The Sermon on the Mount XIX

Subtitle:  Conclusion-False Prophets and Pretenders

Matthew 7:15-23.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on April 28, 2024.

We continue looking at the conclusion to the Sermon on the Mount that Jesus gave.  He warned them to take the narrow gate with a difficult way because it leads to life.

Now, he warns us against false prophets and pretenders who could mislead us in some ways.  Like the serpent with Eve, people who are pretenders can mislead the gullible.  They are a threat to the true disciple.  Thus, Jesus gives us apt warning.

False prophets do not call themselves “False Prophet So-And-So.”  They always call themselves a true prophet.  This was a problem in the Old Testament, and Jesus is telling us that it will continue to be a problem during the Church Age.

Of course, we are well aware of many examples of false prophets through the years.  The most obvious are men like Jim Jones who talked hundreds of people to follow him to Guyana and a erect a self-sufficient compound.  When it was all done, almost over 900 people died from drinking cyanide-laced Kool-Aid, from which comes the phrase, “Don’t drink the Kool-Aid.  How many family members pleaded with those who followed Jim Jones, recognizing him for the false teacher and false prophet that he was? 

You would like to believe that there would cease to be false prophets when Messiah Jesus had come.  This will be true at his second coming, but during this period following his first coming, he is commanding believers to recognize false prophets and bring them to account.  Yet, Jesus recognizes that they will be successful with a certain amount of people, and thus, he warns those who would be his disciples.

Let’s look at our passage.

Beware false prophets and pretenders by discerning them (v. 15-20)

In this passage Jesus only uses the term false prophet.  However, elsewhere he talks about false christs and false witnesses.  The apostles also warned against false teachers, false apostles, and false brethren (i.e., false christians).  Basically, any real work of God can be falsely mimicked by pretenders.

This is not just a message to the Jews who were rejecting Jesus.  A well known case of a false christ, or false messiah, happened around 135 A.D. (one hundred years after the death and resurrection of Jesus).  This is the case of Simon bar Kochba (also Koziba).  He was backed by Rabbi Akiva as being the Messiah.  They expected him to lead Israel in casting out the Romans, but instead, his forces were crushed and he was killed.

Such a man was not working for the God of Israel, but for something else.  These pretenders lead to many others being killed because of putting their trust in them.  Yet, Jesus is speaking to his followers.  They are not “Christians” so to speak, just yet, but they are those who would choose to be his disciples.  False teachers and false prophets will come, and the disciples of Jesus will need to discern what they are so that they are not deceived.  Since Christ will come back (the second coming), false christs (messiahs) have often come claiming to be him.  Of course, false prophets are usually predicting the second coming, or the rapture, or claiming some special knowledge.

In verses 15-20 Jesus makes the point that we need to discern false prophets, which means that we can do so.  In verses 21-23, he makes the point that those false prophets and pretenders will not fair well when they stand in judgment before him “in that day.”

The word translated in the NKJV as “beware” emphasizes keeping this area of deception in front of you, thus keeping it in mind and giving it your focus.  Yet, this does not mean it is the only thing, or even the primary thing. 

Still, it is easy for us to think that this doesn’t happen to us.  When John the Baptist was baptizing people in the Jordan, Matthew 3:7-10 tells of a interaction between him and the religious leaders.  They had come out to see what he was doing, perhaps to see if they could find something with which to pin the label of false prophet on him.  They would have felt strongly that they were vigilant against false prophets and false teachers.  Yet, they were the false teachers of their day.

John actually calls them a brood of vipers.  This would be loaded with spiritual connotation that goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden and the offspring (spiritual imagers) of the serpent.  They needed to do works “worthy of repentance,” if they wanted to enter the Kingdom of Messiah.

This helps us to see some of the problems of false prophets.  We are easily swayed by institutions and men of power who are always ready to train us in their ways of power.  When this is done in the name of God, it can disarm people who say they are being vigilant. 

Satan himself is the first false prophet, false teacher.  He teaches Eve to disobey God and follow his advice, even imaging him as they assert their will over God’s.  So, we should all ask the question, “Am I gullible?”  The answer is that you are to certain types of false prophets.  We can all be deceived if we are not walking in real relationship with God.  We can follow that which has the proper form, and yet lacks the true substance underneath, i.e., lacks power (2 Timothy 3:5).  In fact, because the religious leaders of the first century lacked true substance underneath the accretion of proper forms, they were hostile to the presence of true substance within Jesus.  Some of the greatest “heresy hunters” can be guilty of the same.

Jesus gives a metaphor that helps us to see how false prophets operate.  They come in sheep’s clothing, but in their inner man, they are ravenous wolves.  The reference to sheep denotates the flock of God, which was supposed to be a description of Israel.  These false prophets pretend to be a good Israelite who is worshiping Yahweh, but inwardly, they are not. 

The sheep’s clothing upon their wolfish being may not be a very good costume, easily seen through.  However, it may also be on the same level as Hollywood costume designers, which makes it much harder to know for sure if that is really a wolf under there.  Of course, this is a spiritual metaphor, so we have to make the connection to what that looks like.  They may be very skilled at playing the role of a follower of God (1^st century Jew or 21^st century Christian).  It may take some time for even mature believers to discern that a person has no substance.

Think about your favorite actor or actress.  Why are they your favorite?  It most likely has nothing to do with what they actually are like in their day to day relationships.  It is probably because they act out roles that you like extremely well.  Yet, remember this.  An actor is good when they can make you think that they are something that they are definitely not.  They are good pretenders, good posers.  They are very skilled at the external matters of being a Christian.

However, being a disciple of Jesus, and a sheep in the flock of God, is not simply a matter of certain externals.  Christians say certain things, and use certain lingo.  Christians go to church and meet with other believers.  Christians do certain rituals like communion or water baptism.  Now, it is good that we do these things, but no one is saved by doing these things.  These things are supposed to be a witness of a real relationship of faith in Jesus.  They are supposed to be the fruit of a heart that loves the LORD their God with everything and their neighbor as themselves.

God is looking for a deeper transformation than these things.  He wants our heart. 

The false prophets are actually ravenous wolves underneath all that costume.  This is what they are really.  The look religious, sound like they love God, but they are hungry predators focused on their own base desires.  How long can a hungry wolf pretend to be a sheep when he is surrounded by a bunch of yummy sheep?  They are putting on a show because they expect to get something, some things, out of it.  Like a wolf will eat a sheep, so they will use the sheep to satisfy their desires.  It may be the pride of life that is satisfied by a large following of devotees.  It may be a lust for power that is satisfied by people who unwisely obey their every word.  It may be some disordered sexuality that is satisfied when people do not hold them accountable.  Cult leaders often talk people into letting them take their wives, even their daughters, for sexual pleasure.  Of course, there is no end of the debasement in these categories.  It may simply be the lust of wealth, greed, and any manner of other things.  Generally, the false prophet has hangups in multiple of these categories.  They do not live on the proper grass that God provides for the sheep.  They are sensual beasts that only say no to their flesh for a moment in order to keep up their costume.  They will satisfy their lusts in the end, and many unwitting people will have helped them to do it too!  To be clear, wolves are never good around the sheep, even when they dress like them.

Now, some might say that religion itself is the problem.  If you never involved yourself with religion, then you would never be suckered by a false prophet.  This is a lovely fiction that is imagined because we tend to think of religion as something to do with a belief in a “god.”  However, atheism has all the hallmarks of a religion.

Atheists put their trust, their faith, in the idea that all things have a material cause and explanation.  They refuse to believe that there can be a God who operates in this world.  Yet, this is not something they can prove.  Generally, they only require “proof” from God, but what is the proof that all things only have material causes and explanations?  They would probably retreat to the idea of probabilities, but this is no safe haven for the atheist either.  Which is more probable, nothing created everything, or an all-powerful, all-wise Mind created everything? They believe this proposition so much that they exercise faith and order their life around it.  This is a religion which exchanges God for the material creation itself.

We might recognize that Karl Marx, Chuckie Darwin, Mao Zedong (Tse Tung), and all the others were false prophets speaking to those who were tired of Christianity.

Jesus tells us that you will know them (discern them) by their fruit.  This is an analogy from the area of fruit trees versus trees that do not bear good fruit.  If a tree grows a particular fruit, then you are assured of its true nature at the cellular level. 

Since we are talking about hypocrites, let’s picture the difference between a Christmas Tree and an Apple Tree.  We might decorate a Christmas tree with real apples, but we would have to tie them to the branches, or tape them.  No matter how much we decorated the tree, if you pay close attention to the fruit you will see if it naturally grows out of the tree, or is unnaturally, even synthetically, connected.

This powerful metaphor lies in the fact that an untrained eye may not be able to tell the difference between a good fruit tree and a tree that is not such before it begins to fruit. However, once it begins to fruit (or not) even a child would recognize that it is not what it purports to be.  If you saw a tree with apples tied to its branches, you would know that something was wrong in this “orchard.” 

A false prophet and false teacher is incapable of producing good fruit because of the truth, the reality, of who they are.  Of course, they could repent (do works worthy of repentance) and be changed by God, but this is the exception rather than the rule.

In verse 19, Jesus warns those who might be tempted to follow such trees, because parts of their flesh enjoy the wicked fruit of these false teachers.  These trees, false prophets et. al., are destined to be cut down and cast into the fire.  This refers to their judgment after death.  God may not judge a false prophet quickly (of course, He can), and they may make a long living at it.  However, in the end, they will die and be punished.

If you agree with such people, you will join in their reward, which is no reward at all.  Adam and Eve participated in the wickedness of the devil that day in the Garden.  As such, they would join in his lot, unless they found room for repentance in their hearts.  We musts turn away from easy deceptions that play on the lusts of our heart and mind. 

Sometimes we are drawn by the way that personal prophecies buoy are ego.  We may like having the “inside knowledge” that such men may purportedly proffer.  Our flesh loves having secret knowledge that others do not have.  Sometimes our flesh loves having a religious leader tell us that our sin is acceptable in God’s eyes, and we don’t have to change.  Whatever it is, we must beware of letting the lusts of our heart lead us into the sin of following a false prophet and false teacher.

They will not be able to fool Jesus at their judgment (v. 21-23)

Jesus moves forward in time when these false prophets and false teachers will be judged.  It pictures them standing before Jesus “in that day.”  This pictures a judgment of these individuals.  Not only will they never truly enter the Kingdom of Heaven in the daily operation of the true Church, they also will not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven that will be brought in at the Second Coming of Jesus.  They are shut out by the Spirit presently, and will be shut out by Jesus in the future.

Verse 21 gives a general statement up front.  Entering the Kingdom of Heaven is not a matter of declaring Jesus is your lord, even twice.  It is a matter of truly putting your faith in Jesus and following him.  This verse doesn’t just apply to false prophets.  It also applies to false brethren, i.e., false christians, who are not truly believing in Christ, they have a false conversion.  They are not trusting Jesus to fill them with His Spirit and empower them to walk out His righteousness.  They profess Christ, but they do not possess Christ.  If he actually were their Lord, then they would do the things that he commands.  They would be serving Him rather than themselves.

Verse 22 pictures them protesting their coming judgment.  Didn’t we do these things in your name?  This question is a lie, just like their sheep clothing was a lie.  They used Jesus as a cover, but in the end, they did everything for the lusts of their flesh.  Now that they stand before him, they seek to pull the wool over his eyes as they were so successful in doing to people during their life.  They are making a case, but we might think of it as a protest.  They see that they were wrong and are going to pay, and yet they make a protest against the righteous judgment.

Some people are bothered by the list of works that they refer to in verse 22.  First, I would point out that the list is clearly meant to tie back to the false prophets in the earlier section.  Yes, there are false christians, but this pictures the false prophets and false apostles.  They prophesied in the name of Jesus.  They cast out demons in the name of Jesus.  And, they did many wonders in the name of Jesus.  How could a false prophet do these things?

We need to understand a several things about this.  These false prophets represent a broad range of people and intentions.  There are some people who have been misled by a false prophet and are merely continuing a false way that they were taught.  They don’t know any better.  They think they are right.  Others are charlatans who are merely seeking to fleece the sheep.  However, some are in league with the devil and are knowingly undermining the teachings of Jesus. 

When the charlatan does something amazing, it is generally a trick.  Peter Popoff pretended to hear personal details of people’s life and needs from God, but in truth, he had an earpiece and was hearing from his wife reading from prayer requests they had filled out earlier.  I think that God may sometimes grant someone a healing because of their faith, despite the lack of character of the minister.

However, some people are in league with spirits and are using occult arts to wow people.  The devil does have a certain level of power.  We are warned that the man of lawlessness, the Antichrist (2 Thessalonians 2:9), comes forth according to the working of Satan with all power, signs, and lying wonders.  The False Prophet of Revelation 13 is said to be able to call fire down from heaven.  We are warned in Scripture not to follow people solely because of powerful signs.  We are to discern the fruit of the life that they live.

For those who are somewhat fearful at the idea that Satan may have some kind of real power, we must always remember that greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world (1 John 4:4).  Don’t be a person running around trying to find the person who appears to be ministering powerfully.  Instead, look at the fruit of their life, if they will even let you close enough to know what that is.

Jesus will not be deceived by these people, no matter how good they are with humans.  Jesus knows what they really did.  You may be a good lawyer that is able to get the best of people to question what their lying eyes are seeing, but your lawyer tricks won’t work with Jesus.  He sees right through your costume to the sinful heart that lies beneath.  Jesus says, “I never knew you!”

They may have done a lot of things in the name of Jesus, but they never had a real living relationship with him.  If they had, then he would know them.  The word “know” speaks of an intimate experience of life together.  What kind of people do things in the name of others, with whom they have no relationship?  They are called thieves and robbers.

We need to rely upon Jesus more than just the lust of our flesh in order to determine who is a prophet, or teacher, of God.  We need the written Word of God, but we also need true relationship with the Lord Jesus who is the Living Word of God.  Nothing helps against deception as good as having a living and growing relationship with Jesus.

In such a relationship, you will have the Spirit of God calling you away from the sins of pride, lust for power, lust for things, etc.  You will come to recognize that these people are wearing a mask and not responding to the Holy Spirit.  You will develop a good sniffer for false people.  Of course, we should be careful of developing a pride in our ability to “spot a fake.”  Like the person who is proud of their great humility, we can always fall into sin and error when we think too highly of ourselves.  This is a classic error of false prophets and false teachers.  They lack the very basic lessons that the Holy Spirit is faithful to correct everyone of God’s disciples with.

We are called to know Christ and be known by him.  This is a life of prayer, reading the word, wrestling with Christ over wisdom and needs, hearing from His Spirit the things we need to do, and correction when we neglect to follow through.  Learning to say no to sin in our life and being empowered by the Holy Spirit to walk out the righteousness of Jesus is the hallmark of life in the Spirit of Jesus.

In the end, they were doing the works of lawlessness.  “Depart from me, you workers of lawlessness!”  They flaunted the Word of God and the Son of God for their own lusts.  They did not see the Church as a holy bride of Christ, but instead, raped her at every turn.  The lawless always cover themselves with the appearance of lawfulness, but they resist and rebel against the truth of God.

God loves you.  Your relationship with Him may be broken, but He is still calling out to you.  It is not His intention for you to be abused by false religious people.  Instead, He wants to fill your heart and mind with the truth of His love, enabling you to see through those who would make merchandise of your soul.  May God help us all!

False Prophets audio

Folly or Wisdom? Part II

1 Kings 22:19-29.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on February 25, 2018.

Last week we talked about choices in life.  Foolish choices lead to folly and wise choices lead to life.  As we continue the story today, we should remember that there are three different types of people in this story.  Ahab, and thus the false prophets who are inclined to bless his every desire, is bent on serving Baal of rather than the God of Israel.  He is a wicked king and they are wicked prophets because they have no concern about rejecting God’s word and commands.  Jehoshaphat is different.  He represents a righteous person who has a heart after God.  Yet, his idealistic desires for unity override the repeated warnings that God gave him.  He is a righteous person who is making a foolish choice.  Lastly we have Micaiah.  He is the righteous person who is making a wise choice (to speak only what God tells him to say) even though the fact that he lands in prison could cause one to judge him as foolish.

In this life we are not always the best judge of who is who.  It is easy to point the finger at every leader and label them a wicked Ahab or wicked Jezebel.  It is also easy to see ourselves as pure and clean as Micaiah or Elijah.  But, let us remember that every choice that comes before us is laden with an opportunity for folly or wisdom.  Only God can help us to choose wisely.

The spirit realm affects the material world.

In verses 19-22 Micaiah reveals a vision that God had previously given him.  It is a vision of God’s heavenly throne in the spirit realm.  We must understand that the Bible promotes a world view that incorporates both a material realm (that which we can see and test) and a spiritual realm (that which we cannot generally see and test).  Thus Christians who follow Jesus must not skirt around this issue.  To be a faithful follower of Jesus is to believe that there is a spiritual realm.  It is also to believe that the spirit realm has a direct impact upon the material world that is unseen to natural eyes.  We can worry about a North Korean leader, an Iranian leader, or The Russians.  But, we often forget that these earthly beings are affected by spiritual forces (to the good or to the bad) that they generally do not understand, and generally do not recognize.

Micaiah reveals a principle or message that is emphasized throughout the Bible: God rules over the heavens and the earth.  The book of Daniel is a great example of this.  It reiterates five times that “The Most High God rules over the kingdom of men.”  On top of this the whole book demonstrates the truth of that statement among the world powers of Daniel’s day.  No matter how great the human powers of this world become, they are always under the rule of God and the spirit realm.  He is the King of kings and the Lord of lords. 

So Micaiah sets the scene with God on His throne and the hosts of heaven, which are spirit beings, all before Him.  A fascinating thing about this story is that it pulls back the curtain of God’s decision process and allows us to see how heavenly decrees are made.  It would be important to also notice that this scene is reminiscent of the scene in Job chapter one and two, where God is on his throne and the sons of God, spiritual beings, are surrounding Him.  In that story we see Satan instigating God to decree that he could “touch” Job with suffering.  Thus God gives Satan permission to try Job.  In this story, however, God has initiated the issue on the table.

It is important to recognize that though God is sovereign He does incorporate the input of spirit beings in His decisions.  In Job God permits a suggestion of Satan.  In this passage God puts the decree that Ahab is to die at Ramoth Gilead on the table, so to speak, and seeks input on how to make that happen.  Some scholars refer to this setting as a divine assembly or divine council.  Regardless of what we call it, we see this dynamic also in the book of Revelation and its heavenly vision scenes.  This is an important understanding about how God runs the universe.  Even though He is omniscient and sovereign, He does not operate in complete whimsical fiat.  There are some things that He decrees outright and cannot be changed, but He also leaves some things to the input of spiritual beings.  We could also notice that God does something similar on earth.  He has decreed that the Gospel should go to the ends of the earth, but He allows humans to have a say in how that will happen, how quickly, and who will go.  Thus God is always partnering with both spiritual and earthly beings to accomplish His will.

He doesn’t do this because He lacks ideas or will get a better response from those He works with.  Rather, He chooses not to micromanage the affairs of heaven and earth (or His nature is such that He will not).  He works through those authorities and agencies that He has raised up for that very purpose, both in the spirit realm and on earth.  Think about the family unit as an example.  It is God’s decree that children are to be brought up into this world by a loving commitment between a man and a woman.  It is also His decree that those parents raise that child to know Him and take their place in His kingdom.  How that is done is a partnership between parents and God.  He will not overpower them in order to “perfect” the process.  God allows parents to make choices about what their authority will look like and how well they accomplish the decrees that God has given.  Of course, parents always fall short of absolute perfection.  Even though God has left room for our choices, He is ultimately still in control.  Thus we write the story together with God.  He is not a despot that tyrannically controls everything.

There is a part of this story that leads some people to declare that there is an ethical problem.  In the story a spirit comes forward and provides a solution for how to get Ahab to Ramoth Gilead so he can die.  The answer is that this spirit will be a lying spirit in the mouths of Ahab’s prophets.  God states that this plan will work and authorizes the spirit to do what it suggested.  So is this an evil spirit or a good spirit asking to do something evil?  With the precedent of Job’s story- notice Satan is allowed to interact with God and permitted to do what he wanted, although with limitations- it seems clear that this is an evil spirit.  To many this seems odd or even wrong.  How could the Holy God of the heavens allow an evil spirit in His presence and then authorize false prophecy in order to deceive Ahab?  If we focus only on the actions of the spirit then of course it is generally wrong to mislead someone through deception and lies.  Is God being hypocritical here?  I do not believe that this is a true ethical dilemma.  Ahab has continually rejected the word of God, and also rejected the repeated grace of God as reason to turn back.  He has continually rejected the God of Israel and served Baal, the god of the Canaanites.  He is now under a death decree by God because of his willful insurrection (remember God created the nation of Israel to serve Him and they agreed to only serve Him).  Though murder is morally reprehensible, it is not the same as executing a criminal for capital crimes.  Thus here, Ahab is under the death penalty for capital crimes.  Part of the judgment is to use the same false prophets of Baal that he has been listening to in order to lead him to his death.  When we look at it this way, we see that the way the punishment is carried out is particularly fitting.  Ahab has only survived by the grace of God to this point.  So now God removes His grace and allows Ahab to suffer the results of listening to false prophets.  He is letting Ahab experience the full fruit of the path that He has chosen. 

I will close this point by reminding us of a similar situation in 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12.  In it we are told that humanity in the last days will come under the judgment of God.  God will quit restraining the evil that the world is pressing towards (remove His grace).  The world will be enamored with a being that will use lying wonders and unrighteous deception.  Why would God allow this strong delusion that is called The Lie?  We are told that it is because they would not receive the love of the truth.  For 2,000 years God has sent His people into the world to not only speak His Truth, but to also be used of the Spirit of God to help convince people of the truth.  How can someone imagine Jesus on the cross dying for their sins and not receive a love of the truth of it all?  God is not the Agent of this evil deception and lies.  However, when we continually reject His endeavors to help us see the truth, we can come under His judgment, or at the least, His discipline.  For Ahab this story is judgment, but for Jehoshaphat it is discipline.  This understanding should sink in.  These 400 prophets were not complete phonies in the sense that they were making this up.  They were actually in contact with a spirit, but it wasn’t the Holy Spirit.  Rather, it was an evil spirit that their years of worshipping Baal had not prepared them to recognize.  They too were under a judgment of deception because they had rejected the truth that Elijah had revealed at Mt. Carmel: The God of Israel is the true God and Baal is nothing.

Foolish decisions are made despite hearing the truth.

In the tradition of a tragedy verses 24-29 show the different parties of this story making a critical choice for different reasons and thus headed on an inescapable course for disaster.  All of this is over the top of God’s repeated attempts to turn them back to the truth.

After Micaiah’s statement that all the prophets of Ahab were being led by an evil spirit, one false prophet named Zedekiah (probably their leader) takes offense and confronts Micaiah.  He does so by first slapping Micaiah on the cheek.  If you do a search of the word “cheek” in the Bible you will find that there are four places in the Old Testament that speak of this act of striking the cheek.  This story is the first of them.  It is always a public shaming of the person struck.  In Matthew 5:39 Jesus said, “But I tell you not to resist an evil person.  But, whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also.”  The point Jesus is making is that it won’t do any good to slap an evil person back, or even to reason with them about truth.  The truth generally makes an evil person more enraged (note the experience of Jesus).  So what can a righteous person do?  The only thing you can do is let them pursue their course of wickedness and come to disaster, even if that course involves crucifying you.  Jesus let Israel crucify Him, partially to shock their conscience back to life.  Perhaps somewhere along the course of insanity and wickedness, as a person begins to reap the crop of destruction, the Holy Spirit’s conviction just might break through and lead them to repentance.

Zedekiah also asks the question, “Where did the Spirit of the Lord go between speaking to me and to you?”  This is a way of highlighting that the place the Holy Spirit went clearly makes no difference.  It strongly implies that the error is with Micaiah not Zedekiah.  Think of it as a way of saying, “I know I heard from the Holy Spirit.  So what happened to the Holy Spirit for Him to give you a different word?  Nothing!”  Either Zedekiah is truly deluded, which makes sense in light of the deceiving spirit, or he is keeping up the act.  I think it is the former.  He chooses folly over life.  Micaiah’s answer is to simply say that Zedekiah will figure it out when he flees to an inner room to hide.  Presumably this means that there will be great disaster and Zedekiah’s words will prove so false that he will run and hide himself.  All prophetic words must bear their weight or fall to the ground based upon what actually happens down the road.  Thus the truth will become clear in the end.

Ahab is another man who makes a foolish decision in this story.  Once again he has no desire to heed the counsel of Micaiah.  Thus he has the prophet of the Lord taken back to the city and put in prison with only bread and water of affliction.  This simply means the minimum quantity and quality to keep one alive.  The tyrants of this world, who are bent on pursuing their own selfish desires over the top of the God of heaven, love to put the righteous in prison and mistreat them.  Ahab should be honoring Micaiah and instead he orders his abuse.  Definitely, Ahab proved that he was not worthy of the immense amount of grace that God had sent to him.  Micaiah did not deserve what he was given.  But it was the duty that God was asking him to endure.  It isn’t easy to live for the truth of God in a world that does not love truth, nor wants to receive it.  Thus Ahab signs his own death decree by rejecting this last warning of God.  By putting Micaiah in prison, he is really putting God in prison.  He wants God to stay in the little box of his control.  But God will never stay in our little boxes.

The foolish decisions that we have looked at up to this point are the kind where we would say that it serves them right.  But, Jehoshaphat’s choice to still go to war with Ahab (verse 29) leaves us shouting at the Bible (ex. TV)  “What are you doing?  Don’t go with him!  You dummy, you’re gonna get yourself killed!”   Before we get too hard on Jehoshaphat, we need to see that there is some Jehoshaphat in all of us.  It is that part which is capable of making a foolish choice for all the “good reasons.”  My curiosity would like to know exactly what Jehoshaphat was thinking.  He must not have been convinced by Micaiah.  But then again the clear contradiction of the message of the false prophets, which Jehoshaphat obviously distrusted, should have warranted caution.  Maybe he trusts the assurances of Ahab, whom he knows, over the top of Micaiah, whom he doesn’t know.  Maybe Ahab’s complaint that Micaiah is prejudiced against him leads Jehoshaphat to disregard him as not objective.  Regardless, Ahab is going to his death and Jehoshaphat is going to be disciplined by the Lord.  He will lose the battle and many troops.  Only by the grace of God does he not lose his life.  But we will look at that next week.

Let us take our lives seriously enough that we take time to pray and seek out the counsel of God’s word regarding our decisions of life.  There are times that decisions are not critical.  However, if we have neglected to develop the habit of taking decisions before the Lord then we will be unprepared and easily tripped up when the critical decisions do come along.  Don’t make decisions in order to please people, but rather to please the Lord.  Neither should we confuse pleasing the Lord with doing exactly what we wanted to do.  May we be humble before God and our fellow man.

Folly Wisdom II audio