Baehr, Kingsley: Micaiah ~ 1 Kings 22

We're going to be introducing you this morning to three people, three very interesting people. One of them, a, an obvious sinner, a man who is noted throughout scripture for his wickedness. His name is Ahab. He was a king. He had risen in the ranks, as it were, of the people of his day, and he had top position. He was top dog in his neighborhood. Ahab, king of Israel. Then we're going to be meeting Jehoshaphat. Now, Jehoshaphat was a believer in God, but he was rather a weak believer. He hadn't progressed very far in his belief in the God of Israel. And we're going to be looking at him. And then the third person that we're going to be looking at is a man named Micaiah. And you know, I think Micaiah is one of the most delightful figures that we find on the pages of scripture. If there was ever a man who had the testimony that he was living beside still waters. As our sister was singing to us this morning, it was this man, Micaiah. Nothing bothered him. Nothing at all. And you know why? Because he was a strong, mature, well-established believer in God. And you know, that is the lot of people who have had long experience with the God of heaven. Nothing can disturb them. They live above the circumstances, and they are victorious over every situation of life. I hope that that can be your testimony this morning. And if it isn't, I hope that this morning you might start the journey toward that kind of a life by receiving the Lord Jesus Christ as your savior. Let's look at this story together. And they continued three years without war between Syria and Israel. And it came to pass in the third year that Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, came down to the king of Israel. And the king of Israel said unto his servants, Know ye that Ramoth in Gilead is ours, and we are still, and we take it not out of the hand of the king of Syria. And he said unto Jehoshaphat, Wilt thou go with me to battle to Ramoth Gilead? And Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, I am as thou art, my people as thy people, and my horses as thy horses. Ramoth in Gilead was a thorn in the side of Ahab. It belonged to a part of the territory which he considered his own, but he didn't own it. The Syrians owned it, and he wanted it. And so he decides that I'm going to go take it. And right from these few verses that we have read here at the beginning, we find Ahab beginning to devise plans. Now, I don't know whether you remember one of those verses in Psalm thirty three that was read this morning. It says, the Lord confoundeth the devices of the people. If you are planning your life without asking God's advice, rest assured that even know, even though now it might seem like you're king of the mountain, in God's good time, your plans are going to be confounded. They're going to be frustrated, and they're going to come to a bad end. Jihas- uh, Ahab is making plans. Jehoshaphat has come up to Samaria for a state visit. He is interested in making an alliance with Ahab. And you know, this demonstrates the fact that Jehoshaphat, even though he was a believer in God, as you're going to see, he was a very weak believer in God. He felt, apparently he didn't know his God too well. He didn't know that if you had God as your ally, you don't need anybody else, particularly Ahabs. And he felt that it was good policy to, uh, make friends with as many people as he could, no matter what kind of people they were. And so he's up here for this purpose. And as soon as he arrives, Ahab gets him involved in one of his plans, a godless plan, a plan that has no place for God. And Jehoshaphat, verse five, said unto the king of Israel, inquire, I pray thee, at the word of the Lord. In other words, Jehoshaphat says, I'll go with you in this project of yours, but I kind of like to know what the Lord thinks about it. Ahab wasn't at all interested in what the Lord thinks about it. But Jehoshaphat had enough belief in the God of heaven that he wanted to know what God thought. But you see, Ahab is a clever man, and he's provided for this contingency. He knows his neighbor. He knows Jehoshaphat. He knows that Jehoshaphat believes in God. And so he's already planned ahead, just in case Jehoshaphat should ask, well, let's ask God about this. So Ahab says, fine, let's do that. Verse eight, and the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, excuse me, verse six, then the king of Israel gathered the prophets together, about four hundred men. Very impressive. You know, the world is impressed by numbers. It's impressed by quantity. Quantity of fame, quantity of riches, quantity of this, quantity of that, quantity of friends. And Ahab has four hundred prophets. Four hundred of them. And he said unto them, Shall I go unto Ramoth-Gilead to battle, or shall I not? And they said, Go up, for the Lord shall deliver it into the hand of the king. If you go back to Deuteronomy, you find out that the test of a true prophet is whether his prophecy comes true. All right? So here these four hundred prophets have made a prophecy now. Go up, attack Ramoth in Gilead, and the Lord is going to deliver it into your hands. We'll see by the time we get to the end of the story whether these were prophets of the Lord or whether they were false prophets. I personally think that they were in Ahab's pay. Now, the Bible doesn't say that. That's entirely a conjecture on my own, but the, but Ahab seems to have them in his hip pocket, as it were. They always say exactly what Ahab wants them to say, as we go through this story. So he must have been paying them or bribing them somehow or another. Sometimes the devices of wicked men are very expensive. They cost a lot. Well, Well, ap- apparently something now about the prophecy of these four hundred prophets didn't ring quite true, because Jehoshaphat isn't satisfied with four hundred prophets. Because in verse seven we read that Jehoshaphat says, is there not here a prophet of the Lord besides that we could inquire of him? If you've got four hundred prophets, Ahab, yeah, I'm sure you can dig up another one. four hundred and one. Is there another one here, Ahab, with whom we can inquire of the Lord? It's sort of like consulting another doctor, calling in another doctor when we're not quite satisfied with the diagnosis of the one that we have. Now look at verse eight. I think verse eight is a very, if it weren't such a tragic verse, it would be a very funny verse in the Bible. And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, there is yet one man, Micaiah, the son of Imlah, by whom we may inquire of the Lord, but I hate him. I hate him, for he does not prophesy good concerning me, only evil. And Jehoshaphat said, let not the king say so. Surely that's not always the case. You know, he's trying to be a little, he's trying to placate. Ahab's getting excited. He gets upset every time the name of Micaiah comes up. Now, you know, I am not advocating that you go out and you try to be hated by evil people. But the fact remains that probably, if you are an out-and-out believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, there are going to be a lot of people in the world who are going to feel very uncomfortable when you're around. Not because you're mean, or not because you're nasty, or not because you're looking down your long nose at them, but simply because they know that you have the answer, and they don't. And they don't like to have to go to the starting place to get your answer. They don't like to have to give up on themselves. They don't like to have to give up their pride. And so you make them feel uncomfortable. And you know, I'm sure that if Mike Hayab had been able to hear what Ahab said about him, I hate him. Micaiah would have smiled, said, thank you, Lord, I'm glad that a person like Ahab hates me. Then the king of Israel called an officer and said, hasten and bring here Micaiah, the son of Imla. And the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, sat each on his throne, having put on their robes in a threshing floor at the entrance of the gate of Samaria, and all the prophets prophesied before them. The gates of cities were the places in those days where court was convened. So Ahab and Jehoshaphat, they put on all their royal regalia. They probably get some slaves to cart their thrones out of the palace, and they put them out in the con- in the, in the gate of the city. They sit on the thrones with all of their regal, uh, appurtenances, and they, and they sit there, and they sort of bask in the adulation of the populace. Well, you know, these four hundred prophets aren't very happy about the fact that their word has not been entirely believed. And so Zedekiah, verse eleven, Zedekiah, the son of Chinanana, or something like that, made i- horns of iron. Horns like a bull's horns, not trombones, you know, like the horns of a bull, made horns of iron, and he said, thus saith the Lord, with these shalt thou push the Syrians until thou hast con- hast consumed them. And all the prophets prophesied so, saying, go up to Ramoth-Gilead and prosper, for the Lord shall deliver it into the king's hands. I'd like you to imagine this scene. The two kings sitting on their thrones, four hundred prophets repeating over and ever over again, go up to Ramoth Gilead because the Lord has delivered it into your hands. Go up, Ahab, he really has. Go up, go up, go up. And here they are all chanting this, and Zedekiah, who is the leader of these prophets, he's made some horns, and he's probably holding them up to his head like this, you know, and he's dancing around up there and going like this, you see. You're gonna push those Syrians just like a bull. Okay? And now the scene changes. The scene changes. And we go off, and we go after this messenger that Ahab has sent out to find Micaiah. And the messenger who was gone to call Micaiah spoke unto him, saying, Listen now, the words of the prophets declare good unto the king with one mouth. Micaiah, there are four hundred prophets that are unanimous in declaring good for Ahab. huh Four hundred of them. Might makes right, Micaiah. Just think, there's four hundred of them, and there's one of you. What chance do you have? Notice? Let thy word, I pray thee, be like the word of one of them and speak that which is good. The messenger is saying, Micaiah, now come on, be a nice fellow for once. Say something nice about King Ahab, because when you come and you prophesy evil, he gets all upset, and then that's rough on us. I think that's sort of the idea here. Now, again, that is my own surmising. But this messenger seems very anxious to leave the waters unruffled. Please, Micaiah, agree with these four hundred prophets for just once in your life. Verse fourteen, the key verse in our story. And Micaiah said, as the Lord liveth, what the Lord saith unto me, that will I speak. Do you want to live a victorious Christian life? Do you want to live the kind of life which is lived above the circumstances? Do you want to live the kind of life where you don't always feel that you're a slave to people around you, and you're a slave to the events in your life and to the circumstances of your life. Do you want to live the kind of life where you're not always trying to appease this one and trying to please that one and trying to finagle your way through life to try to make it to the end with some kind of success? Live by this principle. As the Lord liveth, whatever he says, that will I speak. Live your life according to the word of God, as is found right here. You might say, well, my goodness, there are, there, there are situations in life that the word of God doesn't really cover very well. No, there aren't. No, they're not. The Word of God might not have something specific to say about the specific problem that you're facing, because maybe the problem that you're facing is the result of man's ingenuity in the nineteen— in the twentieth century. And it was unknown to the people there, but there's a principle in the Word of God that covers it. Build your life on the word of God. Be true to it, no matter if what it says seems to you to be sure to get you into a lot of trouble in this story because he lives by the word of God. He gets thrown into prison. And you know, when this story is over, he's still in prison, and the word of God never tells us whether he ever got out. But I'll tell you something. I truly believe that prison was not a prison to Micaiah. I bet you this man revolutionized that prison. You'll see why as we go. I have to hurry. Um, all right. So, verse fifteen, he came to the king, and the king, can you imagine what happened when, when Micaiah arrived there at the gate of Samaria? Here's this man coming in to deliver the word of the Lord, and what does he see? Two kings dressed in royal crowns, four hundred prophets dancing around and chanting, and old Zedekiah with his horns. I can just imag- I can just imagine that, that as Micaiah saw this, a bit of a smile came to his face, a kind of a sad smile. It's obvious that Micaiah has a sense of humor from what we're going to read later on in this story. And I'm sure that this picture, that this scene must have tickled his sense of humor, and yet it was such a sad, tragic thing. Think. Well, you can imagine the kind of look that was on Micaiah's face as he saw this. Maybe that smile was there, but at the same time his heart was going out to God and saying, God, what can I do about these people? How foolish they are, trying to go along without you. Thank you, Lord, for saving my soul. And he came to the king, and the king said unto him, Micaiah, shall we go up to Ramoth-Gilead to battle, or shall we forbear? And he answered him, Go and prosper, for the Lord shall deliver it into the hand of the king. Wait a minute, I thought that's what the other prophets were prophesying. And Zedekiah and, and Micaiah is always supposed to prophesy evil. Well, I think you get the clue in the next verse, when you see how Ahab reacts to what Micaiah just said. Notice what Ahab's reaction is. And the king said to him, how many times shall I adjure thee that thou tell me nothing but that which is true in the name of the Lord? You see? My, uh, Ahab caught the gentle sarcasm there. He knew that Micaiah was just having a little bit of fun with him. Oh, by all means, Ahab, go up. The Lord's gonna deliver it into your hands. Now come on, Micaiah, tell me the truth. He's almost forced into asking Micaiah to tell him the truth. Why? Jehoshaphat's sitting there, and Jehoshaphat hears the sarcasm just as well as Ahab does. So here we find a wicked king asking a prophet of the Lord, tell me the truth. And so Zedekiah starts telling the truth, and he lays it on the line. Notice what he says. Now, we don't, we're not going to have time to go into this vision of Micaiah's this morning. It's a fascinating vision, something that you might want to research and try out on your own. And, uh, if it causes problems in your mind, I'm sure that there are, uh, men in, uh, the meeting here and women too who have long experience with the word of God, and they can explain this vision to you. But, uh, let's just read it. And he said, I saw all Israel scattered upon the hills as sheep that have not a shepherd. And the Lord said, these have no master. Let them return every man to his house in peace. And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, didn't I tell you that he would prophesy no good concerning me but evil? I told you, Jehoshaphat, that's exactly what always happens when Micaiah comes around. I hate him. And he said, hear thou therefore the word of the Lord. I saw the Lord sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing by him on his right hand and on his left. And the Lord said, Who shall persuade Ahab that he may go up and fall at Ramath Gilead? And one said on this manner, and another said on that manner. And there came forth a spirit and stood before the Lord and said, I will persuade him. And the Lord said unto him, By what means? And he said, I will go forth, and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And he said, Thou shalt persuade him and prevail also. Go forth and do so. Now, therefore, behold, the Lord hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these thy prophets. That's why I think they were in the pay of Ahab. Micaiah calls them his. And the Lord has spoken evil concerning thee. The one thing I'd like to mention about this vision is, it indicates to me that God is supreme. That everything that happens in this world happens under his direction or because he allows it. And if you're here this morning and you have not given your life to this God because you want to live your own life, you want to direct your own life, learn a lesson from Ahab. He thought he was directing his own life too. He really did. But he wasn't. His time had come. The cup of Ahab's iniquities was running over. And the Lord had decreed that it was time for Ahab to die, and nothing could prevent it. Okay, let's skip down to verse twenty six. And the king of Israel said, take my Chaya and carry him back to Ammon, the governor of the city, and to Joash, the king's son, and say, thus says the king, put this fellow in the prison and feed him with the bread of affliction and with water of affliction until I come again in peace. Micaiah, you're going to be in prison until I return. Look at what Micaiah says. And Micaiah said, if thou return at all in peace, the Lord hath not spoken by me. And he said, hearken, O people, every one of you. In other words, Micaiah says, Ahab, if you return in peace to let me out of prison, it's proof that I'm a false prophet, and all these people are witnesses. If I'm a false prophet, then I'll be rescued. If I'm a true prophet, I have a life sentence in jail. How can you ruffle a man like this? He's facing a lifetime in jail, and he is still speaking the word of God as the word of God speaks it to him. And you know, I think that when Micaiah arrived in that jail, the jailers there had never met anybody like him. Never met anybody like him. I can imagine that Micaiah was not a moper and a groaner and a moaner. I bet you he was a singer. Like Paul and Barnabas, uh, Paul and Silas, you remember? Singing praises in the jail. I bet you Micaiah was a singer. I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't long before he had won every single one of those people in that jail, jailers and, and prisoners alike, to the God of heaven. I don't think that Micaiah had a sad time in jail. I think that wherever Micaiah went, he was a happy man, living above the circumstances. Maybe jail was a little bit more uncomfortable than life outside of it, but that wasn't enough to upset him. He knew the God of heaven, he knew he was right, and he knew that he had an ally in heaven, and I really believe that he knew that one day he was going to be released from jail by death, and he was going to fly home to be with the one whom he adored and served. So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, went up to Ramoth-Gilead. And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, I will disguise myself and enter into the battle, but put thou on thy robes. And the king of Israel disguised himself, and he went into battle. See? He's still planning. He's still scheming. Nobody's going to kill me. I'm just going to disguise myself. I'm going to become a common soldier. Nobody's going to know that I'm the king of Israel, and therefore the Syrians aren't going to be able to find me. Then I'll come back in peace. But the king of Syria commanded his thirty and two captains who had rule over his chariot, saying, Fight with neither small nor great, except only with the king of Israel. And it came to pass, when the captains of the chariot saw Jehoshaphat, that they said, Surely it is the king of Israel. And they turned aside to fight against him, and Jehoshaphat cried out. I bet he would. He was in a terrible fix, and why was he here? Because he was depending upon the help of a wicked man like Ahab, and Ahab was deserting him. You go ahead and be king. I'll, I'll, I'll disguise myself. And it came to pass when the captains of the chariots perceived that it was not the king of Israel, that they turned back from pursuing him. Aha, Ahab's plan is going to succeed. If only it weren't for a little arrow. And a certain man. We don't even know who he is. We don't know whether he was an Israelite or a Judean or a Syrian. We have no idea. It's not important. A certain man drew a bow at a venture. Maybe he was in a boring part of the battle, and nothing was happening. So he decides, well, I, you know, I got these extra arrows around here, and he takes one out and he puts it in his bow, he goes like that. Doesn't aim at anything. Just kind of fooling around at a venture. And a certain man drew a bow at a venture and smote the king of Israel between the joints of his armor. Wherefore he said unto the driver of his chariot, Turn thine hand and carry me out of the host, for I am wounded. And the battle increased that day, and the king was held up in his chariot against the Syrians, and he died at evening, and the blood ran out of the wound into the inside of the chariot. And there went a proclamation through the host about the going down of the sun, saying, every man to his city and every man to his own country. So the king died and was brought to Samaria, and they buried the king in Samaria, and one washed the chariot in the pool of Samaria, and the dogs licked up his blood, and they washed his armor, according unto the word of the Lord which he spoke. First Kings chapter twenty one verse nineteen. You can check it out on your own. We don't have time. Now, the rest of the acts of Ahab and all that he did, and the ivory house which he made, and all the cities that he built, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? And Ahab slept with his fathers, and Ahaziah his son reigned in his stead. Don't plan your life without asking God. Don't plan your life without consulting the word of God. Don't plan your life built upon the sands of your own schemes and inventions. Build your life upon the word of God. Build your life upon the sure foundation, the rock, the living word of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. And you know, the record which is written after your life will not be that which is written after Ahab's. And he died, and life just went right on, didn't miss him very much. His son takes his place. And what has he accomplished? An ivory palace that will crumble into dust someday. I think maybe the word of God doesn't tell us Micaiah's end, because, you know, Micaiah didn't really have an end. The servant of the Lord, the believer in God, goes on forever. He has eternal life, and maybe that's why the Spirit of God chooses to leave the end of Micaiah's life here on earth an unknown quantity. I think when I get to heaven, I'm going to try to stand next to Micaiah and listen to him praise God. I think it'll be a thrill.