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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

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 today to honestly answer the question, What are you seeking? 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. It has been 82 years since the fall of The northern Kingdom of Israel. The southern kingdom of Judah has spent 55 years under the great evil and wickedness of Manasseh. Even though he cried out to Yahweh and repented the damage had been done and God prophesied that judgement and discipline would come from Babylon. Will the people of Judah finally ask one another, What are you seeking?

READ 2 Chronicles 34:29-33, Deuteronomy 6:4-12, Matthew 22:36-40

  1. How do Josiah’s actions prove what he was really seeking? How was that different than the kings before him?
  2. When Jesus was asked what is the greatest commandment in the word was, He answered with Deuteronomy 6 which most Jews would have had memorized.
    1. Why is this simple repeated message so hard for God’s people to seek?

READ 2 Kings 23:4-20

  1. What kind of leadership did Josiah display among the people of God?
  2. Jeraboam son of Nebat was the first Northern King of Israel. Israel and it’s kings continued in Jeraboam’s sins of golden calf idolatry, in Yahweh’s name, as well as all kinds of other idolatry. They abandoned the commands of God for what worked and made their lives easier. Josiah was the only southern king to deal properly with sins of the Jeroboam son of Nebat.
    1. What did Josiah seek to do about the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat that all the other kings were unwilling to do? Why?
    2. What might this look like for us to seek to do this as coheirs with Christ in our land and context especially among people who call themselves His people?
    3. Why won’t we do it?

READ 2 Kings 22:2, Deuteronomy 17:14-20, Matthew 6:32-33

  1. God uses the language, “not turn to the right or left”, of Josiah from the txt of a righteous king in Deuteronomy 17.
    1. How does God’s use of this term “not turn to the right or left” of Josiah but no other king send a clear message to what set Josiah apart?
    2. READ Hebrews 12:1-6 What would “not turning to the right or left” look like according to this passage?
  2. What are we to be seeking according to these passages?
    1. What VERY SPECIFIC & PRACTICAL things have been obvious for the history of God’s people and obvious of us seeking the Lord?
    2. Why don’t we do those VERY SPECIFIC & PRACTICAL obvious things?
    3. Why do we tend to get so upset when people point out those VERY SPECIFIC & PRACTICAL obvious things?
  3. What are the very natural and very simple things God uses to expose humanity (and us) to what we are really seeking first?