February 19, 2023 – John’s Writings – The Worship Challenge

The Worship Challenge

Daniel 3:8-18 - New International Version (NIV)

⁸ At this time some astrologers came forward and denounced the Jews. ⁹ They said to King Nebuchadnezzar, “May the king live forever! ¹⁰ Your Majesty has issued a decree that everyone who hears the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipe and all kinds of music must fall down and worship the image of gold, ¹¹ and that whoever does not fall down and worship will be thrown into a blazing furnace. ¹² But there are some Jews whom you have set over the affairs of the province of Babylon—Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego—who pay no attention to you, Your Majesty. They neither serve your gods nor worship the image of gold you have set up.”

¹³ Furious with rage, Nebuchadnezzar summoned Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. So these men were brought before the king, ¹⁴ and Nebuchadnezzar said to them, “Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the image of gold I have set up? ¹⁵ Now when you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipe and all kinds of music, if you are ready to fall down and worship the image I made, very good. But if you do not worship it, you will be thrown immediately into a blazing furnace. Then what god will be able to rescue you from my hand?”

¹⁶ Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to him, “King Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. ¹⁷ If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. ¹⁸ But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.”

What did the astrologers do (verse 8)?

What did they tell King Nebuchadnezzar (verse 9)?

Who was supposed to “fall down and worship the image of gold” when they heard the “sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipe and all kinds of music” (verse 10)?

What is to happen to those who don’t “fall down and worship the image of gold” (verse 11)?

Who paid no attention to the king or served his gods or worshipped the image (verse 12)?

How did the king feel when he found out there were people who paid no attention to him (verse 13)?

What choice was given to Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego (verse 15)?

In your opinion, how would King Nebuchadnezzar have answered this question “then what god will be able to rescue you” (verse 15)?

What did Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego not need to do (verse 16)?

What did they think would happen if they were thrown into the furnace (verse 17)?

What did they want King Nebuchadnezzar to know (verse 18)?

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

In your opinion, how is the battle of the world against God shown in this passage?

John 8:39-47 - New International Version (NIV)

³⁹ “Abraham is our father,” they answered.

“If you were Abraham’s children,” said Jesus, “then you would do what Abraham did. ⁴⁰ As it is, you are looking for a way to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do such things. ⁴¹ You are doing the works of your own father.”

“We are not illegitimate children,” they protested. “The only Father we have is God himself.”

⁴² Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I have come here from God. I have not come on my own; God sent me. ⁴³ Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. ⁴⁴ You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. ⁴⁵ Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me! ⁴⁶ Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don’t you believe me? ⁴⁷ Whoever belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.”

Who did the Jews opposing Jesus say their father was (verse 39)?

In your opinion, what did Jesus mean when He replied “If you were Abraham’s children then you would do what Abraham did” (verse 39)?

What had Jesus told them (verse 40)?

Whose works did Jesus say they were doing (verse 41)?

Where did Jesus come from (verse 42)?

Why is Jesus’s language not clear to them (verse 43)?

What was the devil from the beginning (verse 44)?

What is the devil’s native language (verse 44)?

Why don’t they believe Jesus (verse 45)?

In your opinion, why don’t the listeners believe Jesus (verse 46)?

Who hears what God says (verse 47)?

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

In your opinion, how is the battle of the world against God shown in this passage?

In your opinion, how do the passages, from Daniel 3:8-18 and John 8:39-47, demonstrate that our actions are products of our beliefs?

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.

Why does John commend Gaius, who 3 John is written to (verse 5)?

How is Gaius supposed to send the “brothers and sisters” on their way (verse 6)?

Why had the “brothers and sisters” gone out (verse 7)?

Why should we “show hospitality to such people” (verse 8)?

What did Diotrephes love (verse 9)?

What are the things that Diotrephes did (verse 10)?

What is John’s friend, Gaius, to imitate (verse 11)?

Who if from God (verse 11)?

How is Demetrius spoken of (verse 12)?

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

In your opinion, how is the battle of the world against God shown in this passage?

In your opinion, who in 3 John 5-12 reacts to the people of God in a manner similar to Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 5:8-18?  Why would someone associating with Christians respond to them in that way?

In your opinion, how does what is loved influence actions in John 8:39-47 and in 3 John 5-12?

Revelation 13:11-18 – New International Version (NIV)

¹¹ Then I saw a second beast, coming out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb, but it spoke like a dragon. ¹² It exercised all the authority of the first beast on its behalf, and made the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose fatal wound had been healed. ¹³ And it performed great signs, even causing fire to come down from heaven to the earth in full view of the people. ¹⁴ Because of the signs it was given power to perform on behalf of the first beast, it deceived the inhabitants of the earth. It ordered them to set up an image in honor of the beast who was wounded by the sword and yet lived. ¹⁵ The second beast was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that the image could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed. ¹⁶ It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, ¹⁷ so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name.

¹⁸ This calls for wisdom. Let the person who has insight calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. That number is 666.

Where did the second beast come from (verse 11)?

In your opinion, why did it have “horns like a lamb” but speak “like a dragon” (verse 11)?

Whose authority did it exercise (verse 12)?

What did it make “the earth and its inhabitants” do (verse 12)?

What did the second beast perform (verse 13)?

Who was deceived (verse 14)?

What would happen to all who refused to worship the image of the first beast (verse 15)?

Who was forced to receive a mark on “their right hands or on their foreheads” (verse 16)?

What did they need the mark to do (verse 17)?

What is “the number of the beast” the number of (verse 18)?

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

In your opinion, how is the battle of the world against God shown in this passage?

In your opinion, how is the golden image of Daniel 5:8-18 similar to the image in Revelation 13:11-18?  How is the result of not worshipping similar?  How might the words of, and the outcome for, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego encourage believers facing the Revelation challenge?

In your opinion, how can Jesus’s statement that “whoever belongs to God hears what God says” in John 8:39-47 comfort us as we are concerned about our ability to discern the truth if we find ourselves in a Revelation 13:11-18 situation?  Do you think we can find ourselves in this situation today (even if it is not the end of time)?

In your opinion, how does Diotrephes, in attempting to control what Christians around him did in 3 John 5-12, model the behavior of the second beast in Revelation 13:11-18?  How can Demetrius be our model for today’s challenges? 

In your opinion, what do these passages from Daniel, John, 3 John and Revelation show us the difference between worshipping self or world instead of worshipping God?

In your opinion, how do these four very different passages help us determine our actions today “for the sake of the Name”?

 

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)

February 12, 2023 – John’s Writings – The Son’s Victorious Kingdom

 The Son’s Victorious Kingdom

Daniel 2:36-45 - New International Version (NIV)

³⁶ “This was the dream, and now we will interpret it to the king. ³⁷ Your Majesty, you are the king of kings. The God of heaven has given you dominion and power and might and glory; ³⁸ in your hands he has placed all mankind and the beasts of the field and the birds in the sky. Wherever they live, he has made you ruler over them all. You are that head of gold.

³⁹ “After you, another kingdom will arise, inferior to yours. Next, a third kingdom, one of bronze, will rule over the whole earth. ⁴⁰ Finally, there will be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron—for iron breaks and smashes everything—and as iron breaks things to pieces, so it will crush and break all the others. ⁴¹ Just as you saw that the feet and toes were partly of baked clay and partly of iron, so this will be a divided kingdom; yet it will have some of the strength of iron in it, even as you saw iron mixed with clay. ⁴² As the toes were partly iron and partly clay, so this kingdom will be partly strong and partly brittle. ⁴³ And just as you saw the iron mixed with baked clay, so the people will be a mixture and will not remain united, any more than iron mixes with clay.

⁴⁴ “In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever. ⁴⁵ This is the meaning of the vision of the rock cut out of a mountain, but not by human hands—a rock that broke the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold to pieces.

What was Daniel going to do with the dream (verse 36)?

Who has given the king “dominion and power and might and glory” (verse 37)?

What is the king (verse 38)?

How will the next kingdom compare to the current kingdom (verse 39)?

What will the fourth kingdom do (verse 40)?

How do we know that the fourth kingdom will “be a divided kingdom” (verse 41)?

Why will the people of the fourth kingdom not remain united (verse 43)?

When will the God of heaven “set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed” (verse 44)?

What will this kingdom do to “all those kingdoms” (verse 44)?

How long will this kingdom “endure” (verse 44)?

What did not cut the rock that is the kingdom that will never be destroyed out of the mountain (verse 45)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about our part in God’s victorious and eternal kingdom?

John 8:30-38 - New International Version (NIV)

³⁰ Even as he spoke, many believed in him.

³¹ To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. ³² Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

³³ They answered him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?”

³⁴ Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. ³⁵ Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. ³⁶ So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. ³⁷ I know that you are Abraham’s descendants. Yet you are looking for a way to kill me, because you have no room for my word. ³⁸ I am telling you what I have seen in the Father’s presence, and you are doing what you have heard from your father.”

What happened while Jesus spoke (verse 30)?

Who did Jesus tell “if you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples” (verse 31)?

What else will happen if the hold to Jesus teaching (verse 32)?

In your opinion, why would the Jews say “we are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone” (verse 33)?

How did Jesus respond to them (verse 34)?

Where does the son belong forever (verse 35)?

What happens when the Son sets you free (verse 36)?

Why were the Jews looking to kill Jesus (verse 37)?

What are the Jews doing (verse 38)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about our part in God’s victorious and eternal kingdom?

In your opinion, what do the words of Jesus in John 8:30-38 help us understand about the kingdom that Daniel 2:36-45 says God will set up?

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)?

What is the command “we have had from the beginning” (verse 5)?

What is love (verse 6)?

Who does “not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh” (verse 7)?

Who is the antichrist (verse 7)?

What are the readers 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 we respond to someone who “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 teach us about our part in God’s victorious and eternal kingdom?

In your opinion, what does 2 John 4-11 help us understand about how the kingdom that God is setting up in Daniel 2:36-45 is different from the worldly kingdoms that will be crushed?

In your opinion, what differences do John 8:30-38 and 2 John 4-11 show us between the kingdom of God and worldly kingdoms?

Revelation 13:1-10 – New International Version (NIV)

¹ The dragon stood on the shore of the sea. And I saw a beast coming out of the sea. It had ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on its horns, and on each head a blasphemous name. ² The beast I saw resembled a leopard, but had feet like those of a bear and a mouth like that of a lion. The dragon gave the beast his power and his throne and great authority. ³ One of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed. The whole world was filled with wonder and followed the beast. ⁴ People worshiped the dragon because he had given authority to the beast, and they also worshiped the beast and asked, “Who is like the beast? Who can wage war against it?”

⁵ The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise its authority for forty-two months. ⁶ It opened its mouth to blaspheme God, and to slander his name and his dwelling place and those who live in heaven. ⁷ It was given power to wage war against God’s holy people and to conquer them. And it was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation. ⁸ All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written in the Lamb’s book of life, the Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world.

⁹ Whoever has ears, let them hear.

¹⁰ “If anyone is to go into captivity,
    into captivity they will go.
If anyone is to be killed with the sword,
    with the sword they will be killed.”

This calls for patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of God’s people.

Where did the dragon stand (verse 1)?

Where did the beast come from (verse 1)?

What did the dragon give the beast (verse 2)?

How did the “whole world” respond to the beast (verse 3)?

Who did people worship (verse 4)?

Why was the beast given a mouth (verse 5)?

Who did the beast slander (verse 6)?

What was the beast given the power to do (verse 7)?

Who will worship the beast (verse 8)?

What are people with ears to do (verse 9)?

What is called for “on the part of God’s people” verse 10)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about our part in God’s victorious and eternal kingdom?

In your opinion, what does Daniel 2:36-45 help us understand about the seeming dominance of the beast in Revelation 13:1-10?

In your opinion, how does the conflict between Jesus doing what He saw in His Father’s presence and the Jews doing what they heard from their father in John 8:30-38 help us better understand the conflict between those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life and those whose names are not in Revelation 13:1-10?

In your opinion, why is 2 John 4-11’s command to “love one another” important in relationship to the worldwide worship of the dragon and the beast revealed by Revelation 13:1-10? 

In your opinion, what do these passages from Daniel, John, 1 John and Revelation teach us about how we are freed from the seemingly overwhelmingly powerful world kingdom?

In your opinion, what part do we have in the conflict between the world and Jesus?

 

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)

February 5, 2023 – John’s Writings – Sanctuary’s Gate

Sanctuary’s Gate

Ezekiel 37:15-28 - New International Version (NIV)

¹⁵ The word of the Lord came to me: ¹⁶ “Son of man, take a stick of wood and write on it, ‘Belonging to Judah and the Israelites associated with him.’ Then take another stick of wood, and write on it, ‘Belonging to Joseph (that is, to Ephraim) and all the Israelites associated with him.’ ¹⁷ Join them together into one stick so that they will become one in your hand.

¹⁸ “When your people ask you, ‘Won’t you tell us what you mean by this?’ ¹⁹ say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am going to take the stick of Joseph—which is in Ephraim’s hand—and of the Israelite tribes associated with him, and join it to Judah’s stick. I will make them into a single stick of wood, and they will become one in my hand.’ ²⁰ Hold before their eyes the sticks you have written on ²¹ and say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will take the Israelites out of the nations where they have gone. I will gather them from all around and bring them back into their own land. ²² I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel. There will be one king over all of them and they will never again be two nations or be divided into two kingdoms. ²³ They will no longer defile themselves with their idols and vile images or with any of their offenses, for I will save them from all their sinful backsliding, and I will cleanse them. They will be my people, and I will be their God.

²⁴ “‘My servant David will be king over them, and they will all have one shepherd. They will follow my laws and be careful to keep my decrees. ²⁵ They will live in the land I gave to my servant Jacob, the land where your ancestors lived. They and their children and their children’s children will live there forever, and David my servant will be their prince forever. ²⁶ I will make a covenant of peace with them; it will be an everlasting covenant. I will establish them and increase their numbers, and I will put my sanctuary among them forever. ²⁷ My dwelling place will be with them; I will be their God, and they will be my people. ²⁸ Then the nations will know that I the Lord make Israel holy, when my sanctuary is among them forever.’”

What was Ezekiel to write on the first stick of wood (verse 15)?

What was Ezekiel to write on the second stick of wood (verse 15)?

What was Ezekiel to do with the two sticks of wood (verse 16)?

How was Ezekiel to answer when the people ask “won’t you tell us what you mean by this” (verses 18 and 19)?

What is the Sovereign Lord going to do with the Israelites (verse 21)?

How many kings will the formerly two nations have (verse 22)?

What will the Sovereign Lord save them from (verse 23)?

What will the people be (verse 23)?

How many shepherds will they have (verse 24)?

Where will they live (verse 25)?

How long will the covenant of peace last (verse 26)?

Where will God’s dwelling place be (verse 27)?

What will the nations know (verse 28)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about God’s sanctuary and our need for it?

John 10:7-18 - New International Version (NIV)

⁷ Therefore Jesus said again, “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. ⁸ All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. ⁹ I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture. ¹⁰ The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

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 7)?

Who came before (verse 8)?

What will happen to those who enter through Jesus (verse 9)?

Why has Jesus come (verse 10)?

What does the “good shepherd” do (verse 11)?

What happens after the hired hand abandons the sheep (verse 12)?

Why does the man run away (verse 13)?

Who do the sheep know (verse 14)?

What does Jesus do for His sheep (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 authority does Jesus have (verse 18)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about God’s sanctuary and our need for it?

In your opinion, how are the two sticks of Ezekiel 37:15-28 different from the two flocks of John 10:7-18? 

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.

Who overcomes the world (verse 5)?

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

Who testifies (verse 6)?

What three are in agreement (verses 7 and 8)?

What is greater than “human testimony” (verse 9)?

Who “accepts this testimony” (verse 10)?

What is “the testimony” (verse 11)?

Who has life (verse 12)?

Why does John write (verse 13)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about God’s sanctuary and our need for it?

In your opinion, how is God promise to call all the dispersed descendants of Israel and Judah back “into their own land” in Ezekiel 37:15-28 related to 1 John 5:5-13’s promise that everyone “who believes that Jesus is the Son of God” has overcome the world?

In your opinion, what do both John 10:7-18 and 1 John 5:5-13 teach us about the importance of individual discernment?

Revelation 12:13-17 – New International Version (NIV)

¹³ When the dragon saw that he had been hurled to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. ¹⁴ The woman was given the two wings of a great eagle, so that she might fly to the place prepared for her in the wilderness, where she would be taken care of for a time, times and half a time, out of the serpent’s reach. ¹⁵ Then from his mouth the serpent spewed water like a river, to overtake the woman and sweep her away with the torrent. ¹⁶ But the earth helped the woman by opening its mouth and swallowing the river that the dragon had spewed out of his mouth. ¹⁷ Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to wage war against the rest of her offspring—those who keep God’s commands and hold fast their testimony about Jesus.

What did the dragon do when he “saw that he had been hurled to the earth” (verse 13)?

Why was the woman “given the two wings of a great eagle” (verse 14)?

How long would the woman “be taken care of” (verse 15)?

Why did the serpent spew “water like a river” (verse 15)?

What did the earth do (verse 16)?

Who was the dragon’s next target (verse 17)?

How are the rest of the woman’s offspring described (verse 17)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about God’s sanctuary and our need for it?

In your opinion, how is the pursuit of the woman in Revelation 12:13-17 related to the covenant of peace promised to God’s people in Ezekiel 37:15-28?

In your opinion, what does Jesus’s discussion about the sheep who are in the pen and those who are not in John 10:7-18 help us understand about those who the dragon is pursuing and making war against in Revelation 12:13-17?

In your opinion, how does 1 John 5:5-13 reassure us about the outcome of the dragon’s war in Revelation 12:13-17 against “those who keep God’s commands and hold fast their testimony about Jesus”? 

In your opinion, what do these passages from Ezekiel, John, 1 John and Revelation teach us about the outcome of the confrontation of the Good Shepherd and the wolf/dragon?

In your opinion, how do these four very different big picture overviews help us understand about “Sanctuary’s Gate”?

 

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)