-13 - New International Version (NIV)

⁷ “To the angel of the church in Philadelphia write:

These are the words of him who is holy and true, who holds the key of David. What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open. ⁸ I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name. ⁹ I will make those who are of the synagogue of Satan, who claim to be Jews though they are not, but are liars—I will make them come and fall down at your feet and acknowledge that I have loved you. ¹⁰ Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come on the whole world to test the inhabitants of the earth.

¹¹ I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown. ¹² The one who is victorious I will make a pillar in the temple of my God. Never again will they leave it. I will write on them the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from my God; and I will also write on them my new name. ¹³ Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

How is the One who wrote to “angel of the church in Philadelphia” described (verse 7)?

Who can shut what He opens (verse 7)?

What has He placed before the church in Philadelphia (verse 8)?

In your opinion, how can a church with little strength be able to keep Jesus’s word and not deny His name (verse 8)?

What do the members of the “synagogue of Satan” claim to be (verse 9)?

How will the church of Philadelphia be rewarded for keeping Jesus’s “command to endure patiently” (verse 10)?

When is Jesus coming (verse 11)?

How will “the one who is victorious” be rewarded (verse 12)?

Who is to “hear what the Spirit says to the churches” (verse 13)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage reveal to us about the One who gives the key and the one who receives it?

In your opinion, how is the one who holds the key of David in Isaiah 22:20-25 different from the One who holds the key in Revelation 3:7-13?

Matthew 16:13-20 – New International Version (NIV)

¹³ When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”

¹⁴ They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”

¹⁵ “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”

¹⁶ Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

¹⁷ Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. ¹⁸ And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. ¹⁹ I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” ²⁰ Then he ordered his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.

Where were Jesus and the disciples (verse 13)?

What did Jesus ask the disciples (verse 13)?

How did the disciples answer (verse 14)?

What did Jesus next ask the disciples (verse 15)?

How did Simon Peter answer (verse 16)?

Who revealed the answer to Peter (verse 17)?

What will the rock that Jesus will build His church on not be overcome by (verse 18)?

What will Peter be given (verse 19)?

What order did Jesus the disciples (verse 20)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage reveal to us about the One who gives the key and the one who receives it?

In your opinion, how is the Key of David in Isaiah 22:20-25 more limited than the keys Peter received in Matthew 16:13-20?

In your opinion, how does knowing that the “keys of the kingdom of heaven” that were given to Peter in Matthew 16:13-20 were given to him by the One who Revelation 3:7-13 says has placed an “open door that no one can shut” add significance to the keys?

John 20:19-29 – New International Version (NIV)

¹⁹ On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” ²⁰ After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.

²¹ Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” ²² And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. ²³ If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”

²⁴ Now Thomas (also known as Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. ²⁵ So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”

But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”

²⁶ A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” ²⁷ Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”

²⁸ Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”

²⁹ Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

Why were the doors locked when the disciples gathered (verse 19)?

What did Jesus say when He “stood among them” (verse 19)?

How did the disciples react when they saw “his hands and side” (verse 20)?

How did Jesus say He was sending the disciples (verse 21)?

What did Jesus say after “he breathed on them” (verse 22)?

What would happen to anyone’s sins if the disciples forgave them (verse 23)?

Who was not with the “disciples when Jesus came” (verse 24)?

How did he respond when the disciples told him “we have seen the Lord” (verse 25)?

When did Jesus come and stand among them again (verse 26)?

What did Jesus tell Thomas (verse 27)?

How did Thomas respond (verse 28)?

Who did Jesus say is blessed (verse 29)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage reveal to us about the One who gives the key and the one who receives it?

In your opinion, how is Eliakim receiving the key of David and authority to open and shut in Isaiah 22:20-25 different from Jesus blessing the disciples with the Holy Spirit and giving them authority to forgive sins?

In your opinion, how is the promise of Jesus that those the disciples forgive will be forgiven in John 20:19-23 realized by the open door that will not be shut of Revelation 3:7-13?

In your opinion, how the promise of Jesus to give Peter “the keys of the kingdom of heaven” in Matthew 16:13-20 fulfilled by Jesus in John 20:19-23? 

In your opinion, what do these passages from Isaiah, Revelation, Matthew, and John teach us about the Key to heaven?

In your opinion, how can we share with others the invitation to walk through the open door with others today?

 

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)