June 23, 2024 – Isaiah in the New Testament – Accepting Responsibility for the Blood

Accepting Responsibility for the Blood

Isaiah 59:1-9 - New International Version (NIV)

¹ Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save,
    nor his ear too dull to hear.
² But your iniquities have separated
    you from your God;
your sins have hidden his face from you,
    so that he will not hear.
³ For your hands are stained with blood,
    your fingers with guilt.
Your lips have spoken falsely,
    and your tongue mutters wicked things.
⁴ No one calls for justice;
    no one pleads a case with integrity.
They rely on empty arguments, they utter lies;
    they conceive trouble and give birth to evil.
⁵ They hatch the eggs of vipers
    and spin a spider’s web.
Whoever eats their eggs will die,
    and when one is broken, an adder is hatched.
⁶ Their cobwebs are useless for clothing;
    they cannot cover themselves with what they make.
Their deeds are evil deeds,
    and acts of violence are in their hands.
⁷ Their feet rush into sin;
    they are swift to shed innocent blood.
They pursue evil schemes;
    acts of violence mark their ways.
⁸ The way of peace they do not know;
    there is no justice in their paths.
They have turned them into crooked roads;
    no one who walks along them will know peace.

⁹ So justice is far from us,
    and righteousness does not reach us.
We look for light, but all is darkness;
    for brightness, but we walk in deep shadows.

 

What is the arm of the Lord “surely” not too short to do (verse 1)?

 

What has “separated you from your God” (verse 2)?

Where are the blood stains (verse 3)?

Who “calls for justice” (verse 4)?

What do they hatch (verse 5)?

Where are the “acts of violence” (verse 6)?

What are they swift to do (verse 7)?

Where is there “no justice” (verse 8)?

Why do “we” not find light (verse 9)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach about being accountable to God?

Matthew 27:19-26 – New International Version (NIV)

¹⁹ While Pilate was sitting on the judge’s seat, his wife sent him this message: “Don’t have anything to do with that innocent man, for I have suffered a great deal today in a dream because of him.”

²⁰ But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus executed.

²¹ “Which of the two do you want me to release to you?” asked the governor.

“Barabbas,” they answered.

²² “What shall I do, then, with Jesus who is called the Messiah?” Pilate asked.

They all answered, “Crucify him!”

²³ “Why? What crime has he committed?” asked Pilate.

But they shouted all the louder, “Crucify him!”

²⁴ When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but that instead an uproar was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd. “I am innocent of this man’s blood,” he said. “It is your responsibility!”

²⁵ All the people answered, “His blood is on us and on our children!”

²⁶ Then he released Barabbas to them. But he had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified.

What message did Pilate’s wife send him (verse 19)?

What did the chief priests and elders persuade the crowd to do (verse 20)?

How did the crowd respond when Pilate ask “which of the two do you want me to release to you” (verse 21)?

What did the crowd want Pilate to do “with Jesus who is called the Messiah” (verse 22)?

How did the crowd respond when Pilate ask “what crime has he committed” (verse 23)?

In your opinion, did Pilate remove his responsibility for his actions when he washed his hands and declared “I am innocent of this man’s blood” (verse 24)?

In your opinion, does the people’s answer “His blood is on us and on our children” count as a confession (verse 25)?  Why or why not?

Who “had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified” (verse 26)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach about being accountable to God?

In your opinion, how is the prophecy of Isaiah 59:1-9 that they are “swift to shed innocent blood” proven true in Matthew 27:19-26?

Romans 3:9.22 - New International Version (NIV)

⁹ What shall we conclude then? Do we have any advantage? Not at all! For we have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin. ¹⁰ As it is written:

“There is no one righteous, not even one;
¹¹     there is no one who understands;
    there is no one who seeks God.
¹² All have turned away,
    they have together become worthless;
there is no one who does good,
    not even one.”
¹³ “Their throats are open graves;
    their tongues practice deceit.”
“The poison of vipers is on their lips.”
¹⁴     “Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.”
¹⁵ “Their feet are swift to shed blood;
¹⁶     ruin and misery mark their ways,
¹⁷ and the way of peace they do not know.”
¹⁸     “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

¹⁹ Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. ²⁰ Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.

²¹ But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. ²² This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile,

Who is “alike and all under the power of sin” (verse 9)?

How many righteous are there (verse 10)?

Who “seeks God” (verse 11)?

How many do good (verse 12)?

What are “their throats” (verse 13)?

What are “their mouths” full of (verse 14)?

What are “their feet” swift to do (verse 15)?

How are the ways marked (verse 16)?

What do they not know (verse 17)?

Where is there “no fear of God” (verse 18)?

Why does the law say what is says “to those who are under the law” (verse 19)?

How do we “become conscious of our sin” (verse 20)?

Who testifies to the “righteousness of God” that has been made known apart from the law (verse 21)?

How is “this righteousness” given (verse 22)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach about being accountable to God?

In your opinion, how does the end of Romans 3:9-22 offer a light in the darkness of the rest of that passage and the darkness of Isaiah 59:1-9?

In your opinion, what does Romans 3:9-22 help us understand about the futility of Pilate’s washing his hands in Matthew 27:19-26?

1 John 1:5-10 – New International Version (NIV)

⁵ This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. ⁶ If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. ⁷ But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

⁸ If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. ⁹ If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. ¹⁰ If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.

What is God (verse 5)?

Where is there “no darkness at all” (verse 5)?

What are we doing “if we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness” (verse 6)?

When will we “have fellowship with one another” (verse 7)?

What does “the blood of Jesus, his Son” do (verse 7)?

When are we deceived (verse 8)?

What happens “if we confess our sins” (verse 9)?

When do we make God “out to be a liar” (verse 10)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach about being accountable to God?

In your opinion, how do the people who “look for light” in Isaiah 59:1-9 find the light in 1 John 1:5-10?

In your opinion, how does 1 John 1:5-10 answer Pilate’s claim that he is “innocent of this man’s blood” in Matthew 27:19-26?

In your opinion, how does 1 John 1:5-10 help us understand how we are purified from sin so we can receive the righteousness that is “given through faith in Jesus Christ” in Romans 3:9-22?

In your opinion, what do these passages from Isaiah, Matthew, Romans and 1 John teach us about who Jesus’s blood is on?

In your opinion, how can denying responsibility for the blood of Jesus separate us from righteousness, but accepting our responsibility be vital to the process of becoming righteous?

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)