March 17, 2024 – Isaiah in the New Testament – Silence Speaks

Silence Speaks

Isaiah 53:4-8 - New International Version (NIV)

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.

⁷ He was oppressed and afflicted,
    yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
    and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
    so he did not open his mouth.
⁸ By oppression and judgment he was taken away.
    Yet who of his generation protested?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
    for the transgression of my people he was punished.

Who did we consider the servant punished by (verse 4)?

What brought us peace (verse 5)?

Where have “we all” gone (verse 6)?

What did He “not open” (verse 7)?

How was He led (verse 7)?

What happened “by oppression and judgment” (verse 8)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about knowing when to respond with silence or with words?

Mark 14:53-65 – New International Version (NIV)

⁵³ They took Jesus to the high priest, and all the chief priests, the elders and the teachers of the law came together. ⁵⁴ Peter followed him at a distance, right into the courtyard of the high priest. There he sat with the guards and warmed himself at the fire.

⁵⁵ The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for evidence against Jesus so that they could put him to death, but they did not find any. ⁵⁶ Many testified falsely against him, but their statements did not agree.

⁵⁷ Then some stood up and gave this false testimony against him: ⁵⁸ “We heard him say, ‘I will destroy this temple made with human hands and in three days will build another, not made with hands.’” ⁵⁹ Yet even then their testimony did not agree.

⁶⁰ Then the high priest stood up before them and asked Jesus, “Are you not going to answer? What is this testimony that these men are bringing against you?” ⁶¹ But Jesus remained silent and gave no answer.

Again the high priest asked him, “Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?”

⁶² “I am,” said Jesus. “And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.”

⁶³ The high priest tore his clothes. “Why do we need any more witnesses?” he asked. ⁶⁴ “You have heard the blasphemy. What do you think?”

They all condemned him as worthy of death. ⁶⁵ Then some began to spit at him; they blindfolded him, struck him with their fists, and said, “Prophesy!” And the guards took him and beat him.

Who “came together” (verse 53)?

How did Peter follow (verse 54)?

What were the “chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin” looking for (verse 55)?

Whose statements “did not agree” (verse 56)?

Who ask Jesus “are you not going to answer” (verse 60)?

How did Jesus respond to the question (verse 61)?

Who ask Jesus “are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One” (verse 61)?

How did Jesus answer this question (verse 62)?

What did the high priest do (verse 63)?

What did they view Jesus “as worthy of” (verse 64)?

What did they begin to do to Jesus (verse 65)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about knowing when to respond with silence or with words?

In your opinion, when He was being questioned, how is Jesus’s silence in Mark 14:53-65 a fulfillment of the prophecy that He would be silent “as a sheep before its shearers” in Isaiah 53:4-8? 

In your opinion, why was Jesus silent before the high priest’s first question, but then answered the second?

Acts 8:30-39 – New International Version (NIV)

³⁰ Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. “Do you understand what you are reading?” Philip asked.

³¹ “How can I,” he said, “unless someone explains it to me?” So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.

³² This is the passage of Scripture the eunuch was reading:

“He was led like a sheep to the slaughter,
    and as a lamb before its shearer is silent,
    so he did not open his mouth.
³³ In his humiliation he was deprived of justice.
    Who can speak of his descendants?
    For his life was taken from the earth.”

³⁴ The eunuch asked Philip, “Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?” ³⁵ Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus.

³⁶ As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water. What can stand in the way of my being baptized?”  ³⁸ And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him. ³⁹ When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing.

Who ask the man in the chariot “Do you understand what you are reading” (verse 30)?

What did the man say he needed in order to understand (verse 31)?

What did He “not open” (verse 32)?

What was “taken from the earth” (verse 33)?

What question did the eunuch ask (verse 34)?

How did Philip respond to the question (verse 35)?

When did the eunuch ask “what can stand in the way of my being baptized” (verse 36)?

What did the eunuch order (verse 37)?

How did the eunuch go “on his way” (verse 38)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about knowing when to respond with silence or with words?

In your opinion, what would need to happen for you to move from being like the eunuch in Acts 8:30-39 and need to have someone explain the Isaiah 53:4-8 passage to being like Philip who is willing to link the passage to Jesus for someone who is struggling?

In your opinion, how would the testimony of Jesus in Mark 14:53-65 that He is the “the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One” be a part of Philip’s testimony about the “good news about Jesus”? 

1 Peter 1:13-21 – New International Version (NIV)

¹³ Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming. ¹⁴ As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. ¹⁵ But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; ¹⁶ for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”

¹⁷ Since you call on a Father who judges each person’s work impartially, live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear. ¹⁸ For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, ¹⁹ but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. ²⁰ He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. ²¹ Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.

What are minds that “set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming” supposed to be like (verse 13)?

How should we not respond to “the evil desires” (verse 14)?

What should we be in all we do (verse 15)?

What is written (verse 16)?

How should we “live out” our time (verse 17)?

What were we redeemed from (verse 18)?

What redeemed us (verse 19)?

When was He revealed (verse 20)?

Where is our “faith and hope” (verse 21)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about knowing when to respond with silence or with words?

In your opinion, what does 1 Peter 1:13-21 reveal about why Isaiah 53:4-8 indicated that Jesus would be “led like a lamb to slaughter”?

In your opinion, how is Jesus in Mark 14:53-65 an example to us of how to “live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear” as instructed in 1 Peter 1:13-21?

In your opinion, how is Philip in Acts 8:30-39 an example of how be holy, as instructed by 1 Peter 1:13-21, as we learn how to share the “good news about Jesus” even though we are foreigners? 

In your opinion, what do these passages from Isaiah, Mark, Acts and 1 Peter teach us about the silence of the Messiah transformed our lives?

In your opinion, how can alert minds help us be holy when being silent or when speaking the good news today?

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)

January 14, 2018 – Moses and Jesus and Us – Not Heirs to Gold, but to Hope

Not Heirs to Gold, but to Hope

Exodus 32:1-8 - New International Version (NIV)

¹ When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, “Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.”

² Aaron answered them, “Take off the gold earrings that your wives, your sons and your daughters are wearing, and bring them to me.” ³ So all the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron. ⁴ He took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool. Then they said, “These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.”

⁵ When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of the calf and announced, “Tomorrow there will be a festival to the Lord.” ⁶ So the next day the people rose early and sacrificed burnt offerings and presented fellowship offerings. Afterward they sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry.

⁷ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go down, because your people, whom you brought up out of Egypt, have become corrupt. ⁸ They have been quick to turn away from what I commanded them and have made themselves an idol cast in the shape of a calf. They have bowed down to it and sacrificed to it and have said, ‘These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.’

Who did the people gather around when Moses was a long time “in coming down from the mountain” (verse 1)?

In your opinion, what are they asking for when they say “make us gods who will go before us” (verse 1)?

What did Aaron ask for to make this god (verse 2)?

How did the people respond to the idol Aaron “cast in the shape of a calf” and fashioned with a tool (verse 4)?

What did Aaron build in front of the calf (verse 5)?

What did the people do before they “sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry” (verse 6)?

In your opinion, why does God tell Moses that the people “have become corrupt” (verse 7)?

What have the people turned away from (verse 8)?

Who have the people said brought them out of Egypt (verse 8)?

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

Luke 23:13-25 - New International Version (NIV)

¹³ Pilate called together the chief priests, the rulers and the people, ¹⁴ and said to them, “You brought me this man as one who was inciting the people to rebellion. I have examined him in your presence and have found no basis for your charges against him. ¹⁵ Neither has Herod, for he sent him back to us; as you can see, he has done nothing to deserve death. ¹⁶ Therefore, I will punish him and then release him.”

¹⁸ But the whole crowd shouted, “Away with this man! Release Barabbas to us!” ¹⁹ (Barabbas had been thrown into prison for an insurrection in the city, and for murder.)

²⁰ Wanting to release Jesus, Pilate appealed to them again. ²¹ But they kept shouting, “Crucify him! Crucify him!”

²² For the third time he spoke to them: “Why? What crime has this man committed? I have found in him no grounds for the death penalty. Therefore I will have him punished and then release him.”

²³ But with loud shouts they insistently demanded that he be crucified, and their shouts prevailed. ²⁴ So Pilate decided to grant their demand. ²⁵ He released the man who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder, the one they asked for, and surrendered Jesus to their will.

Who did Pilate call together (verse 13)?

What basis has Pilate found to charge Jesus (verse 14)?

Who sent Jesus back to Pilate because he did not find anything to charge him with (verse 15)?

In your opinion, why does Pilate indicate that he will punish and then release Jesus (verse 16)?

What did the crowd shout (verse 18)?

Why was Barabbas in prison (verse 19)?

In your opinion, why does Pilate want to release Jesus (verse 20)?

What did the chief priests, the rulers and the people shout (verse 21)?

What grounds did Pilate find for the death penalty (verse 22)?

What did the crowd insist on (verse 23)?

What did Pilate decide (verse 24)?

Who was released (verse 25)?

What happened to Jesus (verse 25)?

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

In your opinion, how is demanding the crucifixion of Jesus in Luke 23:13-25 similar to creating and worshiping the golden calf in Exodus 32:1-8?

Galatians 4:1-7 – New International Version (NIV)

¹ What I am saying is that as long as an heir is underage, he is no different from a slave, although he owns the whole estate. ² The heir is subject to guardians and trustees until the time set by his father. ³ So also, when we were underage, we were in slavery under the elemental spiritual forces of the world. ⁴ But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, ⁵ to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship. ⁶ Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” ⁷ So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir.

When is an heir like a slave (verse 1)?

How is the heir different from the slave (verse 1)?

Who is the heir subject to (verse 2)?

In your opinion, what does Paul mean when he says “when we were underage” (verse 3)?

Who did God send “when the time had fully come” (verse 4)?

What were the redeemed, who had been under the law, to receive (verse 5)?

Who has been sent into our hearts (verse 6)?

What has God made us (verse 7)?

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

In your opinion, how do you feel when realize that the one Paul says in Galatians 4:1-7 was God’s Son who came to “redeem those under the law” was the one in Luke 23:13-25 about whom those who were slaves to the law and in need of redeeming were chanting “crucify him”?

In your opinion, what can we learn by knowing that the ones Paul says in Galatians 4:1-7 are “in slavery under the elemental spiritual forces of the world” are the ones who also insisted in Exodus 32:1-8 that Aaron “make us gods who will go before us”?

1 Peter 1:13-21 – New International Version (NIV)

¹³ Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming. ¹⁴ As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. ¹⁵ But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; ¹⁶ for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”

¹⁷ Since you call on a Father who judges each person’s work impartially, live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear. ¹⁸ For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, ¹⁹ but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. ²⁰ He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. ²¹ Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.

What should our minds be like when we set our hope on the grace to be brought when Jesus Christ is revealed at His coming (verse 13)?

How should we act as “obedient children” (verse 14)?

Who is holy (verse 15)?

What is written (verse 16)?

How are we to “live out your time as foreigners here” (verse 17)?

In your opinion, why are silver or gold called “perishable things” (verse 18)?

What has the “precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect” accomplished (verses 18 and 19)?

When was Christ chosen (verse 20)?

How do we believe in God (verse 21)?

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

In your opinion, what does 1 Peter 1:13-21 reveal about how God accomplished the process of redeeming slaves and making them heirs that Paul wrote about in Galatians 4:1-7?

In your opinion, how does Peter’s statement that we “believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God” in 1 Peter 1:13-21 help us understand the victory that we the redeemed have over the same evil desires the chief priests, rulers and people of Luke 23:13-25 who shouted “crucify him” had?

In your opinion, how does the contrast between Aaron gathering the golden earrings to make the golden calf who “are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt” in Exodus 32:1-8 and Peter explaining how Christians are redeemed from “the empty way of life” by the “precious blood of Christ” in 1 Peter 1:13-21 help us comprehend the magnitude of what God has accomplished?

In your opinion, what do these passages from Exodus, Luke, Galatians, and 1 Peter reveal to us about our need for “the precious blood of Christ”?

In your opinion, how should each of us who have been redeemed from the “empty way of life” move forward with our faith and hope in God?

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)

July 23, 2017 – Psalm 23 – From the lives of David and Jesus – He Restoreth My Soul

-            The

“He restoreth my soul” KJV Psalm 23:3a

Psalm 51:1-12 – New International Version (NIV)

For the director of music. A psalm of David. When the prophet Nathan came to him after David had committed adultery with Bathsheba.

¹ Have mercy on me, O God,
    according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
    blot out my transgressions.
² Wash away all my iniquity
    and cleanse me from my sin.

³ For I know my transgressions,
    and my sin is always before me.
⁴ Against you, you only, have I sinned
    and done what is evil in your sight;
so you are right in your verdict
    and justified when you judge.
⁵ Surely I was sinful at birth,
    sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
⁶ Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb;
    you taught me wisdom in that secret place.

⁷ Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
    wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
⁸ Let me hear joy and gladness;
    let the bones you have crushed rejoice.
⁹ Hide your face from my sins
    and blot out all my iniquity.

¹⁰ Create in me a pure heart, O God,
    and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
¹¹ Do not cast me from your presence
    or take your Holy Spirit from me.
¹² Restore to me the joy of your salvation
    and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

What part of David’s life did he write this Psalm about (introduction)?

What did David base his request for mercy on (verse 1)?

What did David ask to be cleansed from (verse 2)?

Where is David’s sin (verse 3)?

Who has David sinned against (verse 4)?

How long has David been sinful (verse 5)?

In your opinion, why does David say that God desires faithfulness “even in the womb” (verse 6)?

When will David be “whiter than snow” (verse 7)?

How does David want the bones that God has crushed to respond (verse 8)?

How does David want God to respond to his sines (verse 9)?

In your opinion, what does David mean when he asks God to “create in me a pure heart” (verse 10)?

What does David request not be taken from him (verse 11)?

What does David want restored to him (verse 12)?

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

Luke 5:27-32 - New International Version (NIV)

²⁷ After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. “Follow me,” Jesus said to him, ²⁸ and Levi got up, left everything and followed him.

²⁹ Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them. ³⁰ But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect complained to his disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”

³¹ Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. ³² I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

Where was Levi sitting when Jesus commanded him to “follow me” (verse 27)?

How did Levi respond to Jesus (verse 28)?

Who was at the great banquet that Levi held for Jesus (verse 29)?

In your opinion, why did the Pharisees and teachers of the law complain to Jesus disciples “why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners” (verse 30)?

How did Jesus respond to the complaints (verse 31)?

Who has Jesus come to call (verse 32)?

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

In your opinion, based on what David says in Psalm 51:1-12, would he have viewed himself in Luke 5:27-32 as one of the healthy, or one of the sick?

Ephesians 2:1-10 - New International Version (NIV)

¹ As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, ² in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. ³ All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. ⁴ But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, ⁵ made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. ⁶ And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, ⁷ in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. ⁸ For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— ⁹ not by works, so that no one can boast. ¹⁰ For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

What does Paul say about the people he is writing to (verse 1)?

Who did the people Paul is writing used to follow (verse 2)?

Who is at work in “those who are disobedient” (verse 2)?

What does Paul say that “all of us” did at one time (verse 3)?

In your opinion, what does Paul mean when he says that God is “rich in mercy” (verse 4)?

Where were we when God “made us alive with Christ” (verse 5)?

Why has God “raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms” (verses 6 and 7)?

What allows us to be “saved, through faith” (verse 8)?

Where is the faith from (verse 8)?

Why can no one boast (verse 9)?

What are we (verse 10)?

What has God “prepared in advance for us to do” (verse 10)?

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

In your opinion, what does Paul in Ephesians 2:1-10 help us to understand about the how the repentance that Jesus says in Luke 5:27-32 that He came to call sinners to occurs?

In your opinion, what could David, who wrote Psalm 51:1-12 after Nathan came to him following his adultery with Bathsheba, have helped us to understand about the contrast Paul reveals in Ephesians 2:1-10 between the cravings of the flesh and the salvation that is the result of God’s unfailing love and great mercy?

1 Peter 1:13-21 – New International Version (NIV)

¹³ Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming. ¹⁴ As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. ¹⁵ But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; ¹⁶ for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”

¹⁷ Since you call on a Father who judges each person’s work impartially, live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear. ¹⁸ For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, ¹⁹ but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. ²⁰ He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. ²¹ Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.

What are we to set our hope on (verse 13)?

How are we to react to the “evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance” (verse 14)?

In your opinion, what does Peter mean when he tells us to “be holy in all you do” (verse 15)?

Why should we “live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear” (verse 17)?

What were we redeemed from (verse 18)?

How were we redeemed (verses 18 and 19)?

When was Christ chosen (verse 20)?

Who is our faith and hope in (verse 21)?

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

In your opinion, what does 1 Peter 1:13-21 teach us about what we are to do after we receive the salvation that Ephesians 2:1-10 explains?

In your opinion, how would you contrast the “empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors” as revealed in Luke 5:27-32 with the life we who have our “faith and hope . . . in God” are called to in 1 Peter 1:13-21?

In your opinion, what does 1 Peter 1:13-21 reveal to us about how God accomplished David’s request from Psalm 51:1-12 to “wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin”?

In your opinion, what do these passages from Psalm 51, Luke, Ephesians and 1 Peter teach us about today’s passage from Psalm 23, “He restoreth my soul”?

In your opinion, what do these passages help us to understand about the empty way of life of those who are righteous without Christ versus the “incomparable riches” that those who, through faith, have accepted God’s grace?

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)