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)

July 23, 2023 – John’s Writings – Loved into Glory

Loved into Glory

Exodus 40:21-35 - New International Version (NIV)

²¹ Then he brought the ark into the tabernacle and hung the shielding curtain and shielded the ark of the covenant law, as the Lord commanded him.

²² Moses placed the table in the tent of meeting on the north side of the tabernacle outside the curtain ²³ and set out the bread on it before the Lord, as the Lord commanded him.

²⁴ He placed the lampstand in the tent of meeting opposite the table on the south side of the tabernacle ²⁵ and set up the lamps before the Lord, as the Lord commanded him.

²⁶ Moses placed the gold altar in the tent of meeting in front of the curtain ²⁷ and burned fragrant incense on it, as the Lord commanded him.

²⁸ Then he put up the curtain at the entrance to the tabernacle. ²⁹ He set the altar of burnt offering near the entrance to the tabernacle, the tent of meeting, and offered on it burnt offerings and grain offerings, as the Lord commanded him.

³⁰ He placed the basin between the tent of meeting and the altar and put water in it for washing, ³¹ and Moses and Aaron and his sons used it to wash their hands and feet. ³² They washed whenever they entered the tent of meeting or approached the altar, as the Lord commanded Moses.

³³ Then Moses set up the courtyard around the tabernacle and altar and put up the curtain at the entrance to the courtyard. And so Moses finished the work.

³⁴ Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. ³⁵ Moses could not enter the tent of meeting because the cloud had settled on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.

What did Moses do after he “brought the ark into the tabernacle” (verse 21)?

Where was the table placed in relation to the curtain (verse 22)?

What did Moses set out on the table (verse 23)?

Where did Moses place the lampstand (verse 24)?

Where did Moses place the “gold alter” (verse 26)?

What did Moses burn on the alter (verse 27)?

Where did Moses place the next curtain (verse 28)?

What did Moses set up “near the entrance to the tabernacle, the tent of meeting” (verse 29)?

Why did Moses do these things (verses 21, 23, 25, 27 and 29)?

When did Moses and Aaron and Aaron’s sons wash their hands and feet (verses 30 through 32)?

What did Moses finish (verse 33)?

What filled the tabernacle (verse 34)?

Why could Moses not enter the tent of meeting (verse 35)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about entering God’s glory?

John 12:20-28 - New International Version (NIV)

²⁰ Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the festival. ²¹ They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. “Sir,” they said, “we would like to see Jesus.” ²² Philip went to tell Andrew; Andrew and Philip in turn told Jesus.

²³ Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. ²⁴ Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. ²⁵ Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. ²⁶ Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.

²⁷ “Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. ²⁸ Father, glorify your name!”

Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and will glorify it again.” 

Who was “among those who went up to worship at the festival” (verse 20)?

What did they request of Philip (verse 21)?

What hour did Jesus say has come (verse 23)?

How can a kernel of wheat produce many seeds (verse 24)?

Who will lose their life (verse 25)?

Who will keep their life for eternal life (verse 26)?

How was Jesus’s soul (verse 27)?

In your opinion, what was the reason that Jesus “came to this hour” (verse 27)?

How did the voice from heaven respond to Jesus saying “Father, glorify your name” (verse 28)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about entering God’s glory?

In your opinion, what is the connection between the reason that Jesus came to this hour in John 12:20-28 and the fact that the glory of God kept everyone, including Moses, from entering the tabernacle in Exodus 40:21-35?

1 John 4:7-15 – New International Version (NIV)

⁷ Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. ⁸ Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. ⁹ This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. ¹⁰ This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. ¹¹ Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. ¹² No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

¹³ This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. ¹⁴ And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. ¹⁵ If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. 

Who is John writing to (verse 7)?

What does John instruct (verse 7)?

Where does love come from (verse 7)?

Who does not know God (verse 8)?

How did God show “his love among us” (verse 9)?

What is love (verse 10)?

Why should we “love one another” (verse 11)?

When does God live in us (verse 12)?

How do “we know that we live in him and he in us” (verse 13)?

What has John seen and testifies to (verse 14)?

When does God live in people (verse 15)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about entering God’s glory?

In your opinion, what is shown by the fact that in Exodus 40:21-35 no one could enter the tabernacle when “the glory of God filled” it but 1 John 4:7-15 says ” If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God”?

In your opinion, what does 1 John 4:7-15 help us understand about what Jesus meant in John 12:20-28 when He said “, it was for this very reason I came to this hour”?

Revelation 21:22-27 – New International Version (NIV)

²² I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. ²³ The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. ²⁴ The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. ²⁵ On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. ²⁶ The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. ²⁷ Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

What didn’t John see in the city (verse 22)?

Who is the temple (verse 22)?

Why does the city “not need the sun or the moon to shine on it” (verse 23)?

What will walk by the light of the city (verse 24)?

Why will the gates never be shut (verse 25)?

What will be brought into the city (verse 26)?

What will never enter the city (verse 27)?

Who will never enter the city (verse 27)?

Who will enter the city (verse 27)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about entering God’s glory?

In your opinion, how do the differences between the tabernacle in Exodus 40:21-35 and the city of God in Revelation 21:22-27 illustrate what Jesus has done?

In your opinion, what does Jesus’s statement in John 12:20-28 that “anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life” help us understand about “those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life”?

In your opinion, how is God’s love for us revealed in 1 John 4:7-15 related to the names that are written in the Lamb’s book of life, the list of people that can enter into the New Jerusalem of Revelation 21:22-27? 

In your opinion, what do these passages from Exodus, John, 1 John and Revelation teach us about how we can be transformed from people excluded from God’s glory to people whose lives are lit up by God’s glory?

In your opinion, how can we glorify God’s name?

 

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)

July 16, 2023 – John’s Writings – The Bride

The Bride

Isaiah 54:11-55:1 - New International Version (NIV)

¹¹ “Afflicted city, lashed by storms and not comforted,
    I will rebuild you with stones of turquoise,
    your foundations with lapis lazuli.
¹² I will make your battlements of rubies,
    your gates of sparkling jewels,
    and all your walls of precious stones.
¹³ All your children will be taught by the Lord,
    and great will be their peace.
¹⁴ In righteousness you will be established:
Tyranny will be far from you;
    you will have nothing to fear.
Terror will be far removed;
    it will not come near you.
¹⁵ If anyone does attack you, it will not be my doing;
    whoever attacks you will surrender to you.

¹⁶ “See, it is I who created the blacksmith
    who fans the coals into flame
    and forges a weapon fit for its work.
And it is I who have created the destroyer to wreak havoc;
¹⁷     no weapon forged against you will prevail,
    and you will refute every tongue that accuses you.
This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord,
    and this is their vindication from me,”
declares the Lord.

¹ “Come, all you who are thirsty,
    come to the waters;
and you who have no money,
    come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
    without money and without cost.

What is “lashed by storms and not comforted” (verse 11)?

How will it be rebuilt (verse 11)?

What will the walls be made of (verse 12)?

Who will teach “all your children” (verse 13)?

How will they “be established” (verse 14)?

What will people who attack do (verse 15)?

Who “created the destroyer to wreak havoc” (verse 16)?

How will the people respond to “every tongue that accuses” (verse 17)?

Who is to come (verse 1)?

How are they to “buy wine and milk” (verse 1)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about the church, “the bride, the wife of the Lamb”?

John 17:20-26 - New International Version (NIV)

²⁰ “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, ²¹ that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. ²² I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— ²³ I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

²⁴ “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.

²⁵ “Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. ²⁶ I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”

Who is Jesus praying for (verse 20)?

What does Jesus pray for (verse 21)?

How does Jesus describe His relationship with the Father (verse 21)?

Why does Jesus want the people He is praying for to “also be in us” (verse 21)?

What has Jesus given the ones He is praying for (verse 22)?

What will the world know when those Jesus is praying for have Jesus in them the way that Jesus has the Father in Him (verse 23)?

Who does Jesus want “to be with me where I am” (verse 24)?

When did the Father give Jesus glory (verse 24)?

What does the world know (verse 25)?

Why will Jesus continue to make the Righteous Father known (verse 26)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about the church, “the bride, the wife of the Lamb”?

In your opinion, will the people who Jesus prayed that the world will know He sent and loved according to John 17:20-26 have a heritage like the “afflicted city, lashed by storms and not comforted” of Isaiah 54:11-55:1?

1 John 4:1-6 – New International Version (NIV)

¹ Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. ² This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, ³ but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.

⁴ You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. ⁵ They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. ⁶ We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood.

What are John’s “dear friends” not to believe (verse 1)?

Who has “gone out into the world” (verse 1)?

How can the Spirit of God be recognized (verse 2)?

Who is not from God (verse 3)?

Who is in the world (verse 3)?

How have the “dear children” overcome the false prophets (verse 4)?

Who listens to the false prophets (verse 5)?

Where is John from (verse 6)?

Who listens to John (verse 6)?

Who does not listen to John (verse 6)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about the church, “the bride, the wife of the Lamb”?

In your opinion, how is the “heritage of the servants of the Lord” that Isaiah proclaims to the “afflicted city” of Isaiah 54:11-55:1 similar to the way the “dear children” of 1 John 4:1-6 have overcome the “spirit of the antichrist”?

In your opinion, how does 1 John 4:1-6 show that Jesus’s prayer in John 17:20-26 was answered?

Revelation 21:9-21 – New International Version (NIV)

⁹ One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.” ¹⁰ And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. ¹¹ It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. ¹² It had a great, high wall with twelve gates, and with twelve angels at the gates. On the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. ¹³ There were three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south and three on the west. ¹⁴ The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

¹⁵ The angel who talked with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city, its gates and its walls. ¹⁶ The city was laid out like a square, as long as it was wide. He measured the city with the rod and found it to be 12,000 stadia in length, and as wide and high as it is long. ¹⁷ The angel measured the wall using human measurement, and it was 144 cubits thick. ¹⁸ The wall was made of jasper, and the city of pure gold, as pure as glass. ¹⁹ The foundations of the city walls were decorated with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, ²⁰ the fifth onyx, the sixth ruby, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth turquoise, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst. ²¹ The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate made of a single pearl. The great street of the city was of gold, as pure as transparent glass.

In your opinion, what, or who, is “the bride, the wife of the Lamb” (verse 9)?

Where was John carried to (verse 10)?

Where was “the Holy City, Jerusalem” coming down from (verse 10)?

How did the “the Holy City” shine (verse 11)?

What was written on the twelve gates (verse 12)?

Where were the gates (verse 13)?

What was written on the twelve foundations (verse 14)?

What was John to do with the “measuring rod of gold” (verse 15)?

How big was the city (verse 16)?

How wide was the wall (verse 17)?

What was the city made of (verse 18)?

How were the foundations of the wall decorated (verse 19)?

What were the gates of the city made of (verse 21)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about the church, “the bride, the wife of the Lamb”?

In your opinion, how is the “afflicted city, lashed by storms and not comforted” of Isaiah 54:11-17 related to the glorious city that is coming down from heaven in Revelation 21:9-21?

In your opinion, how are the prayers of Jesus in John 17:20-26 answered by the events of Revelation 21:9-21?

In your opinion, what does Revelation 21:9-21 reveal about the discussion in 1 John 4:1-6 about “overcoming them”? 

In your opinion, what do these passages from Isaiah, John, 1 John and Revelation help us understand about how those who come to God because they are thirsty are transformed into the beautiful bride?

In your opinion, why is the church described as the bride?

 

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)