Standing on the Unchanging Word of God

1 Kings 22:24-28 ESV

24 Then Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah came near and struck Micaiah on the cheek and said, “How did the Spirit of the Lord go from me to speak to you?” 25 And Micaiah said, “Behold, you shall see on that day when you go into an inner chamber to hide yourself.” 26 And the king of Israel said, “Seize Micaiah, and take him back to Amon the governor of the city and to Joash the king's son, 27 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.”’” 28 And Micaiah said, “If you return in peace, the Lord has not spoken by me.” And he said, “Hear, all you peoples!”

Something that is indisputably true that essentially every professing Christian will attest to is that God will always have His way. God is absolutely sovereign over His creation, therefore in the end; whatever He wants to happen will indeed happen.

But though we all will say that we believe that, still, in the same breath many of us will say, “Well, God really, really wants this or that to happen… but He can’t do that unless we cooperate with Him, unless we let Him, unless we allow Him…”

Well, you know, that kind of language suggests that we, those who have been created are the ones who are sovereign, and that God, the Creator, is subject to ourwill. That is what that kind of language suggests… And there couldn’t be anything farther from the truth.

But though that could not be farther from the truth, still, as I said, there are many who reason in such a way. There are many who are so set on something turning out a certain way that they will say that unless it turns out the way that they want it to turn out, then that just means that God’s purposes have failed to come to fruition, because according to that person, any outcome other than the outcome that he desires is a bad outcome and therefore it cannot have come from God.

And because this person views anything that is contrary to what he wants to happen as bad, he then proclaims that his will must also be God’s will. Therefore, when what this person wants does not come to pass, he reasons that God’s will was not accomplished, that somehow God was defeated in this particular instance.

Well, as we have been working through this narrative from the 22nd chapter of the first book of Kings, what we have seen is Ahab, king of Israel desiring a certain outcome. What he desires is to go and fight at Ramoth-gilead and to win. And what he also wants is for anyone who comes before him claiming to be a prophet to also proclaim that it is God’s will, that it is God’s desire for Ahab to fight at Ramoth-gilead and to win.

Well, as we worked through the text of our sermon last week, we discovered that it is indeed God’s will for Ahab to fight at Ramoth-gilead, but it is not God’s will for Ahab to be victorious, rather it was God’s will for Ahab to perish when he goes out to fight.

Well, as we will see in our message today, that was a truth that Ahab could not and would not accept. The only thing that he wanted to hear was that God was going to cause him to be victorious in battle.

But because Micaiah, the true prophet of God said what he said, Ahab desired to shut him up for good. But even when the adversaries of God attempt to silence the word of God, His word still returns to Him, accomplishing its desired effect.

We are going to look at both of these aspects that are found in our reading for today. We are going to look at the king’s desire to shut Micaiah up, and we are also going to look at the boldness that Micaiah possessed, knowing that God would accomplish what He had spoken through him.

But let’s first go ahead and look at how Ahab tried to shut the prophet up. We begin to see this in verse 24 of our reading, where it says:

1 Kings 22:24 ESV

24 Then Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah came near and struck Micaiah on the cheek and said, “How did the Spirit of the Lord go from me to speak to you?”

Now, when Ahab paraded all 400 of his hired prophets into his presence and asked them what God had declared concerning him going to fight at Ramoth-gilead, all 400 of the prophets spoke the same thing: “Go up to Ramoth-gilead for God will give you victory!”

But back in the 11th verse of this chapter, we saw that there was one of the false prophets in particular who acted almost as the ringleader in this deception. He was this Zedekiah who is mentioned in this verse.

Well, because he was the ringleader in giving the king this false prophecy, and because the prophecy that God gave to Micaiah was the polar opposite of what he had declared, he knew that if the king were to believe the report given by Micaiah, that he would then have the most to lose.

So, because Zedekiah reckoned that he had the most to lose if the king believed the report given by Micaiah, Zedekiah took action to ensure that the king would not believe Micaiah.

In a sign of contempt, right before the king, Zedekiah, the ringleader of the false prophets approached Micaiah, the one true prophet, and he struck him on the cheek.

Then after hitting him in his face, Zedekiah, with an air of false superiority, derogatorily asked Micaiah “How did the Spirit of the Lord go from me to speak to you?”

Zedekiah was influenced and inspired by a spirit alright, but not by the Spirit of God, rather, as our reading said last week, he was influenced by a lying spirit that had come before God.

But though it was a lying spirit who influenced Zedekiah and the rest of the false prophets, Zedekiah, of course, did not recognize this. Satan disguises himself as an angel of light, and so do his minions, therefore, when this lying spirit spoke to Zedekiah, he most certainly believed it was a word from God.

So, with that being said, Zedekiah was probably legitimately insulted and annoyed that Micaiah was claiming that God gave him an interpretation other than what he had received.

Well, let’s take a look at how Micaiah responded to Zedekiah after he struck him in verse 25, where we read:

1 Kings 22:25 ESV

25 And Micaiah said, “Behold, you shall see on that day when you go into an inner chamber to hide yourself.”

You know, to be absolutely honest, if someone came up to me and hit me in the face after I spoke the word of God, I may be tempted to hit him back, but that’s not how Micaiah reacted. He didn’t react in an aggressive manner, instead, he simply says, “You don’t believe me now, but you will believe when you hear the report that Ahab has died at Ramoth-gilead.”

When he speaks of going into an inner chamber, he means that Zedekiah and all of the king’s other supporters will be so afraid at hearing that Ahab has died that they will run for cover, not knowing what to expect now that the king that they sucked up to so much is now dead.

Basically, what he says is that Zedekiah and Ahab and all of the king’s other supporters will know that God has spoken through him when they see that it happens just the way that he says that it will happen.

But as the prophecy of Micaiah stated, Ahab is to be deceived so that he will walk right into the God-ordained deathtrap. Therefore, in verses 26 and 27 we see the reaction of Ahab, where it says:

1 Kings 22:26-27 ESV

26 And the king of Israel said, “Seize Micaiah, and take him back to Amon the governor of the city and to Joash the king's son, 27 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.”’”

At hearing the true word of God from the mouth of Micaiah the prophet, Ahab decided that he was going to shut Micaiah up for good. He orders that he be taken away from his presence and placed in prison.

He says, to place Micaiah in prison until Ahab returns and comes in peace. So we see here that he believes the lying spirit that promised that we would win and return in peace. He says, “When I return in peace, having won the victory and being unharmed, I will deal with Micaiah myself! I’ll make sure that he never prophesies ever again!”

But look at the response to this by Micaiah in verse 28, when it reads:

1 Kings 22:28 ESV

28 And Micaiah said, “If you return in peace, the Lord has not spoken by me.” And he said, “Hear, all you peoples!”

With absolute boldness, Micaiah basically tells the most powerful man in all Israel, “I’m not worried about your threats. I’m not worried about what you think you’re going to do to me. Because when you leave here, you’re not coming back!”

Back in the book of Deuteronomy, chapter 18, verses 21 and 22, when speaking of differentiating between true and false prophets, God tells the Israelites:

Deuteronomy 18:21-22 ESV

21 And if you say in your heart, ‘How may we know the word that the Lord has not spoken?’— 22 when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him.

So, it’s pretty straightforward here, if you want to know whether or not a man is truly sent from the Lord and that he speaks the word of the Lord, you will know that he is a true prophet when what he says will come to pass, does indeed come to pass.

But if what he says will come to pass does not come to pass, then you know that he is a false prophet, he speaks a word that God has not spoken. Like what happened here in this narrative, it may be that such a false prophet was inspired by an evil, deceptive spirit, but he certainly wasn’t inspired by God.

With this in mind, Micaiah tells Ahab that if he returns in peace, then that will mean that God has not spoken to him, but that he, and not Zedekiah, has been deceived.

Furthermore, he tells everyone present to hear what he is saying. He puts them all on notice, so that when what he proclaimed comes to pass, they will know without a doubt that God has spoken by him, and they will be absolutely without excuse if they continue in their unbelief after they see the mighty workings of God.

Micaiah was bold. And the reason why he was bold is because God really did speak to him, and God is much more powerful than King Ahab, Zedekiah the false prophet, or anyone else who threatens him.

He doesn’t have any reason to be afraid of anyone who opposes him, because God is with him. And because God is with him, he has no reason to fear because whether he lives or dies, he will be eternally preserved by the God of heaven and earth.

Beloved, as we live in this society, in this world that is so lax to the things of God, that really doesn’t care about God, that considers God to be dead last, we have to be like Micaiah.

We have to boldly stand on God and the word of God. We have to adhere to the orthodox faith. We have to unwaveringly place our trust in the holy name of Jesus Christ.

We have to know that just because the world does not love or adhere to the God of heaven and earth and His word, that doesn’t mean that the Word is then null and void. Because they hate the Word, that doesn’t mean that the Word will not come to pass. Because they hate God, that doesn’t mean that He is stepping off of His throne.

What God has proclaimed in His word will most certainly come to pass, even if he, she, we, or anyone else doesn’t want it to come to pass. We don’t nullify God, nor can we ever nullify God. Therefore, may we, as beloved children of God, obediently submit to Him and boldly proclaim what He commands us to proclaim, and that alone!

Amen?