Category: 1st and 2nd Kings-BibleTrekToday
Trek through 1st and 2nd Kings
Honoring Christ’s holiness to harvest!
Scripture reading for October 14th: 2nd Kings 24-25, 2nd Chronicles 36, Psalm 126, 1st Peter 3
1st Peter 3: 13-17 “Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you: Yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil.”
Peter again returns to the theme of suffering for righteousness and the blessing that it can bring. When we suffer in honor of Christ, not reviling those causing the suffering or cursing and complaining, God is glorified and looks graciously upon us. He opens hearts and often gives those suffering an opportunity to share the reason for their hope and good attitudes. They are to be ready to do that and when that opportunity comes, use gentleness and reverence and respect. God may bring a harvest of souls from your honoring Christ, who also suffered unjustly to bring souls to glory.
Psalm 126:5-6 “Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy! He who goes out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him.”
Prayer: Father God, thank You again for encouraging Your people to honor Christ even by suffering unjustly at the hands of those who don’t know You or despise Your Word. Use us to show compassion to those despising and mocking Your Word and messengers. Help me to always be ready with an answer and to show gentleness and respect to all. May Your remedy, Jesus Christ be applied to each heart.
2nd Chronicles 36:15-16 “The Lord, the God of their fathers, sent persistently to them by His messengers, because He had compassion on His people and His dwelling place. But they kept mocking the messengers of God, despising His Words and scoffing at His prophets, until the wrath of the Lord rose against His people, until there was no remedy.”
Swallowed up by Life!
Scripture reading for September 22nd: 2nd Kings 22-23, Psalm 73, 2nd Corinthians 5
2nd Corinthians 5: 1-6 “For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked. For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened–not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. He Who has prepared us for this very thing is God, Who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.”
Paul elaborated further on his faith in the resurrection of the dead. His firm belief was that even if our mortal body is destroyed, believers have a guarantee through the Gift of the Holy Spirit that they will receive a new resurrection body that will live forever in the presence of God. It will not be temporary like the “tent” of our body. It will be a “building”, something eternal. While we wait for this promise, we may groan and suffer from persecution, aging, or attacks of Satan. But focus on what is ahead and surely coming with take us through to receive our promised inheritance! God is with us and guiding us to glory.
Psalm 73:23-24 “Nevertheless, I am continually with You; You hold my right hand. You guide me with Your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory.”
Prayer: Father God, thank You for the Gift of Your Holy Spirit to live in me and guide me with Your counsel and prepare me for glory eternal! Your plans for me are amazing and a pure gift of grace in that I deserve the opposite. I long for the day when these promises become sight and I receive the ‘building’ You have prepared for me and I am swallowed, not by the grave, but by Life eternal in Your presence!
2nd Kings 23:25 “Before him (King Josiah) there was no king like him, who turned to the Lord with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might, according to all the Law of Moses, nor did any like him arise after him.”
Far-exceeding glory!
Scripture reading for September 20th: 2nd Kings 21, 2nd Chronicles 33, Psalm 71, 2nd Corinthians 3
2nd Corinthians 3:7-12 “Now if the ministry of death, carved in letters of stone, came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at Moses’ face because of its glory, which was being brought to an end, will not the ministry of the Spirit have even more glory? For if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation, the ministry of righteousness must far exceed it in glory. Indeed, in this case, what once had glory has come to have no glory at all, because the glory that surpasses it. For if what was being brought to an end came with glory, much more will what is permanent have glory. Since we have such a hope, we are very bold. . .”
Paul explained to the believers in Corinth the amazing truths concerning the glory of the ministry of righteousness by faith in Jesus Christ. Under the old covenant, the Law, the glory on Moses’ face after meeting with God was fading away and Moses used a veil to shield the people from that fading glory. The Law could only reveal sin and bring condemnation before God. Its glory was fading because it was temporary until Christ was revealed and the New Covenant of righteousness by faith. Paul explained that this Covenant comes with far-exceeding glory that instead of fading away grows ever brighter in intensity on those following Christ by faith! Amen!
Psalm 71:14-16 “But I will hope continually and will praise You yet more and more. My mouth will tell of Your righteous acts, of Your deeds of salvation all the day, for their number is past my knowledge. With the mighty deeds of the Lord God I will come, I will remind them of Your righteousness, Yours alone.”
Prayer: Holy Father, You alone are God and Your amazing mercy to forgive us all our sins and wickedness and to give us Your gift of righteousness is worthy of all praise. Your promise of ever-increasing and far-exceeding glory to those who humbly follow Jesus stretches my mind! I vow with the psalmist, “I will praise You yet more and more!”
2nd Chronicles 33:12-13 “And when he was in distress, he entreated the favor of the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers. He prayed to Him, and God was moved by his entreaty and heard his plea and brought him back again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord was God.”
Healthy self-examination!
Scripture reading for September 8th: 2nd Kings 20, Isaiah 38-40, Psalm 68, 1st Corinthians 11
1st Corinthians 11: 27-33 “Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world. So then, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for one another–. .”
Paul gave some strict warnings to believers in the partaking together with one another of the Lord’s supper, Holy Communion. Paul taught that it was vitally important that each person examine his own heart and life and repent of any offenses or known sins before partaking. Failure to do this could result in serious consequences. Guilt concerning the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ would come upon those partaking in an ‘unworthy’ manner. Discerning the body of Christ could refer to the bread and remembrance of Christ’s body broken for us for our healing and deliverance from sin. It could also refer to failure to recognize our need to be right with others in Christ’s body, the Church. Healthy self-examination can keep us from sickness and even death from unworthy hearts before the sacrament.
Isaiah 40:31 “But they who wait for the Lord shall renew the strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.”
Prayer: Father God, help me today and each day to examine my own heart and life and discern in a worthy manner the Body of Christ, broken for me. I want to be healthy and fully live for You. You are the One God Who alone is my Salvation and Who alone has delivered me from death and renews my strength each day. Fill me with Your Holy Spirit that I might proclaim the mercy of Your Body and Blood.
Psalm 68:19-20 “Blessed be the Lord, Who daily bears us up; God is our salvation. (Selah) (Pause and think about that.) Our God is a God of salvation, and to God, the Lord, belong deliverances from death.”
Serving Christ as His ‘bondservant’!
Scripture reading for September 2nd: 2nd Chronicles 28, 2nd Kings 17, Psalm 66, 1st Corinthians 7
1st Corinthians 7:17-23 “Only let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him. This is my rule in all the churches. Was anyone at the time of his call already circumcised? Let him not seek to remove the marks of circumcision. Was anyone at the time of his call uncircumcised? Let him not seek circumcision. For neither circumcision counts for anything nor uncircumcision, but keeping the commandments of God. Each one should remain in the condition in which he was called. Were you a bondservant when called? Do not be concerned about it. (But if you can gain your freedom, avail yourself of the opportunity.) For he who was called in the Lord as a bondservant is a freedman of the Lord. Likewise he who was free when called is a bondservant of Christ. You were bought with a price, do not become bondservants of men.”
When we come to Christ Jesus and are born again, our lives are changed from slave of sin to free-man in Christ. We are redeemed from slavery and are now free to love and serve God. How do we do that if we are in ‘slavery’ when we were called? This was a real question in the culture of first century Rome. Paul explained that we should remain in our positions and await God’s directions and opportunity. We should serve our masters as unto the Lord Himself to Whom we are now freely giving ourselves as bondslaves. Bondslaves voluntarily agreed to serve their masters for life. Christ purchased us with His own blood and we freely offer our bodies and hearts and souls to serve Him now and in eternity.
Psalm 66:11-12 “You brought us into the net; You laid a crushing burden on our backs; You let men ride over our heads; we went through fire and through water; yet You have brought us out into a place of abundance.”
Prayer: Father God, You have brought me and Your people to a place of abundance through the grace offered at the cost of Your Son’s sacrifice. Thank You for this simple instruction to continue serving You as a bondslave in whatever position or lot my life was when I heard and responded to Your call. Help me to humbly serve You each day, through the burdens, trials, water and fires of life. Blessed be Your Name!
2nd Kings 17:37-39 “And the statutes and the rules and the law and the commandment that He wrote for you, you shall always be careful to do. You shall not fear other gods, but you shall fear the Lord your God, and He will deliver you out of the hand of all your enemies. However, they would not listen, but they did according to their former manner.”
Jesus offended the religious leaders
Scripture reading for August 15th: 2nd Kings 15-16, Matthew 21
Matthew 21:12-16 “And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and He overturned the tables of the money-changers and seats of those who sold pigeons. He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer, but you make it a den of robbers.” And the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple and He healed them. But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that He did and the children crying out in the temple, “Hosanna to the son of David!” they were indignant, and they said to Him, “Do You hear what these are saying?” And Jesus said to them, “Yes, have you never read, ‘Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies You have prepared praise’?”
After His triumphal entry into Jerusalem for His last Passover week, Jesus went to the temple and found corruption and idolatry there. Jesus drove out the money-changers and those selling sacrifices decreeing what Scripture had decreed: God’s House would be a ‘House of Prayer’. Those in charge of the temple were indignant! Their source of income was being disrupted by someone outside their ranks! Jesus then did many miracles of healing in the temple but these religious leaders were offended and sought to eliminate Jesus. Hardened hearts and offense go hand in hand and close the door to Heaven’s message of grace!
Matthew 21:43-44 “Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits. And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.”
Prayer: Father God, Thank You for making Your House a House of prayer for all nations. Thank You for cleansing my heart from idolatry, and making me a person of prayer for all people. I desire to see fruit from Your indwelling me and my abiding in You. Use me to fulfill Your plans and purposes in my time and generation to pass the torch of faith to those still to come.
2nd Kings 16:2-5 “Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. And he did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord his God, as his father David had done, but he walked in the way of the kings of Israel. He even burned his son as an offering, according to the despicable practices of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel. And he sacrificed and made offerings on the high places and the hills and under every green tree.”
The sign of the prophet Jonah!
Scripture reading for August 2nd: 2nd Kings 13-14; 2nd Chronicles 25; Psalm 53; Matthew 12
Matthew 12: 38-42 “Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered Him, saying, “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from You.” But He answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here. The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here.”
Jesus Christ had preached repentance to all He was sent to. He had demonstrated that He was the Son of God by signs and wonders and miracles. Still, the religious leaders of the Jews demanded more signs before they would respond. Jesus answered them by telling them the greatest “sign” that He was the Son of God–His resurrection from the grave after three days and nights. He explained that this coming event was patterned after an earlier event in the life of the prophet Jonah. Jonah was in rebellion to God’s instructions to preach to the people of Nineveh. God appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah after he was thrown overboard. Jonah spent three days and nights in that fish before he was vomited out on Nineveh’s doorstep. He preached and they repented in a great revival.
Psalm 53:1-2 “The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” they are corrupt, doing abominable iniquity; there is none who does good. God looks down from heaven on the children of man to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God.”
Prayer: Father God, thank You for the preaching ministry of your prophets, apostles and of Jesus Christ, Himself. Forgive us for being like Jonah and running away from Your call to be witnesses of Your grace to those who are lost and mocking You. Help us to believe the greatest sign You have given us, the resurrection of Jesus Christ after three days. Empower me to preach this Good News to the lost today.
2nd Chronicles 25:14-16 “After Amaziah came from striking down the Edomites, he brought the gods of the men of Seir and set them up as his gods and worshiped them, making offerings to them. Therefore the Lord was angry with Amaziah and sent to him a prophet, who said to him, “Why have you sought the gods of a people who did not deliver their own people from your hand?” But as he was speaking, the king said to him, “Have we made you a royal counselor? Stop! . .”
Compassion leads to action!
Scripture reading for July 28th: 2nd Chronicles 24, 2nd Kings 12, Psalm 50, Matthew 9
Matthew 9: 35-38 “And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction. When He saw the crowds, He had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.””
Jesus Christ was a man of deep compassion for lost and hurting people. He came to reveal the Father’s heart of love and mercy through teaching the Gospel of the kingdom of heaven and allowing the Father’s compassion to flow through Him in acts of healing and deliverance from evil spirits. He saw people helpless because of sin and Satan’s grip and harassed like sheep without a protecting shepherd. After healing and deliverance of all kinds of sickness and oppression, Jesus instructed His disciples to pray to God, Lord of the harvest, to send out laborers into the harvest field. This prayer was just prior to sending them out as part of the answer to their own asking!
Psalm 50:14-15 “Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving and perform your vows to the Most High, and call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me.”
Prayer: Father God, thank You for Your great compassion for helpless and hurting people. I thank You for Your compassion for me and Your mercy through the sacrifice of Your Son Jesus Christ, healing my sinful heart and delivering me from darkness and Satan’s harassment. Lord, send out laborers into Your harvest field to share the Good News and to show Your compassion through healing and deliverance. Send me!
2nd Chronicles 24:13 “So those who were engaged in the work labored, and the repairing went forward in their hands, and they restored the house of God to its proper condition and strengthened it.”
Save us! Lord!
Scripture reading for July 27th: 2nd Chronicles 22-23, 2nd Kings 11, Psalm 131, Matthew 8
Matthew 8: 23-27 “And when He got into the boat, His disciples followed Him. And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but He was asleep. And they went and woke Him, saying, “Save us, Lord; we are perishing.” And He said to them “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?” Then He rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. And the men marveled, saying, “What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey Him?”
Matthew record many of Jesus’ miracles of healing and casting out demons. In this passage, Jesus is asleep in the boat with His disciples as they travel across the Sea of Galilee. A great storm arose and buffeted the boat, causing great fear that all would drown and they would perish! They decided it was time to wake Jesus up! As a typical Rabbi, always working with His disciples, Jesus asks them a question: “Why are you afraid?” After the rebuke for their lack of faith, the definition of fear, Jesus took simple action by rebuking the wind and waves and there was a great calm on the sea and a great searching in the disciples hearts. They now had a question: “What sort of man is this?”
Psalm 131:2-3 “But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me. O Israel, hope in the Lord from this time forth and forevermore.”
Prayer: Father God, I have often cried out like the disciples in times of distress and uncertainty. Like the newly weaned child, I think I still need my mother’s milk. You calm me with Your Words of assurance and rebuke and the storm subsides! As I get older, I still ponder what kind of Son of Man that would love me and give me His peace and eternal hope!
2nd Kings 11:12 “Then he brought out the king’s son and put the crown on him and gave him the testimony. And they proclaimed him king and anointed him, and clapped their hands and said, “Long live the king!”” (I say “Amen King Jesus!”)
Judging others with specks!
Scripture reading for July 26th: 2nd Kings 9-10, Psalm 49, Matthew 7l
Matthew 7: 1-5 “Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured back to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.”
Jesus had a good sense of humor. In this passage from the sermon on the mount, Jesus used specks of dirt in an individual eye and contrasted that with logs in the one who judges eyes! Humans have the propensity to see others faults and be blind to their own. Jesus warned against judging others harshly or at all. The measure we use to judge others will be used on us by God! We must all go to God to have the log taken out of our own eyes first in order to be able to help others with their problems. Hypocrisy is not acceptable in God’s kingdom of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.
Psalm 49:7-8 “Truly no man can ransom another, or give to God the price of his life, for the ransom of their life is costly and can never suffice, that he should live on forever and never see the pit.
Prayer: Father God, forgive me for judging others based on my own feelings or prejudice against their attitudes or actions. By the Holy Spirit, teach me righteousness, peace, and joy as my practice of daily living that will be pleasing to You and allow You to use my life to show others Your great love. Thank You for the mercy and grace that came when You sent Jesus Christ as the ransom for my sins.
Psalm 49:15 “But God will ransom my soul from the power of Sheol, for He will receive me.”