Jesus calls Philip in Galilee to follow him. Philip tells Nathanael that they have found Jesus of Nazareth, the one Moses wrote about in the Law.
Nathanael asks if anything good can come from Nazareth. He meets Jesus who tells him that there is no deceit in him because he saw him while still under a fig tree.
Upon hearing this, Nathanael believes Jesus is the Son of God. He tells him he will see great things, including ‘heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on’ the Son of Man.”
BSF Study Questions John’s Gospel: The Truth Lesson 2, Day 5: John 1:43-51
11) Jesus called Philip to follow him. Philip does and tells Nathanael, too.
12a) Skeptical. Prejudiced. Hesitant.
b) Kindly. Matter-of-factly. By telling him there is no deceit in his heart and proving who he was.
c) Jesus has come to bring heaven to humanity. Jesus is the ladder or bridge to God for humanity.
13) Unsure. Put out feelers and keep giving God the glory. When you talk about Jesus, you never know who is listening.
Conclusions BSF Study Questions John’s Gospel: The Truth Lesson 2, Day 5: John 1:43-51
I love how everyone comes to Jesus differently. Great stuff!
End Notes BSF Study Questions John’s Gospel: The Truth Lesson 2, Day 5: John 1:43-51
So simple words (Follow me); such a profound impact on a life and on others.
Nathanael was prejudiced against those from Nazareth, as we see by his response. Jesus challenged him to come and see for himself.
Bible scholars differ on if Nathanael actually prayed under a fig tree or if this common expression of the times meant he meditated on the Scriptures.
All believers can expect to see greater things when they believe in Jesus.
Jesus is the link between heaven and earth. He came to bring us to heaven. Jesus is the mediator for us to God.
Jesus calls himself The Son of Man frequently because it was a title that referred to the Messiah.
Rehoboam ruled Judah, which did evil in the eyes of the Lord. They set up for themselves high places, sacred stones, and Asherah poles to other gods. There were male shrine prostitutes, as the people engaged in detestable practices.
The King of Egypt attacked Judah and carried off all the treasures of the royal palace. There was continual warfare between Jeroboam and Rehoboam. When Rehoboam died, he was succeeded by his son, Abijah.
SUMMARY OF 2 CHRONICLES 11:5-12:16
Rehoboam fortifies Judah by building up the towns’ defenses. The Levite priests all moved to Jerusalem because of Jeroboam choosing other priests than those from their tribe. Those who were in Israel but loved God moved to Judah to sacrifice to the One, True God and supported Rehoboam.
The King of Egypt attacked Jerusalem because the people had been unfaithful to God. He captured the cities of Judah. However, the king and leaders humbled themselves, so God showed them mercy. he made them subject to the King of Egypt rather than destroy them as punishment.
BSF Study Questions People of the Promise: Kingdom Divided Lesson 2, Day 5: 1 Kings 14:21-31 and 2 Chronicles 11:5-12:16
12) Faithfulness by those moving to Judah to worship God. Yet, they abandoned God’s law.
13) The attack from Egypt made Rehoboam humble himself before the Lord. This allowed the kingdom of Judah to keep surviving rather than be destroyed.
14) Mixed. He did right in the eyes of the Lord, but then he didn’t. Probably like most of our lives, I would say.
Conclusions BSF Study Questions People of the Promise: Kingdom Divided Lesson 2, Day 5: 1 Kings 14:21-31 and 2 Chronicles 11:5-12:16
I love how God always looks for ways to lessen our consequences when we turn back to Him. He is merciful, indeed.
End Notes BSF Study Questions People of the Promise: Kingdom Divided Lesson 2, Day 5: 1 Kings 14:21-31 and 2 Chronicles 11:5-12:16
Now, Judah sins, so God becomes jealous and angry. God uses the King of Egypt to enact punishment.
However, when Rehoboam humbled himself, God showed mercy and made them servants to the King instead. He took away the treasures and the gold. This would have been the equivalent of millions of dollars today.
Note that the strength of Judah lay in their faith with God.
As Rehoboam grew in strength, he decided he didn’t need God, and he took the rest of the people with him in this sentiment, which is a horrible sin in the eyes of the Lord. Therefore, God sent Egypt to attack them.
Note that Jeroboam ended his life totally against God. Note that Rehoboam humbled himself and had a better ending to his life.
After God made the heavens and the earth but before plants had sprung and only streams had watered the earth, God made man from the dust of the ground and breathed life into his nostrils and man became living. He put the man in the garden of Eden. He made all kinds of trees for food and in the middle were the tree of life and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. A river watered this garden.
God put man in charge of the garden to work it and take care of it. He warned the man not to eat from the tree of knowledge or he would die. He brought the animals to Adam to name. When God did so, He noticed no helper was found for man; so He created woman from Adam’s rib while he was sleeping so man would not be alone.
This is why man will leave his father and mother and be united with his wife and become one flesh. They were naked and felt no shame.
BSF Study Questions Genesis: Lesson 2, Day 5: Genesis 2:4-25
Personal Day
13) God intends for marriage to be a sacred bond between one woman and one man who work together for God’s ordained purposes of taking care of the the planet and to not be lonely.
14) God cares about our well-being — enough to give us a companion so as not to be lonely. Humanity is to work for God and for the Creation God has given man.
15) Another broad question so no wrong answer here. I see my role as taking care of my family that in turn cares for God and His family (the world).
BSF Study Questions Genesis: Lesson 2, Day 5: Genesis 2:4-25
All personal day today, so I’m afraid my answers are less than par here. I do much better with Biblical ones.
End Notes BSF Study Questions Genesis: Lesson 2, Day 5: Genesis 2:4-25
And so ends the genealogy of the heavens and the earth, a history given directly by God to either Moses or Adam, recording the history of God’s 7 day creation that no human was present to witness.
FUN FACT: This is the first use of LORD (Yahweh) in the Bible. Our English word Lord comes from the Anglo-Saxon word for bread (as does our word loaf) because ancient English men of high stature would keep a continual open house, where all could come and get bread to eat. They gained the honorable title of lords, meaning “dispensers of bread.”
Man had not yet been created to care for the vegetation of the earth, and there was no rain. The thick blanket of water vapor in the outer atmosphere created on the second day of creation (Genesis 1:6-8) made for no rain. However, a system of evaporation and condensation formed heavy dew or ground-fog.
When God created man, He made him out of the most basic elements, the dust of the ground.
When the Bible uses dust in a figurative or symbolic sense, it means something of little worth, associated with lowliness and humility (Genesis 18:27; 1 Samuel 2:8; 1 Kings 16:2).
With this Divine breath, man became a living being, like other forms of animal life (the term chay nephesh is used in Genesis 1:20-21 and here). Yet only man is a living being made in the image of God (Genesis 1:26-27).
The word for breath in Hebrew is ruach is the same word for Spirit, as is the case in both ancient Greek (pneuma) and Latin (spiritus). God created man by putting His breath, His Spirit, within him.
The King James Version reads: man became a living soul. So is man a soul, or does man have a soul? This passage seems to indicate that man is a soul, while passages like 1 Thessalonians 5:23 and Hebrews 4:12 seem to indicate that man has a soul. It seems that the Scripture speaks in both ways.
The Garden of Eden
Eden was a garden specifically planted by God; it was a place God made to be a perfect habitation for Adam (and later, Eve).
Genesis chapter 2 is the history of creation from Adam’s perspective, which does not contradict the account of Genesis 1:1-2:7 .
The tree of life was to grant (or to sustain) eternal life (Genesis 3:22). God still has a tree of life available to the His people (Revelation 2:7), which is in heaven (Revelation 22:2).
The whole feel of this account gives the sense that it was written by an actual eyewitness of the rivers and surroundings. Adam probably wrote this himself.
These rivers used to exist. However, the names of these rivers can’t be used to determine where the Garden of Eden was located because the flood dramatically changed the earth’s landscape and reconfigured these rivers.
God put Adam into the most spectacular paradise the world has seen, but God put Adam there to do work. Work is something good for man and was part of Adam’s perfect existence and our purpose before the fall.
If there is never a command or never something forbidden there can then never be choice. God wants our love and obedience to Him to be the love and obedience of choice.
The Creation of Eve
For the first time, God saw something that was not good – the aloneness of man.
God gives man the responsibility (and the accountability) to be the leader in the home and gives women the responsibility and the accountability to help him.
We only see “helping” as a position of inferiority when we think like the world thinks. God considers positions of service as most important in His sight (Matthew 20:25-28).
COOL FACT: Here, Adam’s intellect had not yet suffered from the fall, so he was probably the most brilliant man who ever lived.
ANOTHER COOL FACT: This is the first surgery recorded in history. God even used a proper anesthetic on Adam.
God used Adam’s own body to create Eve to forever remind him of their essential oneness. Man and woman are more alike than they are different.
We also know the Bride of Christ comes from the wound made in the side of the second Adam, Jesus Christ.
“She was taken from under his arm that he might protect her and from next to his heart that he might love her” (Barnhouse).
Note that the subordinate relationship of wives to husbands is found before the curse, not only after it.
Man and Wife Are One Flesh
A man and wife can truly come together in a one-flesh relationship, yet they must be joined. It is a spiritual fact, but the benefits of that oneness are not gained by accident or by chance.
This passage forms the foundation for the Bible’s understanding of marriage and family. Both Jesus (Matthew 19: 5) and Paul (Ephesians 5:31) quoted it in reference to marriage.
Husband and wife become one flesh under God’s blessing. In extramarital sex, the partners become “one flesh” under God’s curse.
The fullness of what God wants to do in the one flesh relationship takes time. It has to become.
Adam understood the essential oneness in his relationship with Eve. This point is so important that it is referred to several times in the New Testament, including the great marriage passage in Ephesians 5:28-29
Being naked shows being open and exposed as a person before God and man. To be naked… and not ashamed means you have no sin, nothing to be rightly ashamed of, and nothing to hide.
After God made the heavens and the earth but before plants had sprung and only streams had watered the earth, God made man from the dust of the ground and breathed life into his nostrils and man became living. He put the man in the garden of Eden. He made all kinds of trees for food and in the middle were the tree of life and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. A river watered this garden.
