October 6, 2024 – A Study of Matthew – Word of Life

Word of Life

Deuteronomy 8:1-10 – New International Version (NIV)

¹ Be careful to follow every command I am giving you today, so that you may live and increase and may enter and possess the land the Lord promised on oath to your ancestors. ² Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. ³ He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. ⁴ Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years. ⁵ Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the Lord your God disciplines you.

⁶ Observe the commands of the Lord your God, walking in obedience to him and revering him. ⁷ For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land—a land with brooks, streams, and deep springs gushing out into the valleys and hills; ⁸ a land with wheat and barley, vines and fig trees, pomegranates, olive oil and honey; ⁹ a land where bread will not be scarce and you will lack nothing; a land where the rocks are iron and you can dig copper out of the hills.

¹⁰ When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you.

What do the Israelite people need to do to “live and increase” (verse 1)?

Why did the Lord lead them into the “wilderness these forty years” (verse 2)?

Who caused the Israelites to hunger (verse 3)?

What does man “live on” (verse 3)?

How long did the Israelites clothes last (verse 4)?

Where are they to know that the Lord disciplines them (verse 5)?

Who were the Israelites to revere (verse 6)?

What kind of land is the Lord bringing them into (verse 7)?

What will the Israelites lack in the land (verse 9)?

What are the Israelites to do after they “have eaten and are satisfied” (verse 10)?

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

In your opinion, what do we learn about God’s Word in this passage?

Matthew 4:1-4 - New International Version (NIV)

¹ Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. ² After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. ³ The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”

⁴ Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

Who led Jesus “into the wilderness” (verse 1)?

What was going to happen to Jesus in the wilderness (verse 1)?

Why was Jesus hungry (verse 2)?

Who came to Jesus (verse 3)?

What was Jesus to do if He was “the Son of God” (verse 3)?

What was written (verse 4)?

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

In your opinion, what do we learn about God’s Word in this passage?

In your opinion, what can we learn from the fact that Moses gave the Israelite people the instruction about living on “every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord” as they were preparing to leave the forty years they had spent in the wilderness in Deuteronomy 8:1-10 and Jesus quoted it to the tempter after forty days of fasting in the wilderness in Matthew 4:1-4?

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

¹ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was with God in the beginning. ³ Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. ⁴ In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. ⁵ The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

When “was the Word” (verse 1)?

Where was “the Word” (verse 1)?

What was “the Word” (verse 1)?

Who was the Word with “in the beginning” (verse 2)?

What was made through the Word (verse 3)?

What was made without the Word (verse 3)?

Where was the “life that was the light of all mankind” (verse 4)?

Where does the light shine (verse 5)?

What has not overcome the light (verse 5)?

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

In your opinion, what do we learn about God’s Word in this passage?

In your opinion, how is the word that Moses talks about in Deuteronomy 8:1-8 related to the Word that John introduces in John 1:1-5? 

In your opinion, how does Jesus’s answer to the tempter in Matthew 4:1-4 become more powerful when you consider that the Word is the creator, the life, and the light of humanity?

1 John 1:1-4 – New International Version (NIV)

¹ That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. ² The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. ³ We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. ⁴ We write this to make our joy complete.

What does John do with “that which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched” (verse 1)?

What appeared (verse 2)?

What does John proclaim to (verse 2)?

Where was the life (verse 2)?

Why does John proclaim “what we have seen and heard” (verse 3)?

Who is in fellowship with John (verse 3)?

Why does John write (verse 4)?

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

In your opinion, what do we learn about God’s Word in this passage?

In your opinion, how are the commands of Moses to the Israelites in Deuteronomy 8:1-10 being fulfilled by John in 1 John 1:1-4 as he proclaims the Word of life?

In your opinion, how is the living “that comes from the mouth of God” in Matthew 4:1-4 more fully explained in 1 John 1:1-4?  How would you compare it to the life that comes from eating bread?

In your opinion, how is John’s theologically important discussion of the Word in John 1:1-5 made real by his testimony in 1 John 1:1-4?

In your opinion, what do these passages from Deuteronomy, Matthew, John and 1 John teach about what gives us life?

In your opinion, when is Jesus’s answer to the tempter appropriate for us to give today?

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)

November 6, 2016 – Genesis and John (Gospel and Revelation) – Heavens and New Heavens

Heavens and New Heavens

Genesis 1:1-5 – New International Version (NIV)

¹ In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. ² Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

³ And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. ⁴ God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. ⁵ God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.

When did God create “the heavens and the earth” (verse 1)?

What was “formless and empty” (verse 2)?

Where was the darkness (verse 2)?

Who was hovering over the waters (verse 2)?

In your opinion, why did God say “let there be light” (verse 3)?

When did God separate the light from the darkness (verse 4)?

What was there the first day (verse 5)?

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

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

¹ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was with God in the beginning. ³ Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. ⁴ In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. ⁵ The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

When was the Word (verse 1)?

Where was the Word (verse 1)?

Who was the Word (verse 1)?

In your opinion, what does John mean by “He was with God in the beginning” (verse 2)?

What was made through Him (verse 3)?

What was in Him (verse 4)?

What is the “light of all mankind” (verse 4)?

Where does the light shine (verse 5)?

What has not overcome the light (verse 5)?

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

In your opinion, what does John 1:1-5 help us to understand about the creation of the heavens and the earth that is described in Genesis 1:1-5?

Colossians 1:15-23 - New International Version (NIV)

¹⁵ The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. ¹⁶ For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. ¹⁷ He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. ¹⁸ And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. ¹⁹ For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, ²⁰ and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

²¹ Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. ²² But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation— ²³ if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.

Who is the Son the image of (verse 15)?

What is the Son the firstborn over (verse 15)?

What has been “created through him and for him” (verse 16)?

Where is the Son (verse 17)?

In your opinion, what does it mean that the Son is “the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead” (verse 18)?

Where does the fullness of God dwell (verse 19)?

How does God reconcile all things on earth or in heaven to himself (verse 20)?

Why were we “alienated from God” and enemies in our minds (verse 21)?

How have we been reconciled to God (verse 22)?

How are we presented (verse 22)?

Where can we not move from (verse 23)?

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

In your opinion, why does John in John 1:1-5 say that “In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.   The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” and Paul in Colossians 1:15-23 say that Jesus is the “firstborn from among the dead”?

In your opinion, what does Paul in Colossians 1:15-23 help us to understand about through who and for who the creation took place as described in Genesis 1:1-5?

Revelation 21:1-5 – New International Version (NIV)

¹ Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. ² I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. ³ And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ⁴ ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

⁵ He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”

What did John see (verse 1)?

What happened to the first heaven and earth (verse 1)?

Where was the Holy City coming from (verse 2)?

In your opinion, why would the loud voice from the throne say “God’s dwelling place is now among the people” (verse 3)?

Who will God be with (verse 3)?

Why will there be no more death or mourning or crying or pain (verse 4)?

Who is making everything new (verse 5)?

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

In your opinion, why would it be appropriate that the One who Paul said in Colossians 1:15-23 reconciled to “himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross” would be the one in Revelation 21:1-5 to create a new heaven and new earth and “wipe away every tear from their eyes”?

What is your reaction to the fact that the God who is the Word and who created everything according to John 1:1-5 is going to make everything new and dwell with His people according to Revelation 21:1-5?

In your opinion, why would the One who created the first heavens and earth as described in Genesis 1:1-5 decide to remake them, according to Revelation 21:1-5?

In your opinion, what do these passages from Genesis, John, Colossians, and Revelation help us understand about the Creator and creation?

In your opinion, how can we apply these passages to ourselves today?

Next, back to John 1:4 – (sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)