Tag: Bible studies for women

Previous Lessons: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

Read Ezekiel 17-19

Questions to Consider

1. Review your notes from last week’s lesson and be reminded of the things that lead into, and set the stage for, this week’s passage.

2. Chapter 17

Read 17:1-10- Think back through what we’ve read in Ezekiel so far. What are some of the various methods God has used to get His message across to His people? Which method is He using now? (17:2) What does God say is His purpose in using parables? Have you noticed as we’ve been studying Ezekiel that God usually explains what He meant by the parable He told, or the diorama or drama Ezekiel enacted?

Read 17:11-15- Explain in your own words what the parable meant. (Don’t forget to use your cross-references.) What should “the royal offspring” (17:13) of Jerusalem (use your cross-references to find out who this was) have done instead of making a covenant with the king of Babylon or attempting to secure military help from Egypt?

Read 17:16-21- What will be the consequences for “the royal offspring” (17:13) for breaking his oath and covenant with the king of Babylon? Look carefully at 19-20. Who does God say he has actually sinned against by breaking the oath and covenant? Why? (Hint: Think about swearing an oath, even in a court of law today. Who do you swear by?) Compare what God says here to David’s assessment of his own sin in Psalm 51.

Explain why all sin and wrongdoing is, at its foundation, rebellion against God.

Read 17:22-24- What does this passage point ahead to? Explore the tree motif.

3. Read chapter 18.

Explain 18:4 in your own words.

In 18:5-18, God presents two different father/son scenarios. Briefly summarize the character of the father, the character of the son, and the consequences for the actions of each in the following sections:

Father              Son             Consequences (father)       Consequences (son)

5-13:

14-18

In 18:21-32, explain the heart of God toward sinners. Does God delight or take joy in exercising His wrath against sinners? What is His posture toward sinners? How does this passage explain repentance and God’s forgiveness of sin? How does it showcase God’s mercy toward sinners?

Chapter 18 talks a great deal about people’s wicked or righteous behavior. Is this chapter teaching works righteousness (that we can earn right standing with God by our good behavior or obeying His laws)? How do you know – based on specific Scriptures and the fact that the Bible doesn’t contradict itself – that it is not? What is the spiritual motivation for the righteous behavior described in chapter 18?

Is 18:24 saying that a person can lose her salvation? How do you know – based on specific Scriptures and the fact that the Bible doesn’t contradict itself – that it is not?

How does 18:21-32 show that God’s way of reckoning sin and righteousness is just and Israel’s way is unjust?

Imagine you’re one of the few faithful Israelites during this time. You love the Lord and do your best to obey Him. How would chapter 18 comfort you and reassure you as you keep hearing these messages of God’s impending wrath?

4. Read chapter 19.

Read through this chapter examining all of the cross-references. Who are the people alluded to in this chapter? What are the historical events alluded to in this chapter? Summarize in your own words what this chapter is referring to.

What is a lamentation, and why would it have been appropriate for the people to lament over the events of this chapter?

Have you ever lamented over your sin? Explain why, for Christians, lament should always lead to repentance and gratitude for God’s forgiveness.

Homework

• Add 17:21,24 to your “And you/they shall know that I am the Lord” list. Write down who will know that He is the Lord, what will cause them to know He is the Lord, and why God wants them to know He is the Lord.

• How would you use the principles in chapter 18 to explain to a friend why things like generational curses, reparations for slavery, systemic racism, “I’m a Christian because my parents are faithful church members,” etc., are unbiblical? Why is it important to God that we know that He holds every person responsible to Him individually for our sin, and that He applies Christ’s righteousness to us individually when we repent and place our faith in Him? How does this reflect God’s attribute of justice?

Suggested Memory Verse

Previous Lessons: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

Read Ezekiel 15-16

Questions to Consider

1. Review your notes from last week’s lesson and be reminded of the things that lead into, and set the stage for, this week’s passage. Does it seem like any time elapsed between the end of chapter 14 and the beginning of chapter 15? Why or why not?

2. Read chapter 15.

Have you ever seen grape vine “wood”? Take a look at some of these photos. How does God describe this kind of wood in chapter 15? Think about the things people would have used wood for. Why was vine wood useless for these things? We might say that vine wood looks like wood, but doesn’t “act” like wood, and is therefore good for nothing. Explain why this is an appropriate comparison to the people of Jerusalem.

Compare these “good for nothing” Israelites who look like God’s people but don’t act like God’s people to Paul’s description of people in the last days. Focus especially on the phrase in verse 5: “having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power.”

What did it mean for the Israelites to “act faithlessly”? (8) What does it mean for God’s people today to act faithlessly?

3. Read chapter 16.

In chapter 16, God tells a metaphorical story of Israel’s history with Him. Take a moment to think back through the timeline of Israel’s history, recalling the major events along the way, or examine the Old Testament timeline in your Bible (or Google “Old Testament timeline” and find a good one online). And don’t forget to use your cross-references!

16:1-5- When was “the day of [Israel’s] birth”? What historical event or time period is God talking about here? How does God describe Israel at her “birth”? Does Israel really have anything going for her at this point?

16:6-7- How did God care for Israel when she was a newly established people? How does this demonstrate God’s compassion, care, and provision for His people? Explain how the blood represents both birth and death in this passage.

How does 16:1-7 point ahead to sinners today being being “born again“? Or to “Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live,“? Or to “even when we were dead in our trespasses, [God] made us alive together with Christ”?

16:8-14- What historical time period is God referring to here? What kind of relationship does “spread the corner of my garment over you and covered your nakedness; I made my vow to you” (16:8) signify? Which covenant is verse 8 referring to, and what did that covenant basically say? Who is performing all of the action in this section? What is Israel doing for God here? What effect did God’s blessing and care have on Israel’s reputation to the rest of the world? (16:14) Why?

Explain how the marriage-like covenant in 16:8-14 points ahead to the covenant of grace God makes with sinners when He saves us. How does it foreshadow Christ as the bridegroom and the church as the bride? What do, “I bathed you with water” and “anointed you” (16:9) point to?

16:15-22- If the previous passage centered around a marriage covenant motif, what is the motif of this section? What sin does God consider spiritual “adultery”? In what ways did Israel forsake and betray the Lord? If Israel had remembered “the days of [her] youth” (16:22) and how God had graciously rescued and blessed her, how might her idolatrous behavior have been different?

Following the motif of this passage, describe the kind of sin Christians can fall into when we “forget the days of [our] youth” (16:22) when Christ first saved us.  In what ways might we – as individual Christians, or as a local church – “trust in our beauty” (16:15)? How might we sacrifice “baby Christians” to be devoured or slaughter those weaker in the faith and deliver them up as an offering to idols? (16:20-21)

16:23-29- Describe the depths of evil and idolatry to which Israel sank. Why does God mention pagan nations like Egypt, Assyria, and the Philistines in this passage? What did it say about Israel (God’s people) that the daughters of the Philistines (a pagan nation) were “were ashamed of [their] lewd behavior” (16:27)? What did God mean that Israel was “not satisfied” with her evil and idolatry? (16:28-29)

Have you ever seen a professing Christian sink to a level of evil so debasing it made heathens blush? Was that person ever genuinely saved?

16:30-34- Explain how Israel’s whoring after idols was so abominable that they couldn’t even rightly be compared to a prostitute. Going back to the marriage covenant motif, describe the level of hatred and contempt a wife (Israel) would have to have for her husband (God) in order to treat him in such a way.

Are there any ways in which you see evangelical “churches” whoring themselves out to idols?

16:35-43- Some people are uncomfortable thinking of God as wrathful, but considering this passage and all the previous passages we’ve read about Israel’s sin, did God have a right to be “enraged” (16:43)? Did Israel deserve God’s wrath after all He had done for her and the blackness of the evil she had committed against Him? How was God eventually going to execute judgement on Israel?

16:44-52- Review this passage through the lens of 16:23-29. How did Israel’s sin affect her reputation in the eyes of the pagan nations around her?

How does it affect the reputation of Christ and the church when a high profile Christian is publicly exposed in his sin?

16:53-58- How is God using shame as a tool in this passage? Explain “how the mighty have fallen!” in 16:56-57.

16:59-63- What is God’s overall goal for all this wrath, shame, and punishment? List and explain each of His objectives in this overall goal:

60a-

60b-

61a-

62a-

62b-

63a-

63b-

63c-

 What is the “everlasting covenant” God makes with those who, by faith, are truly His children?

Homework

• Add 15:7, 16:62 to your “And you/they shall know that I am the Lord” list. Write down who will know that He is the Lord, what will cause them to know He is the Lord, and why God wants them to know He is the Lord.

• Take a moment to “remember the days of your youth,” when Christ first saved you. How did Christ bring you from death to life, cleanse you, and bless you “in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places”? For the next week, take a few minutes every day to reflect on the gospel and what God has done for you in Christ. (Some people call this “preaching the gospel to yourself”.) How might “remembering the days of your youth” in this way help you to walk in humility and gratitude to God instead of straying off into sin and idolatry?

Suggested Memory Verse

Previous Lessons: 1, 2, 3, 4

Read Ezekiel 8-10

Questions to Consider

1. Review your notes from last week’s lesson and be reminded of the things that lead into, and set the stage for, this week’s passage.

2. Read chapter 8.

Where did the Spirit take Ezekiel in his vision (what city/which building)? (8:3) In 8:4 and its cross-references, where was the glory of God resting (“there” and “valley”)?

What is the general, overall point God is making to Ezekiel in chapter 8? (8:6,9) As you make your way through chapter 8, fill in the chart below listing each of the idols that had been brought into the temple, who was worshiping it, and any thoughts on how that idol represented opposition to God, why the people would have wanted to worship it, why they brought it into the temple, how it was being worshiped, etc.

     Name/description of Idol       Worshipers       Thoughts/observations

8:3,5

8:10

8:14

8:16

What does it mean that God is a “jealous” (8:3.5) God? (Use your cross-references.) How is God’s jealousy for His name and His people an extension of and a demonstration of His holiness and His love for His people?

What is syncretism? Would you characterize what’s happening in chapter 8 as syncretism? Do you see a similar syncretism happening today in your own church or in the church at large? How is idolatry being brought into the church at large today? What are some elders (8:11- pastors, leaders, etc.) worshiping? Women (8:14)? Men (8:16)?

Sit quietly for a moment to ponder and feel the weight of the depth and blackness of the sin Israel was committing by worshiping false gods, and by doing so in God’s house where His glory rested.

3. Read chapter 9.

In your own words, give a brief “bullet point” summary of what happens in chapter 9.

What is God’s attitude and position toward Israel in this chapter? What consequence does He impose on them for their idolatry? (9:1) Compare and contrast where God’s glory is in 8:4 with 9:3. Why the change?

Why does “judgment begin at the household of God” with the elders? (9:6)

Compare chapter 9 with the Passover during the final plague in Egypt. Note the connections of idolatry, the mark, and the separation between those who received the judgment and those who did not. Now think ahead to the “final Passover,” the second coming of Christ. In the first Passover and Ezekiel 9 (9:4), who receives/displays the “mark”? Who will receive the “mark” prior to Jesus’ return? What role does idolatry play in the “final Passover”? How will Jesus separate those with the “mark” from those without it? Does anyone ever get put into the wrong group accidentally? How does this help you to feel more secure in your salvation and your eternity?

4. Read chapter 10.

What do the “burning coals” (10:2, 6-7) represent, as they are scattered across the city?

What happened to the glory of the Lord in this chapter? (10:4,18) Why was this so significant? Try to put yourself in both Ezekiel’s, and an average Israelite’s shoes at that time. What would God’s glory departing from the temple have meant to you? Could “God’s glory” depart from a church today if that church is practicing syncretism/idolatry? How?

Compare chapter 10 with your notes on the “whirling wheels” from lesson 2 (link above). Does chapter 10 help to clarify chapter 1? How? How does this demonstrate that “Scripture interprets Scripture”?

How would you summarize the main idea of chapters 8-10 in 2-3 sentences?

In what ways could chapters 8-10 apply to the church today? Since the Lord does not change, is He still just as wrathful over the desecration of His house and His people today as He was in Ezekiel’s time? How was that wrath for these sins expressed for regenerate believers who repent of these sins? How will God’s wrath over these sins be expressed toward the unrepentant? How does reading about God’s wrath toward idolatry in His house impact your view of the practices of your own church? Explain how this can be a spiritually healthy “fear of God”.

Homework

• Do you know what a theophany or Christophany is? Compare 8:2-3 with Daniel 10:5-6 and Revelation 1:13-15. What similarities and differences do you see?

• Why was it necessary for God to show Ezekiel all of these things in chapters 8-10 rather than just telling him in words? Has God ever demonstrated the truth of His Word to you by “showing you”? Perhaps you’ve gotten a little inkling of what it means that He is our Father as you parent your own child. Maybe He has shown you that you can trust Him as He carried you through a difficult situation. Write about your experience and the biblical truths it demonstrated to you. Think about the concepts of “seeing is believing” and “believing is seeing” and how they relate to what you learned from your experience.

Suggested Memory Verse