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Ahab and Truth - 2 Chr. 18
Ahab and Truth - 2 Chr. 18
TWO thoughts come to mind while reading this chapter. First of course is the whole problem of a 'deceiving spirit from the Lord'. Short 'answer' below.
BUT second, is how false prophets haven't changed much!
· There were false prophets.
· There were MANY of them.
· They were 'in favor' by the kings (those in power).
· There were lots of them that agreed.
· They were always 'encouraging' in their words, even to someone like wicked Ahab! {hearing in my head .. "where never is heard, a discouraging word...}.
Along with these false prophets, there was one prophet who spoke truth.
· He was hated by those in authority.
· He was slandered by the false prophets.
· He was persecuted by those in authority. Persecution often comes with such preaching: Imprisoned and fed on bread and water!
We need to remember, this was in 'God's kingdom', the nation of Israel. These were the people who had been chosen, guided, and protected by God. These are a people who had been given the oracles of God to guide them. They had been warned about false prophets (Deut. 18:20-22; 13:1-5). Even in God's kingdom men were free to choose to follow God's revelation OR the guiding thoughts of men.
In other words, things were pretty much like today! Different faces, same story. Different specific problem, same general situation. Choices: Go with the flow OR be willing to standup and warn as needed! Where would you have stood in Ahab's day? Where are you standing today? Hugh DeLong
As far as the lying spirit thing: 1) it was a vision, and such visions are pictures that use lots of anthropomorphisms and are not literal. 2) This vision shows that what was going on with Ahab's war council, had a counterpart in heaven. 3) Truth WAS made evident by God, and the kings knew it. To me, it is evident that they realized that all 400 prophets speaking the same thing was 'fishy'. 4) We are reminded of 2 Thess. 2:8-11: if one rejects truth, he opens himself up to believe a lie, for he WILL believe something about the situation! 5) The kings still had their own choice - believe the truth that God presented, or the lie that these false prophets were presenting. 6) There are consequences to our beliefs and actions; Ahab died because of his. What consequences will you be facing?
Hugh DeLong
