May 5, 2024 – Isaiah in the New Testament – Clean Feet and Pure Heart

Clean Feet and Pure Heart

Isaiah 52:10-15 - New International Version (NIV)

¹⁰ The Lord will lay bare his holy arm
    in the sight of all the nations,
and all the ends of the earth will see
    the salvation of our God.

¹¹ Depart, depart, go out from there!
    Touch no unclean thing!
Come out from it and be pure,
    you who carry the articles of the Lord’s house.
¹² But you will not leave in haste
    or go in flight;
for the Lord will go before you,
    the God of Israel will be your rear guard.

¹³ See, my servant will act wisely;
    he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted.
¹⁴ Just as there were many who were appalled at him—
    his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being
    and his form marred beyond human likeness—
¹⁵ so he will sprinkle many nations,
    and kings will shut their mouths because of him.
For what they were not told, they will see,
    and what they have not heard, they will understand.

 

What will “all the ends of the earth” see (verse 10)?

What are people not to do when they “depart, depart, go out from there” (verse 11)?

Who will go before the people (verse 12)?

Who will be “your rear guard” (verse 12)?

What will happen to God’s servant (verse 13)?

Why were many “appalled at him” (verse 14)?

Who will “shut their mouths because of him” (verse 15)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about being clean and pure?

John 13:1-11 – New International Version (NIV)

¹ It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.

² The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. ³ Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; ⁴ so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. ⁵ After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.

⁶ He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”

⁷ Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.”

⁸ “No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.”

Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.”

⁹ “Then, Lord,” Simon Peter replied, “not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!”

¹⁰ Jesus answered, “Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet; their whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you.” ¹¹ For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not every one was clean.

What did Jesus know (verse 1)?

Who did Jesus love to the end (verse 1)?

What had the devil already done (verse 2)?

What did Jesus know (verse 3)?

Where had Jesus come from, and where was He going (verse 3)?

What did Jesus begin to do (verse 5)?

Who ask “Lord, are you going to wash my feet” (verse 6)?

How did Jesus answer (verse 7)?

What had to happen for Peter to “have a part of” Jesus (verse 8)?

What did Peter ask for (verse 9)?

In your opinion, what can we learn from Jesus statement “and you are clean, though not every one of you” (verse 10)?

What did Jesus know (verse 11)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about being clean and pure?

In your opinion, how is the purity that Isaiah 52:10-15 commands different from the cleanliness that Jesus gives in John 13:1-11?

2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1 - New International Version (NIV)

¹⁴ Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? ¹⁵ What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? ¹⁶ What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said:

“I will live with them
    and walk among them,
and I will be their God,
    and they will be my people.”

¹⁷ Therefore,

“Come out from them
    and be separate,
says the Lord.
Touch no unclean thing,
    and I will receive you.”

¹⁸ And,

“I will be a Father to you,
    and you will be my sons and daughters,
says the Lord Almighty.”

¹ Therefore, since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.

Who are Christians not to be yoked with (verse 14)?

In your opinion, “what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever” (verse 15)?

Where does God walk (verse 16)?

In your opinion, who is to “come out from them and be separate” (verse 17)?

Who will Christians be (verse 18)?

How should Christians respond to “these promises” (verse 1)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about being clean and pure?

In your opinion, how does Isaiah 52:10-15’s call for the Jewish people to “go out from there” help us understand 2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1’s call for Christians to “come out from them and be separate”?

In your opinion, how does John 13:1-11 help us understand how we “purify ourselves” as instructed by 2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1? 

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

³ I thank my God every time I remember you. ⁴ In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy ⁵ because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, ⁶ being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

⁷ It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart and, whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God’s grace with me. ⁸ God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.

⁹ And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, ¹⁰ so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, ¹¹ filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.

What does Paul do each time he remembers the Philippian Christians (verse 3)?

Why does Paul pray for them “with joy” (verses 4 and 5)?

What is Paul confident of (verse 6)?

Why is it right for Paul to “feel this way” (verse 7)?

What do the Philippian Christians share with Paul (verse 7)?

How does Paul “long for” them (verse 8)?

What is Paul’s prayer for them (verse 9)?

What does Paul want them to “be able to discern” (verse 10)?

What fruit does Paul want them to be filled with (verse 11)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about being clean and pure?

In your opinion, how does the fulfillment of Isaiah 52:10-15’s promise that God would “go before” and also be the “rearguard” for the returning Jews help us today have confidence in Philippians 1:3-11’s promise that “he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus”?

In your opinion, how does John 13:1-11 help us “discern what is best” as discussed in Philippians 1:3-11?

In your opinion, how does Philippians 1:3-11 help us understand how we can follow the instruction of 2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1 to “purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God”?

In your opinion, what do these passages from Isaiah, John, 2 Corinthians, and Philippians teach us about being separate from the world today?

In your opinion, how do our lives show we are filled with “the fruit of righteousness” today?

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)

April 28, 2024 – Isaiah in the New Testament – Proclaiming Good News

Proclaiming Good News

Isaiah 52:7-10 - New International Version (NIV)

⁷ How beautiful on the mountains
    are the feet of those who bring good news,
who proclaim peace,
    who bring good tidings,
    who proclaim salvation,
who say to Zion,
    “Your God reigns!”
⁸ Listen! Your watchmen lift up their voices;
    together they shout for joy.
When the Lord returns to Zion,
    they will see it with their own eyes.
⁹ Burst into songs of joy together,
    you ruins of Jerusalem,
for the Lord has comforted his people,
    he has redeemed Jerusalem.
¹⁰ The Lord will lay bare his holy arm
    in the sight of all the nations,
and all the ends of the earth will see
    the salvation of our God.

 

Whose feet are “beautiful on the mountains” (verse 7)?

What do the people with those feet “say to Zion” (verse 7)?

Who will see the Lord’s return to Zion “with their own eyes” (verse 8)?

What will the “ruins of Jerusalem” do (verse 9)?

Who has the Lord comforted (verse 9)?

What will the Lord lay bare “in the sight of all the nations” (verse 10)?

Where will the “salvation of our God” be seen (verse 10)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about reacting to God’s “good news”?

John 12:23-36 – New International Version (NIV)

²³ Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. ²⁴ Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. ²⁵ Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. ²⁶ Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.

²⁷ “Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. ²⁸ Father, glorify your name!”

Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and will glorify it again.” ²⁹ The crowd that was there and heard it said it had thundered; others said an angel had spoken to him.

³⁰ Jesus said, “This voice was for your benefit, not mine. ³¹ Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. ³² And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” ³³ He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die.

³⁴ The crowd spoke up, “We have heard from the Law that the Messiah will remain forever, so how can you say, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up’? Who is this ‘Son of Man’?”

³⁵ Then Jesus told them, “You are going to have the light just a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, before darkness overtakes you. Whoever walks in the dark does not know where they are going. ³⁶ Believe in the light while you have the light, so that you may become children of light.” When he had finished speaking, Jesus left and hid himself from them.

What hour has come (verse 23)?

When can a single seed produce many seeds (verse 24)?

Who will lose their life (verse 25)?

What will the one “who hates their life in this world” keep for eternal life (verse 25)?

Where must the servant of Jesus be (verse 26)?

How was Jesus’s soul (verse 27)?

What did Jesus say that caused the voice from heaven to say “I have glorified it, and will glorify it again” (verse 28)?

Who did Jesus say the voice was for (verse 30)?

What does Jesus say is it time for (verse 31)?

When will Jesus “draw all people” to Himself (verse 32)?

What had the crowd “heard from the Law” (verse 34)?

Who does not know where they are going (verse 35)?

Why did Jesus instruct the crowd to “believe in the light while you have the light” (verse 36)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about reacting to God’s “good news”?

In your opinion, how does Isaiah 52:7-10 help us understand more about how Jesus, the seed that dies in John 12:23-36, will “draw all people to myself”?

Romans 10:14-21 - New International Version (NIV)

¹⁴ How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? ¹⁵ And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”

¹⁶ But not all the Israelites accepted the good news. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our message?” ¹⁷ Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ. ¹⁸ But I ask: Did they not hear? Of course they did:

“Their voice has gone out into all the earth,
    their words to the ends of the world.”

¹⁹ Again I ask: Did Israel not understand? First, Moses says,

“I will make you envious by those who are not a nation;
    I will make you angry by a nation that has no understanding.”

²⁰ And Isaiah boldly says,

“I was found by those who did not seek me;
    I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me.”

²¹ But concerning Israel he says,

“All day long I have held out my hands
    to a disobedient and obstinate people.”

What are the five “how can they” steps leading to the statement “how beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news” (verses 14 and 15)?:

            ______________________ (verse 15)?

            ______________________ (verse 14)?

            ______________________ (verse 14)?

            ______________________ (verse 14)?

            ______________________ (verse 14)?

Why did Isaiah ask “Lord, who has believed our message” (verse 16)?

How is the message heard (verse 17)?

Where has “their voice” gone (verse 18)?

Who did Moses say God will use to make the Israelites “envious” (verse 19)?

Who did Isaiah say God will be “found by” (verse 20)?

What did God hold out “all day long” to Israel (verse 21)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about reacting to God’s “good news”?

In your opinion, how does Paul in Romans 10:14-21 expand the prophecy of Isaian 52:7-10 from the good news that Israelites can go home after their exile to a call for Christians?

In your opinion, what does John 12:23-36 reveal to us about the “good news” that Romans 10:14-21 says beautiful feet are bringing? 

Ephesians 4:17-24 – New International Version (NIV)

¹⁷ So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. ¹⁸ They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. ¹⁹ Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed.

²⁰ That, however, is not the way of life you learned ²¹ when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. ²² You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; ²³ to be made new in the attitude of your minds; ²⁴ and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

What does Paul insist on (verse 17)?

How does Paul describe the Gentile’s understanding (verse 18)?

Why are the Gentiles “separated from the life of God” (verse 18)?

What have the Gentiles lost (verse 19)?

What are the Gentiles full of (verse 19)?

When did the Ephesian Christians learn of a different way of life (verses 20 and 21)?

What were the Ephesian Christians “taught, with regard to your former way of life” (verse 22)?

Where are the Ephesian Christians “to be made new” (verse 23)?

What is the “new self” created to be like (verse 24)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about reacting to God’s “good news”?

In your opinion, how does the response with “songs of joy” of the redeemed in Isaiah 52:7-10 become so much more in Ephesians 4:17-24?

In your opinion, how does Paul in Ephesians 4:17-24 build on Jesus’s discussion of darkness and light in John 12:23-36?

In your opinion, what does Ephesians 4:17-24 teach us about how Christians should respond to the “good news” of Romans 10:14-21?

In your opinion, what do these passages from Isaiah, John, Romans, and Ephesians help us understand about true beauty?

In your opinion, how can our feet be made beautiful today?

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)

April 21, 2024 – Isaiah in the New Testament – A Circumcised Heart

A Circumcised Heart

Isaiah 52:1-6 - New International Version (NIV)

¹ Awake, awake, Zion,
    clothe yourself with strength!
Put on your garments of splendor,
    Jerusalem, the holy city.
The uncircumcised and defiled
    will not enter you again.
² Shake off your dust;
    rise up, sit enthroned, Jerusalem.
Free yourself from the chains on your neck,
    Daughter Zion, now a captive.

³ For this is what the Lord says:

“You were sold for nothing,
    and without money you will be redeemed.”

⁴ For this is what the Sovereign Lord says:

“At first my people went down to Egypt to live;
    lately, Assyria has oppressed them.

⁵ “And now what do I have here?” declares the Lord.

“For my people have been taken away for nothing,
    and those who rule them mock,”
declares the Lord.
“And all day long
    my name is constantly blasphemed.
⁶ Therefore my people will know my name;
    therefore in that day they will know
that it is I who foretold it.
    Yes, it is I.”

Who will not enter Jerusalem again (verse 1)?

What is “Daughter Zion” to free herself of (verse 2)?

What was “Daughter Zion” sold for (verse 3)?

How much money will it take to redeem “Daughter Zion” (verse 3)?

Who oppresses God’s people lately (verse 4)?

What is happening to God’s name “all day long” (verse 5)?

What will God’s people know (verse 6)?

When will they know it (verse 6)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about being people who don’t blaspheme God?

Matthew 7:13-23 – New International Version (NIV)

¹³ “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. ¹⁴ But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

¹⁵ “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. ¹⁶ By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? ¹⁷ Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. ¹⁸ A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. ¹⁹ Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. ²⁰ Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.

²¹ “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. ²² Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ ²³ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’

Where should Christians enter (verse 13)?

What is the road to destruction like (verse 13)?

Where does the small gate and narrow road lead (verse 14)?

How do false prophets come to Christians (verse 15)?

How can we recognize false prophets (verse 16)?

What do good trees bear (verse 17)?

What can a bad tree not bear (verse 18)?

How many of the trees that do not bear good fruit are thrown into the fire (verse 19)?

How can Christians identify the false prophets (verse 20)?

Which of the people who say “Lord, Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven (verse 21)?

What will many say “on that day” (verse 22)?

What will God tell them (verse 23)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about being people who don’t blaspheme God?

In your opinion, who, in Matthew 7:13-23, would be like those in Isaiah 52:1-6 who caused God’s name to be “constantly blasphemed”?

Romans 2:17-29 - New International Version (NIV)

¹⁷ Now you, if you call yourself a Jew; if you rely on the law and boast in God; ¹⁸ if you know his will and approve of what is superior because you are instructed by the law; ¹⁹ if you are convinced that you are a guide for the blind, a light for those who are in the dark, ²⁰ an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of little children, because you have in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth— ²¹ you, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal? ²² You who say that people should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? ²³ You who boast in the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law? ²⁴ As it is written: “God’s name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.”

²⁵ Circumcision has value if you observe the law, but if you break the law, you have become as though you had not been circumcised.  ²⁶ So then, if those who are not circumcised keep the law’s requirements, will they not be regarded as though they were circumcised? ²⁷ The one who is not circumcised physically and yet obeys the law will condemn you who, even though you have the written code and circumcision, are a lawbreaker.

²⁸ A person is not a Jew who is one only outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. ²⁹ No, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a person’s praise is not from other people, but from God.

List the components of those who Paul asks “do you not teach yourself” in verse 21:

            Call yourself a ____________ (verse 17)?

            Rely on __________________ (verse 17)?

            Approve what is superior because you are instructed by _____________ (verse 18)?

            Convinced you are a guide for ______________________ (verse 19)?

            Instructor of _________________________ (verse 20)?

            Have in the law the embodiment of ____________________________________________________ (verse 20)?

In your opinion, why is Paul asking “do you not teach yourself” (verse 21)?

What does Paul ask those “who abhor idols” (verse 22)?

What does Paul ask the one who boasts “in the law” (verse 23)?

Why is God’s name “blasphemed among the Gentiles” (verse 24)?

What is the circumcised person who breaks the law like (verse 25)?

How will those who are not circumcised but “keep the law’s requirements” be regarded (verse 26)?

Who will condemn the one who has “the written code and circumcision” but is a lawbreaker (verse 27)?

What is not “merely outward and physical” (verse 28)?

How is the heart circumcised (verse 29)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about being people who don’t blaspheme God?

In your opinion, what does Romans 2:17-29 help us understand about the uncircumcised that Isaiah 52:1-6 says will not enter Jerusalem again?

In your opinion, what does Romans 2:17-29 help us understand about those who will take the broad road and those who will take the narrow road in Matthew 7:13-23? 

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

¹ But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves. ² Many will follow their depraved conduct and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. ³ In their greed these teachers will exploit you with fabricated stories. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping.

⁴ For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them in chains of darkness to be held for judgment; ⁵ if he did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others; ⁶ if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; ⁷ and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the depraved conduct of the lawless ⁸ (for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard)— ⁹ if this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to hold the unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment. ¹⁰ This is especially true of those who follow the corrupt desire of the flesh and despise authority.

What will false teachers “secretly introduce” (verse 1)?

Who will they deny (verse 1)?

What will they bring “on themselves” (verse 1)?

What will the false teachers and those who follow them do to “the way of truth” (verse 2)?

Why will these teachers “exploit you with fabricated stories” (verse 3)?

What happened to “angels when they sinned” (verse 4)?

What did God bring on the “ungodly people” of the ancient world (verse 5)?

What did God make the “cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes” (verse 6)?

What distressed Lot (verse 7)?

How was Lot tormented (verse 8)?

What does the Lord know “how to rescue the godly” from (verse 9)?

What is the Lord holding the unrighteous for (verse 9)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about being people who don’t blaspheme God?

In your opinion, how does the blasphemy in Isaiah 52:1-6 appear today according to 2 Peter 2:1-10?

In your opinion, why might it be reasonable to say that those who take the narrow road in Matthew 7:13-23 are like Lot, who 2 Peter 2:1-10 says God rescued from torment?

In your opinion, what can we learn from the fact that Paul in Romans 2:17-29 and Peter in 2 Peter 2:1-10 both warn of people who appear to be one thing when they are something else?

In your opinion, what do these passages from Isaiah, Matthew, Romans, and 2 Peter teach us about the subtle pervasiveness of blasphemy?

In your opinion, how should we, people with circumcised hearts, live in a world full of blasphemy?

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)