October 30, 2022 – John’s Writings – Reacting to God

 

Reacting to God

 Ezekiel 22:23-31 - New International Version (NIV)

²³ Again the word of the Lord came to me: ²⁴ “Son of man, say to the land, ‘You are a land that has not been cleansed or rained on in the day of wrath.’ ²⁵ There is a conspiracy of her princes within her like a roaring lion tearing its prey; they devour people, take treasures and precious things and make many widows within her. ²⁶ Her priests do violence to my law and profane my holy things; they do not distinguish between the holy and the common; they teach that there is no difference between the unclean and the clean; and they shut their eyes to the keeping of my Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them. ²⁷ Her officials within her are like wolves tearing their prey; they shed blood and kill people to make unjust gain. ²⁸ Her prophets whitewash these deeds for them by false visions and lying divinations. They say, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says’—when the Lord has not spoken. ²⁹ The people of the land practice extortion and commit robbery; they oppress the poor and needy and mistreat the foreigner, denying them justice.

³⁰ “I looked for someone among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found no one. ³¹ So I will pour out my wrath on them and consume them with my fiery anger, bringing down on their own heads all they have done, declares the Sovereign Lord.”

Whose word came to Ezekiel (verse 23)?

What had not happened to the land (verse 24)?

Who devours people and takes treasures and makes “many widows” (verse 25)?

In your opinion, what does it mean that the priests “do violence to my law” (verse 26)?

Who are “like wolves tearing their prey” (verse 27)?

How do the prophets “whitewash these deeds for them” (verse 28)?

Who practices extortion and commits robbery (verse 29)?

Who was the Lord looking for (verse 30)?

What will the Lord pour out (verse 31)?

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

In your opinion, what can we learn about how people react to God in this passage God?

John 6:43-51 - New International Version (NIV)

⁴³ “Stop grumbling among yourselves,” Jesus answered. ⁴⁴ “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day. ⁴⁵ It is written in the Prophets: ‘They will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard the Father and learned from him comes to me. ⁴⁶ No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father. ⁴⁷ Very truly I tell you, the one who believes has eternal life. ⁴⁸ I am the bread of life. ⁴⁹ Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died. ⁵⁰ But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which anyone may eat and not die. ⁵¹ I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”

What did Jesus tell the people to stop doing (verse 43)?

Who must draw people to Jesus (verse 44)?

When will Jesus raise the people up (verse 44)?

What is written in the Prophets (verse 45)?

Who has seen the Father (verse 46)?

Who has eternal life (verse 47)?

What is Jesus (verse 48)?

What happened to the ancestors who “ate the manna” (verse 49)?

Where does the bread come from that “anyone may eat and not die” (verse 50)?

What will Jesus give “for the life of the world” (verse 51)?

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

In your opinion, what can we learn about how people react to God in this passage God?

In your opinion, how are the priests that Ezekiel spoke of in Ezekiel 22:23-30 a contrast to Jesus in John 6:43-51? 

Do you think that Jesus could b the person that was to build up the wall and stand in the Gap in Ezekiel?  Why or why not?   

1 John 2:3-11 – New International Version (NIV)

³ We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands. ⁴ Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person. ⁵ But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him: ⁶ Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.

⁷ Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning. This old command is the message you have heard. ⁸ Yet I am writing you a new command; its truth is seen in him and in you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining.

⁹ Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister is still in the darkness. ¹⁰ Anyone who loves their brother and sister lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble. ¹¹ But anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness. They do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them.

How can we know that we have come to know Jesus (verse 3)?

Who is a liar (verse 4)?

What is made complete for those who obey the word of Jesus (verse 5)?

Who “must live as Jesus did” (verse 6)?

In your opinion, how can the command that John is writing about be old and new (verses 7 and 8)?

What is “already shining” (verse 8)?

Who is “still in the darkness” (verse 9)?

Who has “nothing in them to make them stumble” (verse 10)?

Why do those who hate “a brother or sister” not know where they are going (verse 11)?

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

In your opinion, what can we learn about how people react to God in this passage God?

In your opinion, what does John’s comments in 1 John 2:3-11 help us understand about the princes, priests, officials, prophets, and people of Ezekiel 22:23-30?   

In your opinion, what does 1 John 2:3-11 help us understand about how those that Jesus is talking about in John 6:43-51 who eat the living bread that comes from heaven are changed?

Revelation 7:9-17 – New International Version (NIV)

⁹ After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. ¹⁰ And they cried out in a loud voice:

“Salvation belongs to our God,
who sits on the throne,
and to the Lamb.”

¹¹ All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, ¹² saying:

“Amen!
Praise and glory
and wisdom and thanks and honor
and power and strength
be to our God for ever and ever.
Amen!”

¹³ Then one of the elders asked me, “These in white robes—who are they, and where did they come from?”

¹⁴ I answered, “Sir, you know.”

And he said, “These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. ¹⁵ Therefore,

“they are before the throne of God
    and serve him day and night in his temple;
and he who sits on the throne
    will shelter them with his presence.
¹⁶ ‘Never again will they hunger;
    never again will they thirst.
The sun will not beat down on them,’
    nor any scorching heat.
¹⁷ For the Lamb at the center of the throne
    will be their shepherd;
‘he will lead them to springs of living water.’
    ‘And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.’”

Who is standing before the throne wearing white robes and holding palm branches (verse 9)?

Who do they say “salvation” belongs to (verse 10)?

What do the angels do when they hear who “salvation” belongs to (verses 11 and 12)?

Who ask “these in the white robes-who are they, and where did they come from” (verse 13)?

Where did they come from (verse 14)?

How did their robes become white (verse 14)?

How will they be sheltered (verse 15)?

When will the thirst (verse 16)?

Who will be their shepherd (verse 17)?

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

In your opinion, what can we learn about how people react to God in this passage?

In your opinion, what is the difference between the people of Israel in Ezekiel 22:23-30 and the great multitude in Revelation 7:9-17? 

In your opinion, why were those in front of Jesus in John 6:43-51 grumbling and those in front of Jesus in Revelation 7:9.17 worshipping and praising?

In your opinion, what does Revelation 7:9-17 reveal about the “true light” that 1 John 2:3-11 says is shining? 

In your opinion, what do these passages from Ezekiel, John, 1 John and Revelation teach us about why people react differently to God?

In your opinion, how can we be a part of the “great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb”?

 

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)

October 23, 2022 – John’s Writings – Rejecting or Receiving Mercy

Rejecting or Receiving Mercy

Ezekiel 9:1-11 - New International Version (NIV)

¹ Then I heard him call out in a loud voice, “Bring near those who are appointed to execute judgment on the city, each with a weapon in his hand.” ² And I saw six men coming from the direction of the upper gate, which faces north, each with a deadly weapon in his hand. With them was a man clothed in linen who had a writing kit at his side. They came in and stood beside the bronze altar.

³ Now the glory of the God of Israel went up from above the cherubim, where it had been, and moved to the threshold of the temple. Then the Lord called to the man clothed in linen who had the writing kit at his side ⁴ and said to him, “Go throughout the city of Jerusalem and put a mark on the foreheads of those who grieve and lament over all the detestable things that are done in it.”

⁵ As I listened, he said to the others, “Follow him through the city and kill, without showing pity or compassion. ⁶ Slaughter the old men, the young men and women, the mothers and children, but do not touch anyone who has the mark. Begin at my sanctuary.” So they began with the old men who were in front of the temple.

⁷ Then he said to them, “Defile the temple and fill the courts with the slain. Go!” So they went out and began killing throughout the city. ⁸ While they were killing and I was left alone, I fell facedown, crying out, “Alas, Sovereign Lord! Are you going to destroy the entire remnant of Israel in this outpouring of your wrath on Jerusalem?”

⁹ He answered me, “The sin of the people of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great; the land is full of bloodshed and the city is full of injustice. They say, ‘The Lord has forsaken the land; the Lord does not see.’ ¹⁰ So I will not look on them with pity or spare them, but I will bring down on their own heads what they have done.”

¹¹ Then the man in linen with the writing kit at his side brought back word, saying, “I have done as you commanded.”

What are those who are to be brought near appointed to do (verse 1)?

Who was with the six men (verse 2)?

Where was the “glory of God” and where did it move to (verse 3)?

Who was the “man clothed in linen” to go and put a mark on (verse 4)?

How were the six men to kill (verse 5)?

Who were the six men not to touch (verse 6)?

Where were they to begin (verse 6)?

In your opinion, why would the Lord tell the six men to “defile the temple and fill the courts with the slain” (verse 7)?

What did Ezekiel ask the Lord (verse 8)?

What does the Lord say is “exceedingly great” (verse 9)?

In your opinion, what do the people mean when they say “the Lord does not see” (verse 9)?

What will the Lord “bring down on their own heads” (verse 10)?

Who said “I have done as you commanded” (verse 11)?

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

In your opinion, how does God show mercy in this passage?

John 6:35-40 - New International Version (NIV)

³⁵ Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. ³⁶ But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. ³⁷ All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. ³⁸ For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. ³⁹ And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. ⁴⁰ For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.”

What did Jesus declare that He is (verse 35)?

Who will never be hungry (verse 35)?

Who will never be thirsty (verse 35)?

In your opinion, why would those who have seen Jesus still “not believe” (verse 36)?

Who will come to Jesus (verse 37)?

Who will Jesus “never drive away” (verse 37)?

What has Jesus “come down from heaven” to do (verse 38)?

When will Jesus raise up those that he has been given (verse 39)?

What is the Father’s will (verse 40)?

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

In your opinion, how does God show mercy in this passage?

In your opinion, who in Ezekiel 9:1-11 are like the people in John 6:35-40 that Jesus tells “you have seen me and still you do not believe”?  How do you think their outcomes are similar?   

1 John 1:5-2:2 – New International Version (NIV)

⁵ This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. ⁶ If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. ⁷ But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

⁸ If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. ⁹ If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. ¹⁰ If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.

2 ¹My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. ² He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.

What is the message John is declaring (verse 5)?

When do we lie (verse 6)?

When do we “have fellowship with one another” (verse 7)?

What “purifies us from all sin” (verse 7)?

How can we deceive ourselves (verse 8)?

When will God “forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (verse 9)?

Who do we make “out to be a liar” if we claim that we have not sinned (verse 10)?

Why does John “write this” (verse 1)?

Who is the advocate for the Christian who sins (verse 1)?

Who is Jesus the atoning sacrifice for (verse 2)?

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

In your opinion, how does God show mercy in this passage?

In your opinion, how are the people that “grieve and lament over all the detestable things that are done in” in Ezekiel 9:1-11 similar to those who confess their sins in 1 John 1:5-2:2?   

In your opinion, how are those who 1 John 1:5-2:2 says claim to have fellowship with God and “yet walk in the darkness” similar to those who said “the Lord has forsaken the land” in Ezekiel 9:1-11?

In your opinion, what does 1 John 1:5-2:2 help us understand about what Jesus had to do to not lose any who have been given to Him, but to “raise them up at the last day” as he promised in John 6:35-40?

Revelation 7:1-8 – New International Version (NIV)

¹ After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth to prevent any wind from blowing on the land or on the sea or on any tree. ² Then I saw another angel coming up from the east, having the seal of the living God. He called out in a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm the land and the sea: ³ “Do not harm the land or the sea or the trees until we put a seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God.” ⁴ Then I heard the number of those who were sealed: 144,000 from all the tribes of Israel.

⁵ From the tribe of Judah 12,000 were sealed,

from the tribe of Reuben 12,000,

from the tribe of Gad 12,000,

⁶ from the tribe of Asher 12,000,

from the tribe of Naphtali 12,000,

from the tribe of Manasseh 12,000,

⁷ from the tribe of Simeon 12,000,

from the tribe of Levi 12,000,

from the tribe of Issachar 12,000,

⁸ from the tribe of Zebulun 12,000,

from the tribe of Joseph 12,000,

from the tribe of Benjamin 12,000.

Why are the angels at the four corners of the holding back the four winds of the earth (verse 1)?

What did the angel “coming from the east” have (verse 2)?

Who did the angel from the east call out to (verse 2)?

What did the angel from the east say had to happen before the land or sea or trees were harmed (verse 3)?

How many were sealed (verse 4)?

In your opinion, what is the significance of this number (verse 4)?

How many were sealed from each tribe (verses 5 through 8)?

This is not something to discuss in class but I find the difference between the tribes listed in verses 5 through 8 and the sons of Jacob that are listed in Genesis 49 intriguing.

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

In your opinion, how does God show mercy in this passage?

In your opinion, how are the servants who are being sealed in Revelation 7:1-8 similar to those in Ezekiel 9:1-11 who grieved and lamented all the detestable things done in Jerusalem? 

In your opinion, what does John 6:35-40 help us understand about the “servants of our God” who were having the seal put on their foreheads in Revelation 7:1-8?

In your opinion, what does 1 John 1:5-2:2 help us understand about the 144,000 that were having the seal put on their foreheads in Revelation 7:1-8? 

In your opinion, what do these passages from Ezekiel, John, 1 John and Revelation teach us show about rejecting God’s mercy?

In your opinion, what do these passages teach us about receiving God’s mercy?

 

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)

October 16, 2022 – John’s Writings – Choosing Our Food

Choosing Our Food

Ezekiel 21:8-17 - New International Version (NIV)

⁸ The word of the Lord came to me: ⁹ “Son of man, prophesy and say, ‘This is what the Lord says:

“‘A sword, a sword,
    sharpened and polished—
¹⁰ sharpened for the slaughter,
    polished to flash like lightning!

“‘Shall we rejoice in the scepter of my royal son? The sword despises every such stick.

¹¹ “‘The sword is appointed to be polished,
    to be grasped with the hand;
it is sharpened and polished,
    made ready for the hand of the slayer.
¹² Cry out and wail, son of man,
    for it is against my people;
    it is against all the princes of Israel.
They are thrown to the sword
    along with my people.
Therefore beat your breast.

¹³ “‘Testing will surely come. And what if even the scepter, which the sword despises, does not continue? declares the Sovereign Lord.’

¹⁴ “So then, son of man, prophesy
    and strike your hands together.
Let the sword strike twice,
    even three times.
It is a sword for slaughter—
    a sword for great slaughter,
    closing in on them from every side.
¹⁵ So that hearts may melt with fear
    and the fallen be many,
I have stationed the sword for slaughter
    at all their gates.
Look! It is forged to strike like lightning,
    it is grasped for slaughter.
¹⁶ Slash to the right, you sword,
    then to the left,
    wherever your blade is turned.
¹⁷ I too will strike my hands together,
    and my wrath will subside.
I the Lord have spoken.”

What is the purpose of the sharpened sword Ezekiel is prophesying for the Lord about (verses 8 - 10)?

In your opinion, what does it mean that the sword despises the “scepter of my royal son” (verse 10)?

Whose hand is the sharpened and polished sword made ready for (verse 11)?

Why was Ezekiel to “cry out and wail” (verse 12)?

What will “surely come” (verse 13)?

Where is the sword “closing” in from (verse 14)?

How will hearts react (verse 15)?

Why is the sword grasped (verse 15)?

When will the Lord’s wrath subside (verse 17)?

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

In your opinion, how does this passage show that God is in control?

John 6:22-27 - New International Version (NIV)

²² The next day the crowd that had stayed on the opposite shore of the lake realized that only one boat had been there, and that Jesus had not entered it with his disciples, but that they had gone away alone. ²³ Then some boats from Tiberias landed near the place where the people had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. ²⁴ Once the crowd realized that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into the boats and went to Capernaum in search of Jesus.

²⁵ When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?”

²⁶ Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs I performed but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. ²⁷ Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.”

Who realized that “only one boat had been there” (verse 22)?

How had the disciples “gone away” (verse 22)?

Where did the “boats from Tiberias” land (verse 23)?

When did the crowd get into the boats (verse 24)?

Why did they go to Capernaum (verse 24)?

In your opinion, why did they ask Jesus “Rabbi, when did you get here” (verse 25)?

Why did Jesus say they were not looking for Him (verse 26)?

Why did Jesus say they were looking for Him (verse 26)?

Where will the food that “endures to eternal life” come from (verse 27)?

What has God the Father placed on the Son of Man (verse 27)?

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

In your opinion, how does this passage show that God is in control?

In your opinion, how are the people that Ezekiel is speaking to in Ezekiel 21:8-17 and the people that Jesus is speaking to in John 6:22-27 similar?   

3 John 5-12 – New International Version (NIV)

⁵ Dear friend, you are faithful in what you are doing for the brothers and sisters, even though they are strangers to you. ⁶ They have told the church about your love. Please send them on their way in a manner that honors God. ⁷ It was for the sake of the Name that they went out, receiving no help from the pagans. ⁸ We ought therefore to show hospitality to such people so that we may work together for the truth.

⁹ I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to be first, will not welcome us. ¹⁰ So when I come, I will call attention to what he is doing, spreading malicious nonsense about us. Not satisfied with that, he even refuses to welcome other believers. He also stops those who want to do so and puts them out of the church.

¹¹ Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil but what is good. Anyone who does what is good is from God. Anyone who does what is evil has not seen God. ¹² Demetrius is well spoken of by everyone—and even by the truth itself. We also speak well of him, and you know that our testimony is true.

Who are the “brothers and sisters” that John’s dear friend is “doing for” (verse 5)?

What have those “brothers and sisters” told the church (verse 6)?

How are they to be sent on (verse 6)?

Why did they go out (verse 7)?

Who did they not receive help from (verse 7)?

Why should hospitality be shown “to such people” (verse 8)?

What did Diotrephes love (verse 9)?

What does Diotrephes do to those who want to welcome other believers (verse 10)?

What does John want his dear friend to imitate (verse 11)?

How is Demetrius “spoken of” (verse 12)?

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

In your opinion, how does this passage show that God is in control?

In your opinion, how is it possible to follow the instruction of 3 John 5-12 to imitate “what is good” while in the midst of a crisis like the destruction of Judah and Jerusalem that Ezekiel is prophesying about in Ezekiel 21:8-17?

In your opinion, how do Diotrephes and Demetrius in 3 John 5-12 illustrate the difference between “working for the food that spoils” and “working for the food that endures to eternal life” that Jesus talked about in John 6:22-27?

Revelation 6:9-17 – New International Version (NIV)

⁹ When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained. ¹⁰ They called out in a loud voice, “How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?” ¹¹ Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the full number of their fellow servants, their brothers and sisters, were killed just as they had been.

¹² I watched as he opened the sixth seal. There was a great earthquake. The sun turned black like sackcloth made of goat hair, the whole moon turned blood red, ¹³ and the stars in the sky fell to earth, as figs drop from a fig tree when shaken by a strong wind. ¹⁴ The heavens receded like a scroll being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place.

¹⁵ Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and everyone else, both slave and free, hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains. ¹⁶ They called to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! ¹⁷ For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can withstand it?”

Where are the “souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained” (verse 9)?

What did they cry out (verse 10)?

In your opinion, why were they given a white robe (verse 11)?

How long were they to wait (verse 11)?

When did the great earthquake happen (verse 12)?

How did the “stars in the sky” fall to earth (verse 13)?

What happened to “every mountain and island” (verse 14)?

Who “hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains” (verse 15)?

Why did they want the mountains and the rocks to “fall on us” (verse 16)?

What has come (verse 17)?

In your opinion, are these people who cry out right when they say “who can withstand it” (verse 17)?

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

In your opinion, how does this passage show that God is in control?

In your opinion, how are the disaster that Ezekiel was prophesying would happen to Judah and Jerusalem in Ezekiel 21:8-17 and the things that happen after the opening of the sixth seal in Revelation 6:9-17 similar? 

In your opinion, how are the signs that Jesus said He had performed in John 6:22-27 and the signs that are coming from the opening of the seals in Revelation 6:9-17 different?  How are they similar?

In your opinion, what would it mean to imitate “what is good” as a brother or sister of Christ as John commands in 3 John 5-12 in the midst of the world after the opening of the sixth seal in Revelation 6:9-17? 

In your opinion, what do these passages from Ezekiel, John, 3 John and Revelation show us show us about the complexity of the One we call Lord, Son of Man, the Name, and the Lamb?

In your opinion, how does knowing that our complex Savior is in midst of every circumstance help us work for the “food that endures to eternal life”?

 

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)