Welcome to Calvary United Methodist Church’s Online ‘Easter Week’ Bible Study “Promises” Click to Proceed

“As we’ve listened to many ‘Voices From The Past’ over the last several weeks, let us finish this study by looking to the ‘Future’.”

Consider these ‘issues’ that may come to be expectations for many of us about the future… Health Age Financial Security Growing Children Aging Parents

On a sheet of paper write some words or phrases that indicate your ‘fears’ about the future! On another sheet of paper write some words or phrases that indicate your ‘hopes’ about the future! “Are your ‘fears’ directly related to your ‘hopes”? “Which of them seem ‘stronger’ to you?

Let’s share our First set of ‘Voices’ Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego Daniel 3: 13-30 RSV

Summary of Daniel 3:1-12 King Nebuchadnezzar had made a golden statue whose height was sixty cubits and whose width was six cubits; he set it up to display on the plain of Dura in Babylon. Anyone who refused to worship his statue would be cast into a blazing fire! Certain Chaldeans came forward and told the King that there were certain Jews, [Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego], whom he had appointed over the affairs of the province of Babylon, who paid him no heed. They didn’t serve his gods and they didn’t worship the golden statue that he had set up.

Gold Silver Brass Iron Clay Babylon Empire Medo-Persia Empire Grecian Empire Roman Empire Modern Day 90 feet 9 feet

Daniel 13:13-30 13 Then Nebuchadnezzar in furious rage commanded that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego be brought in; so they brought those men before the king. 14 Nebuchadnezzar said to them, ‘Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods and you do not worship the golden statue that I have set up? 15 Now if you are ready when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, drum, and entire musical ensemble to fall down and worship the statue that I have made, well and good. But if you do not worship, you shall immediately be thrown into a furnace of blazing fire, and who is the god that will deliver you out of my hands?’ 16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered the king, ‘O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to present a defence to you in this matter. 17 If our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire and out of your hand, O king, let him deliver us. 18 But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not

19 Then Nebuchadnezzar was so filled with rage against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego that his face was distorted. He ordered the furnace to be heated up seven times more than was customary, 20 and ordered some of the strongest guards in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and to throw them into the furnace of blazing fire. 21 So the men were bound, still wearing their tunics, their trousers, their hats, and their other garments, and they were thrown into the furnace of blazing fire. 22 Because the king’s command was urgent and the furnace was so overheated, the raging flames killed the men who lifted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. 23 But the three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell down, bound, into the furnace of blazing fire.

24 Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished and rose up quickly 24 Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished and rose up quickly. He said to his counsellors, ‘Was it not three men that we threw bound into the fire?’ They answered the king, ‘True, O king.’ 25 He replied, ‘But I see four men unbound, walking in the middle of the fire, and they are not hurt; and the fourth has the appearance of a god.’ 26 Nebuchadnezzar then approached the door of the furnace of blazing fire and said, ‘Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out! Come here!’ So Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came out from the fire. 27 And the satraps, the prefects, the governors, and the king’s counsellors gathered together and saw that the fire had not had any power over the bodies of those men; the hair of their heads was not singed, their tunics were not harmed, and not even the smell of fire came from them.

28 Nebuchadnezzar said, ‘Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent his angel and delivered his servants who trusted in him. They disobeyed the king’s command and yielded up their bodies rather than serve and worship any god except their own God. 29 Therefore I make a decree: Any people, nation, or language that utters blasphemy against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego shall be torn limb from limb, and their houses laid in ruins; for there is no other god who is able to deliver in this way.’ 30 Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the province of Babylon.

What ‘effect’ did ‘trusting God’ have on the outcome of this story? “Let’s compare the following verses…” Daniel 3:17 17 If our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire and out of your hand, O king, let him deliver us. Luke 22:42 42 ‘Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me; yet, not my will but yours be done.’ When might we need to think about these statements in our lives?

Reubens- ‘The Three Crosses’ DISMAS The ‘Penitent’ Thief

Luke 23:39-43 39 One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, ‘Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!’ 40 But the other rebuked him, saying, ‘Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? 41 And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.’ 42 Then he said, ‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.’ 43 Jesus replied, ‘Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.’

Ask yourself: “What does Dismas, the penitent, add to the narrative of the crucifixion, & …to the role of Jesus’ promises in faith?”

Finally, our last group of voices… The UNNAMED FAITHFUL

Hebrews 11:32-40 32 And what more should I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets— 33 who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, 34 quenched raging fire, escaped the edge of the sword, won strength out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. 35 Women received their dead by resurrection. Others were tortured, refusing to accept release, in order to obtain a better resurrection. 36 Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment.

37 They were stoned to death, they were sawn in two, they were killed by the sword; they went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, persecuted, tormented— 38 of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground. 39 Yet all these, though they were commended for their faith, did not receive what was promised, 40 since God had provided something better so that they would not, without us, be made perfect.

Thinking about the stories in Hebrews, How can we, today, help ‘make perfect’ those who have gone before us?”

MAKING CONNECTIONS Let’s add a third sheet to our list… “The Promises of God” …and add some of your own words… “From your first two sheets, can you identify with… How ‘trust’ in the Promises of God sheet, addresses the words you’ve posted?”

So ends our journey among the voices that teach us the spiritually that is alive and well in the Bible’s margins- and in the margins of our own times and our own lives! For a weekly meditation: Loving God, whose reign will come in the fullness Of time; Keep my trust and hope intact as I wait for you By serving you.

Thanks for Visiting Our Online Bible Studies! We hope you have enjoyed the time together with others on your Faith Journey. We encourage all to reflect back on the questions and readings presented over this past Lent season. Please visit the Bible Study link from time-to-time to see future schedules … Calvary United Methodist Church