PROPHET #401

1 Kings 22:5-8 Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, "Please inquire for the word of the LORD today."  Then the king of Israel gathered the prophets together, about four hundred men, and said to them, "Shall I go against Ramoth Gilead to fight, or shall I refrain?" So they said, "Go up, for the Lord will deliver it into the hand of the king."  And Jehoshaphat said, "Is there not still a prophet of the LORD here, that we may inquire of Him?" So the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, "There is still one man, Micaiah the son of Imlah, by whom we may inquire of the LORD…

Jehoshaphat, King of Judah, was a good man who made some horrible decisions and teamed up with some ungodly and unholy men; once with Ahab and again with Jehoram. Both times he said, "I am as you are, my people as your people, my horses as your horses." 1 Kings 22:4, 2 Kings 3:7. It’s a sad thing when the man of God says to the ungodly world, “I am as you are…” We have entirely too many Jehoshaphats in the leadership of the church today.

When Ahab asks him to join with him against Ramoth-gilead, at least he did have the good sense to say, "Please inquire for the word of the LORD today." 1 Kings 22:5.  When he does, Ahab calls in his false, “prosperity prophets,” 400 strong, who say, "Go up, for the Lord will deliver it into the hand of the king." 1 Kings 22:6  We’ve got more than 400 of these “you can have your best life now” boys around today prophesying what people want to hear. They speak with “enticing words of man’s wisdom” and have great crowds who follow them with “itching ears,” but have no Word from the Lord and no power from on high. Paul warned us that the last days would be full of them and he instructed Timothy to “Guard what was committed to his trust, avoiding the profane and idle babblings and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge” (1 Timothy 6:20) and  “continue in the things that he had learned and been assured of.” (2 Timothy 3:14)

Jehoshaphat then asked, "Is there not still a prophet of the LORD here, that we may inquire of Him?" 1 Kings 22:7. Ahab replies, "There is still one man, Micaiah the son of Imlah, by whom we may inquire of the LORD; but I hate him, because he does not prophesy good concerning me, but evil." 1 Kings 22:8  

Thank God for Micaiah,  prophet # 401, who dared to speak the Word of the Lord, no matter what the cost! He had decided long before he stood before King Ahab, "As the LORD lives, whatever the LORD says to me, that I will speak." 1 Kings 22:14. In spite of the fact that 400 other prophets urged him to say what the King wanted to hear and make it unanimous, he dared to become the lone dissenter and speak “whatever the Lord says.” Micaiah was thrown in jail sentenced to a diet of bread and water and never mentioned again in the Bible, but he stood like Moses, “choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; for he looked to the reward.” Hebrews 11:25-26 

 All this is a classic illustration of what’s going on right before our eyes today. It ended in tragedy then and it will this time.

“Lord, please raise up some more 401 prophets like Micaiah who will speak “whatever the Lord says…”

Keep praying!

Jeff