June 25, 2023 – John’s Writings – From Death to Life

From Death to Life

Ezekiel 37:1-10 - New International Version (NIV)

¹ The hand of the Lord was on me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. ² He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. ³ He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?”

I said, “Sovereign Lord, you alone know.”

⁴ Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! ⁵ This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. ⁶ I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’”

⁷ So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. ⁸ I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.

⁹ Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come, breath, from the four winds and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’” ¹⁰ So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army.

What was in the valley that the Spirit of the Lord brought Ezekiel to (verse 1)?

In your opinion, what does it mean that they “were very dry” (verse 2)?

How did Ezekiel respond to the Lord’s question “can these bones live” (verse 3)?

Whose words were the bones to hear (verse 4)?

What will happen when the Lord makes breath enter the bones (verse 5)?

What will the bones know (verse 6)?

What did Ezekiel hear as he prophesied (verse 7)?

What did the bones not have after the tendons and flesh appeared and were covered with skin (verse 8)?

What was Ezekiel to prophesy to (verse 9)?

Why were the four winds to breathe into the slain (verse 9)?

What happened when Ezekiel prophesied as commanded (verse 10)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about God’s ability to give life?

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.

Who has eternal life (verse 24)?

What has the one who has eternal life crossed over (verse 24)?

What time has now come (verse 25)?

In your opinion, who are the dead (verse 25)?

When do the dead live (verse 25)?

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

Who has authority to judge (verse 27)?

What time is coming (verse 28)?

In your opinion, what is the difference between the dead (verse 25) and those in the graves (verse 28)?

What will those who rise from their graves rise to (verse 29)?

Who does Jesus seek to please (verse 30)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about God’s ability to give life?

In your opinion, are the dry bones that come to life in Ezekiel 37:1-10 representative of the ones that Jesus says in John 5:24-30 are dead, or the ones that Jesus said are “in their graves”?  Why?

1 John 2:24-3:3 – New International Version (NIV)

²⁴ As for you, see that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you. If it does, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father. ²⁵ And this is what he promised us—eternal life.

²⁶ I am writing these things to you about those who are trying to lead you astray. ²⁷ As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit—just as it has taught you, remain in him.

²⁸ And now, dear children, continue in him, so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming.

²⁹ If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of him.

3 See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. ² Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. ³ All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.

What does John say that Christians are to see “remains in you” so that they “remain in the Son and in the Father” (verse 24)?

What did Jesus promise us (verse 25)?

Who is John writing about (verse 26)?

What remains in Christians (verse 27)?

What teaches Christians “all things” (verse 27)?

Who will be “confident and unashamed before him as his coming” (verse 28)?

How do we know that “everyone who does what is right has been born of him” (verse 29)?

In your opinion, what does it mean to you that the Father has lavished great love on you (verse 3:1)?

What has not been made known (verse 2)?

When will we know (verse 2)?

Who purifies themselves (verse 3)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about God’s ability to give life?

In your opinion, how are the four winds breathing into the slain in Ezekiel 37:1-10 and the anointing in 1 John 2:24-3:3 similar?

In your opinion, how does Jesus’s promise in John 5:24-30 that “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” help us understand how great the love is that God lavished on the “children of God” in 1 John 2:24-3:3?

Revelation 20:1-6 – New International Version (NIV)

¹ And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain. ² He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. ³ He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be set free for a short time.

⁴ I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years. ⁵ (The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.) This is the first resurrection. ⁶ Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years.

What two things did the “angel coming down out of heaven” have (verse 1)?

How long did the angel bind Satan (verse 2)?

Where did he throw Satan (verse 3)?

What was Satan unable to do (verse 3)?

Who were seated on the thrones (verse 4)?

Who “reigned with Christ a thousand years” (verse 4)?

Who “did not come to life until the thousand years were ended” (verse 5)?

What is the “first resurrection” (verses 4 and 5)?

Who is “blessed and holy” (verse 6)?

What has no power over the “blessed and holy” (verse 6)?

What will the “blessed and holy” do (verse 6)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about God’s ability to give life?

In your opinion, where does the vivid picture of the dry bones coming to life in Ezekiel 37:1-10 fit into the discussion of the dead coming to life in Revelations 20:1-6 (it is okay to have different opinions on this)?

In your opinion, where does the one who Jesus says in John 5:24-30 “hears my word and believes him who sent me” fit into the Revelation 20:1-6 discussion of first resurrection and second death?

In your opinion, what does 1 John 2:24-3:3 help us understand about those who won’t be affected by the “second death” that Revelation 20:1-6 talks about? 

In your opinion, what do these passages from Ezekiel, John, 1 John and Revelation teach about spiritual death and life?

In your opinion, how enduring is the spiritual life that God gives?

 

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)

June 18, 2023 – John’s Writings – Seek the Lord

Seek the Lord

Zephaniah 1:14-2:3 - New International Version (NIV)

¹⁴ The great day of the Lord is near—
    near and coming quickly.
The cry on the day of the Lord is bitter;
    the Mighty Warrior shouts his battle cry.
¹⁵ That day will be a day of wrath—
    a day of distress and anguish,
        a day of trouble and ruin,
    a day of darkness and gloom,
        a day of clouds and blackness—
¹⁶     a day of trumpet and battle cry
against the fortified cities
    and against the corner towers.

¹⁷ “I will bring such distress on all people
    that they will grope about like those who are blind,
    because they have sinned against the Lord.
Their blood will be poured out like dust
    and their entrails like dung.
¹⁸ Neither their silver nor their gold
    will be able to save them
    on the day of the Lord’s wrath.”

In the fire of his jealousy
    the whole earth will be consumed,
for he will make a sudden end
    of all who live on the earth.

2 Gather together, gather yourselves together,
    you shameful nation,
² before the decree takes effect
    and that day passes like windblown chaff,
before the Lord’s fierce anger
    comes upon you,
before the day of the Lord’s wrath
    comes upon you.
³ Seek the Lord, all you humble of the land,
    you who do what he commands.
Seek righteousness, seek humility;
    perhaps you will be sheltered
    on the day of the Lord’s anger.

Where is “the great day of the Lord” (verse 14)?

What will that day be (verses 15 and 16)?

Why will people “grope about like those who are blind” (verse 17)?

What will happen to the earth (verse 18)?

Who is commanded to “gather yourselves together” (verse 2:1)?

When are they to gather (verse 2)?

Who is to “seek the Lord” (verse 3)?

How might someone be sheltered “on the day of the Lord’s anger” (verse 3)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage show us about people’s relationship with the Heavenly Father?

John 14:1-7 - New International Version (NIV)

¹ “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. ² My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? ³ And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. ⁴ You know the way to the place where I am going.”

⁵ Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”

⁶ Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. ⁷ If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”

What are Jesus’s disciples not to let “be troubled” (verse 1)?

Who do they believe in (verse 1)?

Who are they also to believe in (verse 1)?

What does Jesus’s Father’s house have (verse 2)?

Who is Jesus going to prepare “a place for” (verse 2)?

Where will Jesus take them (verse 3)?

What do the disciples know (verse 4)?

Who said “Lord, we don’t know” (verse 5)?

What is Jesus (verse 6)?

What is the only way to the Father (verse 6)?

Who do the disciples know “from now on” (verse 7)?

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

In your opinion, is this message from Jesus to the disciples also for us?

In your opinion, what does this passage show us about people’s relationship with the Heavenly Father?

In your opinion, what is the difference between the outcome of the instruction in Zephaniah 1:14-2:3 to “Seek righteousness, seek humility” and the outcome of the instruction of Jesus in John 14:1-7 to “do not let your hearts be troubled””?

1 John 2:15-23 – New International Version (NIV)

¹⁵ Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. ¹⁶ For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. ¹⁷ The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.

¹⁸ Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour. ¹⁹ They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.

²⁰ But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth. ²¹ I do not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it and because no lie comes from the truth. ²² Who is the liar? It is whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a person is the antichrist—denying the Father and the Son. ²³ No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also.

Why does John say not to love “the world or anything in the world” (verse 15)?

Where does “everything in the world-the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life” come from (verse 16)?

What passes away (verse 17)?

Who “lives forever” (verse 17)?

What time is it (verse 18)?

How do we know what time it is (verse 18)?

What showed that the antichrists “did not really belong to us” (verse 19)?

Who has “has an anointing from the Holy One” (verse 20)?

Where does “no lie” come from (verse 21)?

“Who is the liar” (verse 22)?

What does and antichrist do (verse 22)?

Who has the Father (verse 23)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage show us about people’s relationship with the Heavenly Father?

In your opinion, how are both Zephaniah 1:14-2:3 and 1 John 2:12-23 explanations of the difference between choosing to be humble before God or choosing the world?

In your opinion, how is the instruction of Jesus in John 14:1-7 to “do not let your hearts be troubled” related to the instruction from John in 1 John 2:15-23 to “do not love the world or anything in the world”?

Revelation 19:17-21 – New International Version (NIV)

¹⁷ And I saw an angel standing in the sun, who cried in a loud voice to all the birds flying in midair, “Come, gather together for the great supper of God, ¹⁸ so that you may eat the flesh of kings, generals, and the mighty, of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all people, free and slave, great and small.”

¹⁹ Then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to wage war against the rider on the horse and his army. ²⁰ But the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who had performed the signs on its behalf. With these signs he had deluded those who had received the mark of the beast and worshiped its image. The two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur. ²¹ The rest were killed with the sword coming out of the mouth of the rider on the horse, and all the birds gorged themselves on their flesh.

Where was the angel standing (verse 17)?

Who did the angel cry out to (verse 17)?

Why were the birds to gather (verse 17)?

Whose flesh was to be eaten (verse 18)?

Why did the “beast and the kings of the earth and their armies” gather (verse 19)?

What happened to the beast and the false prophet (verse 20)?

How had the false prophet “deluded those who had received the mark of the beast and worshiped its image” (verse 20)?

What happened to the beast and the false prophet (verse 20)?

How were the rest killed (verse 21)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage show us about people’s relationship with the Heavenly Father?

In your opinion, is there significance in the difference between Zephaniah 1:14-2:3 that the distress will be for all people, but those who seek righteousness and humility may be sheltered from the Lord’s anger, and Revelation 19:17-21 that all those who oppose the rider and His army will be captured or killed?

In your opinion, how can the One who goes to prepare a place in John 14:1-7 also be the One who kills with the Sword coming from His mouth in Revelation 19:17-21?

In your opinion, how does Revelation 19:17-21 expand the way we might understand John’s statement in 1 John 2:15-23 that “The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever”? 

In your opinion, what do these passages from Zephaniah, John, 2 John and Revelation teach us the about the choice between loving the world or trusting in and loving God?

In your opinion, how is obedience to the command to “seek the Lord” transformational?

 

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)

June 11, 2023 – John’s Writings – Complex Love

Complex Love

Deuteronomy 10:12-20 - New International Version (NIV)

¹⁰ Now I had stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights, as I did the first time, and the Lord listened to me at this time also. It was not his will to destroy you. ¹¹ “Go,” the Lord said to me, “and lead the people on their way, so that they may enter and possess the land I swore to their ancestors to give them.”

¹² And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, ¹³ and to observe the Lord’s commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good?

¹⁴ To the Lord your God belong the heavens, even the highest heavens, the earth and everything in it. ¹⁵ Yet the Lord set his affection on your ancestors and loved them, and he chose you, their descendants, above all the nations—as it is today. ¹⁶ Circumcise your hearts, therefore, and do not be stiff-necked any longer. ¹⁷ For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes. ¹⁸ He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing. ¹⁹ And you are to love those who are foreigners, for you yourselves were foreigners in Egypt. ²⁰ Fear the Lord your God and serve him. Hold fast to him and take your oaths in his name.

How long did Moses stay on the mountain (verse 10)?

What was not the Lord’s will (verse 10)?

Why was Moses to “Go” and “lead the people on their way” (verse 11)?

What does the Lord ask of Israel (verses 12 and 13)?

Who does “the heavens, even the highest heavens, the earth and everything in it” belong to (verse 14)?

How did the Lord feel about Israel’s ancestors (verse 15)?

In your opinion, how does circumcising their hearts help the Israelites not to “be stiff-necked any longer” (verse 16)?

Who is “God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome” (verse 17)?

Who does the Lord love (verse 18)?

Who are the Israelites to love (verse 19)?

Who are the Israelites to fear (verse 20)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage show us about how to move from being “stiff-necked” to accepting and acknowledging Jesus?

John 13:12-20 - New International Version (NIV)

¹⁰ Jesus answered, “Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet; their whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you.” ¹¹ For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not every one was clean.

¹² When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. ¹³ “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. ¹⁴ Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. ¹⁵ I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. ¹⁶ Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. ¹⁷ Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.

¹⁸ “I am not referring to all of you; I know those I have chosen. But this is to fulfill this passage of Scripture: ‘He who shared my bread has turned against me.’

¹⁹ “I am telling you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe that I am who I am. ²⁰ Very truly I tell you, whoever accepts anyone I send accepts me; and whoever accepts me accepts the one who sent me.”

What do “those who have had a bath” need to wash (verse 10)?

Were all of those with Jesus clean (verse 10)?

What did Jesus know (verse 11)?

Who said “do you understand what I have done for you” (verse 12)?

What is Jesus (verse 13)?

What is Jesus’s command (verse 14)?

Who set the example (verse 15)?

Who is not greater than the master (verse 16)?

When will the disciples, and us, be blessed (verse 17)?

What does Jesus know (verse 18)?

Why was Jesus telling them “now before it happens” (verse 19)?

Who accepts Jesus (verse 20)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage show us about how to move from being “stiff-necked” to accepting and acknowledging Jesus?

In your opinion, how do the words and actions of Jesus in John 13:12-20 teach us about living God’s command in Deuteronomy 10:12-20 to “fear the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to observe the Lord’s commands and decrees”?

2 John 4-11 – 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. ¹¹ Anyone who welcomes them shares in their wicked work.

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

When was the commandment John is going to write given (verse 5)?

What is the commandment (verse 5)?

What is love (verse 6)?

How does John describe the many deceivers (verse 7)?

Where have the many deceivers gone (verse 7)?

What are believers to “watch out” for (verse 8)?

Who does not have God (verse 9)?

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

How should believers respond to anyone who “comes to you and does not bring this teaching” (verse 10)?

Who “shares in their wicked work” (verse 11)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage show us about how to move from being “stiff-necked” to accepting and acknowledging Jesus?

In your opinion, why is the command that John shared in 2 John 4-11 simpler than the command that Moses gave in Deuteronomy 10:12-20?  Does simpler mean easier?

In your opinion, how would refusing to acknowledge that Jesus came in the flesh, as the deceivers do in 2 John 4-11, undermine the power of John 13:12-20’s message?

Revelation 19:11-16 – New International Version (NIV)

¹¹ I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and wages war. ¹² His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. ¹³ He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. ¹⁴ The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. ¹⁵ Coming out of his mouth is a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. “He will rule them with an iron scepter.” He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. ¹⁶ On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written:

king of kings and lord of lords.

What was “standing open” (verse 11)?

Who is the rider of the white horse (verse 11)?

How does He judge and wage war (verse 11)?

What are His eyes like (verse 12)?

What is His name (verse 13)?

Who was following Him (verse 14)?

What will He do with the sharp sword coming out of His mouth (verse 15)?

What does He tread (verse 15)?

Where is “KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS” written (verse 16)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage show us about how to move from being “stiff-necked” to accepting and acknowledging Jesus?

In your opinion, how do you explain the difference in the actions of God who in Deuteronomy 10:12-20 did not want to destroy but who in Revelation 19:11-16 “judges and wages war”?

In your opinion, how do you explain the difference in the actions of Jesus who in John 13:12-20 washed everyone’s feet but who in Revelation 19:11-16 “judges and wages war”?

In your opinion, how does the prophecy of Revelation 19:11-16 that Jesus will strike down nations and rule with an iron scepter make 2 John 4-11’s instruction to “watch out” for deceivers more powerful? 

In your opinion, what do these passages from Deuteronomy, John, 2 John and Revelation teach us the about the complex love of God?

In your opinion, how does the command to love transform those who Jesus has chosen?  How does the command to love transform the world?

 

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)