December 16, 2018 – Looking Backward and Forward from Zechariah – Snatched from the Fire

Snatched from the Fire

Deuteronomy 30:11-20 - New International Version (NIV)

¹¹ Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. ¹² It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, “Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?” ¹³ Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, “Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?” ¹⁴ No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it.

¹⁵ See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. ¹⁶ For I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess.

¹⁷ But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, ¹⁸ I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess.

¹⁹ This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live ²⁰ and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

What is “not too difficult for you or beyond your reach” (verse 11)?

Why won’t the Israelite people need to ask “who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it” (verse 12)?

Why won’t the Israelite people need to ask “who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it” (verse 13)?

Where is the word they need to obey (verse 14)?

In your opinion, what does Moses mean when he says, “I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction” (verse 15)?

When will the people “live and increase” (verse 16)?

What does Moses warn the Israelite people will happen if “your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them” (verses 17 and 18)?

Who does Moses call to witness that he had set before the people “life and death, blessings and curses” (verse 19)?

In your opinion, what do the people have to do to “choose life” (verse 19)?

What is their life (verse 20)?

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

Zechariah 3:1-10 - New International Version (NIV)

¹ Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right side to accuse him. ² The Lord said to Satan, “The Lord rebuke you, Satan! The Lord, who has chosen Jerusalem, rebuke you! Is not this man a burning stick snatched from the fire?”

³ Now Joshua was dressed in filthy clothes as he stood before the angel. ⁴ The angel said to those who were standing before him, “Take off his filthy clothes.”

Then he said to Joshua, “See, I have taken away your sin, and I will put fine garments on you.”

⁵ Then I said, “Put a clean turban on his head.” So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him, while the angel of the Lord stood by.

⁶ The angel of the Lord gave this charge to Joshua: ⁷ “This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘If you will walk in obedience to me and keep my requirements, then you will govern my house and have charge of my courts, and I will give you a place among these standing here.

⁸ “‘Listen, High Priest Joshua, you and your associates seated before you, who are men symbolic of things to come: I am going to bring my servant, the Branch. ⁹ See, the stone I have set in front of Joshua! There are seven eyes on that one stone, and I will engrave an inscription on it,’ says the Lord Almighty, ‘and I will remove the sin of this land in a single day.

¹⁰ “‘In that day each of you will invite your neighbor to sit under your vine and fig tree,’ declares the Lord Almighty.”

Who did Zechariah see standing at the right side of Joshua as Joshua stood before the angel of the Lord (verse 1)?

In your opinion, what does it mean that Joshua was “a burning stick shatched from the fire” (verse 2)?

How was Joshua dressed “as he stood before the angel” (verse 3)?

What did the angel tell “those who were standing before him” (verse 4)?

What had the angel taken away (verse 4)?

Who said “put a clean turban on his head” (verse 5)?

Who gave the charge to Joshua (verse 6)?

What does Joshua have to do to “govern my house and have charge of my courts” (verse 7)?

In your opinion, what does it mean that High Priest Joshua and his associates are “symbolic of things to come” (verse 8)?

Who is the Lord going to bring (verse 8)?

What will the Lord do in a “single day” (verse 9)?

Who will each one invite “to sit under your vine and fig tree” (verse 10)?

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

In your opinion, what does the fact that Joshua, the high priest, was standing before the Lord in filthy clothes in Zechariah 3:1-10 tell us about how the Israelite people responded to Moses commands issued in Deuteronomy 30:11-20?

John 5:19-27 – New International Version (NIV)

¹⁹ Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. ²⁰ For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, and he will show him even greater works than these, so that you will be amazed. ²¹ For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it. ²² Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, ²³ that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him.

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.

What does Jesus say the Son can do (verse 19)?

Why will the Jewish leaders “be amazed” (verse 20)?

Who will “the Son” give life to (verse 21)?

Who has the Father “entrusted all judgment to” (verse 22)?

In your opinion, why does the person who “does not honor the Son” not honor the Father (verse 23)?

Who will not be judged (verse 24)?

What time “has now come” (verse 25)?

Who has granted the Son “also to have life in himself” (verse 26)?

Why was He given “authority to judge” (verse 27)?

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

In your opinion, how is the choice that Moses gave the people in Deuteronomy 30:11-20 similar to the choice that Jesus gives to people in John 5:19-27?  How are the choices different?

In your opinion, how does the symbolism in Zechariah 3:1-10 help us understand what Jesus says in John 5:19-27?

Jude 1:17-23 – New International Version (NIV)

¹⁷ But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. ¹⁸ They said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.” ¹⁹ These are the people who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit.

²⁰ But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, ²¹ keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.

²² Be merciful to those who doubt; ²³ save others by snatching them from the fire; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.

What does Jude want his friends to remember (verse 17)?

When will the scoffers who “follow their own ungodly desires” come (verse 18)?

What do the scoffers follow (verse 19)?

How are Jude’s friends to “keep yourself in God’s love” (verses 20 and 21)?

What are Jude’s friends to wait for (verse 21)?

In your opinion, what does it mean to “be merciful to those who doubt” (verse 22)?

In your opinion, what does it mean to “save others by snatching them from the fire” (verse 23)?

In your opinion, what does it mean to “show mercy, mixed with fear” (verse 23)?

What are Jude’s friends to hate (verse 23)?

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

In your opinion, why is Moses’s command “to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws” in Deuteronomy 31:11-20 different from Jude’s instruction in Jude 1:17-23 to “keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you eternal life”?

In your opinion, what does it mean that the Hebrew “Joshua”, which is “Jesus” in Greek and means “the Lord saves”, is called “a burning stick snatched from the fire” in Zechariah 3:1-10 and in Jude 1:17-23 we are instructed to “save others by snatching them from the fire”?

In your opinion, how does Jesus’s teaching in John 5:19-27 help us understand what people need so that they can be snatched from the fire as instructed in Jude 1:17-23?

In your opinion, what do these passages from Deuteronomy, Zechariah, John and Jude teach us about the decision we must make about God?

In your opinion, how can we who have been snatched from the fire in turn “be merciful to those who doubt; save others by snatching them from the fire; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh”?

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)

January 28, 2018 – Moses and Jesus and Us – Forgiven and Reconciled

Forgiven and Reconciled

Exodus 34:1-9 - New International Version (NIV)

¹ The Lord said to Moses, “Chisel out two stone tablets like the first ones, and I will write on them the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke. ² Be ready in the morning, and then come up on Mount Sinai. Present yourself to me there on top of the mountain. ³ No one is to come with you or be seen anywhere on the mountain; not even the flocks and herds may graze in front of the mountain.”

⁴ So Moses chiseled out two stone tablets like the first ones and went up Mount Sinai early in the morning, as the Lord had commanded him; and he carried the two stone tablets in his hands. ⁵ Then the Lord came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed his name, the Lord. ⁶ And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, ⁷ maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.”

⁸ Moses bowed to the ground at once and worshiped. ⁹ “Lord,” he said, “if I have found favor in your eyes, then let the Lord go with us. Although this is a stiff-necked people, forgive our wickedness and our sin, and take us as your inheritance.”

What did Moses do to the first tablets (verse 1)?

When is Moses to be ready (verse 2)?

Who can come with Moses (verse 3)?

What did Moses chisel out (verse 4)?

Where did the Lord stand (verse 5)?

Who is “abounding in love and faithfulness” (verse 6)?

In your opinion, what is the difference between “forgiving wickedness” and not leaving “the guilty unpunished” (verse 7)?

What did Moses do “at once” (verse 8)?

Who is “stiff-necked” (verse 9)?

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

Luke 23:32-43 - New International Version (NIV)

³² Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed. ³³ When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left. ³⁴ Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.

³⁵ The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is God’s Messiah, the Chosen One.”

³⁶ The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar ³⁷ and said, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.”

³⁸ There was a written notice above him, which read: this is the king of the jews.

³⁹ One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!”

⁴⁰ But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? ⁴¹ We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.”

⁴² Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”

⁴³ Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

Who was led out to be executed with Jesus (verse 32)?

Where were they crucified (verse 33)?

Why did Jesus ask His Father to “forgive them” (verse 34)?

In your opinion, why can’t Jesus save others and Himself (verse 35)?

What did the soldiers do (verse 36)?

How did the soldiers want Jesus to prove that he was “king of the Jews” (verse 37)?

What written notice was above Jesus (verse 38)?

What did one of the criminals want Jesus to do (verse 39)?

How did the other criminal rebuke him (verse 40)?

What did the criminal think that Jesus had done wrong (verse 41)?

In your opinion, why does the criminal, who is suffering torment and dying on the cross, ask for Jesus to “remember me” instead of asking to be taken from the cross (verse 42)?

Where will the criminal join Jesus (verse 43)?

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

In your opinion, how is Moses petitioning the Lord in Exodus 34:1-9 similar to the plea of the second criminal to Jesus in Luke 23:32-43?

2 Corinthians 5:11-21 – New International Version (NIV)

¹¹ Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade others. What we are is plain to God, and I hope it is also plain to your conscience. ¹² We are not trying to commend ourselves to you again, but are giving you an opportunity to take pride in us, so that you can answer those who take pride in what is seen rather than in what is in the heart. ¹³ If we are “out of our mind,” as some say, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. ¹⁴ For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. ¹⁵ And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.

¹⁶ So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. ¹⁷ Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! ¹⁸ All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: ¹⁹ that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. ²⁰ We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. ²¹ God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Why does Paul try to persuade others (verse 11)?

Who does Paul want the Corinthians to be able to answer (verse 12)?

Who would Paul be for if in his right mind (verse 13)?

What compels Paul (verse 14)?

Who should those who live now live for (verse 15)?

In your opinion, what does it mean to regard someone “from a worldly point of view” (verse 16)?

What has come for anyone in Christ (verse 17)?

Who did God give a ministry of reconciliation to (verse 18)?

What is God not counting (verse 19)?

What does Paul implore (verse 20)?

Why did God make “him who had no sin to be sin for us” (verse 21)?

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

In your opinion, how does the interaction of the second criminal and Jesus on the cross in Luke 23:32-43 help us understand the reconciliation to Christ that Paul talks about in 2 Corinthians 5:11-21?

In your opinion, how is God’s statement in Exodus 34:1-9 that He is “the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness,  maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin” proven in Paul’s message of reconciliation given in 2 Corinthians 5:11-21?

Jude 1:17-23 – New International Version (NIV)

¹⁷ But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. ¹⁸ They said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.” ¹⁹ These are the people who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit.

²⁰ But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, ²¹ keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.

²² Be merciful to those who doubt; ²³ save others by snatching them from the fire; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.

What does Jude want his friends to remember (verse 17)?

When will there be “scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires” (verse 18)?

In your opinion, what does it mean to “follow mere natural instincts” (verse 19)?

How do Jude’s dear friends keep themselves “in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you eternal life” (verses 20 and 21)?

How are we to treat those who doubt (verse 22)?

How should “others” be saved (verse 23)?

What is to be hated (verse 23)?

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

In your opinion, how does Jude 1:17-23 help us understand what Paul means in 2 Corinthians 5:11-21 by “from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view”?

In your opinion, how are Jesus’s actions on the cross in Luke 23:32-43 an example of what Jude means in Jude 1:17-23 when he writes “be merciful to those who doubt; save others by snatching them from the fire; to others show mercy, mixed with fear”?

In your opinion, what can we learn from Moses plea for the “stiff-necked people” people of Israel in Exodus 34:1-9 and the “scoffers” that Jude talks about and then encourages his “dear friends” to snatch from the fire in Jude 1:17-23?

In your opinion, what do these passages from Exodus, Luke, 2 Corinthians, and Jude show us about God’s forgiveness and our reconciliation?

In your opinion, how should each of us who have been snatched from death respond to God and to those who have not been reconciled?

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)