Beginning or End
Isaiah 28:14-18 - New International
Version (NIV)
14 Therefore hear the word
of the Lord, you
scoffers
who rule this people in Jerusalem.
15 You boast, “We have entered into a covenant with death,
with the realm of the dead we have made an agreement.
When an overwhelming scourge sweeps by,
it cannot touch us,
for we have made a lie our refuge
and falsehood our hiding place.”
16 So this is what the Sovereign Lord says:
“See, I lay a stone in
Zion, a tested stone,
a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation;
the one who relies on it
will never be stricken with
panic.
17 I will make justice the measuring line
and righteousness the plumb line;
hail will sweep away your refuge, the lie,
and water will overflow your hiding place.
18 Your covenant with death will be annulled;
your agreement with the realm of the dead will not
stand.
When the overwhelming scourge sweeps by,
you will be beaten down by it.
What are the “scoffers” to hear (verse 14)?
Why will the “overwhelming scourge” not
be able to touch them (verse 15)?
What will the Sovereign Lord lay in Zion (verse
16)?
How will those who rely on it be protected (verse
16)?
What will the “plumb line” be (verse
17)?
Where will the water overflow (verse 17)?
What will be annulled (verse 18)?
How will the “overwhelming scourge” affect
them (verse 18)?
In
your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?
Matthew 21:33-46 – New International Version (NIV)
33 “Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who
planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it and
built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved
to another place. 34 When the harvest time approached, he
sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit.
35 “The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another,
and stoned a third. 36 Then he sent other servants to
them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same
way. 37 Last of all, he sent his son to them. ‘They will
respect my son,’ he said.
38 “But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This
is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and take his inheritance.’ 39 So
they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.
40 “Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do
to those tenants?”
41 “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end,” they
replied, “and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants, who will give
him his share of the crop at harvest time.”
42 Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures:
“‘The stone the builders
rejected
has become the cornerstone;
the Lord has done this,
and it is marvelous in our eyes’?
43 “Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away
from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit. 44 Anyone
who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; anyone on whom it falls will
be crushed.”
45 When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus’ parables,
they knew he was talking about them. 46 They looked for a
way to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowd because the people held
that he was a prophet.
What
did the landowner do with the vineyard he planted and prepared (verse 33)?
When
did he send his servants to the tenants (verse 34)?
Who
did the landowner send after the servants he sent were beaten, killed and
stoned (verses 35 through 37)?
How
did the tenants respond (verses 38 and 39)?
How did chief priests and Pharisees
respond when Jesus ask “when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he
do to those tenants” (verses 40 and 41)?
What has become the cornerstone (verse 42)?
Who will the kingdom of God be given to (verse
43)?
What
happens to “anyone who falls on the stone” (verse 44)?
What
did the chief priests and Pharisees know (verse 45)?
Who
were they afraid of (verse 46)?
In
your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?
In
your opinion, what does this passage teach us about the choice that is required
by the cornerstone?
In
your opinion, how can the “precious cornerstone” from Isaiah 28:14-18
that protects those who rely on it by making sure they “will never be stricken with panic” also be the same stone that breaks and crushes people in
Matthew 21:33-46?
Romans
9:30-10:4 - New
International Version (NIV)
30 What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue
righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; 31 but
the people of Israel, who pursued the law as the way of
righteousness, have not attained their goal. 32 Why
not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They
stumbled over the stumbling stone. 33 As it is written:
“See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes people to stumble
and a rock that makes them fall,
and
the one who believes in him will never be put to shame.”
1 Brothers and sisters, my heart’s desire and prayer to
God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. 2 For I
can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is
not based on knowledge. 3 Since they did not know the
righteousness of God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to
God’s righteousness. 4 Christ is the culmination of the
law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.
What did the Gentiles not pursue (verse 30)?
What did the Gentiles obtain “by faith” (verse
30)?
What did the people of Israel pursue “as a way of
righteousness” (verse 31)?
Why did the people of Israel not attain their goal
(verses 31 and 32)?
What did they stumble over (verse 32)?
Who will never be put to shame (verse 33)?
What is Paul’s “heart’s desire and prayer to God” (verse
1)?
How is the zeal of the people of Israel misplaced
(verse 2)?
Why did they “not submit to God’s righteousness” (verse
3)?
How may there “be righteousness for everyone who
believes” (verse 4)?
In your opinion, what is the basic message of this
passage?
In your opinion, how are the scoffers and
those who rely on the stone in Isaiah 28:14-18 transformed in Romans 9:30-10:4?
In
your opinion, how does Romans 9:30-10:4 help us understand the motives of the
chief priests and Pharisees in Matthew 21:33-46?
1
Peter 2:4-10 –
New International Version (NIV)
4 As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen
by God and precious to him— 5 you also, like living
stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy
priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus
Christ. 6 For in Scripture it says:
“See, I lay a stone in
Zion,
a chosen and precious cornerstone,
and the one who trusts in him
will never be put to shame.”
7 Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who
do not believe,
“The stone the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone,”
8 and,
“A stone that causes people to stumble
and a rock that makes them fall.”
They stumble because they disobey the
message—which is also what they were destined for.
9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy
nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of
him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10 Once
you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not
received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
Who is “rejected by humans but chosen by God and
precious to him” (verse 4)?
What
are Christians being built into (verse 5)?
What
are Christians to offer to God (verse 5)?
Who
will “never be put to shame” (verse 6)?
What
has “the stone the builders rejected” become (verse 7)?
Why
do they stumble (verse 8)?
Why
are Christians “a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s
special possession” (verse 9)?
What
have Christians, the “people of God” received (verse 10)?
In
your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?
In your opinion, what does this passage
teach us about the choice that is required by the cornerstone?
In your opinion, how
does the “covenant with death” of Isaiah 28:14-18 contrast with “God’s
special possession” of 1 Peter 2:4-10?
In your opinion, how do the two sets of tenants
of Matthew 21:33-46 become the choice of 1 Peter 2:4-10?
In your opinion, how can the misdirected
zeal of the Israelites in Romans 9:30-10:4 become the “spiritual sacrifice
acceptable to God” in 1 Peter 2:4-10?
In
your opinion, what do these passages from Isaiah, Matthew, Romans, and 1 Peter
teach us about how Jesus is either the end, or the begining?
In your
opinion, what praises of God can we declare today?
(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)
