1 Kings 22 (Part 2) Bible Study (Micaiah Prophesies Against Ahab) | Pastor Daniel Batarseh

Let's pray together, shall we? Well, we thank you that we get

to be here as a family. This hunger for the word, this

thirst for righteousness, it comes from you.

And the fact that we get to sit here out of a desire, with joy

and anticipation, we give you the glory for that because we

know what we're capable of. We know, some of us know what we

were like before we were saved and what our appetites were and

what our longings and passions were.

But Lord, you changed us. And we pray, Lord, that you

would continue to change us tonight as we come to these

concluding verses of this amazing book in your book.

So, Lord, we ask that you would apprehend every way we're

thought, every rebellious conviction, anything that would

grieve the Spirit. We pray that all of that would

be dealt with by the fire, the water, the sword of Your word.

We want to know the full power that this word has to give to a

willing vessel. So we yield to you.

Now we do ask that in this delivery that there would be

liberty, that there would be unction, that there would be a

grace so that Christ would be exalted, and that our hearts

would be drawn to Him individually and as a as a

whole. We ask these things in Jesus

name. Amen.

Mimi, please, in First Kings chapter 22 and today in our time

1 Kings 22 · chapter mention

together, we will be covering verse 13 down to verse 28.

So meet me at verse 13. And if you are a student of the

Bible, you know this very well, that there are many instances in

the Scriptures where we catch a glimpse of how our world

parallels with an unseen realm, a spiritual realm to be exact.

And based on what the Word of God declares, this spiritual

realm not only exists, but it interacts with and it influences

events and people in this physical world.

And there are staggering examples of this throughout the

Bible. And one of the strongest samples

of the supernatural colliding with the natural is here in this

very chapter. And at times this realm works in

obvious ways, ways that are undeniable, ways in which we

with these senses perceive. But one thing is for certain,

whether we perceive what is happening or not, there is

always a functioning, there is always an operation that is

behind the scenes. And the framing of that, the

window in which we're going to be able to look through to

perceive that reality is provided here in summary as a

platform in verse 10. We've touched on this last week,

but let's look at verse 10 once again.

We read now the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat, the king of

Judah. We're sitting on their Thrones

arrayed in robes at the threshing floor at the entrance

of the gate of Samaria. And all the prophets were

prophesying before them. You and I, with the king of

Israel and the king of Judah, await the arrival of another

prophet, a man by the name of Micaiah.

Micaiah had a special reputation.

He was known as a true prophet of the Lord and he had a

tendency of speaking what Ahab did not like to hear, not for

any other reason other than that he spoke with the Lord, told him

to speak, and nothing else. And we're going to learn a lot

of things about this man of God named Makaya, including what you

just heard at the introduction of this study, that there is an

unseen realm that is very real and very relevant to our

day-to-day experience. So let's begin by reading the

1st 5 verses of this portion of Scripture and then we will do

what we always do and take time to explore every verse in

detail. And the messenger who went to

summon Micaiah said to him, Behold, the words of the

prophets with one accord are favourable to the king, let your

word be like the word of one of them and speak favourably.

But Micaiah said, As the Lord lives, what the Lord says to me

that I will speak. And when he had come to the

king, the king said to Micaiah, Shall we go to Ramoth Gilead to

battle, or shall we refrain? And he answered him, Go up and

triumph, the Lord will give it into the hand of the king.

But the king said to him, How many times shall I make you

swear that you speak to me nothing but the truth in the

name of the Lord? And he said, I saw all Israel

scattered on the mountains as sheep that have no shepherd.

And the Lord said, These have no master.

Let each return to his home in peace.

And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, Did I not tell you

that he would not prophecy good concerning me, but evil?

Let's stop there. Have you wondered in studying

this text that when Jehoshaphat inquired about a true prophet of

the Lord, that Ahab did not bring up Elijah?

Did that ever cross your mind? Why didn't he include Elijah as

a possible prophet to bring a true word from the true God?

I think the best explanation is this, that Ahab can never figure

out where Elijah was, right? He just arrives unannounced and

shortly after he disappears for an undisclosed period of time,

then he arrives again. So Elijah was very difficult to

locate and that was purposely done.

So I believe the reason why Ahab brings up Mikaya is because he

knew exactly where Mikaya was. Where was he?

Well, you're going to discover in the same study that Mikaya

was apprehended by Ahab, more likely that he was under house

arrest and then he would later be put into jail because of his

unpopular sermon as we're about to study together.

And so Mikaya was the choice servant to bring a word, a word

from the Lord. And on his way, after this

messenger was sent to Mikaya, this unnamed individual attempts

to persuade Mikaya. Hey, look, you're going to head

into this atmosphere and there are 400 prophets who are all

saying the same thing, and you're going to see the king of

Israel and the king of Judah sitting on their Thrones and

their splendor. I suggest that you you say what

these other messengers are saying.

And we paused on that thought, wondering, is this scene going

to bend Makaya in another direction?

Will the pressure of these prophets finally persuade him to

cave? Will the pomp and the grandeur

of these kings as they sat there with their their robes sway him?

And we're going to discover that it's not going to move him an

inch. You see, the temptation that

Makaya is facing here is not a unique, it's not a unique

temptation. It is a temptation that every

single individual who believes and shares the truth will face

at one point in their lives with a variety of pressure with it,

different degrees of intimidation and persecution or

even persuasion. And this request that this one

individual makes to Makaya actually ends up becoming a

national request of the people of Israel in the days of Isaiah.

I want you to see it in Isaiah chapter 30 and look here at

Isaiah 30 · chapter mention

verse nine of Isaiah 30. They're going to be a lot of

jumping around here with different references.

I couldn't help it just to see how the Bible complements every

passage is so moving to me and so I want you to see it with me

and Isaiah 30 is one place in verse nine.

Look at the Holy Spirit says about that particular

generation. Are you there with me?

Good. For they are a rebellious

people, lying children, children unwilling to hear the

instruction of the Lord, who say to the seers.

Seers is another word for prophets do not see, and who say

to the prophets do not prophesied to us what is right?

Speak to us. Smooth things, prophecy,

illusions. Leave the way, turn aside from

the path. Let us here know more about the

Holy One of Israel. There's so many things to draw

out of this devastating commentary.

The 1st is what caught my attention is how the Prophet by

the Spirit identifies this generation as lying children.

What are they lying about? I believe the context tells us

exactly what they're lying about, That they claim to

acknowledge God, but they refuse to know Him and to understand

Him the way he desires to be understood.

They claim allegiance, but they refuse to apply how he presents

himself in his true form. And it's complete character.

They're liars because notice here that their protest is not

that they didn't want to hear from the prophets at all.

Is that what they said? Look here again at verse 10, who

say to the seers do not see, and to the prophets do not Prophecy

doesn't stop there. Do not prophecy to us what is

right. So the issue here is not with

preaching, it's what's being preached.

It's not the fact that there's a presence of a messenger.

It's the message, it's the content, and that is why they

requested for a specific subject matter to be omitted from the

prophets message. What is it?

Do not tell us any more about the Holy One of Israel.

Even up to this point, God has identified Himself and

manifested himself in many ways as a Father, as a savior,

Redeemer, rock provider, miracle worker, so many ways.

But there is one particular message that these people did

not want to hear about. And I say it's the same message

that people don't want to hear about today, the holiness of

God. The holiness of God.

We don't want to hear about how He is transcendent and different

and pure. We don't want to hear it.

We don't want our sin to be exposed in light of His

character being expounded and declared.

We don't want to hear, in other words, don't disturb our

consciences, speak to us smooth things.

You know, there are entire ministries who operate under

that philosophy that we just want to give smooth things and

let people leave here coddled and and encouraged purely and

not even a true encouragement. And this is what they're asking

for. Give that to us.

That's what we want in this menu.

That's what we want from these profits.

Has the demand change in 2024? It hasn't.

You know this passage very well. In Second Timothy 4 three where

Paul prophecies, he tells Timothy was a pastor.

There is coming a time, Timothy where a people will not endure

sound teaching. That that tells me something

that at one point they were able to endure it.

At one point they were listening to it, but they'll come to a

point where they can no longer endure it.

Enough is enough. And what would they do as a

result of that? They themselves will accumulate

teachers to suit their own passions.

You know, people know this verse, but they misinterpreted.

Generally, people tend to think that what Paul's saying here is

that there's coming a time where prophets will arise, false

prophets, and they will persuade people away from the truth into

myths. That's not what Paul is talking

about. Paul is not pointing the finger

at wolves on platforms who are going to deceive the masses.

He's actually condemning a people who out of their desire,

out of their wanting to be deceived, further encouraging

false prophets to arise. They will ask for these.

Have you ever watched something, a ministry that you know is

questionable, it's heretical, and you think, how are so many

people in attendance? Why is there an audience?

And we would think, oh, because they're naive and because of the

the charisma and the false promises and the false signs and

wonders. That's why.

Not always the case. Paul indicates that, yes, in

other places, some are duped because of their naivety, but

others are there because they want to be there.

They want that. They want exactly what's being

preached. Though it's false, it caters to

exactly what they desire. And so as much as the Bible

condemns false teachers, the Bible also condemns a people who

make false teachers successful. Who are these false preachers?

If they didn't have an audience? The only reason why they get the

continuous people still send their money, they still sit in

those meetings, they still support them in various ways.

And Paul speaks about a time where people will make a demand

to be cemented in their deception, and there is no

shortage of people who will help make that possible.

We come back here and we realize that Makaya was not one who

would bend to any demand that calls for doctrinal dilution.

I mean, with all the disappointment in the Book of

Kings, this man is exhilarating and he's refreshing, is he not?

Here's this individual telling him, listen, just just say what

they have to say. And he goes, I'm only going to

say what God tells me to say. And the integrity of this

individual, I believe, is expounded upon by Paul and his

teachings. There is a particular place in

an epistle where Paul tells us the motives that a man of God

will reject in his ministry in order to be effective and

pleasing to God and truly fruitful to those who would

benefit under his ministry. And in three sequential verses,

you have 3 motives that Paul spells out.

That a true leader in the church, a true man of God, will

denounce, will fight, will resist, will reject.

And though the context applies to preaching and preachers, it

can be applied by any of us who serve the Lord in any capacity.

Would you like to know the three motives that a man of God will

reject as he stands in integrity before God and God's people?

It's in First Thessalonians chapter 21 is found in verse

four and other is found in verse five, and the other is found in

verse six. And what's interesting is that

following that, Paul speaks in the positive and he says these

these are the qualities that a man of God will adopt, but we

don't have time to go into the positive.

Let's just deal with the negative.

What will, like Micaiah, a true servant of God, reject and his

faithful service to the Lord? Let's read beginning in verse 4.

But just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted

with the gospel, so we speak not to please man, but to please God

who tests our hearts. That's the first thing.

The first motive that a man of God will reject is the ambition

to please man. And what Paul is speaking about

here is an all out absorption, a priority to satisfy the wishes

of others at any cost, even at the expense of disappointing

God. But a true man of God will have

the goal of satisfying God's heart.

Ultimately, that's going to be his drive and what he prepares

to speak and how he deals with God's people, how he manages the

resources of the ministry, how he lives with his family

privately before the unbelieving world.

What drives him in the morning, The energy of his soul is I want

to please my God, even if it means I'm going to drive other

people away. As a result, he will know total

contentment in that. That will be where he finds his

true pleasure in the decision that he makes and whatever he

accomplishes, he knows that this brought true delight to God.

Whether people smile as a as a result of that or whether they

frown is no concern to the true servant of the Lord.

That doesn't that doesn't influence him because he's

absolutely intoxicated by this one goal and that is making sure

that his God and his will was made true.

That's not the only thing. Look at the second thing, verse

5. For we never came with words of

flattery, as you know, nor with a pretext for greed.

So the first thing that a man of God will reject and maintaining

the integrity of his ministry is he's not going to please man as

his ambition. The second thing is that he will

not use ministry as a means to become wealthy.

He will not have this aspiration to become rich through his

ministry. Notice that flattery is

mentioned in the same breath, right?

He speaks about not using words of flattery, and then he talks

about not coming with the pretext for greed, indicating

that there are some who put on a mask of kindness, who will lace

their words with unusual encouragement and uplifting

comments as a deceptive tactic to gain some support from others

on an individual basis, in simple conversation and even

from a public stance where they they preach in a manner in which

they know that they will win more support, they will win more

financial support more specifically.

And a true man of God listen to this very carefully when he

enrolls in ministry and when he endures the ministry, his

ambition is not money, it's not promotion, it's not a salary,

it's not royalty fees. It's none of that.

It's the salvation of souls and the glory of God.

That's what he's consumed by. And a true man of God, at the

same time as he surrenders in his service to the Lord, will be

completely at rest and trusting in God's providential provision

for him. I could testify on a personal

basis, God has taken care of me all these years.

God has taken care of me and I've seen Him taking care of so

many others. And it's true for you whether

you're in full time ministry or not, is it not?

But this is specifically about those who fall into the

temptation of catering to the donors in the church, especially

the bigger donors, or to his salary to try to impress the

board. He will never allow such

influences to alter his allegiance to the Word of God.

Never. If he's if he's going to speak

somewhere, he's never going to allow the amount of an

honorarium, whether that is even given in the 1st place, to

determine the degree of his sacrifice as he serves.

In that context, money doesn't move a man of God.

It doesn't. If it's there, it's there.

If it's not there, it's not there.

What consumes him are eternal things.

And the greatest men of God, the men of God who have been free

from scandal and who had the greatest empowerment of God upon

their ministries, were those who knew how to have appropriate

understanding and relations with this thing called money.

That's not the only thing that a man of God will reject in order

to maintain the integrity of His ministry to be effective for God

and fruitful for God's people. Look at verse six.

Nor did we seek glory from people, echoing what He says in

verse 4. But there's something else here,

whether from you or from others. Though we could have made

demands as apostles of Christ. So where Bible study?

I have every right to ask these questions.

What is the first thing that a man of God will reject as he

serves the Lord in order to maintain the integrity of his

ministry? He will not seek to please man.

What's the second thing? He will not use his ministry or

his gifts to satisfy his greed. He will not allow the aspiration

to become wealthier to influence his service to the Lord.

And the third thing is this. A man of God will reject

leveraging his authority to make burdensome demands on the people

that he is called to serve. In other words, a man of God

will reject the lust for power, the lust for power.

And it's a very real lust. You think the lust for money is,

is a real temptation for ministers.

No, power is up there. Power is up there.

And, and there are some who, when they are entrusted with the

gospel, they taste the respect that they get from people.

They begin to realize the admiration that comes just by

virtue of their position, and they now manipulate others

through it. And some do so through spiritual

abuse, some by guilt tripping. But the real way that a servant

of God will encourage people in any direction is through

humility, is through humility. I can't help about one instance

where Paul spoke to an individual named Philemon.

Philemon had a servant named Anusimus.

An SMS escaped him, he hurt Philemon.

He became a believer under Paul's preaching and Paul's

writing to Philemon encouraging him to receive his servant

again. And he says this in Philemon

verse eight. There are no chapters in verse

8:00 and 9:00. This just echoes Paul's attitude

and what he says here in First Thessalonians 26.

This isn't, this isn't part of the Bible study, but it came to

mind. And Philemon verse 8, I want you

to see what he says to this man. If it's not going to come up

there, then we'll just read it here.

Accordingly, though, I am bold enough in Christ to command you

to do what is required. You see what he's saying there.

As an apostle, I can write to you with a different tone, and I

can demand. I can command you to comply with

my desires, with my leadership. But what does he say instead?

Look at verse 9. Yet for Love's sake, I prefer to

appeal to you. I'm not going to twist your arm.

I'm not going to threaten you. I'm not going to intimidate you,

but I'm going to appeal to you. Do you see how he lowers

himself? Do you see that he doesn't

utilize his authority? I mean, an apostle, one of the

apostles who would lay the foundation of the church.

And this is how he is speaking to others.

I, Paul, an old man. I love that.

An old man, old man. And he's a prisoner.

If God makes me an old man, I don't mind having the same

future as Paul. For the gospel sake.

You see that? Yeah.

For Love's sake, I prefer to appeal to you, to appeal to you.

Remember at the end of there in Corinthians when he, he asked

Apollos to visit the Corinthian church and Apollo said, I don't

want to go. And Paul says there at the end

of the letter, I I didn't force him to go.

He'll come when he's ready. That's a true leader.

He's a push and shove. He doesn't stand above.

He comes down and he serves and he appeals, and he persuades

with gentleness and humility. But not all ministers operate

that way. And Paul says we didn't come to

you in this manner. And he says our demands even

influence our refusal to request glory from you.

You know, there are people who, when they're introduced, they

want all the accolades they want.

They want just this amazing kind of presentation.

And Paul, we weren't like that. We didn't.

We don't want anything from you. We're not fishing for anything.

We're not moved by your praise or lack of praise.

We don't care about titles and what you call us and listening

about what we've accomplished and telling other people about

it. We do not care.

My satisfaction is from the Lord alone.

And we can continue to discuss the positives, but we have to

come back to our main text so we can finish.

So we come back to First Kings 22, right?

And we read here in verse 14 what Makaya says.

I believe the New Testament expounds on this kind of

mindset. And Makaya finally arrives,

verse 15. And when he had come to the

king, the king said to him, Makaya, shall we go to Ramoth

Gilead to battle, or shall we refrain?

And he answered him, go up and triumph.

The Lord will give it into the hand of the King.

Do you think Makani is being serious here?

No, he's being sarcastic. I wonder how he said it.

This is one of the places where I wish there was an audio

version of it. The original audio.

How did he say it? I wonder if it was like go up

and triumph. The Lord will give it to the

hand of the king. However, he said it Ahab and had

enough sense to realize that he wasn't meaning what he was

saying because of his response. He says, but the king said to

him, how many times shall I make you swear that you speak to me?

Nothing but the truth and the name of the Lord?

How many times? You know what that indicates?

This isn't the first time Makai has spoken to the king in this

way. So already we have an idea of

his personality. He has a humorous personality.

So Makai has pulled this stunt off before where he's like, I

know what you want to hear, so let me just tell you what you

want to hear and he just cuts him off.

There he goes. How many times do we got to tell

you? Now look at this.

Whatever you feel about Micaiah's strategy here, it

exposes something about Ahab and Ahab's answer.

He indirectly confesses something terrible about

himself, right? Because he says, how many times

shall I make you swear you speak to me?

Nothing but the truth. This is why we have to read our

Bible slowly. Do you see what he's saying

here? I'm asking you to speak to me

the truth in the name of the Lord.

So let's step back here. Micaiah initially echoes what

the 400 false prophets said, And they all said go up to battle in

Ramoth Gilead. When Ahab hears it, he rejects

it and he says, I'm asking you to speak the truth to me,

Micaiah. So what's the equation?

Based on this demand, he is obviously implying that what the

false prophets are saying was false, right?

Which tells me that Ahab knew it was false and he still wanted to

abide by what was false. Some people are naive,

unlearned, simple, and they get deceived.

Other people are deceived because they want to be

deceived. I know that's hard for you to

imagine, but it's it's not it's not.

You see instances of it in the Scriptures.

And it's only become going to become increasingly true as we

approach the culmination of the age.

And if you doubt that this is how Ahab is thinking, Scroll

down to verse 30 very quickly. And this is when him and

Jehoshaphat and the armies of Israel are ready to go to

battle. And notice what King Ahab says

to Jehoshaphat. And we'll explore this next

week. And the king of Israel said to

Jehoshaphat, I will disguise myself and go into battle.

But you wear your robes. And the king of Israel disguised

himself and went into battle. What a snake.

So you dress up as a king, Joe Osifat?

I'm going to dress up as a soldier.

So I'm camouflage more. And if they're obviously going

to be looking for the king, it'll be harder to find me.

Now, why would you do this unless something about what

Makaya said resonated with you down deep inside, you knew that

there was something true about Micaiah's prophecy, as we're

about to read in a moment here, essentially where he says if you

go to battle, you're going to die.

So Ahab and his pride still goes into Ramoth Gilead, but he feels

as though I got, I got to do something to make sure that what

the Lord said about my faith will not come to pass.

So you're essentially admitting that it's true.

It's true. There are many who are in their

sin. There are many who are also in

false beliefs, and they know it. And for a variety of reasons,

whether that be pride, whether that be persecution, whether

that be pleasure, they are willing to stay in that sin.

They are willing to remain in that false belief even if it

kills them, even if it kills them.

And so don't look at Ahab as just a unique case, as an

anomaly. No millions are thinking the

same way Ahab is thinking. So he says speak to me the

truth. You want the truth, Ahab, you're

going to get the truth. Look what he says in verse 17,

Makaya and he said I saw all Israel scattered on the

mountains as sheep that have no shepherd.

Does that sound familiar to you? Should I saw Israel, all Israel,

scattered on the mountains as sheep that have no shepherd?

And the Lord said these have no master.

Let each return to his home in peace, pawns.

Micaiah now switches from sarcasm to seriousness, and he's

going to answer Ahab's request for truth by giving two visions.

The first one is what we just read here.

The next one is going to explain the reason for why this parable

is going to be fulfilled. And the parable is very obvious,

is it not? He says.

I see the people scattered like sheep without a shepherd,

without a leader. And Ahab was smart enough to

understand what Makai was trying to convey.

Israel will be scattered, though.

They're going to be OK though, right?

Because they're going to be able to go home in peace.

Israel will be scattered, but they will have no master.

So what's the code? Why will they have no master?

Why will they have no leader? Because he's going to die.

He's going to be removed from the scene.

And that's why I right after this he goes, see, then I tell

you, George about this guy doesn't say anything nice about

me. So he understood what he was

saying here. And we find similar language

being used about the condition of the nation of Israel during

the days of the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ.

It's found in Matthew 936. If you write down these

references, but let me just read it to you to remind you.

Says here in Matthew 936, when he saw the crowds, he had

compassion for them because they were harassed and helpless like

sheep without a shepherd. Just as Ahab's death would

create an instability for the people of Israel, the spiritual

deadness of the religious leaders in Jesus Day would have

clear consequences and a significant impact on the people

as well. What's more dangerous?

What's more dangerous when you have weak politicians who leave

the people vulnerable in the natural or when you have

spiritually dead leaders who endanger the souls of people?

I hope you know the right answer.

And I I argue that a nation is in greater peril not when they

have inadequate people in the White House, but when you have

inadequate leaders in God's house, when you have hirelings

instead of true shepherds. Because whatever is happening in

this election year, in the future elections to come only

deals with this life and this life alone.

What happens with the truth being heralded and explained or

lack thereof deals with your eternity.

So like sheep without a shepherd.

In the context of of First Kings 22, though there is an element

of spirituality there because they were a theocracy mainly

speaks about a king being removed and now the people

feeling the obvious consequences of that.

When Jesus saw the people the the nation of Israel, his heart

was moved with compassion because they had no spiritual

leadership or guidance. And that has far greater

ramifications than if you don't have somebody at all in or as

the commander in chief. I don't want my heart to be less

stirred about what's happening in the spiritual aspect of this

nation than what's happening in the political world.

Micaiah gives us first parable. He says, look, you're, you're

going to be out of here very soon.

And how does he answer? Look at verse 18.

And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, did I not tell you

that he would not prophesied good concerning me about evil?

Well, you asked for it. You asked for the truth.

Are you willing to receive the truth no matter how it makes you

feel? Now there are some people who

say, I want biblical exposition. I want verse by verse.

And then when that Sunday comes along where they speak about

something that affects you personally, then then you're

upset, right? If you're if you're going to

want the truth, you have to take the whole truth.

But now he comes to his second vision.

And this is not a parable. This is a real event that's

going to explain why what's about to happen is going to

happen. Let's read it in its entirety

from verse 18 or 19 rather down to 23.

And Micaiah said, Therefore hear the word of the Lord.

I saw the Lord sitting on his throne, and all the host of

heaven standing beside him, on his right hand, and on his left.

And the Lord said, Who will entice Ahab, that he may go up

and fall at Ramoth Gilead? And one said one thing, and

another said another. Then a spirit came forward and

stood before the Lord, saying, I will entice him.

And the Lord said to him, By what means?

And he said, I will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouth

of all his prophets. Notice that he's saying all his

prophets, they're not God's prophets.

And he said, you are to entice him, and you shall succeed.

Go out and do so. Now therefore, behold, the Lord

has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these your

prophets. They're not my prophets, your

prophets. The Lord has declared disaster

for you. There are many ways to go about

this very staggering picture, this vision.

I want to approach it by providing for vital

observations. For vital observations.

There are many others, but I want to just present for, for

the sake of time, the first thing that you and I can take.

First truth that we can take from this passage is obvious.

It speaks about the sovereignty of God.

So here's Micaiah, right? And he's standing before 2 kings

sitting in their portable Thrones at the gate at Samaria.

And the first thing that he says here in verse 19, I saw the Lord

sitting on his throne. I'm speaking to you, but I'm

telling you that I appealed to and I saw a throne greater than

yours. The one sitting on that throne

is greater. The throne itself is greater.

And so right away he makes this call and He reminds these two

kings that there is one who sits above them, and there is one who

demands and governs whether they agree or not.

I'm reminded of Isaiah 6. What happened in Isaiah 6, the

year that King Uzziah died? Isaiah has a vision of one who

is sitting upon the throne, and he is high and lifted up.

And he had that vision in the Revelation of what when King

Uzziah was brought down, when he was removed from the throne.

And that's a picture of God being in control.

Even when leaders that we depend on fall, he's still in control,

but now Makaya, Not Isaiah, but Makaya.

He sees the same Lord on the same throne, but in a different

context. Not when Thrones were vacant,

but when evil, incompetent, compromising kings were ruling.

And as much as God was in control when there was no one on

the throne, God is just as much in control when people who

shouldn't be on the throne are on the throne.

He's sovereign all the way through.

He's sovereign all the way through.

When leaders are living the way they should be living.

When they're not, or when there are no leaders, He's still on

his throne. So the first vision, the first

thing from this vision is the truth of God's sovereignty.

But that's not the only thing. Secondly, we learn about the

wide range of Gods resources and instruments and executing his

will. So Makaya has this vision of

what really heavenly counsel he walked into this heavenly board

meeting, so to speak. And interestingly, he, he sees

the Lord on his throne and he sees a vast amount of angelic

beings on his right and a vast amount of angelic beings to his

left. And he wants to summon an agent

to be the means of judgement against Ahab.

So he asked who will do it? And some are talking and there's

conversation happening. Finally, one spirit, we're told,

approaches the throne and he says, I'll entice him.

And the Lord says by what means I'll, I'll be a, a lying spirit.

He was a lying spirit. But I, I will put these lies in

the mouths of His prophets, and they will convince him to his

own demise. What do we make of this?

Here's what we make of it. First things first, this is not

the Lord, and this would be a terrible way to apply this text.

This is not the Lord showing that He requires the counsel of

others, even if they're supernatural creatures.

Why? Because the Bible testifies

otherwise. This is the reference that came

to mind when I was reading this. If anybody would try to use this

as ammunition against the omniscience of God, they don't

know their Bibles because in Isaiah 40 verse 13 and 14,

Isaiah 40:13

here's what the Spirit says about the Spirit of the Lord.

Who is God? Who has measured?

He's who has measured the Spirit of the Lord?

Who or what man shows him his counsel?

Isaiah 40 verse 14, Whom did he consult and who made him

Isaiah 40:14

understand? Who taught him the path of

justice and taught him knowledge and showed him the way of

understanding? Answer No one, no one, no one

can tell God something that he doesn't know.

Nobody can give God instruction. He knows everything.

He knows how to do everything perfectly.

And so the idea that God is there in heaven because he's

missing some information or he feels like he doesn't know how

to deal with this AHAB issue, it's totally wrong.

It's erroneous. It's crazy.

Instead, what you do see here is that God, as the Lofty One, is

sovereign and supreme over all things seen and unseen, holy

angels and demons, because these are not all holy angels in His

presence. You understand that, right?

You have a mixed attendance. You have some who are holy

creatures and you have some who are evil.

And that kind of baffles people's imaginations because

they think, how can evil beings be in the presence of God?

Tell me a book where that's that happened.

Exactly, Job. And that is continually going to

be the case where you have Satan and his minions access to the

throne until you read the Book of Revelation where they're

going to be cast to the earth and they're going to know that

their time is short. And so his venom is only going

to intensify before we come to the return of Christ.

So you have this demonic being saying, I will be a lying spirit

in the mouth of his prophets. And the Lord, not the author of

sin, the Lord, not the author of evil, will often allow evil to

be a means to a righteous end. And so he permits it.

And if you think this is the only time that God will do

something like this, there is coming a time that Paul

prophesied about in another place, when the Antichrist will

come and the masses will be deceived.

And you think people are deceived now you have no idea

the confusion and the spiritual anarchy that's coming.

Why? Can I tell you why?

Because Paul said in 2nd Thessalonians 211.

Therefore God, God sends them a strong delusion.

Who permits the strong delusion? God.

Is God a deceiver? No God.

God is pure, He's light, He's holy.

That's what you have to interpret the Bible carefully.

God will send him a strong delusion so that they may

believe what is false. Why would God do that?

Does he want all men to be saved?

He does all want all men to be saved.

But there's a reason why. In order that all may be

condemned who did not believe the truth, but had pleasure and

unrighteousness. So this is God's response to a

continual hardening against the truth, where what they

ultimately desire will be given by God as an act of vengeance

and judgement. Which is the third observation

of our passage in First Kings 22.

The first one being God's sovereignty, the second one

being the vast way, the wide spectrum of God's sovereign will

being executed on the earth. But thirdly, God will give men

what they want. Is this the first time that God

is dealing with Ahab? No.

We've studied week after week after week of how much Ahab

witnessed the manifestations of God's goodness, His power

proving himself over and over. I'm the truth.

Your beliefs and your behavior are way off, Ahab.

And Ahab continually stiffened his neck and refused to

surrender to the Lord. And we discovered about Ahab

that by his own admission, what these false prophets are saying

was untrue, and he's still willing to believe them.

So God says you want to be deceived, Here's some more

deception. You want to reject me over and

over again. You want to refuse to repent,

though my light has shone favorably upon you time after

time after time. If you want to live in a lie, if

you want to still live in that place of darkness, then here you

go. What this teaches us is that God

will eventually give men over to their desires.

And that's not a gracious thing, that's an act of judgment.

And that's in part why church discipline is church discipline

the way it is, that if a person is unrepentant in the church and

they want to remain in that state, though they've been

approached by 1 believer, then a set of believers, then the

church, what does Jesus say? If they don't want to embrace

the law of the Kingdom of God, then let him go into the domain

of darkness and let them see what it's like to be in that

domain of darkness. Ultimately for them to repent.

And unfortunately, some people don't repent.

So it's, it's his law in the way God works with man that he is

intensely gracious and merciful and he persuades and he pulls

and sometimes he moves in power. But when you continue to say no,

no, no, OK, if you don't want me, here's your alternative

option. If you don't want truth, here's

lies. If you don't want holiness,

here's unholiness. That's why when you read the

Book of Revelation, near the end, he says, let him who is

filthy still be filthy. Have you ever read that verse?

Let him who is holy remain holy as though at the end of the

book, at the end of describing the end of all things.

If a man has been exposed to all those things and still wants to

be in sin, OK, then stay in sin, stay in unrighteousness.

But the 4th and final point of this passage that I want to draw

for you and I is that God is merciful.

How would you, how would you explain God's mercy in this

proclamation of judgement against Ahab?

Any idea he's still alive? He's still alive.

Sure, He warned him. He's telling him what's about to

happen. He's he's telling him.

I had a vision of the Lord. These are the false prophets.

There's a demon operating through them.

Like Ahab is hearing this and they're going to convince you to

your own detriment, Ahab. So Ahab is Ahab is receiving one

final appeal from God. Don't miss that.

The Lord could have executed this plan without Ahab's

knowledge. But instead he pulls away the

curtain and he says, I'm showing you what this is really about.

I'm letting you know that your fate has been sealed.

But will this move you in any way, Ahab?

Like imagine of a true prophet coming to you saying this

afternoon, you're going to die because of your sins.

You love lies. So God's going to give you over

to a lie that will actually kill you.

If that's being conveyed to you, that's that's meant to stir you,

surely. So what?

What's Ahab going to do? How is he going to respond?

Because as much as you see the Lord seated on his transcendent

throne, governing both the scene and the unseen, you also see a

God of immense grace communicating to Ahab even in

this extending mercy. Because God, God gets more

pleasure in extending mercy than than thundering his judgement.

You would think like you're almost like exhausted with Ahab.

I am. At least it's it's Ahab and

Saul. Those two are still on the top

of my list of guys that just they take my breath away, not in

a good way. So you think, OK, after this,

after this vision is wrapped up, Ahab's going to fall to his

knees. He's going to rip his robe.

He's going to cry out to God. No, look at verse 24.

Then Zedekiah the son of Canaan came near and struck Makaya on

the cheek and said, how did the spirit of the Lord go from me to

speak to you? And Makaya said, behold, you

shall see on that day when you go in in a inner chamber and to

hide yourself. So that's what he tells

Zedekiah. So imagine like you, you just

share what the Lord told you to speak.

And somebody gets out of the Pew and they extend their arms and

you think they're going to give you a hug and instead they slap

you in the face and composed. He looks at Zedekiah and he

goes, You're going to realize that what I said is true, and

you're going to find yourself in fetal position in the corner of

your inner chamber. How does Ahab respond?

Verse 26 And the king of Israel said, seize Makaya and take him

back to aiming the governor of the city and to Josh, the King's

son, and say, thus says the king, put this fellow in prison

and feed him meager rations of bread and water until I come in

peace. I can just envision this, this

last part. And Micaiah said, if you return

in peace, the Lord has not spoken by me.

And he said here, all you peoples.

I wonder if he said that while he was being dragged by the

heels and dust is flying up in the air, but go back again to

what he originally said to him in verse 26.

And the king said, seize Micaiah and take him back, take him back

to him and the governor of the city and to Jewish, the King's

son. So he came from somewhere.

So he was obviously apprehended. He was obviously being

supervised by this administration.

And he's not telling him only go back.

He's saying when he goes back, put him in worse conditions and

make sure he gets meager rations.

That's going to be his payment for this prophecy.

Now if that is the case where Makai was already arrested and

under unpleasant circumstances and he came out because he's

supposed to give a word to Ahab, that just adds to this man's

integrity and credibility and character.

Because on top of the pressure of the false prophets were

saying go and you will devour, you will win, you will subdue

and the presence of these kings, you also had the potential

opportunity of escaping house arrest.

So it's not just those two things.

It's not just the prophets and the kings, it's your present

circumstances where now you have this little window of

opportunity to just say what they all are saying and to

reinforce it, even if he doesn't believe you at 1st and

potentially Ahab would say Micaiah, this is the first time

that you said something that I like.

Tell Amon and tell my son to release Micaiah.

He's free to go. I wonder if that's swirled in

his mind at any point. But it doesn't influence him one

bit. None of those.

The fact that after he gives us prophecy, he says you're

actually going to go into a real jail and this is what your daily

diet is going to look like. You would think that somebody

who receives even a worse sentence would say, did I say

that was a vision from the Lord? Actually, no, no, no.

Go up to Rhemoth, Gilead, King Ahab.

Imagine being in jail for two years and then you have a chance

to stand before the judge and after what you said is to go to

jail for 20 years now, now you feel a little bit more.

It's not just a Sunday school story.

Feel it. Put yourself in his shoes.

How is he able to do this? How is he able to endure despite

all the external, even internal potential struggle?

How is he able to still with boldness and courage and

faithfulness, say this is what the Lord said?

I'm going to stick with it no matter what it costs me.

Can I tell you what I believe? One major contribution is the

vision he had. Surely that played something.

Surely that influenced him as much as it was supposed to

influence his audience. The Lord sitting upon his

throne. He's the one who ultimately

determines the fate of this whole thing.

He's the one who writes the story, not these kings.

And that's true for Israel and the people of Israel.

Surely it's true for me as an individual servant of his.

Listen, I'm ending here. Your perception of God will

influence absolutely everything, even how you suffer, how you

experience the suffering, how you endure the suffering, what

will make all the differences, how you see the one that you

serve. This man saw the Lord sitting on

the throne. And so when more punishment was

granted to him, it didn't push him, didn't pull him.

He was exactly where he was when this thing all started.

And so the way to end this Bible study is to ask the Lord to

sharpen our perception of Him for that to really have an

impact and not to give you a greater chance at winning Bible

trivia to actually have it move your soul to the point where

when you're visited by persecution problems,

prosperity, even I serve God doesn't move me.

All for men and even woman of God like that in this day.

In the same way Makaya was refreshing to us.

We need great refreshment in this time and hour.

That's going to ultimately derive from servants of God who

say what the Lord says. That's what I'm going to do.

Whether it comes with reward or not, whether I feel like it or

not, it does not make a difference to me.

Oh, that there would be more of such in this place and beyond.

Let's pray as you have your head bowed and

your heart bound, before the Lord can ask you a question, a

reflective question. What part of the Bible study

touched you? What part spoke to you?

Now identify that and then pray it.

Identify that and then pray it. Pray it to be true of you.

Pray for it to be not true in you.

Lord, we ask you tonight that you would make us like this man,

immovable and steadfast. Lord, perhaps for some of us in

here, all it takes is the opinion of our fathers, our

mothers or siblings to make us doubt our faith.

For others, it's a certain amount of money that will cause

us to dwindle in our devotion. Lord, for others, humble service

is unattractive and we want position and power and authority

because we couldn't get in the world.

We might take advantage of the church to satisfy our our

desires or just wash over us. Please cleanse us and make us

clean, completely clean. Lord, in the same way Paul could

say, God is my witness, God, who tests our hearts.

Regardless of what men may say or not say, may you be able to

look upon us and be pleased. Thank You that your son's

righteousness is ours. But Lord, we want to live out

His righteousness. Make it possible for us.

Finally, Lord, help us see that you are high above all else.

Help us believe that not just over the affairs of this world,

the politics, the banks, the education system, the wars

happening in this very day and hour, though we're asking for

our own lives. Help us really believe that

you're got you're governing every single aspect of who we

are. And for this we rejoice in Jesus

name, Amen. Amen.

Let's stand together. Let's worship the Lord Almighty.