King James Bible Study – “And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” – Mark 8:34
Date: Saturday, June 29, 2019
Chapters: I Kings 22, II Chronicles 18-19
Message: A Tale Of Two Kings
Hello My Friend,
As I was reading the chapters for today, God showed me some things that I had never seen before, regardless of what leader we have in our nations, we only have ONE KING, and that is Jesus Christ. Well, that was not the discovery, you see, while we may know Christ is our KING, the world does not, and it will never see Him as KING. Why? God has blocked them from that knowledge. Why? Judgment. God will not be mocked, this world is full of people who claim to be Christians, but their king is not Christ at all, and unbeknownst to them, it is Satan. “He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them.” – John 12:40.
“and be converted, and I should heal them.” There is a reason why God keeps a heart hard, and it all has to do with bringing repentance to His people. Yes, God always judges His people first, after all, they will not be judged as the world will when they get to His Kingdom, so He will judge them while they are still here. Now, we have a tale of two kings, Jehoshaphat, a godly king who was doing quite well in the Southern Kingdom as the nation prospered because of his faithfulness to God. And Ahab, an ungodly king who was not doing so well as the Northern Kingdom deteriorated because of his unfaithfulness to God. After Ahab got the news that he and his entire family would be destroyed he really shut up his faith in God. After three years of war with Syria, he enlists the help of Jehoshaphat, who happened to be his son-in-law, to unite as one and end the war.
“Now Jehoshaphat had riches and honour in abundance, and joined affinity with Ahab. And after certain years he went down to Ahab to Samaria. And Ahab killed sheep and oxen for him in abundance, and for the people that he had with him, and persuaded him to go up with him to Ramothgilead. And Ahab king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat king of Judah, Wilt thou go with me to Ramothgilead? And he answered him, I am as thou art, and my people as thy people; and we will be with thee in the war. And Jehoshaphat said unto the king of Israel, Enquire, I pray thee, at the word of the LORD to day. Therefore the king of Israel gathered together of prophets four hundred men, and said unto them, Shall we go to Ramothgilead to battle, or shall I forbear? And they said, Go up; for God will deliver it into the king’s hand. But Jehoshaphat said, Is there not here a prophet of the LORD besides, that we might enquire of him? And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, There is yet one man, by whom we may enquire of the LORD: but I hate him; for he never prophesied good unto me, but always evil: the same is Micaiah the son of Imla. And Jehoshaphat said, Let not the king say so.” – II Chronicles 18:1-7.
“and joined affinity with Ahab.” First of all, he married Ahab’s daughter, biggest mistake of all. Born again Christians cannot join in allegiance with anyone of the world or of a different faith, a Catholic and a Baptist are not of the same faith, they may both believe in Christ, but their doctrine is not the same. Therefore, while we are to be cordial to all, we are not to be united as one. “For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist. Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward. Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.” – II John 1:7-11.
“but that we receive a full reward.” Remember, any variation of the Gospel is not the Gospel, and therefore, not everyone who believes in Christ will be saved. You can believe in Christ all you want, but if you do not act on that belief exactly as God commands, you will not be saved. If you want to be saved, you believe in the Gospel alone for your salvation, add nothing to it and take nothing from it, if you believe anything else you will not be saved. Per Jehoshaphat’s request, Ahab reluctantly sends for Micaiah, the guards threaten him by telling him to make sure what he says lined up with what Ahab’s prophets were saying, but even faced with the thought of spending the rest of his life in prison, Micaiah, refused to lie. As he stood before both kings he told them exactly what God showed him, and it was not at all what Ahab wanted to hear.
“And he said, I saw all Israel scattered upon the hills, as sheep that have not a shepherd: and the LORD said, These have no master: let them return every man to his house in peace. And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, Did I not tell thee that he would prophesy no good concerning me, but evil? And he said, Hear thou therefore the word of the LORD: I saw the LORD sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing by him on his right hand and on his left. And the LORD said, Who shall persuade Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramothgilead? And one said on this manner, and another said on that manner. And there came forth a spirit, and stood before the LORD, and said, I will persuade him. And the LORD said unto him, Wherewith? And he said, I will go forth, and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And he said, Thou shalt persuade him, and prevail also: go forth, and do so. Now therefore, behold, the LORD hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these thy prophets, and the LORD hath spoken evil concerning thee. But Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah went near, and smote Micaiah on the cheek, and said, Which way went the Spirit of the LORD from me to speak unto thee? And Micaiah said, Behold, thou shalt see in that day, when thou shalt go into an inner chamber to hide thyself.” – I Kings 22:17-25.
“Behold, thou shalt see in that day,” Do you see what God did here? He blocked the prophets minds from seeing the truth, all they saw was that Ahab would win the battle and return unharmed. Zedekiah slaps Micaiah out of rage when it was suggested that he was the one God used to speak the lie. It would be after Zedekiah ran into hiding that God would reveal to him what Micaiah said was true. The world wants all the glory of God, His protection, and prosperity, but they do not want to obey His commands. This is why they get so angry and come after those who are faithful to Him, and will not lie about the truths in God’s Word. The world also thinks they can overthrow God’s Word. Now, what Jehoshaphat should have done was just leave, but he listened to Ahab, and went with him into the battle, who by the way tried to set him up for the fall.
“So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah went up to Ramothgilead. And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, I will disguise myself, and enter into the battle; but put thou on thy robes. And the king of Israel disguised himself, and went into the battle. But the king of Syria commanded his thirty and two captains that had rule over his chariots, saying, Fight neither with small nor great, save only with the king of Israel. And it came to pass, when the captains of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat, that they said, Surely it is the king of Israel. And they turned aside to fight against him: and Jehoshaphat cried out. And it came to pass, when the captains of the chariots perceived that it was not the king of Israel, that they turned back from pursuing him. And a certain man drew a bow at a venture, and smote the king of Israel between the joints of the harness: wherefore he said unto the driver of his chariot, Turn thine hand, and carry me out of the host; for I am wounded. And the battle increased that day: and the king was stayed up in his chariot against the Syrians, and died at even: and the blood ran out of the wound into the midst of the chariot. And there went a proclamation throughout the host about the going down of the sun, saying, Every man to his city, and every man to his own country. So the king died, and was brought to Samaria; and they buried the king in Samaria.” – I Kings 22:29-37.
“save only with the king of Israel.” You see, the Syrian king had no intention of seeing one life lost except for Ahab. When God places judgment upon someone, it will happen no matter how many people try to overthrow Him, that is unless they humble themselves before Him. If God saw that at any time Ahab would have turned to Him, He would have opened his heart and eyes to see Him, and be converted. Ahab was certainly aware of the power of God, he literally saw fire come down from heaven and consume a sacrifice, and yet refused to humble himself, and be converted because he never had faith in Him to begin with. Therefore, God gave him up to his reprobate mind. God knows who are His, and while He intervenes more times than we care to admit, He does not do so without us making sure that we need to make some changes in our lives. Jehoshaphat barely escaping with his life, returned to Jerusalem to find Jehu, a seer (prophet), to warn him of a battle that was about to take place in Judah because of his decision to join Ahab. Jehoshaphat admitting he was wrong proclaimed a fast throughout all of Judah in order to get right with God, and stop the battle from happening, or at least have God’s help in it.
“And Jehu the son of Hanani the seer went out to meet him, and said to king Jehoshaphat, Shouldest thou help the ungodly, and love them that hate the LORD? therefore is wrath upon thee from before the LORD. Nevertheless there are good things found in thee, in that thou hast taken away the groves out of the land, and hast prepared thine heart to seek God. And Jehoshaphat dwelt at Jerusalem: and he went out again through the people from Beersheba to mount Ephraim, and brought them back unto the LORD God of their fathers. And he set judges in the land throughout all the fenced cities of Judah, city by city, And said to the judges, Take heed what ye do: for ye judge not for man, but for the LORD, who is with you in the judgment. And he charged them, saying, Thus shall ye do in the fear of the LORD, faithfully, and with a perfect heart. And what cause soever shall come to you of your brethren that dwell in their cities, between blood and blood, between law and commandment, statutes and judgments, ye shall even warn them that they trespass not against the LORD, and so wrath come upon you, and upon your brethren: this do, and ye shall not trespass.” – II Chronicles 19:2-6,9-10.
“for ye judge not for man, but for the LORD,” We have a command from Jesus to go into the world and preach the Gospel. That means we tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing, but the truth of God’s Word. If something is a sin, we are to say it is sin, and not hide it out of fear of someone smacking us in the face because they are actually under conviction themselves. Jesus is our KING, everything we do is as a Christian is a reflection of Christ, and therefore, we are not to judge man as the world does, but as Christ does. One way or another, their eyes will be open to Christ, which is why we need to judge them with righteous judgment. Jesus got angry, and sinned not, we too can get angry and sin not by being the godly princes and princesses that we are.
“Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth. Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.” – Ephesians 4:28-32.
Jesus Christ Magnified: “And Jehoshaphat dwelt at Jerusalem: and he went out again through the people from Beersheba to mount Ephraim, and brought them back unto the LORD God of their fathers.” – II Chronicles 19:4.
Today’s Prayer: Jesus, Thank You for making salvation simple, all we need to do to be one of Your people and live in Your Kingdom is believe in Your perfect death, burial, and resurrection, and receive You as our Saviour. There is not adding to or taking from this simple truth, and yet thousands are living their lives in ignorance to this. Lord, You are my KING, and I am called by You to preach the truth to this hardhearted nation, lead me and guide me, and let my life be a reflection of You. If there is anything that I need to repent of reveal it to me so that I might not let any corrupt communication come out of my mouth, and that I might labor for the things that are good. In Your name, Jesus, I pray. Amen.
God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina
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