We have taken the advice to make the writings a bit shorter per post. So what we did yesterday was an introduction to the main subtopic which is about how Micaiah did not only say the truth but clearly revealed the lie.
For those who advise that we should just preach “our own” and leave others alone, please take this very seriously. Let’s see if that method was used by Micaiah or not.
- HE REVEALED THE FALSEHOOD (B)
After stating his vision or prophecy about the battle, this is what Micaiah said about the earlier prophecies of his 400 colleagues. Let’s get the setting:
2 Kings (Jehoshaphat and Ahab)
They want to go to war
They want to know God’s mind about it
Messengers and servants of the Kings
Some soldiers who will be involved in the war
A number of citizens
400 Prophets prophesy victory
Micaiah is invited
400 Prophets most likely still “in the spirit”
Prophet Micaiah says an opposite thing
The confusion begins to set in
Shall God contradict Himself?
Now, he goes on to speak in the presence of all these people.
‘Then Micaiah said, “Therefore hear the word of the Lord: I saw the Lord sitting on His throne, and all the host of heaven standing by, on His right hand and on His left. And the Lord said, ‘Who will persuade Ahab to go up, that he may fall at Ramoth Gilead?’ So one spoke in this manner, and another spoke in that manner. Then a spirit came forward and stood before the Lord, and said, ‘I will persuade him.’ The Lord said to him, ‘In what way?’ So he said, ‘I will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’ And the Lord said, ‘You shall persuade him, and also prevail. Go out and do so.’ Therefore look! The Lord has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these prophets of yours, and the Lord has declared disaster against you.”’ (1 Kings 22:19-23, NKJV)
Micaiah did not only see a different vision about the war. He saw how the prophets were deceived. He saw through the deception. He did not only announce his prophecy, he declared the words of the other prophets as false. “The Lord has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these prophets of yours”, Micaiah said – to the face of the king and his prophets. This was offensive but crucial. Lives were at stake. Apart from that, the prophetic mandate was not one for cowards who could not speak when it mattered the most and how it mattered the most.
Believers in our age will often be in the place of Micaiah who faced hundreds of liars. They will require the courage to state the truth. But they will also need to see through the deception and communicate it. We can and must unveil fallacies for what they are. We can and must reveal false prophecies for what they are. We can and must reveal false religions to be false, false doctrines to be false, false worldviews and false christs to be false. We must not shy from this duty whether it is towards the permanently false prophets of Baal (1 Kings 18:20-40) or the temporarily deceived prophets of God.
I hope this lesson from Prophet Micaiah coupled with other clear New Testament instructions and examples (which we have seen and/or will be seeing God willing) affirm to us that declaring a thing as false is not an offense against God even though it may offend people’s egos. Also, such confrontation of falsehood is imperative as we have explained and will explain further. There’s more in this specific lesson and more lessons to come from 1 Kings 22, God willing. God help us all. Amen.
With love,
PDS.
👈 Previous
👉 Next
👆 First