Bowing Today and Tomorrow
Isaiah 45:20-25 - New International
Version (NIV)
20 “Gather together and come;
assemble,
you fugitives from the nations.
Ignorant are those who carry about idols of wood,
who
pray to gods that cannot save.
21 Declare what is to be, present it—
let
them take counsel together.
Who foretold this long ago,
who
declared it from the distant past?
Was it not I, the Lord?
And
there is no God apart from me,
a righteous God and a Savior;
there
is none but me.
22 “Turn to me and be saved,
all
you ends of the earth;
for
I am God, and there is no other.
23 By myself I have sworn,
my
mouth has uttered in all integrity
a
word that will not be revoked:
Before me
every knee will bow;
by
me every tongue will swear.
24 They will say of me, ‘In the Lord alone
are
deliverance and strength.’”
All who have raged against him
will
come to him and be put to shame.
25 But all the descendants of Israel
will
find deliverance in the Lord
and
will make their boast in him.
Who does the Lord call to “gather together and come” (verse 20)?
Who “foretold this long ago” (verse 21)?
What does God command us to do in order to “be
saved” (verse 22)?
What will not happen to the word that God “uttered
in all integrity” (verse 23)?
Where will “every knee” bow (verse 23)?
What will they say is “in the Lord alone”
(verse 24)?
Who will “find deliverance in the Lord and
will make their boast in the Lord” (verse 25)?
In
your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?
In your opinion, how does this passage reveal what changes
for us today if we trust in the One that everyone will bow to in the future?
John 5:24-30 – New International Version (NIV)
24 “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who
sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed
over from death to life. 25 Very truly I tell you, a time
is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the
Son of God and those who hear will live. 26 For as the
Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in
himself. 27 And he has given him authority to
judge because he is the Son of Man.
28 “Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who
are in their graves will hear his voice 29 and come
out—those who have done what is good will rise to live, and those who have done
what is evil will rise to be condemned. 30 By myself I can
do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I
seek not to please myself but him who sent me.
Who
“has eternal life” (verse 24)?
What
will not happen to the one who “has eternal life” (verse 24)?
What
has the one who “has eternal life” done (verse 24)?
What
time “has now come” (verse 25)?
Who has “life in himself” (two
answers) (verse 26)?
Why has the Father given the Son “authority
to judge” (verses 26 and 27)?
What
“time is coming” (verse 28)?
Who
will “rise to live” (verse 29)?
Who
will “rise to be condemned” (verse 29)?
What
can Jesus do by Himself (verse 30)?
In
your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?
In
your opinion, how does this passage reveal what changes for us today if we
trust in the One that everyone will bow to in the future?
In
your opinion, how does John 5:24-30 help us understand that the deliverance
that Isaiah 45:20-25 says is “in
the Lord alone”?
Romans
14:5-13 - New
International Version (NIV)
5 One person considers one day more sacred than
another; another considers every day alike. Each of them should be fully
convinced in their own mind. 6 Whoever regards one day as
special does so to the Lord. Whoever eats meat does so to the Lord, for they
give thanks to God; and whoever abstains does so to the Lord and gives
thanks to God. 7 For none of us lives for ourselves
alone, and none of us dies for ourselves alone. 8 If
we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether
we live or die, we belong to the Lord. 9 For this very
reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of
both the dead and the living.
10 You, then, why do you judge your brother or sister? Or why do you
treat them with contempt? For we will all stand
before God’s judgment seat. 11 It is written:
“‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord,
‘every knee will bow
before me;
every tongue will acknowledge God.’”
12 So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God.
13 Therefore let us stop passing
judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any
stumbling block or obstacle in the way of a brother or sister.
What
should both the person who “considers one day more sacred than another”
and the person who “considers every day alike” each be (verse 5)?
Who “does so to the Lord” (three answers)
(verse 6)?
How many of us live “for ourselves alone”
(verse 7)?
Who do we live for “if we live” (verse 8)?
Who do we die for “if we die” (verse 8)?
Why did Christ die and return to life (verse 9)?
Where will all stand (verse 10)?
What will every tongue do (verse 11)?
Who will each of us “give an account of ourselves”
to (verse 12)?
Who should we “stop passing judgment” on
(verse 13)?
What should we “make up our mind” not to do
(verse 13)?
In your opinion, what is the basic message of this
passage?
In your opinion, how does the focus of calling
people to turn from the world to God in the statement “Before
me every knee will bow; by me every tongue will swear” of Isaiah 45:20-25
change to “stop passing
judgment on one another” as the focus in the
same statement of Romans 14:5-13?
In
your opinion, how can Romans 14:5-13 say that we will all “stand before God’s
judgment seat” after Jesus promised in John 5:24-30 that “whoever hears my
word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be
judged but has crossed over from death to life”?
1 Peter 4:1-6 – New International Version (NIV)
1 Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm
yourselves also with the same attitude, because whoever suffers in the body is done
with sin. 2 As a result, they do not live the rest of their
earthly lives for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God. 3 For you have spent enough time in the
past doing what pagans choose to do—living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness,
orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry. 4 They
are surprised that you do not join them in their reckless, wild living, and
they heap abuse on you. 5 But they
will have to give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. 6 For this is the reason the gospel was preached
even to those who are now dead, so that they might be judged according to
human standards in regard to the body, but live according to God in regard to
the spirit.
How
should we respond to Christ suffering “in his body” (verse 1)?
Who
is “done with sin” (verse 1)?
What do those who are “done with sin”
live for (verses 1 and 2)?
Who lives in “debauchery, lust,
drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry” (verse 3)?
What happens when people are “surprised
that you do not join them in the reckless, wild living” (verse 4)?
Who will they “have to give account”
to (verse 5)?
Why was the gospel “preached even to
those who are now dead” (verse 6)?
In your opinion, what is the basic
message of this passage?
In your opinion, how does this passage
reveal what changes for us today if we trust in the One that everyone will bow
to in the future?
In your opinion, what does 1 Peter 4:1-6
reveal about the life that John 4:24-30 says we will receive when we hear the
Word of Jesus, and believe Him who sent Jesus, and cross “over from death to
life”?
In your opinion, how does knowing that
the “pagans” of 1 Peter 4:1-6 will heap abuse on Christians help us
understand why Romans 14:5-13 instructs us to “stop passing judgment on one
another”?
In
your opinion, what do these passages from Isaiah, John, Romans, and 1 Peter
help us understand about the things that God has already done and the things He
is going to do?
In your opinion, how can we “live according to
God” today?
(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)
