A Banner for the Thirsty
Isaiah 11:10-16 - New International
Version (NIV)
10 In that day the Root of
Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will
rally to him, and his resting place will be glorious. 11 In that day the Lord will reach out
his hand a second time to reclaim the surviving remnant of his people from
Assyria, from Lower Egypt, from Upper Egypt, from Cush, from
Elam, from Babylonia, from Hamath and from the islands of
the Mediterranean.
12 He will raise a
banner for the nations
and gather the exiles of Israel;
he will assemble the scattered people of Judah
from the four quarters of the earth.
13 Ephraim’s jealousy will vanish,
and Judah’s enemies will be destroyed;
Ephraim will not be jealous of Judah,
nor Judah hostile toward Ephraim.
14 They will swoop down on the slopes of Philistia to the
west;
together they will plunder the people to the east.
They will subdue Edom and Moab,
and the Ammonites will be subject to them.
15 The Lord will
dry up
the gulf of the Egyptian sea;
with a scorching wind he will sweep his hand
over the Euphrates River.
He will break it up into seven streams
so that anyone can cross over in sandals.
16 There will be a highway for the remnant of his
people
that is left from Assyria,
as there was for Israel
when they came up from Egypt.
Who will “the nations rally to” (verse
10)?
Where will the Lord reclaim the “surviving
remnant of his people” from (verse 11?
In your opinion, why does Isaiah say the Lord
will “raise a banner for the nations” and “gather the exiles of
Israel” (verse 12)?
What will happen to the relationship between
Ephraim and Judah (verse 13)?
Who will they plunder (verse 14)?
What will the “scorching wind” of the
Lord’s hand do (verse 15)?
What will there be “for the remnant of his
people” (verse 16)?
In
your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?
In
your opinion, who does this passage teach us that the “Root of Jesse”
will stand as a banner for?
John
4:10-26 - New
International Version (NIV)
10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it
is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given
you living water.”
11 “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well
is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12 Are you
greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it
himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?”
13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be
thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them
will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a
spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t
get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”
16 He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”
17 “I have no husband,” she replied.
Jesus said to
her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. 18 The
fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your
husband. What you have just said is quite true.”
19 “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. 20 Our
ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place
where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”
21 “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is
coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in
Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not
know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 Yet
a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship
the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers
the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his
worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”
25 The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming.
When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”
26 Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”
What would the woman at the well have received if she
“knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you
for a drink” (verse 10)?
In your opinion, why is the question “where can you get this living water” important (verse 11)?
What will happen to the people who drink the water
from Jacob’s well (verse
13)?
How is it different for the people who drink the
water that Jesus gives them (verse 14)?
Why does the woman want to drink the water that Jesus
gives (verse 15)?
Who does Jesus want the woman to bring to the well (verse
16)?
Why did the woman say she couldn’t bring him (verse
17)?
What did Jesus know about the woman (verse 18)?
What did the woman now know about Jesus (verse 19)?
How does the woman attempt to move the discussion
away from her past and present (verse 20)?
How does Jesus show that the past is not going to
limit of the Jews and the Samaritans (verse 21)?
What has now come (verse 23)?
How must God be worshipped (verse 24)?
What did the woman know (verse 25)?
Who did Jesus claim to be (verse 26)?
In your opinion, what is the basic message of this
passage?
In your opinion, who
does this passage teach us that the “Root of Jesse” will stand as a
banner for?
In
your opinion, how is the diversity of the nations and of the surviving remnant
of the Lord’s people who return in Isaiah 11:10-16 become unity in John 4:10-26?
Romans 15:5-13 – New International Version (NIV)
5 May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ
Jesus had, 6 so that with one mind and one voice you
may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
7 Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in
order to bring praise to God. 8 For I tell you that Christ
has become a servant of the Jews on behalf of God’s truth, so that the
promises made to the patriarchs might be confirmed 9 and,
moreover, that the Gentiles might glorify
God for his mercy. As it is written:
“Therefore I will praise
you among the Gentiles;
I will sing the praises of your name.”
10 Again, it says,
“Rejoice, you Gentiles,
with his people.”
11 And again,
“Praise the Lord, all
you Gentiles;
let all the peoples extol him.”
12 And again, Isaiah says,
“The Root of Jesse will spring up,
one who will arise to rule over the nations;
in him the Gentiles will hope.”
13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you
trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy
Spirit.
What
kind of “attitude of mind” does Jesus pray for the Roman Christians (verse
5)?
How
would they react to “the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” if
they had that “attitude of mind” (verse 6)?
Why
should they “accept one another” (verse 7)?
What
has Christ become (verse 8)?
Why will the Gentiles “glorify God”
(verse 9)?
Who are the Gentiles to rejoice with
(verse 10)?
How are “all the peoples” to
respond to the Lord (verse 11)?
Who
will the Gentiles hope in (verse 12)?
How
can someone “overflow with hope” (verse 13)?
In
your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?
In your opinion, who does this passage teach us
that the “Root of Jesse” will stand as a banner for?
In your opinion, how
does having the “same attitude of mind toward
each other that Christ Jesus had” in Romans 15:5-13 cause both the “nations”
that rally to the Banner and the remnant of the Jewish people who will be
gathered in Isaiah 11:10-16 to have “one mind and one voice”?
In
your opinion, how does Jesus’s discussion with the Samaritan woman at the well
in John 4:10-26 help prepare Paul in Romans 15:5-13 to make it clear that “the
Root of Jesse” became a “servant of the Jews” in part so that “the Gentiles might
glorify God for his mercy”?
Revelation 22:16-21 – New International
Version (NIV)
16 “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this
testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of
David, and the bright Morning Star.”
17 The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let the one
who hears say, “Come!” Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who
wishes take the free gift of the water of life.
18 I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this
scroll: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to that person
the plagues described in this scroll. 19 And if anyone
takes words away from this scroll of prophecy, God will take away
from that person any share in the tree of life and in the Holy City, which
are described in this scroll.
20 He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming
soon.”
Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.
21 The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God’s people. Amen.
How does Jesus identify Himself (verse 16)?
Who
says “Come!” (verse 17)?
Who
can take “the free gift of the water of life” (verse 17)?
What
is John’s warning to “everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this
scroll” (verse 18)?
What
will happen to the person who “takes words away from the scroll of prophecy”
(verse 19)?
Who
says “I am coming soon” (verse 20)?
What
does John pray to “be with God’s people” (verse 21)?
In
your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?
In your opinion, who does this passage
teach us that the “Root of Jesse” will stand as a banner for?
In your opinion, how does the discussion
of water with the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4:10-26 help us
understand the significance of the instruction to “let the one who wishes take
the free gift of the water of life” in Revelation 22:16-21?
In your opinion, how is your “attitude
of mind” changed when you realize that the one that Romans 15:5-13 said
became “a servant of the Jews” is the same one who claims in Revelation
22:16-21 to be the “bright Morning Star” who is coming soon?
In
your opinion, what do these passages from Isaiah, John, Romans and Revelation teach
us about why the “Root of Jesse” needs to be a banner and a prophet, a
servant and a Star?
In your
opinion, how do we worship the “Root of Jesse” “in the Spirit and in truth” today?
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