Believing Among those who Don’t
Isaiah 53:1-6 - New International
Version (NIV)
1 Who has believed our
message
and
to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
and
like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing
in his appearance that we should desire him.
3 He was despised and rejected by mankind,
a
man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces
he
was despised, and we held him in low esteem.
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.
In your opinion, “to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed”
(verse 1)?
How did He grow up (verse 2)?
What did He not have to “attract us to him” (verse
2)?
How did “mankind” react to Him ( verse 3)?
What did He bear (verse 4)?
Who was He pierced for (verse 5)?
How are we healed (verse 5)?
What has “each of us” done (verse 6)?
What has “the Lord” laid on Him (verse
6)?
In
your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?
In your opinion, how does this passage provide a reason to
hope, even in the midst of unbelief?
John 12:37-50 – New International Version (NIV)
37 Even after Jesus had performed so many signs in their
presence, they still would not believe in him. 38 This was
to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet:
“Lord, who has believed our message
and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?”
39 For this reason they could not believe, because, as Isaiah says
elsewhere:
40 “He has blinded their
eyes
and hardened their hearts,
so they can neither see with their eyes,
nor understand with their hearts,
nor turn—and I would heal them.”
41 Isaiah said this because he saw Jesus’ glory and spoke about
him.
42 Yet at the same time many even among the leaders believed in
him. But because of the Pharisees they would not openly acknowledge
their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue; 43 for
they loved human praise more than praise from God.
44 Then Jesus cried out, “Whoever believes in me does not
believe in me only, but in the one who sent me. 45 The one
who looks at me is seeing the one who sent me. 46 I have
come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should
stay in darkness.
47 “If anyone hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge
that person. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save the
world. 48 There is a judge for the one who rejects me and
does not accept my words; the very words I have spoken will condemn
them at the last day. 49 For I did not speak on my
own, but the Father who sent me commanded me to say all that I have
spoken. 50 I know that his command leads to eternal
life. So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say.”
What
did the crowd in Jerusalem not do, in spite of the signs that Jesus had
performed (verse 37)?
Whose
word was this to fulfill (verse 38)?
What
had He hardened (verse 40)?
What
had Isaiah seen (verse 41)?
Why would the leaders who believed in
Jesus not openly acknowledge their faith” (verse 42)?
What did they love more than “praise
from God” (verse 43)?
Who
else does the one who believes in Jesus believe in (verse 44)?
Who
does the one who looks at Jesus see (verse 45)?
How
did Jesus “come into the world” (verse 46)?
Who
does Jesus not judge (verse 47)?
What
will condemn the “one who rejects” Jesus and does not accept His words (verse
48)?
Who
“commanded” Jesus to say all that He spoke (verse 49)?
Whose
command “leads to eternal life” (verse 50)?
In
your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?
In
your opinion, how does this passage provide a reason to hope, even in the midst
of unbelief?
In
your opinion, what does Isaiah 53:1-6 help us understand about what Jesus would
have to do to “save the world” as He indicates is His purpose in John
12:37-50?
Romans
10:14-21 - New
International Version (NIV)
14 How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And
how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they
hear without someone preaching to them? 15 And how can
anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the
feet of those who bring good news!”
16 But not all the Israelites accepted the good news. For Isaiah
says, “Lord, who has
believed our message?” 17 Consequently, faith comes
from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about
Christ. 18 But I ask: Did they not hear? Of course they
did:
“Their voice has gone out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world.”
19 Again I ask: Did Israel not understand? First, Moses says,
“I will make you envious by those who are not a nation;
I will make you angry by a nation that has no
understanding.”
20 And Isaiah boldly says,
“I was found by those who did not seek me;
I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me.”
21 But concerning Israel he says,
“All day long I have held out my hands
to a disobedient and obstinate people.”
In your
opinion, “how can they hear without someone preaching to them” (verse
14)?
Whose feet
are beautiful (verse 15)?
What did
not all the Israelites accept (verse 16)?
How is the
message heard (verse 17)?
What is the answer to the question “did they not
hear” (verse 18)?
Who will God use to make Israel envious (verse 19)?
Who does Isaiah say will find God (verse 20)?
How is Israel described (verse 21)?
In your opinion, what is the basic message of this
passage?
In your opinion, how
does this passage provide a reason to hope, even in the midst of unbelief?
In your opinion, how does Isaiah 31:1-6 support
the message of good news that Paul in Romans 10:14-21 says “of course”
the Israelites heard?
In your opinion, how does Paul indicating
that all the Israelites heard the message but not all “accepted the good
news” in Romans 10:14-21 help us understand what Jesus meant when He said
that He would not be the judge, but “very words” He spoke would “condemn
them at the last day” in John 12:37-50?
Jude 1:17-25 – 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.
24 To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present
you before his glorious presence without fault and with great
joy— 25 to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty,
power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and
forevermore! Amen.
What
does Jude want his “dear friends” to remember (verse 17)?
When
will scoffers “follow their own ungodly desires” (verse 18)?
What do these people do (verse 19)?
What do these people follow (verse
19)?
How does Jude want his friends to build
themselves up (verse 20)?
How does Jude want his friends to pray
(verse 20)?
What are Jude’s friends to wait for (verse
21)?
Who should Jude’s friends “be merciful
to” (verse 22)?
In your opinion, what does it mean to “show
mercy, mixed with fear-hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh”
(verse 23)?
How is God able to present Christians “before
his glorious presence” (verse 24)?
What does Jude pray for God to have “through
Jesus Christ our Lord” (verse 25)?
In your opinion, what is the basic
message of this passage?
In your opinion, how does this passage
provide a reason to hope, even in the midst of unbelief?
In your opinion, how
does Jude 1:17-25 help us understand why those in Isaiah 53:1-6 who did not
believe made the choice they did?
In your opinion, what does Jude 1:17-25
help us understand about how to respond to those who John 12:37-50 indicates
were blinded and did not believe, or believed but were unwilling to openly
acknowledge their beliefs?
In your opinion, what does Jude 1:17-25
instruct Christians do for themselves when the scoffers of Romans 10:14-21 are
obstinate and do not believe?
In
your opinion, what does Jude 1:17-25 instruct Christians do for those scoffers
of Romans 10:14-21 who are obstinate and do not believe?
In your opinion, what do these passages
from Isaiah, John, Romans and Jude help us understand about how the message of
salvation is received by the world?
In your opinion, how can we grow in God’s love despite
the persistent battering of unbelief around us?
(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)
