2 Kings: God of Israel

1 Kings 17-2 Kings 25

Pastor Ryan

Part of HIStory—A Journey through God's Story

May 25, 2025

This is the beauty of God’s design. He has given us ears to hear, minds to understand, and memories to recall. Because His goal is to call people to

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His glory and

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His promises, God will never be without a voice.

• All throughout the Old Testament thus far, God has raised up individuals who have the title of “prophet.” Men like Samuel and Nathan have served in the prophetic role thus far.
• But now, as Israel’s story begins to take a turn. Whereas the book is called “Kings,” the role of the prophets will come to the forefront. But before we get there, we have to see some of the critical changes in Israel that explain why they took on such a prominent role.

The

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Story of God’s People

• At the beginning of May, we began looking at the book of Kings. In our English Bibles, the books of 1 & 2 Kings were one book. English translators split the book into two so as to make them more

.
• As we finished that journey last week, we noted how Solomon knew wisdom, but he didn’t

it to his life. Instead, he finished his days as king over Israel having a vast kingdom built by slave labor, politically-strategic marriages, & idol worship.
• Therefore, when Solomon’s son, Rehoboam, took over, he imitated & intensified the misdeeds of his father. Since sin always separates, the nation of Israel which united under David, now

under his grandson.
• A leader named Jeroboam protested & led a

of the 10 northern tribes to split & form a new kingdom. Depending on where you are reading in the Old Testament, this northern kingdom is called Israel or Ephraim.
• Many Bible scholars believe it was a prophet that recorded the events of 1 and 2 Kings. Throughout the timeline of the book, one of the main goals is to

the kings of Israel & whether or not they did certain things:

// Did they worship the God of Israel alone?
// Did they rid Israel of idolatry?
// Were they faithful to the covenant?

• The writers catalog 20 kings from each kingdom & judge them by these criteria. In the Northern Kingdom, there are no faithful kings & in the Southern Kingdom, there are only 8 out of 20 who fulfill their calling.

God’s Voice of Truth

• While the leaders of Israel were unfaithful, remember God will not be left without a voice. Therefore, from 1 Kings 17 to 2 Kings 8, the role of two prophets come to the forefront of the narrative. Their names are

&

. They prophesied specifically to the northern kingdom & confronted King Ahab and his wife Jezebel.
• The role of prophet in Israel was not to primarily be some kind of fortune teller, but rather they represented

to the people. True prophets never spoke on their own authority, but instead delivered the message God gave them. In fact, God gave the people standards by which to judge the prophets & if their message was untrue, then they were to be put to death (Deuteronomy 18:20-22).
• Prophets were men who spoke truth in the

>> 2 Peter 1:21 | For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

Israel & Judah’s Demise

• The people of Israel have a

problem. The voice of the prophets has some effect, but ultimately the infectious nature of sin, the culture created by Israel’s elders & kings, combined with the lack of purity in worship prove deadly. The rest of 2 Kings shows the demise of Israel & Judah.
• The northern kingdom of Israel goes first, being

by the Assyrians. (2 Kings 17)
• In 2 Kings 18-25, we meet a few heroic kings like Hezekiah & Josiah who fight valiantly & institute religious reforms, but in between them we have Manasseh, who is by far the worst king that Israel ever had. He not only brings idols into Solomon’s temple to be worshipped, but he also institutes

sacrifice.
• The final chapters tell the story of the Babylonian empire invading Judah, destroying Solomon’s temple, & carrying the people, including the royal line of David off into exile.
• The final paragraph of 2 Kings zooms 40 years into this exile to tell a very odd story about Jehoiachin, a descendent of David’s line who would have been king if he were back in Jerusalem. The king of Babylon releases him from prison & invites him to eat at the royal

for the rest of his life, & the book ends.

Application >> So, where are the

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today?

// Isaiah 43:9-11 | All the nations gather together, and the peoples assemble. Who among them can declare this, and show us the former things? Let them bring their witnesses to prove them right, and let them hear and say, It is true. 10 “You are my witnesses,” declares the LORD, “and my servant whom I have chosen, that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me no god was formed, nor shall there be any after me. 11 I, I am the LORD, and besides me there is no savior.

• Prophets are those who walk in the

of the Spirit, speak the truth, & reveal the character of God to the world around them. The ultimate prophet, Jesus, manifested the Kingdom of God everywhere He went. Now, we are filled with His Spirit & His truth, take captive every area of our lives for His glory, & reveal His character in the fruit of our lives so that they people can see that He is the only Savior.
• We are the

. In this sense,

are the prophets.