Our Need of a Baby’s Intervention
2 Kings 16:1-13 -
New International Version (NIV)
1 In the
seventeenth year of Pekah son of Remaliah, Ahaz son of Jotham king of
Judah began to reign. 2 Ahaz was twenty years old when he
became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem sixteen years. Unlike David his
father, he did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord his God. 3 He
followed the ways of the kings of Israel and even sacrificed his
son in the fire, engaging in the detestable practices of the nations
the Lord had driven out
before the Israelites. 4 He offered sacrifices and burned
incense at the high places, on the hilltops and under every spreading
tree.
5 Then Rezin king of Aram and Pekah son of Remaliah king of
Israel marched up to fight against Jerusalem and besieged Ahaz, but they could
not overpower him. 6 At that time, Rezin king of Aram
recovered Elath for Aram by driving out the people of Judah. Edomites then
moved into Elath and have lived there to this day.
7 Ahaz sent messengers to say to Tiglath-Pileser king of
Assyria, “I am your servant and vassal. Come up and save me out of the
hand of the king of Aram and of the king of Israel, who are attacking
me.” 8 And Ahaz took the silver and gold found in the
temple of the Lord and
in the treasuries of the royal palace and sent it as a gift to the king of
Assyria. 9 The king of Assyria complied by attacking
Damascus and capturing it. He deported its inhabitants to Kir and put
Rezin to death.
10 Then King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath-Pileser king of
Assyria. He saw an altar in Damascus and sent to Uriah the priest a sketch
of the altar, with detailed plans for its construction. 11 So
Uriah the priest built an altar in accordance with all the plans that King Ahaz
had sent from Damascus and finished it before King Ahaz returned. 12 When
the king came back from Damascus and saw the altar, he approached it and
presented offerings on it. 13 He offered up his burnt
offering and grain offering, poured out his drink offering, and
splashed the blood of his fellowship offerings against the altar.
What did Ahaz do when he was twenty years old (verses 1 and 2)?
How was Ahaz “unlike David his father” (verse
2)?
Whose ways did Ahaz follow (verse 3)?
What did Ahaz do “at the high places, on the
hilltops and under every spreading tree”
(verse 4)?
Who teamed up to besiege Ahaz, but “could
not overpower him” (verse 5)?
Who did Ahaz have messengers say “I am your
servant and vassal” to (verse 7)?
What did Ahaz send as a gift (verse 8)?
What did Ahaz do after seeing an altar in
Damascus (verse 10)?
Who “built an altar in accordance with all
the plans” (verse 11)?
What did Ahaz do when he saw the altar (verse
12)?
In
your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?
In your opinion, how does this passage
demonstrate the world’s need for God’s intervention?
Isaiah 7:10-17 – New International Version (NIV)
10 Again the Lord spoke
to Ahaz, 11 “Ask the Lord your
God for a sign, whether in the deepest depths or in the highest heights.”
12 But Ahaz said, “I will not ask; I will not put the Lord to the test.”
13 Then Isaiah said, “Hear now, you house of David! Is it not
enough to try the patience of humans? Will you try the patience of my
God also? 14 Therefore the Lord himself will give
you a sign: The
virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him
Immanuel. 15 He will be eating curds and
honey when he knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right, 16 for
before the boy knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the
right, the land of the two kings you dread will be laid waste. 17 The Lord will bring on you and on your
people and on the house of your father a time unlike any since Ephraim broke
away from Judah—he will bring the king of Assyria.”
Who spoke to Ahaz (verse 10)?
What
was Ahaz to do (verse 11)?
In
your opinion, why would Ahaz “not put the Lord to the test” (verse 12)?
Who
did Isaiah say was to “hear now” (verse 13)?
Who was going to give Ahaz a sign (verse
14)?
What was that sign going to be (verse 14)?
What will he be doing when “he knows
enough to reject the wrong and choose the right” (verse
15)?
How
will the world have changed by that time (verse 16)?
Who
will the Lord bring on Ahaz and his people (verse 17)?
In
your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?
In
your opinion, how does this passage demonstrate the world’s need for God’s intervention?
In
your opinion, what does the offer of a sign to Ahaz, who worshiped an idol in
the temple of God in 2 Kings 16:1-13 and refused to test God in Isaiah 7:10-17,
show us about God?
Matthew
1:18-24 - New
International Version (NIV)
18 This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother
Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she
was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. 19 Because
Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose
her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.
20 But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord
appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be
afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from
the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a son, and you
are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save
his people from their sins.”
22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through
the prophet: 23 “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and
they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).
24 When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had
commanded him and took Mary home as his wife.
Whose birth is Matthew writing about (verse 18)?
Who was Mary pledged to (verse 18)?
What was found out about Mary (verse 18)?
Why was Joseph going to “divorce her quietly” (verse
19)?
Who told Joseph to “not be afraid to take Mary
home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit”
(verse 20)?
Why is the son to be named “Jesus” (verse 21)?
Why did all take place (verse 22)?
Who will conceive (verse 23)?
What does “Immanuel” mean (verse 23)?
What did Joseph do when he “woke up” (verse 24)?
In your opinion, what is the basic message of this
passage?
In your opinion, how does
this passage demonstrate the world’s need for God’s intervention?
In your opinion, what does a comparison
of Ahaz in 2 Kings 16:1-13 with Joseph in Matthew 1:18-25, both descendants of
King David, reveal about the differences in their relationships with God?
In
your opinion, how does the contrast of Ahaz, who refused to “put the Lord to
the test” even when invited to in Isaiah 7:10-17, and Joseph, a husband who
was “faithful to the law” in Matthew 1:18-24, help us understand the
different ways people will react to Immanuel today?
John
17:20-26 –
New International Version (NIV)
20 “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will
believe in me through their message, 21 that all of them
may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they
also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 I
have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are
one— 23 I in them and you in me—so that they may be
brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and
have loved them even as you have loved me.
24 “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I
am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you
loved me before the creation of the world.
25 “Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know
you, and they know that you have sent me. 26 I have made
you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that
the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”
Who is Jesus praying for (verse 20)?
Who
does Jesus want those He is praying for to be like (verse 21)?
Why
does He want those He is praying for to “also be in us” (verse 21)?
What
has Jesus given those He is praying for (verse 22)?
When
will the world know “that you sent me and have loved them even as you have
loved me” (verse 23)?
Where
does Jesus want those given to Him to be (verse 24)?
When
did the Father give Jesus glory (verse 24)?
Who
knows the “Righteous Father” (verse 25)?
Why
will Jesus make the “Righteous Father” known to the ones given to Him
(verse 26)?
In
your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?
In your opinion, how does this passage
demonstrate the world’s need for God’s intervention?
In your opinion, what does it mean to
you that the Father who, in the moment of decisive rejection by Ahaz in Isaiah
7:10-17, makes the promise to send Immanuel (God with us); who then prays in
John 17:20-26 to be one with those who believe in Him?
In your opinion, how does Joseph
accepting that Jesus is from the Holy Spirit and is the one who will “save his people from their sins” in Matthew
1:18-24 an example of how each of us should react to the message that the Father,
who sent Jesus, loves us even as He loves Jesus in John 17:20-26?
In
your opinion, what do these passages from 2 Kings, Isaiah, Matthew, and John teach
us about how the “house of David” and all the rest of us who try the
patience of God can still have hope that God will be with us?
In your
opinion, how can we, in response to the world changing
gift of the virgin’s Son, glorify God?
(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)
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