November 19, 2023 – Isaiah in the New Testament – Beginning or End

Beginning or End

Isaiah 28:14-18 - New International Version (NIV)

¹⁴ Therefore hear the word of the Lord, you scoffers
    who rule this people in Jerusalem.
¹⁵ You boast, “We have entered into a covenant with death,
    with the realm of the dead we have made an agreement.
When an overwhelming scourge sweeps by,
    it cannot touch us,
for we have made a lie our refuge
    and falsehood our hiding place.”

¹⁶ So this is what the Sovereign Lord says:

“See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone,
    a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation;
the one who relies on it
    will never be stricken with panic.
¹⁷ I will make justice the measuring line
    and righteousness the plumb line;
hail will sweep away your refuge, the lie,
    and water will overflow your hiding place.
¹⁸ Your covenant with death will be annulled;
    your agreement with the realm of the dead will not stand.
When the overwhelming scourge sweeps by,
    you will be beaten down by it.

What are the “scoffers” to hear (verse 14)?

Why will the “overwhelming scourge” not be able to touch them (verse 15)?

What will the Sovereign Lord lay in Zion (verse 16)?

How will those who rely on it be protected (verse 16)?

What will the “plumb line” be (verse 17)?

Where will the water overflow (verse 17)?

What will be annulled (verse 18)?

How will the “overwhelming scourge” affect them (verse 18)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about the choice that is required by the cornerstone?

Matthew 21:33-46 – New International Version (NIV)

³³ “Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved to another place. ³⁴ When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit.

³⁵ “The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. ³⁶ Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way. ³⁷ Last of all, he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said.

³⁸ “But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and take his inheritance.’ ³⁹ So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.

⁴⁰ “Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?”

⁴¹ “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end,” they replied, “and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants, who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time.”

⁴² Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures:

“‘The stone the builders rejected
    has become the cornerstone;
the Lord has done this,
    and it is marvelous in our eyes’?

⁴³ “Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit. ⁴⁴ Anyone who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; anyone on whom it falls will be crushed.”

⁴⁵ When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus’ parables, they knew he was talking about them. ⁴⁶ They looked for a way to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowd because the people held that he was a prophet.

What did the landowner do with the vineyard he planted and prepared (verse 33)?

When did he send his servants to the tenants (verse 34)?

Who did the landowner send after the servants he sent were beaten, killed and stoned (verses 35 through 37)?

How did the tenants respond (verses 38 and 39)?

How did chief priests and Pharisees respond when Jesus ask “when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants” (verses 40 and 41)?

What has become the cornerstone (verse 42)?

Who will the kingdom of God be given to (verse 43)?

What happens to “anyone who falls on the stone” (verse 44)?

What did the chief priests and Pharisees know (verse 45)?

Who were they afraid of (verse 46)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about the choice that is required by the cornerstone?

In your opinion, how can the “precious cornerstone” from Isaiah 28:14-18 that protects those who rely on it by making sure they “will never be stricken with panic” also be the same stone that breaks and crushes people in Matthew 21:33-46?

Romans 9:30-10:4 - New International Version (NIV)

³⁰ What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; ³¹ but the people of Israel, who pursued the law as the way of righteousness, have not attained their goal. ³² Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone. ³³ As it is written:

“See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes people to stumble
    and a rock that makes them fall,
    and the one who believes in him will never be put to shame.”

¹ Brothers and sisters, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. ² For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. ³ Since they did not know the righteousness of God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. ⁴ Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.

What did the Gentiles not pursue (verse 30)?

What did the Gentiles obtain “by faith” (verse 30)?

What did the people of Israel pursue “as a way of righteousness” (verse 31)?

Why did the people of Israel not attain their goal (verses 31 and 32)?

What did they stumble over (verse 32)?

Who will never be put to shame (verse 33)?

What is Paul’s “heart’s desire and prayer to God” (verse 1)?

How is the zeal of the people of Israel misplaced (verse 2)?

Why did they “not submit to God’s righteousness” (verse 3)?

How may there “be righteousness for everyone who believes” (verse 4)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about the choice that is required by the cornerstone?

In your opinion, how are the scoffers and those who rely on the stone in Isaiah 28:14-18 transformed in Romans 9:30-10:4?

In your opinion, how does Romans 9:30-10:4 help us understand the motives of the chief priests and Pharisees in Matthew 21:33-46?

1 Peter 2:4-10 – New International Version (NIV)

⁴ As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him— ⁵ you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. ⁶ For in Scripture it says:

“See, I lay a stone in Zion,
    a chosen and precious cornerstone,
and the one who trusts in him
    will never be put to shame.”

⁷ Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe,

“The stone the builders rejected
    has become the cornerstone,”

⁸ and,

“A stone that causes people to stumble
    and a rock that makes them fall.”

They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for.

⁹ But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. ¹⁰ Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

Who is “rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him” (verse 4)?

What are Christians being built into (verse 5)?

What are Christians to offer to God (verse 5)?

Who will “never be put to shame” (verse 6)?

What has “the stone the builders rejected” become (verse 7)?

Why do they stumble (verse 8)?

Why are Christians “a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession” (verse 9)?

What have Christians, the “people of God” received (verse 10)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about the choice that is required by the cornerstone?

In your opinion, how does the “covenant with death” of Isaiah 28:14-18 contrast with “God’s special possession” of 1 Peter 2:4-10?

In your opinion, how do the two sets of tenants of Matthew 21:33-46 become the choice of 1 Peter 2:4-10?

In your opinion, how can the misdirected zeal of the Israelites in Romans 9:30-10:4 become the “spiritual sacrifice acceptable to God” in 1 Peter 2:4-10? 

In your opinion, what do these passages from Isaiah, Matthew, Romans, and 1 Peter teach us about how Jesus is either the end, or the begining?

In your opinion, what praises of God can we declare today?

 

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)

November 12, 2023 – Isaiah in the New Testament – Like a Child

Like a Child

Isaiah 28:7-16 - New International Version (NIV)

⁷ And these also stagger from wine
    and reel from beer:
Priests and prophets stagger from beer
    and are befuddled with wine;
they reel from beer,
    they stagger when seeing visions,
    they stumble when rendering decisions.
⁸ All the tables are covered with vomit
    and there is not a spot without filth.

⁹ “Who is it he is trying to teach?
    To whom is he explaining his message?
To children weaned from their milk,
    to those just taken from the breast?
¹⁰ For it is:
    Do this, do that,
    a rule for this, a rule for that;
    a little here, a little there.”

¹¹ Very well then, with foreign lips and strange tongues
    God will speak to this people,
¹² to whom he said,
    “This is the resting place, let the weary rest”;
and, “This is the place of repose”—
    but they would not listen.
¹³ So then, the word of the Lord to them will become:
    Do this, do that,
    a rule for this, a rule for that;
    a little here, a little there—
so that as they go they will fall backward;
    they will be injured and snared and captured.

¹⁴ Therefore hear the word of the Lord, you scoffers
    who rule this people in Jerusalem.
¹⁵ You boast, “We have entered into a covenant with death,
    with the realm of the dead we have made an agreement.
When an overwhelming scourge sweeps by,
    it cannot touch us,
for we have made a lie our refuge
    and falsehood our hiding place.”

¹⁶ So this is what the Sovereign Lord says:

“See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone,
    a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation;
the one who relies on it
    will never be stricken with panic.

Who will “stumble when rendering decisions” (verse 7)?

What are the tables covered with (verse 8)?

In your opinion, what does it mean to, “Do this, do that, a rule for this, a rule for that; a little here, a little there” (verse 10)?

How will God speak to this people (verse 11)?

How did “this people” respond when God said “this is a place of repose” (verses 11 and 12)?

What will the word of the Lord become to them (verse 13)?

What will happen to the people (verse 13)?

Who is to “hear the word of the Lord” (verse 14)?

Why do the rulers of Jerusalem say “when an overwhelming scourge sweeps by, it cannot touch us” (verse 15)?

Who “will never be stricken with panic” (verse 16)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage reveal about the conflict between worldly people and the Lord?

Luke 18:9-17 – New International Version (NIV)

⁹ To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: ¹⁰ “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. ¹¹ The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. ¹² I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’

¹³ “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’

¹⁴ “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

¹⁵ People were also bringing babies to Jesus for him to place his hands on them. When the disciples saw this, they rebuked them. ¹⁶ But Jesus called the children to him and said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. ¹⁷ Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”

Who did Jesus tell “this parable” to (verse 9)?

What did the Pharisee and the tax collector do (verse 10)?

What was the Pharisee thankful for (verse 11)?

When did the Pharisee fast (verse 12)?

Where would the tax collector not look (verse 13)?

What did the tax collector pray (verse 13)?

Who “went home justified before God” (verse 14)?

Who will be humbled (verse 14)?

Who will be exalted (verse 14)?

How did the disciples react to the people “bringing babies to Jesus for him to place his hands on them” (verse 15)?

What did Jesus say when He “called the children to him” (verses 16 and 17)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage reveal about the conflict between worldly people and the Lord?

In your opinion, who is Luke 18:9-17 is most like the “priests and prophets” of Isaiah 28:7-16?

1 Corinthians 14:20-26 - New International Version (NIV)

²⁰ Brothers and sisters, stop thinking like children. In regard to evil be infants, but in your thinking be adults. ²¹ In the Law it is written:

“With other tongues
    and through the lips of foreigners
I will speak to this people,
    but even then they will not listen to me,
says the Lord.”

²² Tongues, then, are a sign, not for believers but for unbelievers; prophecy, however, is not for unbelievers but for believers. ²³ So if the whole church comes together and everyone speaks in tongues, and inquirers or unbelievers come in, will they not say that you are out of your mind? ²⁴ But if an unbeliever or an inquirer comes in while everyone is prophesying, they are convicted of sin and are brought under judgment by all, ²⁵ as the secrets of their hearts are laid bare. So they will fall down and worship God, exclaiming, “God is really among you!”

²⁶ What then shall we say, brothers and sisters? When you come together, each of you has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. Everything must be done so that the church may be built up.

What does Paul tell the “brothers and sisters” to stop doing (verse 20)?

Where is it written, “With other tongues and through the lips of foreigners I will speak to this people, but even then they will not listen to me, says the Lord” (verse 21)?

Who are tongues a sign for (verse 22)?

Who is prophecy for (verse 22)?

What will “inquirers or unbelievers” say if they come in and everyone is speaking in tongues (verse 23)?

How will “an unbeliever or an inquirer” be affected if everyone is prophesying (verses 24 and 25)?

Why must “everything” be done (verse 26)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage reveal about the conflict between worldly people and the Lord?

In your opinion, what does Isaiah 28:7-16 help us understand about Paul’s statement in 1 Corinthians 14:20-26 that “tongues, then, are a sign, not for believers but for unbelievers”?

In your opinion, how is receiving “the kingdom of God like a little child” which Jesus encourages in Luke 18:9-17 different from “thinking like little children” which Paul instructs us to stop doing in 1 Corinthians 14:20-26?

Philippians 2:5-11 – New International Version (NIV)

⁵ In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

⁶ Who, being in very nature God,
    did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
⁷ rather, he made himself nothing
    by taking the very nature of a servant,
    being made in human likeness.
⁸ And being found in appearance as a man,
    he humbled himself
    by becoming obedient to death—
        even death on a cross!

⁹ Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
    and gave him the name that is above every name,
¹⁰ that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
    in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
¹¹ and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
    to the glory of God the Father.

Where are we to have “the same mindset and Christ Jesus” (verse 5)?

What did Jesus not consider as “something to be used to his own advantage” (verse 6)?

What nature did Jesus take (verse 7)?

How did Jesus “humble himself” (verse 8)?

Where did God exalt Jesus to (verse 9)?

What will “every knee” do (verse 10)?

What will “every tongue acknowledge” (verse 11)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage reveal about the conflict between worldly people and the Lord?

In your opinion, how is the mindset of the “priests and prophets” in Isaiah 28:7-16 different from the mindset of Christ that Paul describes in Philippians 2:5-11?

In your opinion, what do both Luke 18:9-17 and Philippians 2:5-11 help us understand about who God exalts?

In your opinion, how does Philippians 2:5-11 help us understand what our tongues can do to fulfill the instruction of 1 Corinthians 14:20-26 that “Everything must be done so that the church may be built up”? 

In your opinion, what do these passages from Isaiah, Luke, 1 Corinthians, and Philippians teach us about how we can “receive the kingdom of God like a little child”?

In your opinion, once we are in the kingdom, how do avoid the pitfalls of the world so that we can bring “glory to God the Father”?

 

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)

November 5, 2023 – Isaiah in the New Testament – Two Flocks become One

Two Flocks become One

Isaiah 27:6-13 - New International Version (NIV)

⁶ In days to come Jacob will take root,
    Israel will bud and blossom
    and fill all the world with fruit.

⁷ Has the Lord struck her
    as he struck down those who struck her?
Has she been killed
    as those were killed who killed her?
⁸ By warfare and exile you contend with her—
    with his fierce blast he drives her out,
    as on a day the east wind blows.
⁹ By this, then, will Jacob’s guilt be atoned for,
    and this will be the full fruit of the removal of his sin:
When he makes all the altar stones
    to be like limestone crushed to pieces,
no Asherah poles or incense altars
    will be left standing.
¹⁰ The fortified city stands desolate,
    an abandoned settlement, forsaken like the wilderness;
there the calves graze,
    there they lie down;
    they strip its branches bare.
¹¹ When its twigs are dry, they are broken off
    and women come and make fires with them.
For this is a people without understanding;
    so their Maker has no compassion on them,
    and their Creator shows them no favor.

¹² In that day the Lord will thresh from the flowing Euphrates to the Wadi of Egypt, and you, Israel, will be gathered up one by one. ¹³ And in that day a great trumpet will sound. Those who were perishing in Assyria and those who were exiled in Egypt will come and worship the Lord on the holy mountain in Jerusalem.

How will Jacob (Israel) change the world (verse 6)?

In your opinion, what is different between the way Lord struck Jacob (Israel) and the way He struck “those who struck her” (verse 7)?

How does the Lord “contend with” Jacob (verse 9)?

What will happen to Jacob “when he makes all the altar stones to be like limestone crushed to pieces” (verse 9)?

How does the “fortified city stand” (verse 10)?

Why does “their Maker” have “no compassion on them” (verse 11)?

How will Israel be gathered when the Lord “will thresh from the flowing Euphrates to the Wadi of Egypt” (verse 12)?

Who will come to “worship the Lord on the holy mountain in Jerusalem” on that day (verse 13)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage reveal to us about how the Lord gathers His people?

John 10:11-18 – New International Version (NIV)

¹¹ “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. ¹² The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. ¹³ The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.

¹⁴ “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— ¹⁵ just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. ¹⁶ I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. ¹⁷ The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. ¹⁸ No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.”

How did Jesus describe Himself (verse 11)?

Who “lays down his life for the sheep” (verse 11)?

What does the hired man do when “he sees the wolf coming” (verse 12)?

Who “cares nothing for the sheep” (verse 13)?

Who knows Jesus (verse 14)?

What does Jesus do (verse 15)?

In your opinion, what does Jesus mean when He says “I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen” (verse 16)?

How many flocks will there be (verse 16)?

Why does the Father love Jesus (verse 17)?

What does Jesus have the authority to do (verse 18)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage reveal to us about how the Lord gathers His people?

In your opinion, are the people being gathered in Isaiah 27:6-13 who will “worship the Lord on the holy mountain in Jerusalem” part of either of the flocks that Jesus is talking about in John 10:11-18?  Why?

Romans 11:25-32 - New International Version (NIV)

²⁵ I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in, ²⁶ and in this way all Israel will be saved. As it is written:

“The deliverer will come from Zion;
    he will turn godlessness away from Jacob.
²⁷ And this is my covenant with them
    when I take away their sins.”

²⁸ As far as the gospel is concerned, they are enemies for your sake; but as far as election is concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs, ²⁹ for God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable. ³⁰ Just as you who were at one time disobedient to God have now received mercy as a result of their disobedience, ³¹ so they too have now become disobedient in order that they too may now receive mercy as a result of God’s mercy to you. ³² For God has bound everyone over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all.

Why does Paul not want the Christians in Rome “to be ignorant of this mystery” (verse 25)?

What is the mystery (revelation of something not clear in the Old Testament) of why “Israel has experienced a hardening in part” (verse 25)?

In your opinion, does the context of the passage that Paul lifts the quote from (Isaiah 27:9) change the way that you interpret “all Israel” (verse 26)?

What will the Deliverer who comes from Zion do (verse 26)?

When is this covenant active (verse 27)?

In your opinion, who are the “enemies for your sake” (verse 28)?

What are irrevocable (verse 29)?

What have the Roman Christians received “as a result of their disobedience” (verse 30)?

What may they receive “as a result of God’s mercy on you” (verse 31)?

Why has God “bound everyone over to disobedience” (verse 32)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage reveal to us about how the Lord gathers His people?

In your opinion, what does Romans 11:25-32 help us understand about how the promise in Isaiah 27:6-13 that “Israel will bud and blossom and fill all the world with fruit” will be fulfilled?

In your opinion, what does Paul in Romans 11:25-32 help us understand about the two flocks that Jesus was talking about in John 10:11-18?  Is the way God’s mercy is received different or the same for the two flocks?

Hebrews 8:7-13 – New International Version (NIV)

⁷ For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another. ⁸ But God found fault with the people and said:

“The days are coming, declares the Lord,
    when I will make a new covenant
with the people of Israel
    and with the people of Judah.
⁹ It will not be like the covenant
    I made with their ancestors
when I took them by the hand
    to lead them out of Egypt,
because they did not remain faithful to my covenant,
    and I turned away from them,
declares the Lord.
¹⁰ This is the covenant I will establish with the people of Israel
    after that time, declares the Lord.
I will put my laws in their minds
    and write them on their hearts.
I will be their God,
    and they will be my people.
¹¹ No longer will they teach their neighbor,
    or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’
because they will all know me,
    from the least of them to the greatest.
¹² For I will forgive their wickedness
    and will remember their sins no more.”

¹³ By calling this covenant “new,” he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear.

What would not have happened if “there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant” (verse 7)?

Who will the Lord make the new covenant with (verse 8)?

Why will it “not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt” (verse 9)?

Where will the Lord put His laws (verse 10)?

What will the people be (verse 10)?

Why will they no longer “teach their neighbor” (verse 11)?

What will the Lord remember “no more” (verse 12)?

Why will the first covenant “soon disappear” (verse 13)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage reveal to us about how the Lord gathers His people?

In your opinion, how does comparing Isaiah 27:6-13 and Hebrews 8:9-13 help us understand what some of the differences between the old and the new covenants are?

In your opinion, is the covenant that Hebrews 8:7-13 talks about being with the people of Israel and Judah for both of the flocks that Jesus was talking about in John 10:11-18?

In your opinion, is the new covenant of Hebrews 8:7-13 connected to the way “Jacob’s guilt” will be atoned for in Isaiah 27:6-13?  

In your opinion, what do these passages from Isaiah, John, Romans, and Hebrews teach us about how salvation is accomplished?

In your opinion, how are two flocks made into one?

 

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)

October 29, 2023 – Isaiah in the New Testament – Rejoice and Be Glad

Rejoice and Be Glad

Isaiah 25:1-9 - New International Version (NIV)

¹ Lord, you are my God;
    I will exalt you and praise your name,
for in perfect faithfulness
    you have done wonderful things,
    things planned long ago.
² You have made the city a heap of rubble,
    the fortified town a ruin,
the foreigners’ stronghold a city no more;
    it will never be rebuilt.
³ Therefore strong peoples will honor you;
    cities of ruthless nations will revere you.
⁴ You have been a refuge for the poor,
    a refuge for the needy in their distress,
a shelter from the storm
    and a shade from the heat.
For the breath of the ruthless
    is like a storm driving against a wall
⁵     and like the heat of the desert.
You silence the uproar of foreigners;
    as heat is reduced by the shadow of a cloud,
    so the song of the ruthless is stilled.

⁶ On this mountain the Lord Almighty will prepare
    a feast of rich food for all peoples,
a banquet of aged wine—
    the best of meats and the finest of wines.
⁷ On this mountain he will destroy
    the shroud that enfolds all peoples,
the sheet that covers all nations;
⁸     he will swallow up death forever.
The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears
    from all faces;
he will remove his people’s disgrace
    from all the earth.
The Lord has spoken.

⁹ In that day they will say,

“Surely this is our God;
    we trusted in him, and he saved us.
This is the Lord, we trusted in him;
    let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation.”

 

When were the “wonderful things” the Lord has done planned (verse 1)?

What has the Lord made of the fortified town (verse 2)?

Who will revere the Lord (verse 3)?

What is the Lord to the “needy in their distress” (verse 4)?

How is the “song of the ruthless” stilled (verse 5)?

Who will the Lord prepare “a feast of rich food” for (verse 6)?

Where will the Lord destroy “the shroud that enfolds all peoples” (verse 7)?

What will the Lord do to death (verse 8)?

How should we respond to what “our God” has done (verse 9)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage reveal to us about the power the Lord has over death?

John 5:21-29 – New International Version (NIV)

²¹ For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it. ²² Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, ²³ that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him.

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. 

What does the Father give the dead (verse 21)?

Who does the Son give life to (verse 21)?

Who has the Father entrusted “all judgment” to (verse 22)?

Who “does not honor the Father” (verse 23)?

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

Who will not “be judged” (verse 24)?

What time “has now come” (verse 25)?

Who has “granted the Son also to have life in himself” (verse 26)?

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

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

Who will “rise to live” (verse 29)?

Who will “rise to be condemned” (verse 29)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage reveal to us about the power the Lord has over death?

In your opinion, how does John 5:21-29 help us understand the Lord Almighty’s promise in Isaiah 25:1-9 to “swallow up death forever”?

1 Corinthians 15:50-57 - New International Version (NIV)

⁵⁰ I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. ⁵¹ Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— ⁵² in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. ⁵³ For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. ⁵⁴ When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”

⁵⁵ “Where, O death, is your victory?
    Where, O death, is your sting?”

⁵⁶ The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. ⁵⁷ But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

What cannot “inherit the kingdom of God” (verse 50)?

In your opinion, why is it impossible for the “perishable” to inherit the “imperishable” (verse 50)?

What will happen to everyone (verse 51)?

When will the dead “be raised imperishable” (verse 52)?

In your opinion, will everyone, regardless of their status with Jesus, “be raised imperishable” (verse 52)?

What must the mortal clothe itself with (verse 53)?

When will the saying “death has been swallowed up in victory” come true (verse 54)?

In your opinion, where is death’s victory (verse 55)?

What is the “power of sin” (verse 56)?

Why should we thank God (verse 57)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage reveal to us about the power the Lord has over death?

In your opinion, how does 1 Corinthians 15:50-57 help us understand the salvation that is promised by the swallowing up of death in Isaiah 25:1-9?

In your opinion, what is the difference between the life that believers have already passed from death to in John 5:21-29 and the raising of the dead in 1 Corinthians 15:50-57 that will happen at the sounding of the trumpet?

Revelation 2:8-11 – New International Version (NIV)

⁸ “To the angel of the church in Smyrna write:

These are the words of him who is the First and the Last, who died and came to life again. ⁹ I know your afflictions and your poverty—yet you are rich! I know about the slander of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. ¹⁰ Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you life as your victor’s crown.

¹¹ Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who is victorious will not be hurt at all by the second death.

Who was the letter to (verse 8)?

How is Jesus described (verse 8)?

Who is rich (verse 9)?

Who are “those who say they are Jews” (verse 9)?

What are they not to “be afraid of” (verse 10)?

Who will put some of them in prison (verse 10)?

In your opinion, why is it significant that the persecution is limited to “ten days” (verse 10)?

What will those who are faithful, “even to the point of death” receive (verse 10)?

Who will not “be hurt at all by the second death” (verse 11)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage reveal to us about the power the Lord has over death?

In your opinion, what is the difference between the “death” that Isaiah 25:1-9 says will be swallowed up forever and the “second death” that Revelation 2:8-11 says the victorious will not be hurt by?

In your opinion, what does John 5:21-29 reveal to us about the people that Revelation 2:8-11 calls “victorious”?

In your opinion, how is the discussion about the perishable and imperishable in 1 Corinthians 15:50-57 different from the discussion of death and life in Revelation 2:8-11? 

In your opinion, what do these passages from Isaiah, John, 1 Corinthians, and Revelation teach us about how can we be both imperishable and victorious?

In your opinion, how does God swallowing up death give us the ability to “rejoice and be glad in his salvation”?

 

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)