Online Bible Study

Though leaders come and go, God remains. This session extols God’s unlimited power and goodness while reminding us that our faith glorifies His name. Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, along with Daniel, grew in their commitment to Yahweh despite their harsh surroundings (1:8-21). After Daniel interpreted King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream (2:31-45), these men oversaw Babylonian affairs under the names Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. When commanded to worship the king’s golden image, these faithful servants refused. Through their unwavering resolve, we learn that our God is always with us and that He glories in our faith.

As the nation of Israel lay in ruins, its homeland plundered and many people either dead or scattered, God spoke a word of hope through His prophet. Ezekiel, an exile in Babylon, received a vision in which he witnessed a valley covered with dry bones. He spoke God’s words to the bones, and as he did, the bones took on flesh and the Spirit breathed new life into the corpses. The imagery of this dramatic vision pointed to Israel’s future hope as they would experience physical and spiritual restoration under one King from the line of David. We are reminded by the vision of God’s mercy toward the undeserving, His desire for unity among His people, and His plan to bring complete restoration to all believers through Jesus Christ.

God is a God of mercy and patience, but when His word is continually rejected, judgment is certain. In the closing chapter of 2 Chronicles, Judah finally suffered the consequences of her idolatrous actions. God’s prophets had warned the kings of Judah to repent, but their compassionate appeals fell upon deaf ears. This rejection of God’s prophets and His word resulted in hardened hearts, outright rebellion, and God’s punishment. Yet as Judah ultimately discovered, God administers discipline as a means of grace in hopes of restoration. We too should understand God’s discipline as an act of compassion. For those who repent of their rebellion against God, there is a promise of mercy and future hope.

Habakkuk is a remarkable book that records the dialogue between a confused yet trusting prophet and his God. Habakkuk ministered to Judah in a time when evil thrived. The flourishing evil both surrounding and within Judah led him to ask candid questions that the suffering people of his day were asking: Why do the wicked prosper? Why does God not answer the prayers of the righteous? How can God remain strangely silent? In this session, we will see the Lord responded to Habakkuk’s questions by reminding the prophet of His power and authority over all things. The overarching truth of the book is that God’s people can live with faith and joy even during challenging and confusing times.

The Israelites had a sin problem resulting in a vicious cycle they couldn’t self-correct. The old covenant provided an external law system that allowed a righteous God to be in relationship with His unrighteous people. But the people’s sin remained a hindrance to their faithfulness and worship. Something needed to change. In this session, we will look at Jeremiah 31:31-40, which foretells of a new covenant and projects a future in which God’s righteous judgment against sinners is satisfied by His sovereign work of redemption through Jesus. Now we live by faith in Jesus for our redemption and are empowered by the Holy Spirit to obey God’s commands and live on mission for Him.

The kingdom of Judah had been led into sin and rebellion by her unfaithful kings. The book of the Law had been lost, and the people had become idol-worshipers. But young King Josiah sought to honor God, so we see him on a great adventure of destroying idols throughout the land. Yet when Josiah came face to face with the holiness of God revealed through the accidental discovery of God’s word, he repented and led his people to do the same. After Josiah’s repentance, he restored the worship of God and greatly influenced his culture. Josiah found his purpose in the worship of God through his repentance. This is the key to discovering our purpose as well. It’s through the darkness of repentance that we begin to live fully in the light.

In the previous unit, we explored why God would judge the sins of His people. In this session, we will examine how God showed mercy to us by transferring our sins to His Son, the Suffering Servant. Though people often look for a Savior who is a bold, charismatic leader, the Servant—Jesus—came to serve the least of these and ultimately redeem us by His blood. It is in living by faith in His sacrifice for us, following His example, that we will find a life of satisfaction and fulfillment.

Israel was a nation that had received many beautiful promises from God, but God had also promised that if they forgot Him and went after false gods and became like the other nations, there would be consequences. In accordance with His character and glory, God always keeps His promises, both those of blessing and those of judgment. In this session, we will see the consequences of Israel’s idolatry. Though God had been good to them and warned them about their evil ways, they still persisted in their sin. Israel had seen God’s glory through His blessings, and now they would see it in His judgment.

With great power, God delivered the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt, led them for forty years through the wilderness, and then finally enabled them to conquer the land of Canaan—filled with people mightier than themselves—so that they could live there. Though it seems most logical that people who had been the recipients of these great gifts would have endured in praise of the One who gave them, sin never follows logic. The hearts of the people turned away from their faithful God and went to pursue others gods, other nations, other created things. By His grace, God endured Israel leaning on their idols, which inevitably collapsed beneath them, and invited them to turn and run back to His loving embrace.

The covenant that God made with Abraham had the nations in mind, not just Israel (Gen. 12:3). The story of the prophet Jonah reveals the heartbeat of God for rebellious people, both those within the nation of Israel, who had received His law and promises, and also those who had not heard of Him and were engaged in idolatry and great evil. God pursues the hearts of people from all tribes, tongues, and nations, and He delights to use His people—His sinful, rebellious, yet redeemed people—to do it. In His perfect will, God uses former rebels to pursue present rebels.

In the course of Elisha’s ministry, the king of Syria, to the northeast, decided to wage war against Israel. But by God’s grace, the Lord protected Israel through Elisha’s counsel. And in response to the Syrian army’s attempt to end his counsel, he demonstrated spiritual wisdom, the effectiveness of his prayers, and kindness toward his enemies. Through Elisha’s ministry, the Lord opened eyes, protected His people, displayed extraordinary kindness, and crushed the pride of the Syrians. Though all humanity has displayed constant rebellion against God, He nevertheless has shown great mercy and grace in crushing pride that stony hearts would soften and turn to Him in repentance and faith.

In the previous session, we read of Elijah’s call to anoint Elisha as a prophet in Elijah’s place. In this session, we find Elijah fulfilling this call. Elisha takes up the prophetic mantle in the spirit of Elijah. The story begins at the end of 1 Kings 19 but continues into 2 Kings and is an important story for connecting the whole story of Kings with the rest of Scripture. Eventually, the One greater than Elijah and Elisha—Jesus—would come. Our Lord has given us a Great Commission: to make disciples of all nations in the power of the Spirit. Jesus demands immediate obedience and wholehearted allegiance. Elisha was asked to follow a prophet, but we have been called to follow the Son of God.

After his initial meeting with King Ahab, in which he declared a drought over Israel, Elijah appeared before Ahab again in 1 Kings 18. In this meeting, Elijah arranged one of the most memorable showdowns in Scripture—a firefight on Mount Carmel between Elijah and the false prophets of Baal to prove once and for all who is the real God. This boldness contrasts sharply with what we find in 1 Kings 19: the mighty Elijah melted with despair. Here God showed Himself not only to be mighty but also merciful as He strengthened His servant in some very particular ways. This portion of 1–2 Kings encourages us in knowing our God is the living God and the loving God.

During the time when the nation of Israel was divided politically into two nations, Judah and Israel, these nations were also divided spiritually, worshiping idols instead of the one true God. So the Lord raised up prophets to speak His truth to His people and to call them to repentance. One such prophet was Elijah, whose name meant “My God is Yahweh.” He spoke on behalf of God, performed miracles in God’s power, confronted rebellious kings, and challenged the people to worship only the Lord. Though he was a human being like us, he performed many great wonders and provided the template for the one who would precede the coming Messiah, to whom he also pointed through his faithful and miraculous ministry.

The death of Solomon marked the end of Israel’s Golden Age, the United Kingdom under Saul, David, and Solomon (circa 1050-930 BC). Soon after Solomon’s death, the kingdom of Israel was torn in two. Judah and part of Benjamin formed the nation of Judah in the south while the remaining tribes in the north kept the name Israel. While on the surface it might seem as though Israel divided because Solomon’s son Rehoboam rejected the advice of the elders, the seeds of the split were sown long before that during Solomon’s reign. Compromise led to sin, and sin brought consequences that were felt for generations after. But even though God’s people were unfaithful to Him, we will see that God was never unfaithful to them. God had told David that there would always be a son of David on the throne. And because of Jesus, that is a promise kept.

Having seen the beginning of Solomon’s reign and his frame of mind later in life, we will now jump back to the high point of Solomon’s reign: the construction of the Lord’s temple. We will see that in building the temple, Solomon didn’t merely construct a building. In 1 Kings 6:12-13, God vowed to fulfill His promise to David and to live among the Israelites and not abandon them. So the temple represented the establishment of Jerusalem as the center of Israel’s worship, the immediate fulfillment of God’s promise to David, and the penultimate fulfillment of God’s promise to bring the children of Abraham into the promised land. After four centuries, the portable tabernacle was finally replaced with a permanent temple.

Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived (1 Kings 3:12), wrote three Old Testament books of wisdom: Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Songs. The latter is a celebration of love in marriage, and the former has the feel of a father passing on his collected wisdom to his son. But Ecclesiastes is different; it feels like a bitter old man expressing regret over a wasted life. In this session, we will see that while Ecclesiastes seems to have more in common with existentialist philosophy than with Judeo-Christian Scripture, the book absolutely belongs in the Bible. We will see that more than any other book, Ecclesiastes helps us understand the limits of human wisdom and shows us the futility of pursuing the things of the world. 

 In this session we meet Solomon, the third and final king of Israel’s golden age as a united kingdom. In 2 Samuel 7:11-13, God promised to establish an eternal kingdom through King David and his descendants. The life of Solomon shows God making good on that promise. We will see that Solomon began his reign with the humble acknowledgment that he didn’t know how to do what he had been called on to do. So he asked God for wisdom (see Jas. 1:5). God is all-knowing; He is the source of all wisdom. The pattern for obedience we learn from Solomon is simple yet profound: We ask for wisdom; God provides wisdom; and we exercise that wisdom. When we make decisions according to God’s wisdom, the world stands in awe. 

In this final session from the life of King David, we turn our attention to one of his most famous writings: Psalm 23. This psalm is beloved for many reasons, and countless believers throughout history have been both challenged and comforted by its words. But more than that, in Psalm 23, the former shepherd boy turned king points us to a greater Shepherd and King who was to come. In this session, we will see that the Shepherd about whom David wrote would provide for His people, guide His people, and love His people. We will see that Jesus is the Good Shepherd who accomplished all of this by laying down His life so that He might provide eternal life for us. 

On our own, none of us has the power to resist sin, let alone overcome it. In this session, we will see this truth tragically displayed through the life of King David. David had made great progress as Israel’s king. He had demonstrated wisdom and kindness in his reign. However, even this great king was not immune to temptation and to sin, so he too was in need of divine mercy and forgiveness. Like David, we are subject to sin and in need of a better king, the perfect King who is without sin and who grants us mercy and forgiveness when we cry out in confession and repentance.