Originally posted: 5/22/2020
Then the king said to him, “How many times must I adjure you to speak to me nothing but the truth in the name of the Lord?” (18:15).
(Much of this account between Jehoshaphat and Ahab is also presented in 1 Kings 22. When God repeats events in history, we can be certain there are principals essential to our health and well-being that He desires to impart. Today’s post revisits 1 Kings 22, with revisions reflecting the references and verses from 2 Chronicles 18. In our current days of uncertainty and confusion, how good it is to turn our ears again to Him Who He Speaks Nothing But the Truth.)
It’s tragically humorous. Ahab. Demanding truth, when his entire kingdom had been built on lies and deception fueled by a plethora of false prophets. Ahab, who surrounded himself with his prophets to tickle his ears with messages sure to satisfy.
Less than twenty years earlier, Elijah had slain the 450 prophets of Baal, but replacements were ready and waiting in the wings. Truth was rare. The truth was, Ahab wanted nothing to do with truth.
But now, with the king of Judah as his ally and in preparation for battle, it is King Jehoshaphat who requests that the counsel of the Lord be sought.
Moreover, Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, “Please inquire first for the word of the Lord.” 5 Then the king of Israel assembled the prophets, four hundred men, and said to them, “Shall we go against Ramoth-gilead to battle, or shall I refrain?” And they said, “Go up, for God will give it into the hand of the king,” (18:4-5).
And while Ahab’s yes-men proceed to tell him exactly what he wants to hear, Jehoshaphat recognizes that majority opinion does not equal truth.
But Jehoshaphat said, “Is there not yet a prophet of the Lord here that we may inquire of him?” 7 The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “There is yet one man by whom we may inquire of the Lord, but I hate him, for he never prophesies good concerning me but always evil. He is Micaiah, son of Imla,” (18:6-7).
But Ahab hates the one true prophet who refuses to succumb to Ahab’s self-indulgent expectations. But, Jehoshaphat’s request prevails, and Micaiah comes. And at first, he “prophesies” what Ahab wants to hear, good news concerning him.
However, Ahab immediately realizes the deliberate mockery of Micaiah as he parroted the reassuring forecast Ahab was so anxious to hear.
Then the king said to him, “How many times must I adjure you to speak to me nothing but the truth in the name of the Lord?” (18:15).
And when truth is clearly expressed, it is rejected as though it had never been uttered. And against the backdrop of the enemy’s schemes to tickle ears and deceive, truth emerges; and truth is always Truth, whether accepted or not. The God of Israel is Truth, His prophets speak on His behalf; and He Speaks Nothing But the Truth.
Consider Him Who Speaks Nothing But the Truth
- Because He Speaks Nothing But the Truth, His Word Is Unchanging.
- You shall not add to the word which I am commanding you, nor take away from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you,” (Deuteronomy 4:2).
- Forever, O Lord,
Your word is settled in heaven, (Psalm 119:89). - I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues which are written in this book; 19 and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city, which are written in this book, (Revelation 22:18-19).
- Because He Speaks Nothing But the Truth, His Word Will Be Accomplished.
- “God is not a man, that He should lie,
Nor a son of man, that He should repent;
Has He said, and will He not do it?
Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?” (Numbers 23:19). - “So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth;
It will not return to Me empty,
Without accomplishing what I desire,
And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it,” (Isaiah 55:11). - “For I the Lord will speak, and whatever word I speak will be performed…” (Ezekiel 12:25).
- “God is not a man, that He should lie,
How do we respond to Him Who Speaks Nothing But the Truth?
Many today are really no different than Ahab and his false prophets. We really shouldn’t be surprised.
For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, 4 and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. 5 But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. (2 Timothy 4:3-5).
But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. 2 Many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned; 3 and in their greed they will exploit you with false words; their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep, (2 Peter 2:1-3).
But we also shouldn’t be surprised by questions about the Truth. We must set our hearts to study His Unchanging Truth so we will always be ready to teach and share Him Who Speaks Nothing But the Truth.
For Ezra had set his heart to study the law of the Lord and to practice it, and to teach His statutes and ordinances in Israel. (Ezra 7:10).
Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth, (2 Timothy 2:15).
but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence; (1 Peter 3:15).
And we must set our hearts to study His Truth that Will Be Accomplished. As we study His Promises fulfilled in the past, we will be strengthened to look forward to His Promises for the future, growing in our knowledge, love and obedience for Him Who Speaks Nothing But the Truth.
that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him, (Ephesians 1:17).
so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God. (Ephesians 3:17-19).
And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment, 10 so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ; (Philippians 1:9-10).
…we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; (Colossians 1:9-10).
- He has given us all we need in His Word.
- “I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 15 I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth. 18 As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. 19 For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth,” (John 17:14-18).
- He has given us all we need in His Holy Spirit.
- “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; 17 that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you… 26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you,” (John 14:16-17, 26).
- And because He Who Speaks Nothing But the Truth has given us all we need, we can live in the perfect peace He alone provides.
- The steadfast of mind You will keep in perfect peace,
Because he trusts in You.
4 Trust in the Lord forever,
For in God the Lord, we have an everlasting Rock, (Isaiah 26:3-4)
- The steadfast of mind You will keep in perfect peace,
Oh, that we would so commit our entire beings to knowing and studying His Truth, desperately desirous to taste His kindness daily, that we may be set apart to grow in the salvation we have so graciously received from Him Who Speaks Nothing But the Truth.
“Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth,” (John 17:17).
Therefore, putting aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander,2 like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation, 3 if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord, (1 Peter 2:1-2).