The Promises of God Part 3

September 27, 2020

Texts: Isaiah 61:1-3 / Psalm 39 / Revelation 21:1-8 / John 14:1-6 & Luke 23:39-43

1. The Old Testament passage from Isaiah 61:1-3 (READ also Isaiah 25:6-9) paints a picture of a wonderful reunion of God’s people.  Describe family reunions that you may have been part?  Share with one another are some of your favorite memories.  If you take great joy in these memories, and you know that God loves you, how might God prepare a banquet for you and me at the end of time?  What might that banquet look like?
2. Read Psalm 39 (especially vs. 4-7).  How might this promise of the reunion of God’s people to come (Isaiah 61:1-3; Isaiah 25:6-9; and Revelation 21:1-8) help you to prepare for your own eventual death?  How does the world view death?  How should Christians lead and teach the world in our approach to death and the life after death?
3. What similarities do you seen in the passage from Isaiah (61:1-3) and that from Revelation (21:1-8) written some 800 years later?  What does God consider important to this gathering, this reunion, of the people of God?  What can we look forward to?
4. Jesus Christ Himself is clear that He and He alone is “THE way, and THE truth, and THE life” (John 14:6).  Why is this significant?  What does this say about the other ways that our society says are valid ways to God?  And how does this square with our previous promises that ALL HUMANITY is made in God’s image and that God loves us?  (Reading  John 1:12, Romans 8:14, and Galatians 3:26 might help answering this question).