October 9, 2022 – John’s Writings – The Loving Lamb

 

The Loving Lamb

Ezekiel 21:1-7 - New International Version (NIV)

¹ The word of the Lord came to me: ² “Son of man, set your face against Jerusalem and preach against the sanctuary. Prophesy against the land of Israel ³ and say to her: ‘This is what the Lord says: I am against you. I will draw my sword from its sheath and cut off from you both the righteous and the wicked. ⁴ Because I am going to cut off the righteous and the wicked, my sword will be unsheathed against everyone from south to north. ⁵ Then all people will know that I the Lord have drawn my sword from its sheath; it will not return again.’

⁶ “Therefore groan, son of man! Groan before them with broken heart and bitter grief. ⁷ And when they ask you, ‘Why are you groaning?’ you shall say, ‘Because of the news that is coming. Every heart will melt with fear and every hand go limp; every spirit will become faint and every leg will be wet with urine.’ It is coming! It will surely take place, declares the Sovereign Lord.”

Whose word came to Ezekiel (verse 1)?

What was Ezekiel to “preach against” (verse 2)?

Who was Ezekiel to “prophesy against” (verse 2)?

What is the Lord going to cut off from Israel (verse 3)?

Who will the Lord’s sword be unsheathed against (verse 4)?

Who will know that the Lord has drawn His sword from its sheath (verse 5)?

How was Ezekiel supposed to “groan before them” (verse 6)?

Why was Ezekiel groaning (verse 7)?

Who declares “it will surely take place” (verse 7)?

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

In your opinion, what can we learn about the love of the Lamb of God from this passage?

John 6:1-15 - New International Version (NIV)

¹ Some time after this, Jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee (that is, the Sea of Tiberias), ² and a great crowd of people followed him because they saw the signs he had performed by healing the sick. ³ Then Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down with his disciples. ⁴ The Jewish Passover Festival was near.

⁵ When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?” ⁶ He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do.

⁷ Philip answered him, “It would take more than half a year’s wages to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!”

⁸ Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up, ⁹ “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?”

¹⁰ Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass in that place, and they sat down (about five thousand men were there). ¹¹ Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish.

¹² When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, “Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.” ¹³ So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.

¹⁴ After the people saw the sign Jesus performed, they began to say, “Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.” ¹⁵ Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself.

Where did Jesus cross to (verse 1)?

Why did “a great crowd of people” follow him (verse 2)?

Who did Jesus sit down with (verse 3)?

In your opinion, why do you think that John mentions that the Jewish Passover Festival was near (verse 4)?

How did Jesus test Philip (verses 5 and 6)?

In your opinion, how would you compare the answers of Philip and Andrew (verses 7 through 9)?

How many men sat down (verse 10)?

What did Jesus do after he “took the loaves, gave thanks” (verse 11)?

Why did Jesus want the left over pieces gathered up (verse 12)?

How much was left over (verse 13)?

In your opinion, were the people right when they began to say “Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world” (verse 14)?  In your opinion, could they be right in what they said and wrong in what they believed and wanted?  How?

Why did Jesus withdraw “to a mountain by himself” (verse 15)?

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

In your opinion, what can we learn about the love of the Lamb of God from this passage?

In your opinion, how can the Lord who was going to “cut off the righteous and the wicked” in Ezekiel 21:1-7 be the same person who fed five thousand in John 6:1-15? 

2 John 4-10 – New International Version (NIV)

⁴ It has given me great joy to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as the Father commanded us. ⁵ And now, dear lady, I am not writing you a new command but one we have had from the beginning. I ask that we love one another. ⁶ And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love.

⁷ I say this because many deceivers, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, have gone out into the world. Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist. ⁸ Watch out that you do not lose what we have worked for, but that you may be rewarded fully. ⁹ Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of Christ does not have God; whoever continues in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. ¹⁰ If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not take them into your house or welcome them.

What has given John “great joy” (verse 4)?

What is John “not writing” to the dear Lady (verse 5)?

What does John ask (verse 5)?

How does John define love (verse 6)?

How does John define deceivers (verse 7)?

Where have the “many deceivers” gone (verse 7)?

What additional title does John give deceivers (verse 7)?

What does John want the readers to “not lose” (verse 8)?

Who “does not have God” (verse 9)?

Who “has both the Father and the Son” (verse 9)?

How are Christians supposed to respond to those who “do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh” (verse 10)?

In your opinion, is there conflict between the instruction to “love one another” in verse 5 and the instruction to not take the one who does not “continue in the teaching of Christ” “into your house or welcome them” in verse 10?

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

In your opinion, what can we learn about the love of the Lamb of God from this passage?

In your opinion, how could the righteous who were going to be cut off in Ezekiel 21:1-7 be obedient to obey God’s command in 2 John 4-10 to “walk in love”?

In your opinion, how does the right statement about Jesus voiced by people with wrong motives that led Jesus to withdraw to the mountain in John 6:1-15 help us begin to understand how deceivers and antichrists can run ahead and “not continue in the teaching of Christ” in 2 John 4-10?

Revelation 6:1-8 – New International Version (NIV)

¹ I watched as the Lamb opened the first of the seven seals. Then I heard one of the four living creatures say in a voice like thunder, “Come!” ² I looked, and there before me was a white horse! Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest.

³ When the Lamb opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” ⁴ Then another horse came out, a fiery red one. Its rider was given power to take peace from the earth and to make people kill each other. To him was given a large sword.

⁵ When the Lamb opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come!” I looked, and there before me was a black horse! Its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand. ⁶ Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, “Two pounds of wheat for a day’s wages, and six pounds of barley for a day’s wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine!”

⁷ When the Lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, “Come!” ⁸ I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.

What did the Lamb open (verse 1)?

Who said “in a voice like thunder, “Come”!” (verse 1)?

How did the rider of the white horse, who held a bow and was given a crown, ride out (verse 2)?

Who said “Come!” when the Lamb opened the second seal (verse 3)?

What was the second rider given (verse 4)?

Who said “Come!” when the Lamb opened the third seal (verse 5)?

What was the rider of the black horse holding (verse 5)?

In your opinion, what does “Two pounds of wheat for a day’s wages, and six pounds of barley for a day’s wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine” mean (verse 6)?

Who said “Come!” when the Lamb opened the fourth seal (verse 7)?

What was the rider of the pale horse named (verse 8)?

Who followed the pale horse and its rider (verse 8)?

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

In your opinion, what can we learn about the love of the Lamb of God from this passage?

In your opinion, what does the prophesy against all Israel in Ezekiel 21:1-7 help us understand about the prophesies against the whole world in Revelation 6:1-8? 

In your opinion, what can we learn from the fact that the Lamb (who had been slain) who is opening the seals in Revelation 6:1-8 is the same person as the One who fed the five thousand just before the Jewish Passover Festival?

In your opinion, does the warning in 2 John 4-10 not to take the deceiver and antichrist “into your house or welcome them” a beginning of preparing Christians for the sending of the horsemen into the world in Revelation 6:1-8? 

In your opinion, how do these passages from Ezekiel, John, 2 John and Revelation show us that the Lamb of God is different from the world?

In your opinion, how does understanding that difference help us to understand how we, as Christians, are to react to God?  How does understanding the difference between the Lamb of God and the world help us understand how we, as Christians, are to react to the world?

 

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)

October 2, 2022 – John’s Writings – Falling Short and Overcoming

 Falling Short and Overcoming

Ezekiel 20:10-21 - New International Version (NIV)

¹⁰ Therefore I led them out of Egypt and brought them into the wilderness. ¹¹ I gave them my decrees and made known to them my laws, by which the person who obeys them will live. ¹² Also I gave them my Sabbaths as a sign between us, so they would know that I the Lord made them holy.

¹³ “‘Yet the people of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness. They did not follow my decrees but rejected my laws—by which the person who obeys them will live—and they utterly desecrated my Sabbaths. So I said I would pour out my wrath on them and destroy them in the wilderness. ¹⁴ But for the sake of my name I did what would keep it from being profaned in the eyes of the nations in whose sight I had brought them out. ¹⁵ Also with uplifted hand I swore to them in the wilderness that I would not bring them into the land I had given them—a land flowing with milk and honey, the most beautiful of all lands— ¹⁶ because they rejected my laws and did not follow my decrees and desecrated my Sabbaths. For their hearts were devoted to their idols. ¹⁷ Yet I looked on them with pity and did not destroy them or put an end to them in the wilderness. ¹⁸ I said to their children in the wilderness, “Do not follow the statutes of your parents or keep their laws or defile yourselves with their idols. ¹⁹ I am the Lord your God; follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. ²⁰ Keep my Sabbaths holy, that they may be a sign between us. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God.”

²¹ “‘But the children rebelled against me: They did not follow my decrees, they were not careful to keep my laws, of which I said, “The person who obeys them will live by them,” and they desecrated my Sabbaths. So I said I would pour out my wrath on them and spend my anger against them in the wilderness. 

Where did God take the Israelites when He led them out of Egypt (verse 10)?

What did God give the Israelites in the wilderness that they could obey and live (verse 11)?

In your opinion, how would the Sabbaths show the Israelites that “the Lord made them holy” (verse 12)?

What did the Israelites do in the wilderness (verse 13)?

What did God swear (verse 15)?

How did the Israelites feel about their idols (verse 16)?

In your opinion, why did God look at the Israelites “with pity” (verse 17)?

What did God tell the children of the Israelites (verse 18)?

How did God identify Himself to the children (verse 19)?

Why were the children to “keep my Sabbaths holy” (verse 20)?

How did the children respond to God (verse 21)?

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

In your opinion, what can we learn about falling short and/or overcoming in this passage?

John 5:36-47 - New International Version (NIV)

³⁶ “I have testimony weightier than that of John. For the works that the Father has given me to finish—the very works that I am doing—testify that the Father has sent me. ³⁷ And the Father who sent me has himself testified concerning me. You have never heard his voice nor seen his form, ³⁸ nor does his word dwell in you, for you do not believe the one he sent. ³⁹ You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, ⁴⁰ yet you refuse to come to me to have life.

⁴¹ “I do not accept glory from human beings, ⁴² but I know you. I know that you do not have the love of God in your hearts. ⁴³ I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not accept me; but if someone else comes in his own name, you will accept him. ⁴⁴ How can you believe since you accept glory from one another but do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?

⁴⁵ “But do not think I will accuse you before the Father. Your accuser is Moses, on whom your hopes are set. ⁴⁶ If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. ⁴⁷ But since you do not believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say?”

What testimony does Jesus have that is “weightier than that of John” (verse 36)?

What does this testimony testify to (verse 36)?

Why have those listening to Jesus “never heard his voice nor seen his form, nor does his word dwell in you” (verses 37 and 38)?

Why do those same people “study the Scriptures diligently” (verse 39)?

What do those Scriptures do (verse 39)?

In your opinion, why do the people listening to Jesus refuse to come to Him “to have life” (verse 40)?

What does Jesus know they not have in their hearts (verse 42)?

Who will they accept (verse 43)?

Who will accuse these people “before the Father” (verse 45)?

Who would these people believe if they “believed Moses” (verse 46)?

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

In your opinion, what can we learn about falling short and/or overcoming in this passage?

In your opinion, what can we learn from the failure of the Israelites that Ezekiel was speaking because “they were not careful to keep my laws, of which I said, “The person who obeys them will live by them,” that Ezekiel 20:10-21 and the failure of the people that Jesus was talking to in John 5:36-47 who “study the Scriptures diligently” but were not able to believe in Jesus?   

1 John 5:5-13 – New International Version (NIV)

⁵ Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.

⁶ This is the one who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ. He did not come by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. ⁷ For there are three that testify: ⁸ the Spirit, the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement. ⁹ We accept human testimony, but God’s testimony is greater because it is the testimony of God, which he has given about his Son. ¹⁰ Whoever believes in the Son of God accepts this testimony. Whoever does not believe God has made him out to be a liar, because they have not believed the testimony God has given about his Son. ¹¹ And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. ¹² Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.

¹³ I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. 

“Who is it that overcomes the world” (verse 5)?

How did Jesus come (verse 6)?

In your opinion, what does it mean to come “by water and blood” (verse 6)?

Who is the truth who testifies (verse 6)?

Who are the three who testify in agreement (verses 7 and 8)?

Why is God’s testimony greater (verse 9)?

What does “whoever believes in the Son of God” accept (verse 10)?

Who makes God “out to be a liar” (verse 10)?

What is the testimony (verse 11)?

Who has life (verse 12)?

Who does not have life (verse 12)?

Who does John write these things to (verse 13)?

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

In your opinion, what can we learn about falling short and/or overcoming in this passage?

In your opinion, how does 1 John 5:5-13’s discussion about overcoming the world help us understand how that the Israelite people that God was talking about in Ezekiel 20:10-21 rebelled in the wilderness?

In your opinion, how does 1 John 5:5-13’s discussion about overcoming the world help us understand why the people that Jesus was talking to in John 5:36-47 did not find Jesus in the writings of Moses?

Revelation 5:8-14 – New International Version (NIV)

⁸ And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of God’s people. ⁹ And they sang a new song, saying:

“You are worthy to take the scroll
    and to open its seals,
because you were slain,
    and with your blood you purchased for God
    persons from every tribe and language and people and nation.
¹⁰ You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God,
    and they will reign on the earth.”

¹¹ Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. ¹² In a loud voice they were saying:

“Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain,
    to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength
    and honor and glory and praise!”

¹³ Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, saying:

“To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb
    be praise and honor and glory and power,
for ever and ever!”

¹⁴ The four living creatures said, “Amen,” and the elders fell down and worshiped.

What did the “four living creatures and the twenty-four elders” do when Jesus took the scroll (verse 8)?

Where “are the prayers of God’s people” (verse 8)?

Why, according to the new song, was Jesus “worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals” (verse 9)?

What have the “persons from every tribe and language and people and nation” that Jesus purchased been made into (verses 9 and 10)?

Who “encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders” (verse 11)?

What did they say the “Lamb, who was slain” was worthy to receive (verse 12)?

How did “every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them” respond (verse 13)?

What did the four living creatures do (verse 14)?

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

In your opinion, what can we learn about falling short and/or overcoming in this passage?

In your opinion, how are the people that God had brought from slavery in Egypt into the wilderness who could not keep the Sabbath in Ezekiel 20:10-21 and all the rest of us who have failed at keeping ourselves holy and also deserve God’s wrath able to find hope in Revelation 5:8-14? 

In your opinion, what does Revelation 5:8-14 reveal to us about Jesus’s works He was to finish that He said in John 5:36-47 “testify that the Father has sent me”?

In your opinion, what is the difference between what 1 John 5:5-13 and Revelation 5:8-14 reveal about what the blood of Jesus does?  How are both important? 

In your opinion, what do these passages from Ezekiel, John, 1 John and Revelation teach us about how we, like the Israelites freed from slavery in Egypt through mighty acts of God and the people who actually saw Jesus perform miracles, might fall short today?  And what do they teach us about how to overcome today?

In your opinion, how would you describe overcoming the world (this might be considered a trick question)? 

 

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)

September 25, 2022 – John’s Writings – Repent and Love

 

Repent and Love

Ezekiel 18:25-32 - New International Version (NIV)

²⁵ “Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ Hear, you Israelites: Is my way unjust? Is it not your ways that are unjust? ²⁶ If a righteous person turns from their righteousness and commits sin, they will die for it; because of the sin they have committed they will die. ²⁷ But if a wicked person turns away from the wickedness they have committed and does what is just and right, they will save their life. ²⁸ Because they consider all the offenses they have committed and turn away from them, that person will surely live; they will not die. ²⁹ Yet the Israelites say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ Are my ways unjust, people of Israel? Is it not your ways that are unjust?

³⁰ “Therefore, you Israelites, I will judge each of you according to your own ways, declares the Sovereign Lord. Repent! Turn away from all your offenses; then sin will not be your downfall. ³¹ Rid yourselves of all the offenses you have committed, and get a new heart and a new spirit. Why will you die, people of Israel? ³² For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign Lord. Repent and live!

What do the Israelites (and sometimes we in our hearts) say (verse 25)?

In your opinion, how does Ezekiel, on behalf of the Lord, turn the Israelites (and our) statement around in the two questions “Is my way unjust?  Is it not your ways that are unjust” (verse 25)?

What will happen to a righteous person who “turns from their righteousness and commits sin” (verse 26)?

How will a wicked person save their life (verse 27)?

What must the wicked person consider and turn away from (verse 28)?

In your opinion, why does Ezekiel repeat the essence of verse 25 in verse 29?

How will the Lord judge (verse 30)?

What does Ezekiel call for the Israelites to do so that “sin will not be your downfall” (verse 30)?

What are the Israelites to do after they “rid yourselves of all the offenses you have committed” (verse 31)?

Who takes “no pleasure in the death of anyone” (verse 32)?

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

In your opinion, what can we learn about the transformation from being wicked and dead to believing and living in this passage?

John 5:24-30 - New International Version (NIV)

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.

²⁸ “Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice ²⁹ and come out—those who have done what is good will rise to live, and those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned. ³⁰ By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me.

What does the one who “hears my word and believes him who sent me” have (verse 24)?

What will the one who “hears my word and believes him who sent me” avoid (verse 24)?

Where has the one who “hears my word and believes him who sent me” crossed from and to (verse 24)?

In your opinion, who are the dead in this quote “a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God” (verse 25)?

What will happen to the dead who hear “the voice of the Son of God” (verse 25)?

What has the Father granted the Son (verse 26)?

Why has the Father given the Son the “authority to judge” (verse 27)?

What will all who “are in their graves” hear (verse 28)?

When those who have “done what is good” come out of their graves what will they do (verse 29)?

When those who have “done what is evil” come out of their graves what will they do (verse 29)?

In your opinion, what is the difference between the crossing “over from death to life” in verse 24 and those in the grave hearing His voice and coming out in verses 28 and 29? 

Why is the judgment of Jesus just (verse 30)?

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

In your opinion, what can we learn about the transformation from being wicked and dead to believing and living in this passage?

In your opinion, how does John 5:24-30 help us understand how to be obedient to the Lord’s command to “get a new heart and a new spirit” in Ezekiel 18:25-30?   

1 John 4:17-5:4 – New International Version (NIV)

¹⁷ This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. ¹⁸ There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

¹⁹ We love because he first loved us. ²⁰ Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. ²¹ And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.

5 ¹ Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. ² This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. ³ In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, ⁴ for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.

When love is made complete what will we have on “the day of judgment” (verse 17)?

What are Christians like “in this world” (verse 17)?

What does “perfect love” drive out (verse 18)?

In your opinion, why does fear have something to do with punishment (verse 18)?

Why do we love (verse 19)?

Who is a liar (verse 20)?

What command has been given to those who love God (verse 21)?

Who is “born of God” (verse 1)?

How do we “know that we love the children of God” (verse 2)?

What is “love for God” (verse 3)?

What does “everyone born of God” do (verse 4)?

What is “the victory that has overcome the world” (verse 4)?

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

In your opinion, what can we learn about the transformation from being wicked and dead to believing and living in this passage?

In your opinion, how does 1 John’s statement that “we love because he first loved us” show us how it possible for us to obey Ezekiel’s command to “repent and live!”?

In your opinion, how is the crossing “over from death to life” that Jesus promises those who hear His word and believe “Him who sent me” in John 5:24-30 expanded by John in his discussion of love and overcoming the world in 1 John 4:17-5:4?

Revelation 5:1-7 – New International Version (NIV)

¹ Then I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne a scroll with writing on both sides and sealed with seven seals. ² And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming in a loud voice, “Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?” ³ But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth could open the scroll or even look inside it. ⁴ I wept and wept because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside. ⁵ Then one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.”

⁶ Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing at the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. The Lamb had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. ⁷ He went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who sat on the throne. 

What did John see “in the right hand of him who sat on the throne” (verse 1)?

What did the “mighty angel” proclaim in a loud voice (verse 2)?

In your opinion, why was there “no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth” who could “open the scroll or even look inside it” (verse 3)?

How did John react when “no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside” (verse 4)?

What did the elder who spoke to John say the “Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David” had done (verse 5)?

What was “the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David” able to do (verse 5)?

In your opinion, why does John who had just heard about “the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David” then see “a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain” (verse 6)?

Where was the Lamb standing (verse 6)?

In your opinion, what does it mean to say that the Lamb “had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth” (verse 6)?

What did the Lamb do (verse 7)?

In your opinion, what is in the scroll?

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

In your opinion, what can we learn about the transformation from being wicked and dead to believing and living in this passage?

In your opinion, how is the conflict between a people who thought that God was unjust and the Lord who called for them the “repent and live” in Ezekiel 18:25-32 reflected in the fact that no one could open the scroll, until the “lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David” had triumphed in Revelation 5:1-7? 

In your opinion, what is revealed that the “Son of Man” in John 5:24-30, who is the “Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David” of Revelation 5:1-7, is qualified to do?  What is revealed that the “Son of God” in John 5:24-30, who is the “Lamb, looking at if it had been slain” in Revelation 5:1-7, earned the right to do?

In your opinion, how can the love that 1 John 4:17-5:4 says Jesus has for us move us from a fear of punishment to a confidence that the only one worthy of opening the scroll in Revelation 5:1-7 can move us from a fear of punishment to the confidence to love? 

In your opinion, what do these passages from Ezekiel, John, 1 John and Revelation teach us about the transformation from viewing God as unjust to being confident that Jesus will enable us in our faith to have victory over the world?

In your opinion, how is Jesus transforming you (you do not need to answer this out loud)? 

 

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)