Chapter 1
God Identified Himself by Name

1.	How did you come to know God? Did that process start in your mind? Explain.

2.	If a friend of yours denies that there is a God, could you prove your friend is wrong?

3.	If you can’t prove that God exists, then why do you believe in him?

4.	In what different ways did God make himself known to Abraham’s descendants?

5.	Why would God do something for Israel that he hadn’t done for any other nation?

6.	In what way does God speak to people today?

7.	Why do some people not hear God’s voice when he speaks?

8.	How has your faith changed since you were a little child? How has it not changed?

Elohim, “God”
1.	What is God telling you about himself when he identifies himself as Elohim?

2.	What does the creation account tell you about God?

3.	What adjectives would you use to describe God?
4.	When in your life did you underestimate the power of God?

5.	What difference does it make in your life today that God is still Elohim?

6.	Respond to the person who says to you, “If God is as all-knowing and all-powerful and as good as you say he is, he would punish evildoers.”

7.	Would you say more things in this world are going badly than are going well?

8.	What evidence do you see that God cares about the world he created?

9.	Why aren’t you terrified by the wickedness of the devil and all his terrorist agents?

Adonai, “the Lord”
1.	In what way does the message announced by this name humble us?

2.	How does this name help you define what sin is? 

3.	Why does God hate sin?

4.	According to Isaiah 43:21, for what purpose were we created? How do you do that?

Yahweh, “the LORD”
1.	Which two characteristics of God does this name emphasize? 

2.	Why do we call this God’s covenant name?

3.	What does Yahweh mean when he calls himself a jealous God (Exodus 20:5)?

4.	As you read the Old Testament, why must you distinguish between God as Lord and God as LORD?

El Shaddai, “God Almighty”
1.	What comfort can we take from knowing that our God is also El Shaddai?

2.	Describe the most awesome of El Shaddai’s almighty acts. 

Immanuel, “God with us”
1.	In what way is Jesus the same as us? In what way is Jesus totally different from us?

2.	Why do some people find it hard to believe that the Bethlehem baby is God?

3.	Is it really correct to say that God, the King of the universe, had to be burped and had to have his diapers changed? Why aren’t you embarrassed at that thought?

4.	Read Hebrews 2:14-18 and 4:14-16. When life is difficult or when you’re hurting, why is it reassuring for you to know that Jesus is a human being?

5.	In order to be our Savior, why did Jesus have to be a real human being? (2 answers)

6.	In order to be our Savior, why did Jesus have to be God?

Chapter 2
Living under God’s Covenant

1.	What were the differences between the religion of Old Testament Israel and the religion of its heathen neighbors?

2.	How did those heathen neighbors look upon their gods?

3.	How did their gods supposedly look upon human beings?

4.	By contrast, how does the Old Testament describe the relationship between God and his human creatures?

5.	What is a covenant?

God’s covenant with Abraham
1.	What was the covenant God made when he called Abraham?

2.	What was the essence of that covenant?

3.	Why did God obligate himself by making a covenant with the descendants of Abraham? 

4.	What evidence of God’s mercy do you see in that covenant?

5.	Why did God establish circumcision as a sign of his covenant with Abraham?

6.	If you had been an Israelite, what difference would this covenant have made to you personally?

7.	During the time of the Old Testament, did God limit his love only to ancient Israel?

8.	What good news is in the Old Testament for non-Jews like us?

9.	What good news is on the first page of the New Testament for non-Jews like us?

10.	What good news did God’s covenant with Abraham have for his descendants when they fell into sin? when it seemed God had forgotten about his promise (Genesis 22:2; 37:28)?

11.	Why do we call the covenant with Abraham an unconditional covenant?

The Sinai Covenant
1.	Why did God make a second covenant with Israel four hundred years later?

2.	As they marched toward the Promised Land, what message did the Israelites’ behavior send to God?

3.	How did the Sinai covenant serve as a necessary discipline for some stubborn children?

4.	How did it serve as a teaching tool for some immature children?

5.	What were the two conditions God attached to the Sinai covenant? 

6.	Did the Sinai covenant replace the Abraham covenant for the people of Israel?

7.	What three purposes did the Sinai covenant serve for them? 

8.	Some people consider the message announced at Mount Sinai to be the heart of all religion. Why is it important to remember that God’s law is only a preliminary message?

9.	How can you know for sure how God feels about you?

10.	When you feel insecure, unwanted, and unneeded, what does it mean for you to live under God’s covenant of grace?

11.	How is your sense of worth affected by knowing God has promised: “You’re special”?

Chapter 3
A Special Homeland

1.	Much of the Middle East is sandy desert. In the middle of that region, however, is a horseshoe-shaped area extending from the Persian Gulf in the east to the Mediterranean in the west. Since this region, watered by two large river systems, can support agriculture, what name have historians given to it?

2.	Palestine lies at the southwest end of this area. If you had been an Israelite farmer, why would you probably not have picked this land as your home?

The land given to Abraham’s descendents
1.	The ancient homeland of Abraham’s descendants was very small. Compare its size to a US state.

2.	In spite of the country’s small size, however, why was its location so strategic? 
(2 answers)

3.	Why do you think the Lord chose to place his people there?

4.	Israel’s homeland was located along the major trade routes of that day. What difference did that make in the lives of the Israelites?

5.	In time of war, those trade routes became invasion corridors. What difference did that make in the lives of the Israelites?

The natural regions of Palestine
1.	List the five natural regions of Palestine, from west to east.

2.	Which four bodies of water form the east and west borders of Palestine?

3.	When the Israelites entered their new homeland, how was the way they farmed completely different from farming in Egypt?

4.	How did Palestine’s rainfall pattern regulate its planting and growing seasons?

5.	In their new homeland, when did a farmer’s fieldwork begin?

6.	Distinguish between what the prophets called the early rains and the latter rains.

7.	What may be one reason why God gave his people a homeland with this unusual rainfall pattern?

8.	How did God sometimes alter this rainfall pattern to discipline his forgetful or backsliding people (Amos 4:7,8)?

Israel’s neighbors
1.	What two factors made the Promised Land less than a farmer’s dream?

2.	Why did God settle his people in a land with next-door neighbors who hated them?

Land use
1.	How did the Sabbath year fit into God’s training program for his people?

2.	In what way is God’s promise to provide us with daily bread similar to the promise he made to the Israelites? (Compare Leviticus 26:3,4 with Matthew 6:33.)

3.	Which of God’s earthly blessings that you have enjoyed since you got up this morning might you be taking for granted?

4.	Which of God’s spiritual blessings that you enjoy might easily be taken for granted?

5.	How might we guard against taking God’s precious gifts for granted?

Chapter 4
A Table Set by God

How God prepared his people for the Promised Land
1.	After the Israelites left Egypt, how did a gracious God respond to their complaint that they had nothing to eat (Exodus 16:12,13)?

2.	With his instructions about gathering manna day by day (Exodus 16:14,16), what was God teaching his people about the way he provides for us?

3.	What did Jesus say about this in his Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 6:31-34)?

4.	How does the Lord’s Prayer teach the same truth (Luke 11:3)?

Food in the Promised Land
1.	Which three staple crops dominated the agriculture and the diet of the Israelites? 

2.	What were their fruit crops?

3.	What do you think of the foods they ate?

4.	What does the food they ate say about their diet?

5.	What do the foods we eat say about our diets?

6.	Why do you suppose God gave his chosen people a modest standard of living (Deuteronomy 8:3)?

7.	If God asked you to live that way, how might you react?

8.	Why is God so concerned about our attitudes toward food, clothing, and shelter?

9.	Satan tempts us to eat and drink without thinking just as horses and donkeys do. God gives us earthly blessings so that we will realize that he is loving and kind. He hopes that the earthly provision he gives us will remind us of a much greater gift he has for us. What is that?

10.	What dangers go with enjoying a higher standard of living?

Dietary restrictions
1.	God wanted the Israelites to remember that their world did not revolve around them but around him. How was their culture a reminder of that?

2.	What purpose did the laws about clean and unclean foods serve?

3.	If God commanded those food laws, why don’t we obey them (Colossians 2:16,17)?

Attitudes regarding God’s providence
1.	Read Numbers 11:4-6. Describe the Israelites’ attitude toward the food God provided for them as they marched toward the Promised Land. 

2.	What does their request say about their priorities in life?

3.	How might we make the same mistake that the Israelites made?

4.	God wants us to learn that if he doesn’t give us what we want, we can want what he gives us. What role does gratitude play in your life?

5.	What promise has God given you about providing for your daily needs (Matthew 6:25-27)?

6.	What is the goal of your life for the 24-hour period we call today (1 Corinthians 10:31)?

Chapter 5
Living under Law and Gospel

1.	Where do most people get their ideas of what God is like?

2.	If their ideas of God turn out to be wrong, what are the consequences?

Two big truths of Scripture
1.	How did the descendants of Abraham find out what God is really like?

2.	Wherever God’s dealings with people are recorded in the Old Testament, we recognize two big emotions in the heart of God. Which are they? 

3.	What terms do we use to identify these two big truths of Scripture? 

God’s law
1.	In what way was the law God announced from Mount Sinai similar to other law codes that were followed by ancient civilizations?

2.	Name several ways in which God’s law was different from pagan law codes. 

3.	How do you answer a person who says, “Majority opinion determines good and evil”?

4.	What does God demand by announcing, “No other gods”?

5.	Describe a form of idolatry that may be much more insidious than kneeling in front of an image.

6.	Would it be correct to say that the basic sin of Adam and Eve was disobedience?

7.	How were they tempted to “play God”?

8.	Maybe when you were a child you thought: “If only God hadn’t put that one tree in the garden, he could’ve avoided so much trouble.” Why did God put the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the garden?

9.	What did Luther mean by calling that tree Adam’s and Eve’s “church, altar, and pulpit”?

10.	How might you and I be tempted to “play God”?

Sin and divine justice
1.	In what way is God’s idea of sin different from the idea most people have?

2.	Complete the sentence: God is more interested in our _________ than he is in our actions.

3.	What Hebrew word pictures are used in the Old Testament to describe sin? 
(3 answers)

4.	How does Adam’s and Eve’s rebellion affect your life today?

5.	Agree or disagree: When a baby is born, he or she is neither bad nor good; the child chooses between the two as he or she grows up. 

6.	How does the Bible describe the nature with which we were brought into the world?

7.	Do we still have that nature?

8.	What evidence of the rebellion of Adam and Eve will you see on tonight’s evening news?

9.	Some people have difficulty understanding God’s anger over sin because they confuse it with the anger of a human being. What is the difference?

10.	Read Psalm 5:5, and supply the missing verb in this sentence: God _____ sinners.

11.	Read John 3:16 and Romans 5:8, and supply the missing verb in this sentence: God _____ sinners.

12.	Can both of those statements be true? How can hatred and love coexist in God?

God’s solution
1.	In addition to his holy law, what other message did God announce to the descendants of Abraham?

2.	What was the problem that faced God as he set out to rescue a sinful world?

3.	If God cannot ignore our sin and if he cannot lower his standards, how is it possible for him to forgive sin?

4.	Would you want a God who changes the rules and makes exceptions? Why not?

5.	What was the solution God found to the problem that faced him?

The substitution principle
1.	Illustrate the principle of substitution from the Old Testament.

2.	How did Christ, God’s substitute, satisfy God’s demand for perfect obedience?

3.	How did Christ, God’s substitute, meet God’s threat to punish disobedience?

Only one solution
1.	Jesus Christ has told us, “Anybody who wants to know the truth about God will have to come to me to get it.” In view of that, what’s ahead for anybody who looks for God apart from Jesus Christ? 

2.	How does the benefit of Christ’s work become ours?

3.	Martin Luther said, “We can climb to God the Father only on the shoulders of Jesus Christ.” What significance do you see for yourself in that statement?

4.	What difference in your life does God’s verdict: “I pronounce you innocent!” make for you today?

Chapter 6
God’s Path of Worship

Right reasons to worship God
1.	Why did God consider it necessary to teach the Israelites how to worship him?

2.	What would be wrong reasons for a person to worship God?

3.	What are the proper reasons to worship God?

4.	What similarities, if any, do you see between your worship and the worship practices of Cain and Abel?

5.	In what way is your worship different from theirs?

6.	What new feature did the Sethites introduce into the worship of God (Genesis 4:26)?

7.	Characterize the worship of Noah’s family after they left the ark. (2 answers) 

Pagan worship practices
1.	What heathen religion did the Israelites encounter when they entered their new homeland?

2.	Why is Canaanite worship described as a “fertility cult”?

3.	Can you think of a couple reasons why the Israelites might have been tempted to practice Baal worship?

4.	How did God make it clear that he did not allow Baal worship?

A place to worship
1.	Saint Paul tells us that God treated the Israelites like immature children (Galatians 4). How does this become clear in the worship instructions he gave them?

2.	Can you think of a reason why God insisted that they worship him at one central site?

3.	Name a couple reasons why the tabernacle was ideally suited to be the place of worship for the descendants of Abraham for almost five hundred years.

4.	Of which two great events, both in the future, was the tabernacle a foreshadow?

Tabernacle furnishings
1.	Which important truth, at the very heart of Christianity, did the altar represent?

2.	Explain how each piece of furniture in the tabernacle expressed a sinner’s relationship with God.

The temple
1.	What similarities were there between the tabernacle and Solomon’s temple as a place of worship? 

2.	In what way, however, were the two completely dissimilar?

3.	Since God had chosen the temple as his earthly dwelling place, why did he permit the Babylonians to plunder and destroy it?

4.	When the Jewish exiles returned home after 70 years in exile, what types of problems accompanied the rebuilding of their temple?

Israel’s worship leaders
1.	By instituting the priesthood, what important truth was God teaching his people?

2.	What surprising truth did Saint Peter teach the early Jewish Christians (1 Peter 2:9)?

3.	How did Martin Luther’s teaching of the priesthood conflict with the Roman Catholic Church’s teaching about it?

4.	What does it mean for you that God has called you and equipped you to be a priest?

5.	What specific act of priesthood do you think God has equipped you personally to carry out for him today?

Israel’s worship service
1.	In what sense did an Israelite worshiper participate less actively in the worship service than we do in our worship?

2.	In what sense did an Israelite worshiper participate more fully in worship than we do?
3.	Why did God ask the Israelites to kill and sacrifice perfectly good lambs and goats?

4.	In what ways were the four blood sacrifices similar?

5.	What is the significance of the fact that all four were blood sacrifices?

The burnt offering
1.	What made the burnt offering different from the other three blood sacrifices?

2.	When an Israelite brought a burnt offering, what was he saying to God?

The fellowship offering
1.	When an Israelite brought a fellowship offering, what was he telling God? What was God saying to him?

2.	Where in our New Testament worship is this same truth emphasized?

The sin offering
1.	What was the specific purpose of the sin offering?

2.	Why was the ceremonial use of blood especially prominent in this offering?

3.	What symbolism do you see in the ceremony involving the scapegoat?

The guilt offering
1.	When an Israelite brought a guilt offering, what was its special emphasis?

2.	Why did God command four different blood sacrifices?

3.	Read Isaiah 1:13. Since God had commanded the Israelites to bring animal sacrifices, why did he tell the people of Isaiah’s time to stop bringing them?

4.	By designing the path of worship for his Old Testament people, how was God equipping them to resist the falsehood of idolatry?

Israel’s worship and ours
1.	In what way was Israel’s worship completely different from our Christian worship?

2.	In what way was Israel’s worship remarkably similar to ours?

3.	How is a Christian to know which of the Old Testament worship regulations are still binding on us today?

4.	Is it possible for you to participate in a worship service and not see Christ? (Have you ever attended church, and God was there, and you were there, but you never met?)

5.	Luther said: “A heart which believes that God has been reconciled to us on account of Christ will produce a cheerful countenance and happy eyes. It will loosen the tongue for praising God.” How does your worship affect your voice? your face? your hands?

6.	What might you do to improve your own worship life?

Chapter 7
Leaders Appointed by God

1.	The heavenly Father knew that different kinds of dangers threatened his chosen people in their new homeland. Name several of these.

2.	What did God do to safeguard his people against these dangers?

The office of priest
1.	Why did God institute the office of priest? 

2.	How did an Israelite get to be a priest?

3.	Why did the priests need to restore the fellowship between God and his people?

4.	How did they go about doing that? 

5.	Why does the Bible call Jesus our Priest?

6.	Contrast the work of an Old Testament priest and the priestly work of Christ.

The office of prophet
1.	What was the role of a prophet in Old Testament Israel?

2.	Why was a prophet’s work necessary?

3.	Sometimes the prophets predicted future events. How could they know what was going to happen in the future?

4.	What did the prophets prophesy about the coming Savior?

5.	Who was the foremost of all the Old Testament prophets? Why did he outrank the rest?

6.	What important task did God give to Moses? 

7.	Why would it be incorrect to say that Moses’ most important message was the Ten Commandments?

8.	Why is the message of God’s law not good news?

9.	What other message did God give Moses to bring to his people?

10.	After Moses died, how did God speak to his people?

11.	Name the prophet who wrote down some of the most beautiful promises about the Savior.

12.	Give examples of some of those promises.

13.	Why did God use his prophets to speak to Israel’s unbelieving neighbors?

14.	What different sorts of messages did God have for them?

15.	During the four hundred years between the Old Testament and the New, God no longer sent prophets as his spokesmen. During that time how did the Jews hear God’s voice?

The office of king
1.	What were God’s requirements for being the king of Israel?

2.	What job description did God attach to the office of the king?

3.	How did God evaluate Israel’s kings?

4.	Why is David the best known and most respected of all the kings of Israel?

5.	Make a list of things David did during his reign that still have an impact on our lives.

6.	Why does Hezekiah deserve his reputation as an outstanding king?

Jesus—our Prophet, Priest, and King
1.	Which priestly work of Jesus has he completed? Which is ongoing?

2.	What does Christ do as our Prophet?

3.	What does Christ do as our King? What is his goal? 

4.	How might the presence of evil in this world make you question God’s control of the universe?

5.	What evidence do you see in your own life that Christ has accomplished his work as your Priest? as your Prophet? as your King?

Chapter 8
Custodians of God’s Word

1.	What important double role did God have in mind for Abraham’s descendants?

2.	How can you be sure that God is never interested in playing hide-and-seek with people?

3.	What will God answer to unbelievers who try to defend themselves on judgment day by saying, “How was I supposed to know?”

4.	List several different ways in which God speaks to people.

5.	How do you try to listen to God’s voice on a regular basis?

6.	Newspapers, magazines, radio, TV, and the Internet all scream for our attention. How do you solve the problem of making sure you listen to the Savior’s voice?

God’s written Word
1.	Why did God decide to put his Word in writing?

2.	To whom alone did he entrust his written Word at first (Psalm 147:19,20)?

3.	What is the miracle of inspiration? 

4.	How does that miracle influence our attitude toward the Bible?

5.	Who is the heart of the Old Testament? Explain your answer.

The Old Testament
1.	What do we know about how the Old Testament books were preserved after God’s servants wrote them down?

2.	How did Moses instruct the Israelites to preserve the original copies of the Bible books according to Deuteronomy 32:24-26? Deuteronomy 31:11-13? Deuteronomy 17:18-20?

3.	What important role did the scribes have in preserving the Word of God?

4.	What is a scroll?

Different kinds of writings
1.	Into which three categories did the Jewish community divide the Old Testament?

2.	What evidence do we have from the Old Testament that God’s believing children took their assignment to be custodians of God’s Word seriously?

3.	Which was the second section of the Old Testament that was added to the growing collection of sacred books?

4.	What evidence do we have from the Old Testament that the later prophets knew what the earlier prophets had written?

5.	Characterize the third category of the Old Testament books.

6.	What role did good King Hezekiah play in preserving the books of the Old Testament?

7.	The Old Testament is a collection of several dozen books containing different kinds of literature. Describe some of the different kinds.

8.	What unifies this miscellaneous collection into a single document?

Custodians of God’s Word
1.	Did the Jewish people accomplish the purpose of God’s plan to have them be the recipients and then the custodians of his Word? Explain your answer.

2.	Agree or disagree: If there’s anybody who has no business being anti-Semitic, it’s a Christian. Explain your answer.

3.	What does it mean to be a custodian of God’s Word today?

Chapter 9
A Preview of the Promised Savior

1.	Although God made a number of promises to Abraham, why do we speak of “the promise”?

2.	According to the Bible, how was Abraham saved?

3.	Why do we believe that we are saved the same way Abraham was?

4.	What problem confronted Abraham’s descendants during the many years they waited for Christ to come to earth?

5.	How did God solve that problem for them and for us?

6.	What were some of the Messiah’s “fingerprints” that would help God’s people identify the Savior?

The Messiah’s person
1.	Which two natures did God predict would be joined in the promised Messiah?

2.	Why was it necessary for the world’s Savior to be a human being? (2 answers)

3.	List several Old Testament prophecies that made it clear that the promised Messiah would be a human being.

4.	Are you surprised at the list of Jesus’ ancestors in Matthew chapter 1? Why or why not?

5.	Why do you think God chose to record the names of this family tree in the Bible?

6.	Why is this genealogy appropriate for the Savior-King?

7.	Why was it necessary for the world’s Savior to be God?

8.	List several Old Testament prophecies which declare that the Messiah would truly be God.

9.	Which American church bodies deny that Jesus is God? Which world religions do the same?

Messiah’s Work
1.	In the Old Testament, what was the work God gave the kings of his people to do?

2.	What unusual kind of king did the Old Testament prophets predict the Messiah would be?

3.	Why did God want his people to know this, besides helping them to identify him?

4.	As Christ clearly foresaw the nightmare of suffering that lay ahead of him, what was his attitude?

5.	In which two ways did Christ become our substitute?

6.	Explain the terms active obedience and passive obedience.

7.	What difference does this teaching make for your life today? 

8.	What difference will it make for you on judgment day?

9.	In what way does all of the Old Testament point to Christ?

10.	Agree or disagree: The age of miracles is past.

11.	List a couple miracles you have experienced since you woke up this morning.

12.	If Christ walked the streets of your city today, as he once walked the streets of Nazareth and Jerusalem, could you pick him out of a crowd? Explain.

Chapter 10 
Busy Lives

1.	How does your heavenly Father provide for your long-term needs? 

2.	How does he provide for your day-to-day needs?

Making a living in Israel
1.	Describe the life of a nomad in ancient Palestine.

2.	How did the Israelites’ lifestyle change when they entered their new homeland?

3.	What difference did they soon discover between farming in Egypt and farming in Palestine?

4.	In our country we can expect rain in any of the 12 months of the year. How does Palestine’s rainfall pattern differ?

5.	How did God use that to train his people?

6.	By commanding them to observe the sabbatical year, what truth was God teaching his people?

7.	Next to farming, what was the most common occupation in ancient Israel?

8.	What was it about that work that made it difficult?

9.	What were other occupations that kept Israelites busy?

10.	Describe a day in the life of an ancient Israeli homemaker.

11.	What adjectives would you use to characterize day-to-day life in ancient Israel?

Attitudes regarding work
1.	How might we let Satan spoil God’s gift of honest, hard work?

2.	What negative attitudes toward work have you observed—in yourself and in others?

3.	Why are those attitudes dangerous for a child of God? What do they tell God?

4.	What has Jesus Christ done to change you and your outlook on life?

5.	What has the Holy Spirit done to bring this about?

6.	Is the fact that we must work a result of the fall into sin?

7.	Was it before or after Adam and Eve fell into sin that God commanded them to do the work involved in caring for his creation?

8.	According to 1 Corinthians 10:31, what is the specific Christian attitude toward work?

9.	Evaluate this statement: My goal in life is to be a doctor.

10.	What’s the difference between making a good living and having a good life?

11.	What is the connection between spiritual well-being and personal happiness?

12.	According to Titus 2:9, what special incentive do Christians have for doing their very best work?

13.	Even though you’re a Christian, why is it is easy for you to give less than your best?

14.	Why don’t you have to find the source of your strength in your own abilities (Philippians 4:13)?

Chapter 11
Disciplined by God

1.	Recall a time in your childhood when your parents disciplined you. Looking back on it today, how did you benefit from that discipline?

2.	Why does God find it necessary to discipline his children?

3.	Which two messages does every child need to hear from his or her parents?

4.	How can we learn to appreciate God’s “tough love” instead of rebelling against it?

God’s discipline over Israel
1.	What was God’s primary goal for his Old Testament children?

2.	When he in judgment cut down thousands who had worshiped the golden calf, what message did God send his people?

3.	Why did God discipline the Israelite tribes who failed to drive out the Canaanite occupants of the Promised Land? 

4.	In what way was God’s discipline appropriate for their sin? 

5.	Why did his chosen nation need such harsh discipline?

6.	In the history of Israel, what two different results of God’s discipline is seen?

Moses
1.	At the burning bush, God called Moses to lead Israel out of slavery. Why did Moses object?

2.	If you had been God, would you have given the job to Moses?

3.	In what way have you duplicated Moses’ attitude?

4.	List some of the steps God took to discipline Moses.

5.	What evidence can you see in your own life that God isn’t through with you yet?

6.	What does Hebrews 11:24-28 tell you about how Moses accomplished what he did?

7.	What assurance for your life do you find in Philippians 1:6?

Elijah
1.	What had the Lord done to equip Elijah for his difficult ministry?

2.	What response of Elijah prompted God to discipline him?

3.	List some of the steps God took to discipline Elijah.

4.	What spectacular lesson did God teach him at Mount Sinai?

5.	What does God want to teach us through this?
6.	What evidence does the New Testament supply that God’s discipline of Moses and Elijah accomplished its purpose?

7.	Describe the “devil’s disease” with which we were born.

8.	When God disciplines us, is it always because of our bad behavior? Illustrate your answer from Scripture.

9.	What did Luther mean when he called God a hidden God?

10.	What three truths, which God taught Job, do we need to learn about how he runs his world?

11.	Where do you see God’s discipline in your life today?

12.	How has God’s discipline shaped your faith life?

Chapter 12
A Song on Their Lips

1.	Which are the only two groups of God’s creatures who can put words and music together?

2.	How might this lovely gift of God be abused? (See Genesis 4:23,24 for an example.)

3.	Give several examples of Old Testament children of God who used this special gift to God’s glory.

The Psalms
1.	Illustrate from Psalm 104 how the Psalms can teach us the language of praise.

2.	How do the Psalms help us to see Christ?

3.	What do the messianic psalms tell us about the person of the Savior? about the work of the Savior? about forgiveness?

4.	How did the book of Psalms help to open Luther’s eyes?

5.	What painful spiritual journey did David sing about in Psalms 32 and 51?

6.	What stressful situations served as backgrounds for some of the psalms?

7.	What did Luther mean when he wrote: “It’s better to be sorrowful than overconfident”?

8.	What familiar song do you hear when you read Psalm 34?

9.	It’s easy to sing when the skies are bright and life is good, but what help can the Psalms offer when life is hard and you feel alone and God seems far away? or when God seems to be doing nothing to put an end to the evil in our world?

Your song
Since you got up this morning, what reasons have you found to praise God?

Chapter 13
A Future Life in a Better World

1.	Why are people willing to pay high fees for doctors’ services? 

2.	Why are professional entertainers and athletes valued so highly?

3.	Why is death such an unpopular topic of conversation?

4.	What answer to death does God offer us?

5.	How would you answer someone who questions whether there really is life after death?

Hope for an eternal future
1.	Name several ways God created the hope of a future life in his Old Testament people.

2.	Why is it significant that God calls himself the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob?

3.	Sometimes an Old Testament person who died is described as being “gathered to his people.” Another person is described as “resting with his fathers.” What is the difference?

4.	What was God announcing to his Old Testament people by the way in which Enoch and Elijah left this world?

5.	Use Isaiah 26:19 to answer someone who says, “The Old Testament does not teach the resurrection of the body and life everlasting.” 

6.	What information does the Old Testament give us about heaven?

7.	What does the Old Testament say about hell? React to Thomas Jefferson’s statement: “A God who would condemn people to hell would be a monster and not a God.”

8.	What evidence do you see in the Old Testament that God’s people believed his promise about another life in a better world?

9.	What does it mean to you that God has “set eternity” in our hearts (Ecclesiastes 3:11)?

10.	Agree or disagree: You will never be completely happy on earth because you were not made for this earth.

Eternal life in and with Christ
1.	Do you expect to live with Christ forever? Explain the reason for your answer.

2.	How do many people believe that a person makes it to heaven? What’s on their lists? What’s on your list?

3.	Why can you be sure that you will live forever with God?

4.	When, on judgment day, God asks you “Have you obeyed my law perfectly?” what will you answer?

5.	What connection does the apostle Paul make between Christ’s resurrection and ours?

6.	What difference does it make to you today to hear God promise, “Your body will last forever”? 

7.	What difference does God’s promise “Your pain will not last forever” make for you right now?

8.	God calls you his heir (Galatians 4:7). How does being his heir affect your view of the future?

9.	What do you want heaven to be like?

Christ’s judgment
1.	If you knew that Christ would return at seven o’clock this evening to judge the world, what changes would you make in your schedule for today?

2.	Why is it a good idea for us to lower our expectations of the happiness we hope to find here on earth? Give an example of lowering our expectations of earthly happiness.

3.	What facets of our present lives will be unimportant on judgment day?

4.	In what ways might we sometimes treat this world as though it were our permanent home?

5.	Why is it important for us to learn to pray Moses’ prayer from Psalm 90:12?