June 2, 2024 – Isaiah in the New Testament – The Barren Woman’s Children

The Barren Woman’s Children

Isaiah 54:1-8 - New International Version (NIV)

¹ “Sing, barren woman,
    you who never bore a child;
burst into song, shout for joy,
    you who were never in labor;
because more are the children of the desolate woman
    than of her who has a husband,”
says the Lord.
² “Enlarge the place of your tent,
    stretch your tent curtains wide,
    do not hold back;
lengthen your cords,
    strengthen your stakes.
³ For you will spread out to the right and to the left;
    your descendants will dispossess nations
    and settle in their desolate cities.

⁴ “Do not be afraid; you will not be put to shame.
    Do not fear disgrace; you will not be humiliated.
You will forget the shame of your youth
    and remember no more the reproach of your widowhood.
⁵ For your Maker is your husband—
    the Lord Almighty is his name—
the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer;
    he is called the God of all the earth.
⁶ The Lord will call you back
    as if you were a wife deserted and distressed in spirit—
a wife who married young,
    only to be rejected,” says your God.
⁷ “For a brief moment I abandoned you,
    but with deep compassion I will bring you back.
⁸ In a surge of anger
    I hid my face from you for a moment,
but with everlasting kindness
    I will have compassion on you,”
    says the Lord your Redeemer.

 

Who is to “burst into song, shout for joy” (verse 1)?

 

What should this person do to the place of their tent (verse 2)?

Who will “dispossess nations” (verse 3)?

Why should they “not be afraid” (verse 4)?

Who is the husband (verse 5)?

What is “the Holy One of Israel” (verse 5)?

What will happen to the one who was “like a wife deserted and distressed in spirit” (verse 6)?

What will be done “with deep compassion” (verse 7)?

Who will have compassion “with everlasting kindness” (verse 8)?

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

In your opinion, how is God’s love visible in this passage?

Matthew 23:33-39 – New International Version (NIV)

³³ “You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell? ³⁴ Therefore I am sending you prophets and sages and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify; others you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town. ³⁵ And so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. ³⁶ Truly I tell you, all this will come on this generation.

³⁷ “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing. ³⁸ Look, your house is left to you desolate. ³⁹ For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’”

What does Jesus ask the teachers of the law and Pharisees who He calls snakes and “brood of vipers” (verse 33)?

How will they treat the “prophets and sages and teachers” (verse 34)?

What will come upon them (verse 35)?

Which generation will this come on (verse 36)?

How does Jesus describe Jerusalem (verse 37)?

What had Jesus “longed” to do (verse 37)?

What is desolate (verse 38)?

When will they see Jesus again (verse 39)?

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

In your opinion, how is God’s love visible in this passage?

In your opinion, what does Jesus’s condemnation of Jerusalem in Matthew 23:33-39 reveal about how the people of Jerusalem responded to the “compassion” Isaiah 54:1-8 says God had for them?

Galatians 4:21-28 - New International Version (NIV)

²¹ Tell me, you who want to be under the law, are you not aware of what the law says? ²² For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and the other by the free woman. ²³ His son by the slave woman was born according to the flesh, but his son by the free woman was born as the result of a divine promise.

²⁴ These things are being taken figuratively: The women represent two covenants. One covenant is from Mount Sinai and bears children who are to be slaves: This is Hagar. ²⁵ Now Hagar stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present city of Jerusalem, because she is in slavery with her children. ²⁶ But the Jerusalem that is above is free, and she is our mother. ²⁷ For it is written:

“Be glad, barren woman,
    you who never bore a child;
shout for joy and cry aloud,
    you who were never in labor;
because more are the children of the desolate woman
    than of her who has a husband.”

²⁸ Now you, brothers and sisters, like Isaac, are children of promise.

Who does Paul ask “are you not aware of what the law says” (verse 21)?

How were the mothers of Abraham’s two sons described (verse 22)?

Which one was “born according to the flesh” (verse 23)?

How was “his son by the free woman” born (verse 23)?

What do the women represent (verse 24)?

Which one “bears children who are to be slaves” (verse 24)?

How is the one who “stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present city of Jerusalem” like her children (verse 25)?

What Jerusalem is free (verse 26)?

Why is she to “shout for joy and cry aloud” (verse 27)?

Who are “children of promise” (verse 28)?

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

In your opinion, how is God’s love visible in this passage?

In your opinion, how does Galatians 4:21-27’s identification of the “barren woman” who was the wife that was rejected in Isaiah 54:1-8 as Abraham’s wife Sarah enrich the reading of the passage Isaiah gave us?

In your opinion, what does it mean when Jesus in Matthew 23:33-39 says the house of the descendants of Abraham is “desolate” and Galatians 4:21-28 says that Hagar is the “present city of Jerusalem”?

In your opinion, who are Galatians 4:21-28’s “children of promise”? 

Hebrews 11:10-16 – New International Version (NIV)

¹⁰ For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. ¹¹ And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she considered him faithful who had made the promise. ¹² And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.

¹³ All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. ¹⁴ People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. ¹⁵ If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. ¹⁶ Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

What was he (Abraham) “looking forward to” (verse 10)?

How was Sarah “enabled to bear children” (verse 11)?

What came “from this one man, and he as good as dead” (verse 12)?

How were these people living “when they died” (verse 13)?

What did these people admit (verse 13)?

What were they “looking for” (verse 14)?

When would they “have had opportunity to return” (verse 15)?

What kind of country were they “longing for” (verse 16)?

What is God “not ashamed to be” (verse 16)?

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

In your opinion, how is God’s love visible in this passage?

In your opinion, what does Hebrews 11:11-12 reveal about how the “barren woman” of Isaiah 54:1-8 was able to have children?

In your opinion, what is revealed in Hebrews 11:11-12 about how the “snakes” and “brood of vipers” in Matthew 23:33-39 can “escape being condemned to hell”?

In your opinion, what is discovered in Hebrews 11:11-12 about the people that Galatians 4:21-28 calls the “children of promise”?

In your opinion, what does thinking of God as longing to gather children together as a “hen gathers her chicks under her wings” help us understand about these passages from Isaiah, Matthew, Galatians and Hebrews?

In your opinion, how should we respond to the “compassion” of the Lord our Redeemer today?

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)

May 26, 2024 – Isaiah in the New Testament – Righteousness Credited by God

Righteousness Credited by God

Isaiah 53:10-12 - New International Version (NIV)

¹⁰ Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
    and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
    and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.
¹¹ After he has suffered,
    he will see the light of life and be satisfied;
by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,
    and he will bear their iniquities.
¹² Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,
    and he will divide the spoils with the strong,
because he poured out his life unto death,
    and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many,
    and made intercession for the transgressors.

 

What does the Lord make, “his life” (verse 10)?

 

Where will “the will of the Lord” prosper (verse 10)?

When will He “see the light of life and be satisfied” (verse 11)?

What will He “bear” ( verse 11)?

Where will He have “a portion” (verse 12)?

Who will He be “numbered with” (verse 12)?

Who did He make “intercession for” (verse 12)?

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 number someone as a transgressor or credit them as righteous?

Luke 22:35-38 – New International Version (NIV)

³⁵ Then Jesus asked them, “When I sent you without purse, bag or sandals, did you lack anything?”

“Nothing,” they answered.

³⁶ He said to them, “But now if you have a purse, take it, and also a bag; and if you don’t have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one. ³⁷ It is written: ‘And he was numbered with the transgressors’; and I tell you that this must be fulfilled in me. Yes, what is written about me is reaching its fulfillment.”

³⁸ The disciples said, “See, Lord, here are two swords.”

“That’s enough!” he replied.

What did the disciples at the Last Supper say they lacked when Jesus sent them out “without purse, bag or sandals” (verse 35)?

How are they to get a sword if they don’t have one (verse 36)?

Who did Jesus say He had to be numbered (logizomni) with (verse 37)?

What did Jesus say “is reaching its fulfillment” (verse 37)?

How many swords did the disciples say they had (verse 38)?

How did Jesus respond to the number of swords (verse 38)?

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 number someone as a transgressor or credit them as righteous?

In your opinion, what does Jesus in Luke 22:35-38 referring to Isaiah 53:10-12 “must be fulfilled in me” tell you about his understanding of what was going to happen?

Romans 4:1-8 - New International Version (NIV)

¹ What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, discovered in this matter? ² If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about—but not before God. ³ What does Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”

⁴ Now to the one who works, wages are not credited as a gift but as an obligation. ⁵ However, to the one who does not work but trusts God who justifies the ungodly, their faith is credited as righteousness.

⁶ David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the one to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:

⁷ “Blessed are those
    whose transgressions are forgiven,
    whose sins are covered.
⁸ Blessed is the one
    whose sin the Lord will never count against them.”

How does Paul describe Abraham (verse 1)?

When would Abraham have “something to boast about” (verse 2)?

Where would Abraham not be able to boast (verse 2)?

When was it “credited (logizomai) to him as righteousness” (verse 3)?

What are wages “to the one who works” (verse 4)?

To whom is faith “credited as righteousness” (verse 5)?

Who does David say “the same thing” about (verse 6)?

How does David describe those “whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered up” (verse 7)?

Who else does David say is blessed (verse 8)?

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 number someone as a transgressor or credit them as righteous?

In your opinion, how does numbering the servant among the transgressors in order to “make intercession for the transgressors” in Isaiah 53:10-12 allow God to credit righteousness to those who trust him in Romans 4:1-7?

In your opinion, how does Jesus proclaiming He must be “numbered” (logizomai) “with the transgressors” in Luke 22:35-38 help us understand why Paul teaches in Romans 4:1-7 righteousness cannot be earned like wages but is “credited” (logizomai) to the ungodly who have faith? 

James 2:20-26 – New International Version (NIV)

²⁰ You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? ²¹ Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? ²² You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. ²³ And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called God’s friend. ²⁴ You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone.

²⁵ In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? ²⁶ As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.

How does James describe the person who wants “evidence that faith without deeds is useless” (verse 20)?

When was “our father Abraham considered righteous” (verse 21)?

What two things “were working together” (verse 22)?

How was Abraham’s faith changed (verse 22)?

What was “credited” (logizomai) to Abraham when he “believed God” (verse 23)?

When is a person considered righteous (verse 24)?

What “alone” is not enough for a person to be considered righteous (verse 24)?

When was “Rahab the prostitute” considered righteous (verse 25)?

What is “the body without the spirit” (verse 26)?

What is “faith without deeds” (verse 26)?

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 number someone as a transgressor or credit them as righteous?

In your opinion, do both Abraham, who we might consider a good person, and also Rahab, who we would not consider a good person, both declared by James 2:20-26 to be righteous in need of the transforming act of the servant (Jesus) in Isaiah 53:10-12 being “numbered with the transgressors”?

In your opinion, how might Jesus letting the disciples know in Luke 22:35-38 that after He is “numbered with the transgressors” their circumstances will be different than before be a way for Him to prepare them for adding actions to their faith, as James 2:20-26 indicates is necessary?

In your opinion, how do you reconcile Romans 4:1-7 saying that God “credits righteousness apart from works” with James 2:20-26 that says that “faith without deeds is dead”?

In your opinion, what do these passages from Isaiah, Luke, Romans and James help us understand about the link between the suffering servant being “numbered with the transgressors” and those who believe being “credited as righteous”?

In your opinion, how can we make sure our faith is alive?

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)

May 19, 2024 – Isaiah in the New Testament – Believing Among those who Don’t

Believing Among those who Don’t

Isaiah 53:1-6 - New International Version (NIV)

¹ Who has believed our message
    and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
² He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
    and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
    nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
³ He was despised and rejected by mankind,
    a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces
    he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.

⁴ Surely he took up our pain
    and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
    stricken by him, and afflicted.
⁵ But he was pierced for our transgressions,
    he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
    and by his wounds we are healed.
⁶ We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
    each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
    the iniquity of us all.

 

In your opinion, “to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed” (verse 1)?

 

How did He grow up (verse 2)?

What did He not have to “attract us to him” (verse 2)?

How did “mankind” react to Him ( verse 3)?

What did He bear (verse 4)?

Who was He pierced for (verse 5)?

How are we healed (verse 5)?

What has “each of us” done (verse 6)?

What has “the Lord” laid on Him (verse 6)?

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

In your opinion, how does this passage provide a reason to hope, even in the midst of unbelief?

John 12:37-50 – New International Version (NIV)

³⁷ Even after Jesus had performed so many signs in their presence, they still would not believe in him. ³⁸ This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet:

“Lord, who has believed our message
    and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?”

³⁹ For this reason they could not believe, because, as Isaiah says elsewhere:

⁴⁰ “He has blinded their eyes
    and hardened their hearts,
so they can neither see with their eyes,
    nor understand with their hearts,
    nor turn—and I would heal them.”

⁴¹ Isaiah said this because he saw Jesus’ glory and spoke about him.

⁴² Yet at the same time many even among the leaders believed in him. But because of the Pharisees they would not openly acknowledge their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue; ⁴³ for they loved human praise more than praise from God.

⁴⁴ Then Jesus cried out, “Whoever believes in me does not believe in me only, but in the one who sent me. ⁴⁵ The one who looks at me is seeing the one who sent me. ⁴⁶ I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.

⁴⁷ “If anyone hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge that person. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world. ⁴⁸ There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; the very words I have spoken will condemn them at the last day. ⁴⁹ For I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me to say all that I have spoken. ⁵⁰ I know that his command leads to eternal life. So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say.”

What did the crowd in Jerusalem not do, in spite of the signs that Jesus had performed (verse 37)?

Whose word was this to fulfill (verse 38)?

What had He hardened (verse 40)?

What had Isaiah seen (verse 41)?

Why would the leaders who believed in Jesus not openly acknowledge their faith” (verse 42)?

What did they love more than “praise from God” (verse 43)?

Who else does the one who believes in Jesus believe in (verse 44)?

Who does the one who looks at Jesus see (verse 45)?

How did Jesus “come into the world” (verse 46)?

Who does Jesus not judge (verse 47)?

What will condemn the “one who rejects” Jesus and does not accept His words (verse 48)?

Who “commanded” Jesus to say all that He spoke (verse 49)?

Whose command “leads to eternal life” (verse 50)?

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

In your opinion, how does this passage provide a reason to hope, even in the midst of unbelief?

In your opinion, what does Isaiah 53:1-6 help us understand about what Jesus would have to do to “save the world” as He indicates is His purpose in John 12:37-50?

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.”

In your opinion, “how can they hear without someone preaching to them” (verse 14)?

Whose feet are beautiful (verse 15)?

What did not all the Israelites accept (verse 16)?

How is the message heard (verse 17)?

What is the answer to the question “did they not hear” (verse 18)?

Who will God use to make Israel envious (verse 19)?

Who does Isaiah say will find God (verse 20)?

How is Israel described (verse 21)?

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

In your opinion, how does this passage provide a reason to hope, even in the midst of unbelief?

In your opinion, how does Isaiah 31:1-6 support the message of good news that Paul in Romans 10:14-21 says “of course” the Israelites heard?

In your opinion, how does Paul indicating that all the Israelites heard the message but not all “accepted the good news” in Romans 10:14-21 help us understand what Jesus meant when He said that He would not be the judge, but “very words” He spoke would “condemn them at the last day” in John 12:37-50? 

Jude 1:17-25 – New International Version (NIV)

¹⁷ But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. ¹⁸ They said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.” ¹⁹ These are the people who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit.

²⁰ But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, ²¹ keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.

²² Be merciful to those who doubt; ²³ save others by snatching them from the fire; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.

²⁴ To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy— ²⁵ to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.

What does Jude want his “dear friends” to remember (verse 17)?

When will scoffers “follow their own ungodly desires” (verse 18)?

What do these people do (verse 19)?

What do these people follow (verse 19)?

How does Jude want his friends to build themselves up (verse 20)?

How does Jude want his friends to pray (verse 20)?

What are Jude’s friends to wait for (verse 21)?

Who should Jude’s friends “be merciful to” (verse 22)?

In your opinion, what does it mean to “show mercy, mixed with fear-hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh” (verse 23)?

How is God able to present Christians “before his glorious presence” (verse 24)?

What does Jude pray for God to have “through Jesus Christ our Lord” (verse 25)?

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

In your opinion, how does this passage provide a reason to hope, even in the midst of unbelief?

In your opinion, how does Jude 1:17-25 help us understand why those in Isaiah 53:1-6 who did not believe made the choice they did?

In your opinion, what does Jude 1:17-25 help us understand about how to respond to those who John 12:37-50 indicates were blinded and did not believe, or believed but were unwilling to openly acknowledge their beliefs?

In your opinion, what does Jude 1:17-25 instruct Christians do for themselves when the scoffers of Romans 10:14-21 are obstinate and do not believe?

In your opinion, what does Jude 1:17-25 instruct Christians do for those scoffers of Romans 10:14-21 who are obstinate and do not believe?

In your opinion, what do these passages from Isaiah, John, Romans and Jude help us understand about how the message of salvation is received by the world?

In your opinion, how can we grow in God’s love despite the persistent battering of unbelief around us?

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)