Bible Study for November 2nd, 2024
The Prophet Joel
This week’s Lesson Sermon Subject: Everlasting Punishment
Click here to play the audio as you read:
Bible Study Questions and Readings
Saturday at 10:00 am EST
I love Thy way of freedom, Lord
To serve Thee is my choice
In Thy clear light of Truth I rise
And, listening for Thy voice,
I hear Thy promise old, and new
That bids all fear to cease
My presence still shall go with thee
And I will give thee peace.
Though storm or discord cross my path
Thy power is still my stay
Though human will and woe would check
My upward soaring way
All unafraid I wait, the while
Thy angels bring release
For still Thy presence is with me
And Thou dost give me peace.
I climb, with joy, the heights of Mind
To soar o’er time and space;
I yet shall know as I am known
And see Thee face to face
Till time and space and fear are naught
My quest shall never cease
Thy presence ever goes with me
And Thou dost give me peace.
Hymn 136 — “Heavenward” by Violet Hay, from The Christian Science Hymnal, 1932 edition
Topic: Blessed are the merciful (Matthew 5:7)
Moderator: Thomas from NY
Readings: Joel 2:12-32
Questions:
- What do we know about the Prophet Joel?
- What is the reason someone would not turn to God?
A. Isaiah 55: 6 Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near:
B. Isaiah 55: 7 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
- How does one gain God’s mercy?
A. Joel 2:12 turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning:
B. Joel 2: 13 rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God: for he is gracious and merciful,
- How significant is God’s restoration?
A. Joel 1:4 That which the palmerworm hath left hath the locust eaten; and that which the locust hath left hath the cankerworm eaten; and that which the cankerworm hath left hath the caterpillar eaten.
B. Joel 2:25 I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten.
Click the following to read:
Thomas’ Notes on Joel:
Expositor’s Greek Testament
Matthew 5:7 This Beatitude states a self-acting law of the moral world. The exercise of mercy (Aeos, active pity) tends to elicit mercy from others-God and men. The chief reference may be to the mercy of God in the final awards of the kingdom, but the application need not be restricted to this. The doctrine of Christ abounds in great ethical principles of universal validity: “he that humbleth himself shall be exalted,” “to him that hath shall be given,” etc. This Beatitude suitably follows the preceding. Mercy is an element in true righteousness (Micah 6:8).
Matthew 5: 7 Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.
Micah 6:8 He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?
Webster’s 1828 Dictionary-
MERCY:
That benevolence, mildness or tenderness of heart which disposes a person to overlook injuries, or to treat an offender better than he deserves; the disposition that tempers justice, and induces an injured person to forgive trespasses and injuries, and to forbear punishment, or inflict less than law or justice will warrant. In this sense, there is perhaps no word in our language precisely synonymous with mercy That which comes nearest to it is grace. It implies benevolence, tenderness, mildness, pity or compassion, and clemency, but exercised only towards offenders. mercy is a distinguishing attribute of the Supreme Being.
The Lord is long-suffering and of great mercy forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty. Numbers 14:18.
REPENTANCE:
Sorrow for any thing done or said; the pain or grief which a person experiences in consequence of the injury or inconvenience produced by his own conduct.
In theology, the pain, regret or affliction which a person feels on account of his past conduct, because it exposes him to punishment. This sorrow proceeding merely from the fear of punishment, is called legal repentance as being excited by the terrors of legal penalties, and it may exist without an amendment of life.
Real penitence; sorrow or deep contrition for sin, as an offense and dishonor to God, a violation of his holy law, and the basest ingratitude towards a Being of infinite benevolence. This is called evangelical repentance and is accompanied and followed by amendment of life.
Repentance is a change of mind, or a conversion from sin to God.
Godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation, 2 Corinthians 7:9. Matthew 3:8.
Repentance is the relinquishment of any practice, from conviction that it has offended God.
What does God require of us? To do justly, love mercy, walk humbly with thy God. Micha 6:8
The Annunciation
In this annunciation, Mary said, “My soul doth magnify the Lord, And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. For he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden: for, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. For he that is mighty hath done to me great things; and holy is his name. And his mercy is on them that fear him from generation to generation.” (Luke 1:46-50) This annunciation by the Virgin Mary, is the greatest poem in Hebrew literature. I will say it is the greatest poem that has ever been written.
The Annunciation (King James Version)
Luke 1 : 46-55
46 And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord,
47 And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.
48 For he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden: for, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.
49 For he that is mighty hath done to me great things; and holy is his name.
50 And his mercy is on them that fear him from generation to generation.
51 He hath shewed strength with his arm; he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
52 He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree.
53 He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away.
54 He hath helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy;
55 As he spake to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his seed for ever.
Luke 1:50 – Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
And his mercy is on them that fear him, … Not with slavish fear of hell and damnation, but with reverence and godly fear; with a filial fear, with a reverential love of God, and affection for him; with that fear which springs from the goodness of God, which has that for its object, and is encouraged by it: and though this fear is not the cause and reason of the mercy of God, yet is descriptive of the persons towards whom it is exercised in various ways, and to whom it is openly shown; they hereby appearing to be the vessels of mercy, afore prepared to glory; and in whose redemption, mercy and truth have met together, and who, according to the abundant mercy of God the Father, have been begotten again; whose unrighteousnesses he has been merciful to, and whose sins he will remember no more: and it may have a particular regard to the incarnation of Christ, which in this chapter is said to be in remembrance of mercy; to be the mercy promised, and to come through the tender mercy of our God, Like 1:54. And which was a mercy Mary considered, not as peculiar to herself, but as extended to all that fear the Lord; not in that age only, but from generation to generation; to the end of the world, to God’s elect in all times and places, who should all be partakers of it, and sharers in it.
Barnes’ Notes on the Bible Joel 2:25
Through repentance all which had been lost by sin, is restored. In itself deadly sin is an irreparable evil. It deprives the soul of grace, of its hope of glory; it forfeits heaven, it merits hell. God, through Christ, restores the sinner, blots out sin, and does away with its eternal consequences. He replaces the sinner where he was before he fell. So God says by Ezekiel; “If the wicked will turn from all the sins which he hath committed and keep all My statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die; all his transgressions that he hath committed shall not be mentioned unto him” Ezekiel 18:21-22; and, “as for the wickedness of the wicked, he shall not fall thereby in the day that he turneth from his wickedness” Ezekiel 33:12. God forgives that wickedness, as though it had never been. If it had never been, man would have all the grace, which he had before his fall.
Notes from the Discussion
Violet Hay by Peter J. Hodgson
The self-righteous individual is convinced he is always right. He may even take a martyred attitude that his role in life is “to straighten everyone out.” He can never admit to being wrong or making a mistake. He can be narrow-minded in what he considers to be right, intolerant of any differing views, and even belligerent with those who hold them.
When a person has this false trait, his mind is impervious to divine ideas, for the purpose of spiritual unfoldment is to correct wrong thinking, and one who is “always right” cannot even admit that such correction is needed.
As we progress in Christian Science, our views are constantly changing. What seems so right at one time becomes obsolete as we “put off the old man.” But if we can never admit we can be wrong, the mind is closed to change of any kind. It will not let go of the old, and let the new unfold. Because mental blindness is antagonistic to progressive views, the self-righteous mind can be very argumentative, fighting change, contradicting and correcting others, putting them down. This leads to bickering, arguing, fighting, and as long as animal magnetism can keep us fighting with each other, it remains in control.
from The Law of Love by Ann Beals, page 19
Nothing needs reforming as much as other people’s habits.
— Mark Twain
…either by suffering or by Science, be convinced of the error that is to be overcome.
from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, by Mary Baker Eddy, page 240
Three cardinal points must be gained before poor humanity is regenerated and Christian Science is demonstrated: (1) A proper sense of sin; (2) repentance; (3) the understanding of good. Evil is a negation: it never started with time, and it cannot keep pace with eternity. Mortals’ false senses pass through three states and stages of human consciousness before yielding error. The deluded sense must first be shown its falsity through a knowledge of evil as evil, so-called. Without a sense of one’s oft-repeated violations of divine law, the individual may become morally blind, and this deplorable mental state is moral idiocy. The lack of seeing one’s deformed mentality, and of repentance therefor, deep, never to be repented of, is retarding, and in certain morbid instances stopping, the growth of Christian Scientists. Without a knowledge of his sins, and repentance so severe that it destroys them, no person is or can be a Christian Scientist.
Mankind thinks either too much or too little of sin. The sensitive, sorrowing saint thinks too much of it: the sordid sinner, or the so-called Christian asleep, thinks too little of sin.
from Miscellaneous Writings, by Mary Baker Eddy, pages 107 to 108
The presence of sin in consciousness hardens thought to the spiritual unfoldment that God waits to give us. Unless we recognize these common sins, they continue to harden the mind, deaden spiritual intuition, and paralyze the flow of divine ideas.
from The Law of Love by Ann Beals, page 29
The rending of the clothes was an expression of extraordinary uncontrollable emotion, chiefly of grief, of terror, or of horror.
“The Jews are bidden then to rend their hearts rather than their garments, and to set the truth of repentance in what is inward, rather than in what is outward.” But since the rending of the garments was the outward sign of very vehement grief, it was no commonplace superficial sorrow, which the prophet enjoined, but one which should pierce and rend the inmost soul, and empty it of its sins and its love for sin. : Any very grieving thing is said to cut one’s heart, to “cut him to the heart.”
A truly penitent heart is called a “broken and a contrite heart.” Such a penitent rends and “rips up by a narrow search the recesses of the heart, to discover the abominations thereof,” and pours out before God “the diseased and perilous stuff” pent up and festering there, “expels the evil thoughts lodged in it, and opens it in all things to the reception of divine grace. This rending is no other than the spiritual circumcision to which Moses exhorts. Whence of the Jews, not thus rent in heart, it is written in Jeremiah, ‘All the nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in heart’ Jeremiah 9:26. This rending then is the casting out of the sins and passions.”
And turn unto the Lord your God – God owns Himself as still their God, although they had turned and were gone from Him in sin and were alienated from Him. To Him, the true, Unchangeable God, if they returned, they would find Him still “their God.” “Return, ye backsliding children, I will heal your backsliding,” God saith by Jeremiah; “Behold, Israel answers, we come unto Thee, for Thou art the Lord our God” Jeremiah 3:22.
from Barnes’ Notes on the Whole Bible on Joel 2
The Daily Watch from 500 Watching Points, by Gilbert Carpenter
Heart. Mortal feelings, motives, affections, joys, and sorrows.
from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, by Mary Baker Eddy, page 287
The Bible states referring to God’s mercies “They are new every morning”. This has given me encouragement many times. Error argues that because of what happened yesterday or last year even, that I may not feel God’s mercy today. But this argument is error. God’s mercy is new every morning and consistent, His faithfulness is great, every day is a new opportunity start afresh with Him. So, the conviction to seek God and trust Him every day is full of promise and progress.
Forum Post from April 20, 2017