This is a story about 2 kings, 400 prophets and 1 man who stood for God. It comes from 1 Kings 22. I will not quote the chapter here, but I would encourage you to read it before you read this post. The first 39 verses of that chapter tell the story of the end of one of Israel's evil kings.
In those days, Israel was a divided kingdom, with one king ruling over Israel and the other over Judah. Ahab was the King of Israel and Jehosaphat, King of Judah. It happens that King Jehosaphat came to visit King Ahab. During this visit, verse 3 tells us tht Ahab made this comment: "Do you realize that the town of Ramoth-gilead belongs to us? And yet we’ve done nothing to recapture it from the king of Aram!" After this, he turned to Jehosaphat and said: "Will you join me in battle to recover Ramoth-gilead?" I want you to note Jehosaphat's answer in verse 4.
Jehoshaphat replied to the king of Israel, “Why, of course! You and I are as one. My troops are your troops, and my horses are your horses.” 5 Then Jehoshaphat added, “But first let’s find out what the Lord says.”
What is notable in his answer is that he gave a resounding "yes" and THEN he added, almost as an afterthought, that they should ask God for guidance. If you followed my suggestion at the beginning of this article, you already know that this was a very bad choice for Jehosaphat, as things didn't turn out well for Ahab. In this chapter, however, it is noted that Jehosaphat was a "good king" (verse 43). I think that we, as Christians, often find ourselves in the same position. Jehosaphat was hanging out with the wrong crowd and it made him lose his focus on God's word and desires. I know that many times, it is easy to find ourselves in situations where bad decisions are easy to make because we fail to pray first and THEN make our choices. It is not realistic to expect those who do not follow Christ to make Christlike choices, and if we let our guard down, we end up following them on their path rather than standing up and speaking the truth that would not only keep us out of trouble, but perhaps help them to make a better choice as well.
SO…Since Johosaphat wanted to "find out what the Lord says", Ahab said, "sure…let me call in my prophets.." (well, not exactly those words..) He called in 400 prophets and asked them "Should I go to war against Ramoth-gilead, or should I hold back?" His prophets all said (verse 6) "Yes, go right ahead! The Lord will give the king victory." Now it is important to know that verse 6 says King Ahab called in 400 prophets. It does not say they are "prophets of God". Jehosaphat at least recognized that this was the case. These "yes-men" were not speaking on behalf of God and Jeshosaphat at least wanted to be certain, so he asked this question: (Verse 7)
But Jehoshaphat asked, “Is there not also a prophet of the Lord here? We should ask him the same question.”
I want to pause the story here for just a moment and talk about the power of this question. Remember that Jehosaphat had (perhaps a little late) recognized that they should seek God's counsel before going to war. He was able to recognize that these men were not speaking for God and were, therefore, NOT providing Godly counsel. The reason I point this out is that we, too, should be careful about where we seek advice when it comes to spiritual things in our lives. As Christians, we have direct access to God almighty through the person of Jesus Christ, but it is helpful to seek the counsel of other Christians when we have important decisions. This can be a pastor, teacher or just a good friend, but you should NEVER seek God's will from someone who is not actively exercising their relationship with God.
And now, let's get back to the storyline. King Ahab answered Jehosaphat and said, "There is one more man who could consult the Lord for us, but I hate him. He never prophesies anything but trouble for me! His name is Micaiah son of Imlah" (verse 8) Reading verses 10-12, we find that the prophets continued to "preach" that God was promising a victory for the king. In verse 13, we find that the messenger has arrived at Micaiah's place and says this:
"Look, all the prophets are promising victory for the king. Be sure that you agree with them and promise success."
And Michaiah's reply is one worth focusing on. Verse 14 says,
But Micaiah replied, "As surely as the Lord lives, I will say only what the Lord tells me to say."
What God has shown me here is not easy to say. In fact, it is a truth that is likely to make some people angry. It is possible that YOU are one of those who will be angered by what I am about to say, but, just like Michaiah, I MUST SAY IT! There are a large number of churches. There are many of these churches who claim to speak for God. An unfortunate reality is that way too often, they are not doing that at all. Rather, they water down the Gospel of Jesus Christ and they pick and choose what parts of God's word is true and they either leave out or gloss over the other parts. What is MUCH WORSE than this reality is that we, as Christians, SAY NOTHING TO DEFEND GOD'S WORD! We either accept it and move on or we ignore it and do not speak up. I want you to know that our inaction in this manner is SIN! Michaiah was standing ALL ALONE speaking the truth when all 400 of the other "prophets" were simply saying what the people (the King in this case) wanted to hear. Just before his death, Paul warned Timothy (and us) about this. 2 Timothy 4:3-4 reads:
For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear. They will reject the truth and chase after myths.
He urged Timothy to continue to speak for God even in these days. In 2 Timothy 4:1-2, Paul said:
I solemnly urge you in the presence of God and Christ Jesus, who will someday judge the living and the dead when he comes to set up his Kingdom: Preach the word of God. Be prepared, whether the time is favorable or not. Patiently correct, rebuke, and encourage your people with good teaching.
My friends, Paul, Timothy and Michaiah should serve as a lesson for all of us. We do not need to allow these false teachings and false teachers to continue to speak lies in our churches. A "half truth" is a "complete lie". We need to speak out against Satan's attempts to weaken the Gospel. We need to stand for the truth. Sin is sin and it will ALWAYS be sin. Pride is sinful. Homosexuality is a sin. It is sin to steal and it is sin to lie. It is sinful to engage in premarital sex. It is sinful to put ANYTHING before God, including yourself or your spouse. We, as Children of the Living God need to stand up and speak the truth! We need to teach that these things are sin, but we need to do so in Love. This does not mean that we gloss over the sin..it means that we must speak the truth about the nature of sin, while still showing God's love toward the sinner. Jesus himself kicked over tables in the temple and called it a "den of vipers", but he came in order to suffer and die for those very same people.
At the end of this story, Ahab died in this battle, even though he attempted to hide from God's pronouncement of judgement. I will leave it to you to read that portion of the story for yourself. So, what can we learn from these 2 kings, 400 prophets and 1 man who stood for God? I think the lessons are many, but here are a few:
* We must be careful of the company we keep
* We must seek FIRST to know God's will and THEN make our decisions
* We should seek Godly counsel
* We need to be careful of those who claim to speak for God, but who clearly do NOT
* We need to always speak the truth as God speaks His word into our hearts
* We need to follow Jesus example and be willing to turn a few tables, but always LOVE
* We need to never back down from speaking the truth, even when it isn't popular
I pray that this message that God has placed on my heart will find you willing to hear it in the manner in which I tried to teach it. I love you as God loves you. I don't desire to anger you or hurt your feelings, but if you are not in a church that teaches God's word accurately, you NEED TO LEAVE and find another church. If you are in a position to do so, you need to speak the truth in that situation and allow God to use YOU to be His light in that place. Our churches need to get along across denominational lines, but we MUST NOT COMPROMISE the truth in order to do so. There are a lot of false teachers out there teaching a false gospel and if you are following these teachings, you need to be careful that you are not beguiled by Satan's lies yourself.
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