{"id":35748,"date":"2025-05-04T22:00:52","date_gmt":"2025-05-05T05:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/?p=35748"},"modified":"2025-04-29T15:40:15","modified_gmt":"2025-04-29T22:40:15","slug":"2-kings-17_14-23","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/2-kings-17_14-23\/","title":{"rendered":"2 Kings in a Nutshell"},"content":{"rendered":"

2 Kings\u00a0 17:14-23 \u00a0(CLICK HERE FOR\u00a0BIBLE VERSES)<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is 2 Kings 17:14-23.\u00a0 As usual,\u00a0I encourage you to open your Bible and read the passage yourself first.\u00a0 See what you can glean with the Holy Spirit\u2019s help. Then read the GAME sharing below.\u00a0 Let’s go!<\/p>\n

2 Kings 17:14-23 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n14\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0But they would not listen and were as stiff-necked as their fathers, who did not trust in the\u00a0LORD\u00a0their God.
\n15\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0They rejected his decrees and the covenant he had made with their fathers and the warnings he had given them. They followed worthless idols and themselves became worthless. They imitated the nations around them although the\u00a0LORD\u00a0had ordered them, “Do not do as they do,” and they did the things the\u00a0LORD\u00a0had forbidden them to do.
\n16\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0They forsook all the commands of the\u00a0LORD\u00a0their God and made for themselves two idols cast in the shape of calves, and an Asherah pole. They bowed down to all the starry hosts, and they worshiped Baal.
\n17\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0They sacrificed their sons and daughters in the fire. They practiced divination and sorcery and sold themselves to do evil in the eyes of the\u00a0LORD, provoking him to anger.
\n18\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0So the\u00a0LORD\u00a0was very angry with Israel and removed them from his presence. Only the tribe of Judah was left,
\n19\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0and even Judah did not keep the commands of the\u00a0LORD\u00a0their God. They followed the practices Israel had introduced.
\n20\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Therefore the\u00a0LORD\u00a0rejected all the people of Israel; he afflicted them and gave them into the hands of plunderers, until he thrust them from his presence.
\n21\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0When he tore Israel away from the house of David, they made Jeroboam son of Nebat their king. Jeroboam enticed Israel away from following the\u00a0LORD\u00a0and caused them to commit a great sin.
\n22\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The Israelites persisted in all the sins of Jeroboam and did not turn away from them
\n23\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0until the\u00a0LORD\u00a0removed them from his presence, as he had warned through all his servants the prophets. So the people of Israel were taken from their homeland into exile in Assyria, and they are still there.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses\u00a014-23:\u00a0 These verses summarize the overall story of\u00a02\u00a0Kings, which is that despite the Lord warning His people about the consequences that would result if they kept on sinning, the Israelites both in Israel and in Judah persisted in all forms of sinning against the Lord (v14 to 19).\u00a0 So the Lord does as He had warned.\u00a0 Just as Abijah had prophesied approximately 200 years before in 1\u00a0Kings\u00a014:15-16, God thrusts the Israelites from His presence and out of the land that He had given to them (v20-23).<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?<\/p>\n

1. Just as the Israelites were ousted out of their homeland because of their persistent sin,\u00a0the price we pay for our persistent sin is to be thrust from God’s presence<\/strong>.\u00a0 As Isaiah 59:2\u00a0says, “It\u2019s your sins that have cut you off from God.\u00a0Because of your sins, he has turned away\u00a0and will not listen anymore.”\u00a0 But praise God!\u00a0\u00a0When we had no way of returning to God’s presence, He made a way for us through Jesus Christ.<\/strong>\u00a0 Through Christ’s sacrifice on the cross, our sins which used to separate us from God are forgiven, and by faith in Christ’s finished work on the cross we can enter God’s presence again.<\/p>\n

2. A common theme is\u00a02\u00a0Kings\u00a0is that\u00a0God’s Word is reliable and true<\/strong>.\u00a0\u00a0What God promises will happen will indeed happen in God’s perfect timing<\/strong>, even if it is centuries between the announcement of a prophecy and its fulfillment.<\/p>\n

Lord Jesus, when our persistent sins thrust us out of the presence of the Father, You sacrificed Yourself for us so that we could have a way back home.\u00a0 Thank You.\u00a0 In Jesus’ name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n

copyright \u00a9 2022 Justin Lim. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is 2 Kings 17:14-23.\u00a0 As usual,\u00a0I encourage you to open your Bible and read the passage yourself first.\u00a0 See what you can glean with the Holy Spirit\u2019s help. Then read the GAME sharing below.\u00a0 Let’s go!\u00a0<\/p>\n

2 Kings 17:14-23 (NIV)
\n14\u00a0\u00a0But they would not listen and were as stiff-necked as their fathers, who did not trust in the\u00a0LORD\u00a0their God.
\n15\u00a0\u00a0They rejected his decrees and the covenant he had made with their fathers and the warnings he had given them. They followed worthless idols and themselves became worthless. They imitated the nations around them although the\u00a0LORD\u00a0had ordered them, “Do not do as they do,” and they did the things the\u00a0LORD\u00a0had forbidden them to do.<\/p>\n

On verses\u00a014-23:\u00a0 These verses summarize the overall story of\u00a02\u00a0Kings, which is that despite the Lord warning His people about the consequences that would result if they kept on sinning, the Israelites both in Israel and in Judah persisted in all forms of sinning against the Lord (v14 to 19).\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":35750,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35748","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35748","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35748"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35748\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35751,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35748\/revisions\/35751"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35750"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35748"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35748"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35748"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}