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A Lying Spirit

December 5, 2005

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Dear Friends

There is an interesting passage in 1 Kings 22 where the prophet of the Lord, Micaiah, stands before the King Ahab, Ahab’s four hundred false prophets and King Jehoshaphat. The prophets of Ahab have just foretold that Israel and Judah will triumph over Syria in the ensuing battle. Micaiah, with amazing courage, tells these two kings and four hundred prophets that they will suffer defeat and that these prophets are lying.

What we would like to focus your attention on, however, is not the fact that these prophets are lying or Micaiah’s bravery, but on the source of the false prophecy. Micaiah states

A spirit then came forward and stood before Yahweh and said, ‘I will entice him.’ ‘How?’ Yahweh asked. He replied, ‘I shall go and be a deceptive spirit in the mouths of all his prophets.’ Yahweh said, ‘You will succeed in enticing him. Go and do it.’ And now, you see, Yahweh has put a deceptive spirit into the mouths of all your prophets here, for in fact Yahweh has pronounced disaster on you. (vv. 21-23 NJB)

It begs the question: How can God, who hates lying (Prov. 6:17), cause people to lie? This is very interesting in light of the fact that God Himself cannot lie as we are told in Hebrews. “That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us.”

This is not a one time phenomena either. The same idea occurs again in the New Testament. In Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians, he tells the brethren that God will send a “misleading influence” (as Weymouth styles it) that will lead some astray.

For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false, in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness.” (2 Thess. 2:11, 12 NASB)

This makes this question very pertinent to us.

The key to both passages seems to be found in the latter part of the Thessalonians quote. It concerns those “who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness.” These two factors – an active desire not to believe the truth and taking pleasure in wickedness – seem to apply to both situations. Ahab, for example, states clearly that he doesn’t like what Micaiah has to say.

But Jehoshaphat said, ‘Is there not yet a prophet of the LORD here that we may inquire of him?’ The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, ‘There is yet one man by whom we may inquire of the LORD, but I hate him, because he does not prophesy good concerning me, but evil.’” (vv. 7,8)

It didn’t matter really to Ahab whether or not what Micaiah had to say was true or false; it simply was not what he wanted to hear. Ahab was a wicked king and wanted people around him to tell him that his evil ways were fine.

We can be just like Ahab and the deceived mentioned in Thessalonians. We can gather around us people who will tell us exactly what we want to hear. We can reject any advice that is true, but unpleasant to hear. As we have said many times before, God will give us what we want. If we want to believe a lie and rejoice in wickedness, He will send a lie our way.

God is perfectly willing to give us truth. Truth may not be with the majority. Truth may not be spoken openly or easy to find. However, truth is attainable by those who seek for it honestly and diligently.

Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: for every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.” (Matt. 7:7,8)

Where do we start looking for truth? The answer is searching the Scriptures with an honest heart.

We are from God; whoever recognises God listens to us; anyone who is not from God refuses to listen to us. This is how we can distinguish the spirit of truth from the spirit of falsehood. (1 John 4:6 NJB)
All scripture is inspired by God and useful for refuting error, for guiding people’s lives and teaching them to be upright. This is how someone who is dedicated to God becomes fully equipped and ready for any good work. (2 Tim. 3:16-17 NJB)

Have a great week!

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