August 13, 2023 – John’s Writings – God’s Invitation to the Banished

God’s Invitation to the Banished

Genesis 3:17-23 - New International Version (NIV)

¹⁷ To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’

“Cursed is the ground because of you;
    through painful toil you will eat food from it
    all the days of your life.
¹⁸ It will produce thorns and thistles for you,
    and you will eat the plants of the field.
¹⁹ By the sweat of your brow
    you will eat your food
until you return to the ground,
    since from it you were taken;
for dust you are
    and to dust you will return.”

²⁰ Adam named his wife Eve, because she would become the mother of all the living.

²¹ The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. ²² And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” ²³ So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. ²⁴ After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.

What had Adam done with the fruit from the tree that God commanded “you must not eat from it” (verse 17)?

What happened to the ground because of Adam (verse 17)?

How will Adam eat food from the ground (verse 17)?

What will the ground produce (verse 18)?

Where will Adam return (verse 19)?

Why did Adam name his wife Eve (verse 20)?

Who made garments and clothed Adam and Eve (verse 21)?

How had Adam and Eve become like God (verse 22)?

How did God keep Adam and Eve from eating from the tree of life (verse 23)?

Why were the cherubim and the flaming sword placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden (verse 24)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about our opportunity to come to eternal life?

John 1:35-39 - New International Version (NIV)

³⁵ The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. ³⁶ When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!”

³⁷ When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. ³⁸ Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, “What do you want?”

They said, “Rabbi” (which means “Teacher”), “where are you staying?”

³⁹ “Come,” he replied, “and you will see.”

So they went and saw where he was staying, and they spent that day with him. It was about four in the afternoon.

Who was with John (verse 35)?

What did John say when he saw Jesus (verse 36)?

Who followed Jesus (verse 37)?

What did Jesus ask them (verse 38)?

How did Jesus answer when they said “where are you staying” (verse 39)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about our opportunity to come to eternal life?

In your opinion, how is the banishment of Genesis 3:17-23 beginning to be rescinded by the invitation of Jesus in John 1:9-18?

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. 

What does the one “who believes that Jesus is the Son of God” do (verse 5)?

Who came by the “water and the blood” (verse 6)?

Who is “the truth” (verse 6)?

Who are the “three that testify” (verses 7 and 8)?

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

Who “accepts this testimony” (verse 10)?

What is the testimony (verse 11)?

Who has life (verse 12)?

Why did John “write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God” (verse 13)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about our opportunity to come to eternal life?

In your opinion, how does 1 John 5:5-13 provide an answer to the banishment of Genesis 3:17-23?

In your opinion, how is the invitation of Jesus to the two disciples to “come” in John 1:9-18 expanded from a day to an eternity in 1 John 5:5-13?

Revelation 22:16-21 – New International Version (NIV)

¹⁶ “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star.”

¹⁷ The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let the one who hears say, “Come!” Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life.

¹⁸ I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this scroll: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to that person the plagues described in this scroll. ¹⁹ And if anyone takes words away from this scroll of prophecy, God will take away from that person any share in the tree of life and in the Holy City, which are described in this scroll.

²⁰ He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon.”

Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.

²¹ The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God’s people. Amen.

Who sent the angel “to give you this testimony for the churches” (verse 16)?

Who is “the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star” (verse 16)?

What do the Spirit and the bride say (verse 17)?

What should the “one who hears say” (verse 17)?

Who is to be allowed to “take the free gift of the water of life” (verse 17)?

What will happen to the one who adds to the “words of prophecy of this scroll” (verse 18)?

What will happen to the one who “takes words away from this scroll of prophecy” (verse 19)?

Who says “yes, I am coming soon” (verse 20)?

What does John pray will “be with God’s people” (verse 21)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about our opportunity to come to eternal life?

In your opinion, how is the banishment of Genesis 3:17-23 resolved by the invitation of “the Spirit and the bride” in Revelation 22:16-21?

In your opinion, how is the prayer “Amen. Come Lord Jesus” in Revelation 22:16-21 the perfect response to Jesus’s invitation in John 1:9-18 to “Come”?

In your opinion, what does 1 John 5:5-13 help us understand about the “free gift of the water of life” that Revelation 22:16-21 invites the thirsty to take? 

In your opinion, what do these passages from Genesis, John, 1 John and Revelation teach us about how those who were once banned from eternal life are invited by God to enter it?

In your opinion, how can you confidently pray “Come, Lord Jesus”?

 

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)

August 6, 2023 – John’s Writings – Responding to God’s Love

Responding to God’s Love

Deuteronomy 30:11-20 - New International Version (NIV)

¹¹ Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. ¹² It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, “Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?” ¹³ Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, “Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?” ¹⁴ No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it.

¹⁵ See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. ¹⁶ For I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess.

¹⁷ But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, ¹⁸ I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess.

¹⁹ This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live ²⁰ and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

What is “not too difficult for you or beyond your reach” (verse 11)?

Why do we not have to ask “who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so that we may obey it” (verse 12)?

Why do we not have to ask “who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it” (verse 13)?

Where is the word “so that you may obey it” (verse 14)?

What has Moses set before the Hebrew people (verse 15)?

What three things do the Israelites need to do: (verse 16)?

            1)

            2)

            3)

When will the Israelite people “certainly be destroyed” (verses 17 and 18)?

What does Moses instruct the people to choose (verse 19)?

What is the Lord (verse 20)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about the most important choice that we make?

John 21:15-19 - New International Version (NIV)

¹⁵ When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?”

“Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.”

Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.”

¹⁶ Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”

He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”

Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.”

¹⁷ The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”

Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.”

Jesus said, “Feed my sheep. ¹⁸ Very truly I tell you, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” ¹⁹ Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, “Follow me!”

When did Jesus ask Simon Peter “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these” (verse 15)?

How did Peter answer (verse 15)?

What instruction did Jesus give Peter (verse 15)?

How did the question that Jesus ask Peter change (verse 16)?

How did Peter answer (verse 16)?

What instruction did Jesus give Peter (verse 16)?

In your opinion, how did the question that Jesus ask Peter change, even though in English all say “Simon son of John, do you love me” (agapaō and philō in verses 15, 16 and 17)?

How did Peter, who was hurt by the question, respond (verse 17)?

How will Peter’s life change when he is old (verse 18)?

What did Jesus say to Peter (verse 19)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about the most important choice that we make?

In your opinion, how does God’s commandment through Moses in Deuteronomy 30:11-20 that the Israelites “love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws” add depth to Jesus’s repeated question to Peter in John 21:15-19?

2 John 3-9 – New International Version (NIV)

³ Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Father’s Son, will be with us in truth and love.

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. 

How will “grace, mercy and peace from God and from Jesus Christ, the Father’s Son” be with us (verse 3)?

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

What is John “not writing” (verse 5)?

When did we get the command “that we love one another” (verse 5)?

What is love (verse 6)?

How does John describe the “deceivers” (verse 7)?

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

How can the readers “be rewarded fully” (verse 8)?

Who does not have God (verse 9)?

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

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about the most important choice that we make?

In your opinion, how is the request in 2 John 3-9 that “we love one another” different from the command in Deuteronomy 30:11-20 that we love the Lord?  Do you think that difference makes it easier or harder to obey?

In your opinion, how would the deceivers that 2 John 3-9 warns of be unable to comprehend the full impact of the question Jesus repeated to Peter in John 21:15-19?

Revelation 22:8-15 – New International Version (NIV)

⁸ I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I had heard and seen them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who had been showing them to me. ⁹ But he said to me, “Don’t do that! I am a fellow servant with you and with your fellow prophets and with all who keep the words of this scroll. Worship God!”

¹⁰ Then he told me, “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this scroll, because the time is near. ¹¹ Let the one who does wrong continue to do wrong; let the vile person continue to be vile; let the one who does right continue to do right; and let the holy person continue to be holy.”

¹² “Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done. ¹³ I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.

¹⁴ “Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city. ¹⁵ Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.

Who is John (verse 8)?

When did John fall “down to worship at the feet of the angel who had been showing them to me” (verse 8)?

What did the angel tell John (verse 9)?

How did the angel describe himself (verse 9)?

What instruction did the angel give John (verse 9)?

Why was John told “do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this scroll” (verse 10)?

What is the person who does wrong to “continue to do” (verse 11)?

What will be given to each person (verse 12)?

Who is blessed (verse 14)?

What will the blessed “have the right to” (verse 14)?

Who is outside (verse 15)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about the most important choice that we make?

In your opinion, how does Revelation 22:8-15 help us understand what it means to follow Moses’s instruction from Deuteronomy 30:11-20 to “choose life”?

In your opinion, how does the three times that Jesus ask Peter “do you love me” in John 21:15-19 help us understand the difference between those that Revelation 22:8-15 describes as “blessed” and those described as “dogs”?

In your opinion, how does Revelation 22:8-15 help us understand the reward for those that 2 John 3-9 describes as continuing “in the teaching”? 

In your opinion, what do these passages from Deuteronomy, John, 2 John and Revelation teach us about the consequence of not choosing God?

In your opinion, how would you answer if Jesus ask you “do you love me”?

 

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)

July 30, 2023 – John’s Writings – Rivers of Life

Rivers of Life

Jeremiah 17:12-15 - New International Version (NIV)

¹² A glorious throne, exalted from the beginning,
    is the place of our sanctuary.
¹³ Lord, you are the hope of Israel;
    all who forsake you will be put to shame.
Those who turn away from you will be written in the dust
    because they have forsaken the Lord,
    the spring of living water.

¹⁴ Heal me, Lord, and I will be healed;
    save me and I will be saved,
    for you are the one I praise.
¹⁵ They keep saying to me,
    “Where is the word of the Lord?
    Let it now be fulfilled!”

What is “a glorious throne, exalted from the beginning” (verse 12)?

Who is “the hope of Israel” (verse 13)?

Who will be “put to shame” (verse 13)?

Who is “the spring of living water” (verse 13)?

When will Jeremiah be healed (verse 14)?

When will Jeremiah be saved (verse 14)?

What do “they keep saying to me” (verse 15)?

What does Jeremiah want to happen (verse 15)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about moving from thinking of God only as a power who can provide safety to also thinking of God as the source of life?

John 7:37-43 - New International Version (NIV)

³⁷ On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. ³⁸ Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” ³⁹ By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.

⁴⁰ On hearing his words, some of the people said, “Surely this man is the Prophet.”

⁴¹ Others said, “He is the Messiah.”

Still others asked, “How can the Messiah come from Galilee? ⁴² Does not Scripture say that the Messiah will come from David’s descendants and from Bethlehem, the town where David lived?” ⁴³ Thus the people were divided because of Jesus.

When did Jesus stand up and speak (verse 37)?

Who did He call to “come to me and drink” (verse 37)?

Where will “rivers of living water flow from” (verse 38)?

What did Jesus mean by “rivers of living water” (verse 39)?

Why had the Spirit not yet been given (verse 39)?

Who said “surely this man is the Prophet” (verse 40)?

Who said “he is the Messiah” (verse 41)?

Who said “how can the Messiah come from Galilee” (verse 41)?

Where is the Messiah to come from (verse 42)?

Why were the people divided (verse 43)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about moving from thinking of God only as a power who can provide safety to also thinking of God as the source of life?

In your opinion, how does Jesus in John 7:37-43 transform the statement in Jeremiah 17:12-15 that identifies “the Lord” as “the spring of living water”?

1 John 5:1-8 – New International Version (NIV)

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. 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. 

Who is “born of God” (verse 1)?

Who loves the child (verse 1)?

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

What is “love for God” (verse 3)?

What are not burdensome (verse 3)?

Who “overcomes the world” (verse 4)?

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

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

How did Jesus Christ come (verse 6)?

Who testifies (verse 6)?

What “three are in agreement” (verse 8)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about moving from thinking of God only as a power who can provide safety to also thinking of God as the source of life?

In your opinion, what does 1 John 5:1-8 reveal to us about the one that Jeremiah 17:12-15 says is “the hope of Israel”?

In your opinion, how is the promise of being born of God to everyone who “believes that Jesus is the Christ” in 1 John 5:1-8 related to the promise by Jesus in John 7:37-43 that “Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them”?

Revelation 22:1-7 – New International Version (NIV)

¹ Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb ² down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. ³ No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. ⁴ They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. ⁵ There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.

⁶ The angel said to me, “These words are trustworthy and true. The Lord, the God who inspires the prophets, sent his angel to show his servants the things that must soon take place.”

⁷ “Look, I am coming soon! Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy written in this scroll.”

Who showed John “the river of the water of life” (verse 1)?

Where does it flow from (verse 1)?

What stands on either side of the river (verse 2)?

What “are for the healing of the nations” (verse 2)?

Who will serve the Lamb (verse 3)?

Who will have the Lamb’s name on their foreheads (verses 3 and 4)?

Why will there be no need for “the light of a lamp or the light of the sun” (verse 5)?

Who will “reign for ever and ever” (verse 5)?

What is “trustworthy and true” (verse 6)?

Who will be blessed (verse 7)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about moving from thinking of God only as a power who can provide safety to also thinking of God as the source of life?

In your opinion, what relationship does the throne that Jeremiah 17:12-15 says “is the place of our sanctuary” to the throne of God that John sees as the source of the river of life in Revelation 22:1-7?

In your opinion, how are the “rivers of living water” that John 7:37-43 says flow from within all who believe in Jesus and the “river of life” that Revelation 22:1-7 says flow “from the throne of God and of the Lamb” related?

In your opinion, how is being a servant of God who reigns in Revelation 22:1-7 related to the overcoming the world by faith that 1 John 5:1-8 promises to the “one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God”? 

In your opinion, what do these passages from Jeremiah, John, 1 John and Revelation teach us about the abundance of life that God shares with us?

In your opinion, how can we share that abundant life with others?

 

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)