June 23, 2025 – A Study of Matthew – From Crying to Feasting

From Crying to Feasting

Psalm 107:17-22 – New International Version (NIV)

¹⁷ Some became fools through their rebellious ways
    and suffered affliction because of their iniquities.
¹⁸ They loathed all food
    and drew near the gates of death.
¹⁹ Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,
    and he saved them from their distress.
²⁰ He sent out his word and healed them;
    he rescued them from the grave.
²¹ Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love
    and his wonderful deeds for mankind.
²² Let them sacrifice thank offerings
    and tell of his works with songs of joy.

How did “some” become fools (verse 17)?

Why did they suffer affliction (verse 17)?

What did they draw near to (verse 18)?

Who did they cry to (verse 19)?

What (who) did the Lord send to heal them (verse 20)?

What did He rescue them from (verse 20)?

Why should they “give thanks to the Lord” (verse 21)?

What should they “sacrifice” (verse 22)?

How should they “tell of his works” (verse 22)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage reveal about crying out to the Lord?

Matthew 8:1-13 - New International Version (NIV)

¹ When Jesus came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him. ² A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.”

³ Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy. ⁴ Then Jesus said to him, “See that you don’t tell anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”

⁵ When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help. ⁶ “Lord,” he said, “my servant lies at home paralyzed, suffering terribly.”

⁷ Jesus said to him, “Shall I come and heal him?”

⁸ The centurion replied, “Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. ⁹ For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”

¹⁰ When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, “Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. ¹¹ I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. ¹² But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

¹³ Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go! Let it be done just as you believed it would.” And his servant was healed at that moment.

Who followed Jesus from the mountainside (verse 1)?

In your opinion, why did the man with leprosy ask to be made clean instead of healed (verse 2)?

What was Jesus’s physical response to the man (verse 3)?

Why was the man to go to the priest and “offer the gift Moses commanded” (verse 4)?

Who came to Jesus in Capernaum (verse 5)?

What was wrong with the servant (verse 6)?

In your opinion, why did Jesus ask “shall I come and heal him” (verse 7)?

What was the centurion’s response (verse 8)?

What did the centurion say he was “under” (verse 9)?

Why was Jesus “amazed” (verse 10)?

Where will many come from to “take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven” (verse 11)?

What will happen to “the subjects of the kingdom” (verse 12)?

When was the servant healed (verse 13)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage reveal about crying out to the Lord?

In your opinion, what is demonstrated in Jesus’s interaction with both the leper and the centurion in Matthew 8:1-13 that Psalm 107:17-22 foretells?

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 the message “we have heard from him and declare to you” (verse 5)?

When do “we lie and do not live out the truth” (verse 6)?

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

What “purifies us from all sin” (verse 7)?

When do we “deceive ourselves” (verse 8)?

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

How do we make him 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 reveal about crying out to the Lord?

In your opinion, what do the people that Psalm 107:17-22 is written about have in common with those reading 1 John 1:5-10?

In your opinion, how is Jesus healing the unclean in Matthew 8:1-13 similar to and different from the purification in 1 John 1:5-10?

Revelation 15:1-8 - New International Version (NIV)

¹ I saw in heaven another great and marvelous sign: seven angels with the seven last plagues—last, because with them God’s wrath is completed. ² And I saw what looked like a sea of glass glowing with fire and, standing beside the sea, those who had been victorious over the beast and its image and over the number of its name. They held harps given them by God ³ and sang the song of God’s servant Moses and of the Lamb:

“Great and marvelous are your deeds,
    Lord God Almighty.
Just and true are your ways,
    King of the nations.
⁴ Who will not fear you, Lord,
    and bring glory to your name?
For you alone are holy.
All nations will come
    and worship before you,
for your righteous acts have been revealed.”

⁵ After this I looked, and I saw in heaven the temple—that is, the tabernacle of the covenant law—and it was opened. ⁶ Out of the temple came the seven angels with the seven plagues. They were dressed in clean, shining linen and wore golden sashes around their chests. ⁷ Then one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls filled with the wrath of God, who lives for ever and ever. ⁸ And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power, and no one could enter the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels were completed.

Why were these the “seven last plagues” (verse 1)?

Who was “standing beside the sea” (verse 2)?

What song were they singing (verse 3)?

Why will all nations “come and worship” (verse 4)?

What was opened in heaven (verse 5)?

Where did the “seven angels with the seven plagues” come from (verse 6)?

What filled the “seven golden bowls” (verse 7)?

Why could no one enter the temple (verse 8)?

When would people be able to enter the temple (verse 8)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage reveal about crying out to the Lord?

In your opinion, how do those rescued from the grave in Psalm 107:17-22 anticipate those who are victorious in Revelation 15:1-8?

In your opinion, what does Revelation 15:1-8 help us understand about the feast that Jesus says will take place in heaven in Matthew 8:1-13?

In your opinion, what does 1 John 1:5-10 help us understand about how those proclaimed as victorious in Revelation 15:1-8 achieved their victories over “the beast and its image and over the number of its name”?

In your opinion, what is the role of faith in all who receive healing or victory in the Scriptures from Psalms, Matthew, 1 John, and Revelation?

In your opinion, how can we take our “places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven”?

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)

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)

March 6, 2022 – John’s Writings – Responding to a Glorious God

Responding to a Glorious God

Ezra 1:5-11 - New International Version (NIV)

⁵ Then the family heads of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and Levites—everyone whose heart God had moved—prepared to go up and build the house of the Lord in Jerusalem. ⁶ All their neighbors assisted them with articles of silver and gold, with goods and livestock, and with valuable gifts, in addition to all the freewill offerings.

⁷ Moreover, King Cyrus brought out the articles belonging to the temple of the Lord, which Nebuchadnezzar had carried away from Jerusalem and had placed in the temple of his god. ⁸ Cyrus king of Persia had them brought by Mithredath the treasurer, who counted them out to Sheshbazzar the prince of Judah.

⁹ This was the inventory:

gold dishes	30
silver dishes	1,000
silver pans	29
10 gold bowls	30
matching silver bowls	410
other articles	1,000

¹¹ In all, there were 5,400 articles of gold and of silver. Sheshbazzar brought all these along with the exiles when they came up from Babylon to Jerusalem.

How are the “family heads of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and Levites” described (verse 5)?

What did they prepare to do (verse 5)?

Who assisted them (verse 6)?

How did they assist them (verse 6)?

What did King Cyrus bring out (verse 7)?

Who were the articles “counted” out to (verse 8)?

How many articles were there (verse 11)?

What happened to the articles (verse 11)?

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

In your opinion, how does this passage show a response to the glory of God?

John 1:14-18 - New International Version (NIV)

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 did “the Word” become (verse 14)?

Where did “the Word” make His dwelling (verse 14)?

What have “we” seen (verse 14)?

Who testified “concerning him” (verse 15)?

Why did John say that “He who comes after me has surpassed me” (verse 15)?

Where has the grace “we have all received” come from (verse 16)?

What was given through Moses (verse 17)?

Where did “grace and truth” come from (verse 17)?

Who has seen God (verse 18)?

What has the “one and only Son” made known (verse 18)?

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

In your opinion, how does this passage show a response to the glory of God?

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)?

How much darkness is in God (verse 5)?

When do we lie (verse 6)?

What do we have if we “walk in the light, as he is in the light” (verse 7)?

In your opinion, why does the “blood of Jesus” purify us from sin if we walk in the light (verse 7)?

When do we “deceive ourselves” (verse 8)?

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

How can we “make him out to be a liar” (verse 10)?

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

In your opinion, how does this passage show a response to the glory of God?

Revelation 1:9-20 – New International Version (NIV)

⁹ I, John, your brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus, was on the island of Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. ¹⁰ On the Lord’s Day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet, ¹¹ which said: “Write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea.”

¹² I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands, ¹³ and among the lampstands was someone like a son of man, dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. ¹⁴ The hair on his head was white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. ¹⁵ His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. ¹⁶ In his right hand he held seven stars, and coming out of his mouth was a sharp, double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance.

¹⁷ When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. ¹⁸ I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.

¹⁹ “Write, therefore, what you have seen, what is now and what will take place later. ²⁰ The mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand and of the seven golden lampstands is this: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.

How does John identify himself (verse 9)?

Why was John on the island of Patmos (verse 9)?

Where was John on the Lord’s Day (verse 10)?

What was John to write and send to the seven churches (verse 11)?

Why did John turn around (verse 12)?

Where was the one “like a son of man” (verse 13)?

In your opinion, how does the description of the one “like a son of man” make you feel (verses 13, 14 and 15)?

What did He hold (verse 16)?

When did the one “like a son of man” place His right hand on John and say “do not be afraid” (verse 17)?

In your opinion, why does the on “like a son of man” say “I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever!” {verse 18)?

What is John to write (verse 19)?

What are the seven stars and the seven lampstands (verse 20)?

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

In your opinion, how does this passage show a response to the glory of God?

In your opinion, what does the difference between the “house of the Lord in Jerusalem” that the people in Ezra 1:5-11 were going to build and the dwelling that John says “the Word” made among us in John 1:14-18 teach us about where and how we can have a relationship with God?   

In your opinion, what can we learn about following God from the fact that it was those whose hearts “God had moved” who were going to Jerusalem in Ezra 1:5-11 and those that “walk in the light, as he is in the light” who have fellowship with God in 1 John 1:5-10? 

In your opinion, what does the difference between a people gathering wealth to go to Jerusalem to build a house for the Lord in Ezra 1:5-11 to an inspiring and transformed Jesus standing in the midst of the churches with the angels in His hand in Revelation 1:9-20 help us understand about how to worship today?

In your opinion, how is the grace that John says comes, along with truth, through Jesus Christ in John 1:14-18 connected to the confession, forgiveness and purification he talks about in 1 John 1:5-10? 

In your opinion, what does Revelation 1:9-10 help us understand about the “glory of the one and only Son” that John said he had seen in John 1:14-18?

In your opinion, how does it make you feel to think about walking with Jesus in the light, as instructed by 1 John 1:5-10, when Jesus is the person who is described by John in Revelation 1:9-20, white hair, blazing eyes, bronze feet, double-edged sword from mouth and shining face? 

In your opinion, what do these passages from Ezra, John, 1 John and Revelation teach us about how we, who have sin in our lives and who live in a world where there is suffering, should respond to the glory of God today?

In your opinion, how is God moving in your heart today?

 

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)