In the Lord’s Sight

Yahweh wanted to be King of His people and make a place for them. They rejected Him, and He warned them. He gave them what they wanted, and they became enslaved like everyone else. In 1 & 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles, people are faced with choices. Would they continue to reject the Lord and create their own high places of worship, or return to the Lord and His rightful place of worship? Would they do what was right IN THE LORD'S SIGHT as written in His word, or what was evil IN THE LORD'S SIGHT that seemed to work in the world? We face the same choices today...IN THE LORD'S SIGHT. #1kings #2kings #2chronicles #2023

Starter

• Have you ever built something before? How’d it go?

Pray

Lord we thank You that You see all things. Help us to trust your plan for this world now, the world that you are currently building, and the new world you will bring when You return. As we look at the Kings of Your people and your people’s response from ages past, help us to see you and see ourselves. May we strive to understand our standing in Your sight as our King. May we long for the day when we will stand with all your people In the Lord’s Sight. Lord thank you that we can rely on you and one another. Help us in our study to ask ourselves willingly, understand clearly, and answer fully the question, What are you building? Amen

Study Questions

God had made a people of His own from Abraham. He had delivered them from slavery, subdued their enemies, and had brought them into the land that he promised them. However, because of their unwillingness to listen to God, his prophets, and his judges they asked for a king. God wanted to be their King. However, they rejected The Lord as King because they wanted an earthly King and earthly benefits now like all the other people of the earth seemed to have.

They thought an earthly king could do for them and provide for them what only God could. For 430 years, God allowed his people to experience the reality of rejecting Him as King and pursuing what they wanted in an earthly King. Thankfully in our King Jesus, the gift of His word, the power of His Holy Spirit, and the encouragement of His body the church, we can be confident of who we are in The Lord’s Sight.

The northern Kingdom of Israel, who refused to heed God’s loving patient warnings and continued in the “sins of Jeroboam” for 200 years, has now been wiped out and carried off into slavery by the brutal Assyrian empire. The southern kingdom of Judah has a decision to make about how they will respond.

READ 2 Kings 20:16-21:16, Genesis 15:13-16

1. What ware all the sins of Manasseh?
   1. How do we see these same sins among God’s people and in our land today?
   2. What should we do about it?
2. Who did Manasseh do greater evil than?
   1. Why do you think God mentions the Amorites specifically?

READ Leviticus 18:24-29, Revelation 6:9-11, 20:13-21:2, 2 Peter 3:9, John 14:2

1. Why did God drive the nations from the land and give it to the Israelites?
   1. Why did God drive His people from the land?
   2. Why will God someday drive all humanity from the land (earth) and rebuild it?
2. What will happen to those that continue to practice what God said is evil? Why?
3. God has a LONG plan that we can see clearly revealed but never fully understand. Abraham was told in Genesis 15:13-15 that his offspring would be enslaved and oppressed for 400 years! 2 Peter 3:9 says, “The Lord does not delay His promise, as some understand delay.”
   1. Why does short term solution chasing and building often get God’s people into big trouble?
   2. What is God tearing down?
   3. From these passages, what is Jesus building, and how is He building it?
   4. Why are these passages essential for us to remember so that we can trust what Jesus is building and not build like Manasseh?

READ 2 Chronicles 33:10-12, Amos 4:1-3

1. Who did God speak through, and how did He speak?
   1. How is that way of speaking the same for us today?
   2. Who would not listen? Why?
2. What were Manasseh and the women of Samaria concerned about building?