THE CRISIS (WITHIN AND

WITHOUT)

Lesson 2 for October 10, 2015

FROM JOSHUA TO SOLOMON

And they forsook the Lord God of their fathers, who had brought
them out of the land of Egypt; and they followed other gods from
among the gods of the people who were all around them, and they
bowed down to them; and they provoked the Lord to anger. (Judges
2:12)

CAUSES OF THE
CRISIS

GODS
SOLUTION

THE DIVIDED
NG
D advice,
O M made two
ThereforeK
theI king
asked

calves of gold, and said to the people, It is

too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Here
are your gods, O Israel, which brought you up
from the land of Egypt! (1 Kings 12:28)

After Solomon died, the 12

tribes were divided into 2
kingdoms:
1. The Northern Kingdom, Israel.
Ten tribes led by Jeroboam.
2. The Southern Kingdom, Judah.
Two tribes led by Rehoboam,
Solomons son.
Israel quickly left God behind and
began to worship calves that
Jeroboam made. No king in Israel
was faithful to God.

THE DIVIDED
But he [Amon] did evil in the sight of
the Lord,KINGDOM
as his father Manasseh had

done; for Amon sacrificed to all the

carved images which his father
Manasseh had made, and served them.
(2 Chronicles 33:22)

The kings of the

Southern Kingdom
were mostly
faithful to God.
Nevertheless,
apostasy spread
throughout the
kingdom since the
of the
The two worstdestruction
kings reigned
in
Northern
Kingdom.
that time: Manasseh
and
Amon (2
Chronicles 33: 9, 22).
God sent many prophets to avoid

CRISIS WITHOUT:
BABYLON

And now I have given all these lands into the hand of
Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, My servant; and the
beasts of the field I have also given him to serve him.
(Jeremiah 27:6)

God didnt abandon His

people during that crisis.
Nevertheless, the people
was severely disciplined so
they could come back and
enjoy full divine
communion.
God began to submit all
nations to Babylon since
they defeated Egypt in
Carchemish in 605 BC.
God used Jeremiah to tell
the people of Judah to
surrender to Babylon.
The people didnt believe

M I S TA K E S

For My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken

Me, the fountain of living waters, and hewn themselves
cisternsbroken cisterns that can hold no water. (Jeremiah 2:13)

God had promised protection

and prosperity if Israel was
faithful (Jer. 2:2-3). However,
the people abandoned God
(the fountain of living
waters) and worshipped idols
What
did cisterns).
their leaders do (Jeremiah
(broken
2:8)?
The priests did not say,
Where is the Lord?
Those who handle the law did
not know Me.
The rulers also transgressed
against Me.
The prophets prophesied by
Baal, and walked after things

AT T I T U D E S

Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem; see

now and know; and seek in her open places if you can
find a man, if there is anyone who executes judgment,
who seeks the truth, and I will pardon her. (Jeremiah 5:1)

The Jews fooled themselves. They

thought they were good people and
God would never punish them (Jer.
2:23).
There was a saying: The temple of
the Lord are these (Jer. 7:4).
Everything was alright. As long as
they worshipped God in the temple,
everything else didnt matter?
They ignored Gods warnings. They
didnt meditated on their ways. They
didnt regret their sinful thoughts.
Thats a strong warning for us. How is
your relationship with God today? Is

E.G.W. (Selected Messages, book 2, cp. 53, pg. 400)

It will be well for us to consider what is

soon to come upon the earth. This is no
time for trifling or self-seeking. If the
times in which we are living fail to
impress our minds seriously, what can
reach us? Do not the Scriptures call for a
more pure and holy work than we have
yet seen?