TBL Radio Show Questions, Sun 5:30 -7 pm

WEEK 51 Study Questions              Ps. 135:13-139:16, Micah—Nahum—Habakuk—Zephaniah—Haggai—Zechariah 13:9

Ps. 135—139:16

1. I have a mouth but cannot speak, eyes but cannot see, ears but cannot hear, a nose but cannot smell, and my creator is just like me.  What am I?  135:15, idol

2. In Ps. 136 what phrase is repeated in all 26 verses.  “His faithful love endures forever”

3. In Ps. 137, a Jew in exile weeps over the bitterness of captivity and exile in what country?  1:1, Babylon

4. What did the Edomites ask the Babylonians to do on the day Jerusalem was captured?  137:7, to destroy the city

5. One of the most repeated truths in scripture is that God cares for the humble, but keeps his distance from who?  138:6, proud

6. A main theme of Ps. 139 is that the God of the Bible is omniscient?  What does omniscient mean?  139:1-6, all knowing

7. Ps. 139 teaches that the true God is omnipresent.  What does omnipresent mean?  Everywhere present at any and all times

8. One of the most wonderful truths in Ps. 139 is that God formed each of us and knew us even before what? 139:16, our birth

Micah

1. What later prophet was supported by Micah’s prophecy (3:12) that Jerusalem would be reduced to rubble?   Jeremiah (on trial for preaching against Judah and predicting Jerusalem’s destruction, Jer. 26:18)

2. What small Judean town would be the birthplace of a ruler of Israel who would be the source of peace?  5:2, Bethlehem

Nahum

1. Nahum was called to preach to Ninevah, the capital of Assyria, like what earlier prophet?  Jonah

2. Nahum preached Assyria’s judgment and destruction.  What nations fulfilled his prophesies?  Babylonians/Medes in 612 BC

Habakuk

1. In 1:1-4, Habakkuk registers his first question or complaint for the Lord.  What is it?  The Lord’s seeming indifference to evil (what some today feel about Hollywood, San Francisco, Las Vegas, New Orleans and America’s ugliest sins)

2. God’s answer to Habakkuk’s first question was that He was raising up a nation to use in judging the wickedness of the times, including the sin in Judah.  What nation was it?  1:6, Babylon

3. Why did Habakkuk complain about Babylon being the nation God would use to judge Israel?  1:13, Babylon seemed more wicked than Israel, and thus God seemed to be allowing wickedness to prevail

4. In Habakkuk 2:4, God told Habakkuk a spiritual principle that is basic to all of God’s people through the ages:  “The just shall live by” what?  Faith (quoted in Romans, Galatians, and Hebrews)

5. In Hab. 2:15-17, what does God say He will do to Babylon?  Judge and destroy

6. What is God’s ultimate goal as He rules the nations?  3:14, “The time will come when all the earth will be filled, as the waters fill the sea, with an awareness of the glory of the Lord.”

7. What did God do (chs. 1-2) to inspire Habakkuk’s prayer of worship and admiration in ch. 3?  Answered questions

8. Even when all seems to be going badly, what are we to do?  Hab. 3:18, rejoice in the Lord we trust

Zephaniah 1:1—3:20

1. Who was king of Judah when Zephaniah preached to the nation?  1:1, Josiah

2. God said He would destroy what three kinds of people in Judah and Jerusalem?  1:4-6, pagans, hypocrites, and drop-outs

3. In the Day of Judgment, God is going to remove what kind of people?  3:11-12, proud and arrogant

Haggai 1:1—2:23

1. What three Hebrew prophets ministered after the 70 years of exile in Babylon?  Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi

2. What did Haggai call the people to do?  1:4, get busy rebuilding the temple (examine their priorities)

3. What had God done to the people to get their attention and cause them to seek Him?  1:9, poor harvests, lost harvest, drought

4. How did Gov. Zerubbabel, High Priest Jeshua, and the people respond to Haggai’s message?  1:12, they obeyed the message

Zechariah 1:1—13:9

1. Which O.T. prophet ministered both before and after the temple was rebuilt?  Zechariah (chs. 1-8 before and chs. 9-14 after)

2. Zechariah described details of the Messiah’s life that were fulfilled hundreds of years later in whose life?  Jesus of Nazareth

3. In the first six chapters of his book, Zechariah describes how many visions from the Lord?  Eight (angelic messengers, four horns and four blacksmiths, man measuring Jerusalem, Jeshua given clean robes, lampstand with unending supply of oil, flying scroll, woman in a basket sent back to Babylon, and four horses and chariots)

4. In the vision of the lampstand with the unending supply of oil, what does the oil represent?  4:6, the Holy Spirit’s power

5. Zechariah prophesied that the Messiah would enter Jerusalem riding on what animal?  9:9, donkey

6. In Zech. 11, the Good Shepherd’s salary is only what was paid for a slave gored by an ox.  How many pieces of silver was he paid, and what was done with the money?  11:12-13, 30 pieces of silver on temple floor.  (Jesus, Mt. 27:3-10)

Jesus: Perfect Man of Faith

The Word became flesh and dwelt among us,

And we beheld His glory,

The glory of the only begotten of the Father,

Full of grace and truth. JOHN 1:14

The Word became flesh! How could it be?

From Creator to creature... It's too much for me.

Can High become low? Can day be night?

My mind finds no answer, my reason takes flight.

Then, "Yes, my son, He says to me,

The answer's so simple, even you must see;

Though once you opposed me, opposites we're not.

Unless you cease to be a man, 'in my image' you are caught.

But you, being less and lower, to most and highest never can.

By leaving off and stepping down, though, I became a man."

Lord, what you did is clearer now, but I'll never know just why

You left your throne and all that means to work, sweat, hunger, thirst, and die.

Why would you join our race of tears?

We're either too distraught to rise, or gorged with pride and selfish cares,

Lust of flesh and eyes.

"The answer again is a simple one, tho' not perhaps to your mind,

For love is the reason I took on flesh and left my throne behind.

In your midst I dwelt, because I chose to care -

Behold the Father's glory, and in that glory share!

For not only then but now, it continues to be true,

When you before your Savior bow, the Word becomes flesh in you!"

Soapy Dollar, Christmas, 1982

God in Three Persons

The Gospel offers peace with God, but it also satisfies our minds, giving real answers to our questions about God, the spirit realm, human nature, and the world around us.

There are undoubtedly many things about the true and living God that are beyond our comprehension, aspects of His supernatural being that we who experience our existence through the grids of time and space can only try to imagine. The God of the bible is definitely presented as three distinct Persons, formally titled by no less than Jesus the Messiah and Son of God, as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Each is described with all the characteristics of personhood (intellect, emotion, and will), and also with all of the attributes of deity (omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresence, eternal, etc.). However, it is clearly and often repeated, too, that there is only One God. In what sense are we to understand this very important truth?

Without going into obscure academic, somewhat esoteric terms (essence, etc.), I am satisfied with the simple concept of RELATIONAL HARMONY AND ONENESS. These three divine Persons are now and eternally united in their love for each other, their perfect character, their intent and objectives, and their actions, so perfectly united that we can know them as One. "Hear, O Israel, the Lord your God is One."

This important theological truth has wonderful implications for us as God's people (true Israel), because as Jesus prayed to the Father in John 17, the Redemptive plan of God is that the people of God be brought into that amazing relational union with the Father, Son, and Spirit and with each other.

“I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message. I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me.

“I have given them the glory you gave me, so they may be one as we are one. I am in them and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me. Father, I want these whom you have given me to be with me where I am. Then they can see all the glory you gave me because you loved me even before the world began!

“O righteous Father, the world doesn’t know you, but I do; and these disciples know you sent me. I have revealed you to them, and I will continue to do so. Then your love for me will be in them, and I will be in them.”

The oneness of the Godhead may be more than this, something presently beyond our total understanding, but at the same time, it is not an absurdity. We understand the concept of relational harmony and oneness. In fact, we aspire to it in our marriages, our families, our workplaces - in all kinds and all levels of our human relationships, but do not attain the ideal because of the irrevocable, irresistible tendency to selfishness and sin in our nature. But of course, the salvation we have in Christ - Justified (delivered from the Penalty of our sin), being Sanctified (being day to day set free from the power of sin), and to be Glorified (one day delivered from the very Presence of sin) - gives us the confidence and Hope that we will ultimately be brought into that experience of perfect oneness with our God and with each other. Hallelujah!