Thy Kingdom Come!
Verse of the week to live by:
“Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God” (1John 5:1).
Bible Readings 2025, Week 48; Nov. 24-30
Nov. 24; Ezek. 31-32;
1. Ezek. 31:1; “In the eleventh year, in the third month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me.”
What does this date refer to?
2. Ezek. 31:18; “Whom are you thus like in glory and in greatness among the trees of Eden? You shall be brought down with the trees of Eden to the world below. You shall lie among the uncircumcised, with those who are slain by the sword. “This is Pharaoh and all his multitude, declares the Lord God.”
Why did Ezekiel prophesize about Pharaoh?
3. Ezek. 32:11; “For thus says the Lord God: The sword of the king of Babylon shall come upon you.”
Did this prophecy come to pass?
Nov. 25; Ezek. 33-35; 1 John 4;
1. Ezek. 33:7; “So you, son of man, I have made a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me.”
How do you explain “Ezekiel was “a watchman for the house of Israel”?
2. Ezek. 34:23-25; “And I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd. 24 And I, the Lord, will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them. I am the Lord; I have spoken. 25 “I will make with them a covenant of peace and banish wild beasts from the land, so that they may dwell securely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods.”
King David died about 400 years before the prophet Ezekiel. Who is David that the prophet Ezekiel is talking about, who will be prince over all?
3. 1John 4:1-3; “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already.”
Explain the underlined?
Nov. 26; Ezek. 36-37; 1 John 5
1. Ezek. 36:24-27; “I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. 25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. 26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.”
When did this prophecy come to pass? Do you believe that Jesus fulfilled this prophecy?
2. Ezek. 37:3-6; “And he said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” And I answered, “O Lord God, you know.” 4 Then he said to me, “Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. 5 Thus says the Lord God to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. 6 And I will lay sinews upon you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live, and you shall know that I am the Lord.”
How does this vision point to Christ?
3. 1John 5:1; “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him.”
How do we be born of God?
Nov. 27; Ezek. 38-40; 2 John
1. Ezek. 38:1-2; “The word of the Lord came to me: 2 “Son of man, set your face toward Gog, of the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him.”
Where were the lands of Magog? Where is it now?
2. Ezek. 40:1; “In the twenty-fifth year of our exile, at the beginning of the year, on the tenth day of the month, in the fourteenth year after the city was struck down, on that very day, the hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me to the city.”
How many years were the years of the exile?
3. 2 John: 1:1; “The elder to the elect lady and her children, whom I love in truth, and not only I, but also all who know the truth, 2 because of the truth that abides in us and will be with us forever: 3 Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ the Father's Son, in truth and love.”
Who wrote the letter of 2 John?
Nov. 28; Ezek. 41-43
1. Ezek. 41:1; “Then he brought me to the nave and measured the jambs. On each side six cubits was the breadth of the jambs.”
Was this vision about the temple of Solomon? The second temple? Or another temple?
2. Ezek. 42:15; “Now when he had finished measuring the interior of the temple area, he led me out by the gate that faced east, and measured the temple area all around.”
What is significant about the gate that faced east?
3. Ezek. 43:4; “As the glory of the Lord entered the temple by the gate facing east.”
Did the glory of the Lord come back? How do you understand this passage in the light of John 1:14-18?
Nov. 29; Ezek. 44-45; 3 John;
1. Ezek. 44:1-3; “Then he brought me back to the outer gate of the sanctuary, which faces east. And it was shut. 2 And the Lord said to me, “This gate shall remain shut; it shall not be opened, and no one shall enter by it, for the Lord, the God of Israel, has entered by it. Therefore it shall remain shut. 3 Only the prince may sit in it to eat bread before the Lord. He shall enter by way of the vestibule of the gate, and shall go out by the same way.”
Who is the prince who shall sit in the gate of the temple?
2. 3 John 1:1; “The elder to the beloved Gaius, whom I love in truth.”
Who wrote the letter of 3 John?
3. 3 John1:1; “The elder to the beloved Gaius, whom I love in truth.”
Who was Gaius?
Nov. 30; Ezek. 46-48; Jude
1. Ezek. 46:1-5; “Thus says the Lord God: The gate of the inner court that faces east shall be shut on the six working days, but on the Sabbath day it shall be opened, and on the day of the new moon it shall be opened. 2 The prince shall enter by the vestibule of the gate from outside, and shall take his stand by the post of the gate. The priests shall offer his burnt offering and his peace offerings, and he shall worship at the threshold of the gate. Then he shall go out, but the gate shall not be shut until evening. 3 The people of the land shall bow down at the entrance of that gate before the Lord on the Sabbaths and on the new moons. 4 The burnt offering that the prince offers to the Lord on the Sabbath day shall be six lambs without blemish and a ram without blemish. 5 And the grain offering with the ram shall be an ephah, and the grain offering with the lambs shall be as much as he is able, together with a hin of oil to each ephah.”
Do you think this prophecy was fulfilled in the conversation between Jesus and the Samaritan in John 4?
2. Ezek. 48:35; “The circumference of the city shall be 18,000 cubits. And the name of the city from that time on shall be, The Lord Is There.”
What is the significant of city’s name “The Lord is There?”
3. Jude 1:1; “Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James, To those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ.”
Who wrote the letter of Jude?