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Micaiah & Later Generations
Scarcely are heavenly scenes unveiled for human creatures to behold. Rare are the instances in which God’s higher-righteous decrees of heaven are revealed to men, as if, momentarily, they are bystanders in the Supreme Court of God in heaven. In the life and ministry of Micaiah, HE DID behold a heavenly scene of magnanimous proportion! At the sight of it, in consideration with the things subsequently unfolded on earth below, all men of sound reason will be forced to solemnly conclude, “With Him is strength and wisdom: the deceived and the deceiver are His. He leadeth counsellors away spoiled, and maketh the judges fools” (Job 12:16-17)! “Are we stronger than He” (1 Cor. 10:22)!? |
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“Go, and prosper: for the LORD shall deliver it into the hand of the king” – 1 Kings 22:15
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Micaiah was a lonely prophet that “sat alone” (Jer. 15:17), as Israel was filled with lying soothsayers. Nevertheless, Micaiah was enquired by Ahab the King of Israel often enough so that he had a well-known reputation. Ahab said of him, “I hate him; for he doth not prophesy good concerning me, but evil” (1 Kings 22:8). Ahab expected Micaiah to prophesy of harm and evil when, this time, he is endeavoring a battle in league with Jehoshaphat, the King of Judah. Jehoshaphat was loyal to the true God, and thus he compelled Ahab to call forth Micaiah to prophesy. Micaiah was then called to the court to give a word. When Micaiah arrived, about 400 prophets had already prophesied to King Ahab, “Go up to Ramothgilead, and prosper: for the LORD shall deliver it into the king’s hand” (1 Kings 22:12). While Micaiah was traveling to the court of the kings with the messenger that retrieved him, the messenger pled with him to prophesy like all other men, like the rest of the prophets who said something good.
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“And Micaiah said, As the LORD liveth, what the LORD saith unto me, that will I speak. So he came to the king. And the king said unto him, Micaiah, shall we go against Ramothgilead 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” (1 Kings 22:14-15).
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How can this be? Did the LORD lie? My reader, the LORD “hath spoken evil” (1 Kings 22:23) concerning Ahab by sending him a deception! God sent Ahab a delusion through the instrumentality of lying spirits, as Micaiah later told Ahab saying: “behold, the LORD hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these thy prophets” (1 Kings 22:23). The Lord spoke evil concerning Ahab, but, this was spoken in heaven, and from the High Ground up there, God decreed that a lying spirit would be sent down here. This evil spirit was empowered by God’s determining decree, empowered to deceive, and so he succeeded to bring about the God-ordained deception upon Ahab. This was to the end that Ahab would be convinced he was in the will of God, being deceived, to confidently go forth, with peace, with joy, riding into his death. God spoke evil concerning Ahab, but Ahab was held captive by a lying deception. It was God’s will for Ahab to think he was in the favorable will of God. When Micaiah was asked what the word of God was to Ahab, shockingly, Micaiah spoke of the very same decree which he saw and heard in heaven – “Go and prosper” (1 Kings 22:15). It was God’s will that Ahab would go and die, by decree, and this decree manifested in the powers of lying spirits, preaching deceptions through a hoard of false prophets, passionately deceived, and crying out – “Go, and prosper: for the LORD shall deliver it into the hand of the King” (1 Kings 22:12). Four hundred strong and shouting, deceptions like sulfur smoke were filling the court of the Kings. The blackness was whirling about with invisible demonic powers, so that, without hearing a whispering voice men believed Satan’s speeches, making perfectly sane men deluded by a spiritual blinding, and in this, all the deceived men were rejoicing in the emotional charisma of a victory at war, roaring with confidence that was utterly astounding! God Almighty – even the Lord – He did ordain this, and “His hand formed the crooked serpent” (Job 26:13)! Please carefully review the historical account as it was written:
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“So he came to the king. And the king said unto him, Micaiah, shall we go against Ramothgilead 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. And the king said unto him, How many times shall I adjure thee that thou tell me nothing but that which is true in the name of the LORD? 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 unto Jehoshaphat, Did I not tell thee that he would prophesy no good concerning me, but evil? 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 Ramothgilead? 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, Wherewith? 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, and the LORD hath spoken evil concerning thee.” (1Ki 22:15-23)
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As Balaam and Israel prayed to God, now again, this King Ahab prays enquiries, and justice reacts to their insolence with damning deceptions. Ahab enquired of God to know His mind, will, or word, but with a rebellious heart, and God says: “rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry” (1 Sam. 15:23). This rebellious King met the description written in Ezekiel 14:3 which explains “The Deception of God”:
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“Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart, and put the stumblingblock of their iniquity before their face: should I be enquired of at all by them?” Well, should He? In this chapter, God threatens such men that come to a prophet for enquiry: “I the LORD will answer him that cometh according to the multitude of his idols” (Ezek. 14:4).
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What does this mean for God to answer a man according to his idols? It means – DECEPTION – God says, “That I may take the House of Israel in their own heart, because they are all estranged from Me through their idols” (Ezek. 14:5). By the power of deceptions and woeful judgments, God says that He will make such men “a sign and a proverb” by the manner in which He does cut them off from His people. Further, when deceptions go forth through the prophesying of the prophets which are enquired of – GOD TAKES OWNERSHIP FOR IT: “And if the prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a thing, I the LORD have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out My hand upon him, and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel” (Ezek. 14:9)!
God said…
God said…
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To Ahab – “Go, and prosper: for the LORD shall deliver it into the hand of the King” (1 Kings 22:15).
To Balaam – “If the men come to call thee, rise up, and go with them” (Num. 22:20). |
These are the commandments of God, by higher decree, but not those which are laced with truth and life! On the contrary, they are laced with wrath and death. Thus God declares: “Wherefore I gave them also statutes that were not good, and judgments whereby they should not live; And I polluted them in their own gifts, in that they caused to pass through the fire all that openeth the womb, that I might make them desolate, to the end that they might know that I am the LORD” (Ezek. 20:25-26). In the same manner that God related to Ahab and Balaam, specifically, how He spoke to them a deception, Ezekiel 20:39 is exactly parallel in command to Israel: “As for you, O house of Israel, thus saith the Lord GOD; Go ye, serve ye every one his idols, and hereafter also, if ye will not hearken unto Me: but pollute ye my holy name no more with your gifts, and with your idols” (Ezek. 20:39).
God said…
God said…
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To Israel – “Go ye, serve ye every one his idols” (Ezek. 20:39).
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These commandments of God are sovereign decrees which result in the hardening of men’s hearts. Men are irresistibly compelled by these commands under the deceptive power of God. This is like as it is written in the NT: “God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie” (2 Thess. 2:11). Had God never sent the delusion, then such persons would not have believed a lie. Why does the Lord give such commandments of strong delusion? The next verse declares its purpose: “That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness” (2 Thess. 2:12). The Lord says the same thing in Ezekiel 20:25-26 as the purpose of the delusion, when He said, “that I might make them desolate.” There are many decrees of deception on the high plains of sovereign loft, more than we know, which all the attendants of the court hear continually, like Micaiah saw and heard just once. As the Lord said to Ahab, “go,” and to Balaam, “go,” God also says to Israel…
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To Israel – “Come to Bethel, and transgress; at Gilgal multiply transgression; and bring your sacrifices every morning, and your tithes after three years: And offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving with leaven, and proclaim and publish the free offerings: for this liketh you, O ye children of Israel, saith the Lord GOD” (Amos 4:4-5).
To rebellious young men – “Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth; and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes: but know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment” (Eccl. 11:9). |
God deceives them to bring them into His desired furnace of destruction. He prepares for, not a haven of rest, but a dungeon of derision. “I will hide My face from them, I will see what their end shall be” (Deut. 32:20). God will take them to the place where men will call upon Him, being in derision, and then God will leave them there, confounded, tormented by the silent absence of God. God will lead them forth to lie down in God’s guillotine. Here He will debag their faces and cause them to look up at the blade, ready to fall, and then they will call upon all things, and even Him, and then God will deride them and shame them! He will call upon their false gods to upbraid the false confidence they have had. God will mock them there and be glorified over the images of His jealousy which stole the love of the people from God. Like a jealous husband, He will have the idols in derision, not that they could have emotion nor even speak, but by their silence they will be derided in the hearts of the people laid waste and ready to die, forsaken in the hour of their deepest need. “He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision” (Ps. 2:4). “But Thou, O LORD, shalt laugh at them; Thou shalt have all the heathen in derision” (Ps. 59:8). “And He shall say, Where are their gods, their rock in whom they trusted, Which did eat the fat of their sacrifices, and drank the wine of their drink offerings? Let them rise up and help you, and be your protection” (Deut. 32:38)! “Go and cry unto the gods which ye have chosen; let them deliver you in the time of your tribulation” (Judges 10:14)! Thus God says to men as He says to the tribe of Ephraim, “Ephraim is joined to idols: let him alone” (Hos. 4:17)!
By life or death, God will have the glory! Oh dear reader, do you want God to leave you alone? Like as God said that He did to Israel when, “He gave them their own desire; they were not estranged from their lust” (Ps. 78:29-30). Oh the terror of it! That aside from the sovereign restraint of God men will be left to themselves, and if God will determine the destruction of a soul, it can be said, simply, that He restrained them no more, gave them up, and let them go. “But my people would not hearken to my voice; and Israel would none of Me. So I gave them up unto their own hearts' lust: and they walked in their own counsels” (Psalm 81:11-12). “Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves” (Rom 1:24).
Such men as these are human vessels purposefully created, and now existing, to display the glory of God’s wrath. What glory? The glory of the magnitude, severity, and awfulness of the climax when they are destroyed – when it is done, how it is done, and why it is done! When they are destroyed, it is a surprise, surprising the deceived! How they are destroyed will be a sign and wonder to all those who live thereafter; feared and derided! Why they die is a case God makes clear. “The way of transgressors is hard” (Prov. 13:15). God gives men deceptions to make their sins increase, to reach the glory mark, until God is able to justly reward their behavior with a certain severity of awful destruction which shall stand forever – forever famous – steering all men away from sin into the fear of God. God waits to awake His judgments until the hour of His glory, till sin exponentially increases and mounts up, and God rises above it, with a Warrior leap, striking it down to the depths of hell! Even so, remember this, so it shall be in the End of Days:
By life or death, God will have the glory! Oh dear reader, do you want God to leave you alone? Like as God said that He did to Israel when, “He gave them their own desire; they were not estranged from their lust” (Ps. 78:29-30). Oh the terror of it! That aside from the sovereign restraint of God men will be left to themselves, and if God will determine the destruction of a soul, it can be said, simply, that He restrained them no more, gave them up, and let them go. “But my people would not hearken to my voice; and Israel would none of Me. So I gave them up unto their own hearts' lust: and they walked in their own counsels” (Psalm 81:11-12). “Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves” (Rom 1:24).
Such men as these are human vessels purposefully created, and now existing, to display the glory of God’s wrath. What glory? The glory of the magnitude, severity, and awfulness of the climax when they are destroyed – when it is done, how it is done, and why it is done! When they are destroyed, it is a surprise, surprising the deceived! How they are destroyed will be a sign and wonder to all those who live thereafter; feared and derided! Why they die is a case God makes clear. “The way of transgressors is hard” (Prov. 13:15). God gives men deceptions to make their sins increase, to reach the glory mark, until God is able to justly reward their behavior with a certain severity of awful destruction which shall stand forever – forever famous – steering all men away from sin into the fear of God. God waits to awake His judgments until the hour of His glory, till sin exponentially increases and mounts up, and God rises above it, with a Warrior leap, striking it down to the depths of hell! Even so, remember this, so it shall be in the End of Days:
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“And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities. Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double. How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow. Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God Who judgeth her” (Rev. 18:4-8).
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Into the hour of their derision, thereto the deception of God leadeth them, and then, God looks upon them with the very face they gave to Him! Scorn, mockery, and frowardness! Elijah did well represent this at that famed Mountain faceoff: “And it came to pass at noon, that Elijah mocked them, and said, Cry aloud: for he is a god; either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is in a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth, and must be awaked” (1Ki 18:27). Like Elijah, Elisha spoke to the King of Israel (who was utterly joined to idolatry and rebellion) in the hour of his deepest need: “What have I to do with thee? Get thee to the prophets of thy father, and to the prophets of thy mother. And the king of Israel said unto him, Nay: for the LORD hath called these three kings together, to deliver them into the hand of Moab” (2Ki 3:13). Thus also Christ derided His sleeping disciples who refused to hear His call for watchful prayer, and so, they were left to the delusions of their temptations, and in turn – every one of them forsook and denied Christ. “Then cometh [Jesus] to His disciples, and saith unto them, Sleep on now, and take your rest: behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners” (Matt. 26:45).
When God delivers His nation and people over to a delusion, He is leading them into crying agony, and at the hour of uplifted prayers God’s face is still turned away. Remember this verse? “Therefore it is come to pass, that as he cried, and they would not hear; so they cried, and I would not hear, saith the LORD of hosts” (Zech. 7:13). God is justified, He reasons, to abide behind the clouds of delusion. “Then shall they cry unto the LORD, but He will not hear them: He will even hide His face from them at that time, as they have behaved themselves ill in their doings” (Mich. 3:4). “Therefore will I also deal in fury: Mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity: and though they cry in Mine ears with a loud voice, yet will I not hear them” (Ezek. 8:18). Men who say, “there is no God”, God will be no God to them! “They cried, but there was none to save them: even unto the LORD, but He answered them not” (Psalm 18:41)! “Therefore thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will bring evil upon them, which they shall not be able to escape; and though they shall cry unto Me, I will not hearken unto them” (Jer. 11:11). They can cry, pray, fast, and mourn, but all such humiliation is in – an unacceptable time – a woeful hour when God cannot be found. What agony! God saith, “When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and an oblation, I will not accept them: but I will consume them by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence” (Jer. 14:12). Generations of men have read about these horrifying deceptions decreed by God, and so, men fear to be made like a deceived animal, a dumb ox, unknowingly led to the slaughter. Be wise, my reader, and “feel after” God so as to find Him now, if haply now is an hour when He may be found of you (Acts 17:27)! “Seek ye the LORD while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near” (Isa. 55:6).
Maybe you will run into one of God’s messengers of deception, the false prophets, who preach the good promises of God to unrepentant men. They do “seeing vanity, and divining lies”, “saying, Thus saith the Lord GOD, when the LORD hath not spoken” (Ezek. 22:28). With the help of demonic powers, the common people turn away from hearing God’s voice and law which calls them to repentance and obedience. They continue in disobedience, but still believe God, that, in the hour of trouble God will help and save them. What a tragedy; it is NOT SO! “He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be abomination” (Pro 28:9)! God will judge even their prayer as a sin (Ps. 109:7), even as the psalmist said: “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me” (Ps. 66:18).
My dear reader, have you thought long and hard about a God Who will put men, even saved men, under the awful experience written in Lamentations 3:1-8?
When God delivers His nation and people over to a delusion, He is leading them into crying agony, and at the hour of uplifted prayers God’s face is still turned away. Remember this verse? “Therefore it is come to pass, that as he cried, and they would not hear; so they cried, and I would not hear, saith the LORD of hosts” (Zech. 7:13). God is justified, He reasons, to abide behind the clouds of delusion. “Then shall they cry unto the LORD, but He will not hear them: He will even hide His face from them at that time, as they have behaved themselves ill in their doings” (Mich. 3:4). “Therefore will I also deal in fury: Mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity: and though they cry in Mine ears with a loud voice, yet will I not hear them” (Ezek. 8:18). Men who say, “there is no God”, God will be no God to them! “They cried, but there was none to save them: even unto the LORD, but He answered them not” (Psalm 18:41)! “Therefore thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will bring evil upon them, which they shall not be able to escape; and though they shall cry unto Me, I will not hearken unto them” (Jer. 11:11). They can cry, pray, fast, and mourn, but all such humiliation is in – an unacceptable time – a woeful hour when God cannot be found. What agony! God saith, “When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and an oblation, I will not accept them: but I will consume them by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence” (Jer. 14:12). Generations of men have read about these horrifying deceptions decreed by God, and so, men fear to be made like a deceived animal, a dumb ox, unknowingly led to the slaughter. Be wise, my reader, and “feel after” God so as to find Him now, if haply now is an hour when He may be found of you (Acts 17:27)! “Seek ye the LORD while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near” (Isa. 55:6).
Maybe you will run into one of God’s messengers of deception, the false prophets, who preach the good promises of God to unrepentant men. They do “seeing vanity, and divining lies”, “saying, Thus saith the Lord GOD, when the LORD hath not spoken” (Ezek. 22:28). With the help of demonic powers, the common people turn away from hearing God’s voice and law which calls them to repentance and obedience. They continue in disobedience, but still believe God, that, in the hour of trouble God will help and save them. What a tragedy; it is NOT SO! “He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be abomination” (Pro 28:9)! God will judge even their prayer as a sin (Ps. 109:7), even as the psalmist said: “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me” (Ps. 66:18).
My dear reader, have you thought long and hard about a God Who will put men, even saved men, under the awful experience written in Lamentations 3:1-8?
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“I am the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of His wrath. He hath led me, and brought me into darkness, but not into light. Surely against me is He turned; He turneth His hand against me all the day. My flesh and my skin hath He made old; He hath broken my bones. He hath builded against me, and compassed me with gall and travail. He hath set me in dark places, as they that be dead of old. He hath hedged me about, that I cannot get out: He hath made my chain heavy. Also when I cry and shout, He shutteth out my prayer. Thou hast covered Thyself with a cloud, that our prayer should not pass through” (Lam. 3:1-8, 44).
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Dear pastor, church member, or ministerial staff, have you ever sought to examine the state of your heart and life next to the biblical fruits of true Christianity, if haply, perhaps, your expectations notwithstanding, all of your church assemblies, services, songs, prayers, and religious duties are antagonizing, wearying, and troubling to God? Even as He said of old:
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“When ye come to appear before Me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread My courts? Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto Me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting. Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto Me; I am weary to bear them. And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide Mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood” (Isa 1:12-15).
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Are you included in His case of justice? Maybe this describes you, then, when God said, “Thus saith the LORD unto this people, Thus have they loved to wander, they have not refrained their feet, therefore the LORD doth not accept them; He will now remember their iniquity, and visit their sins. Then said the LORD unto me, Pray not for this people for their good. When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and an oblation, I will not accept them: but I will consume them by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence” (Jer. 14:10-12).