Lord, our hearts were touched this morning by Mary’s devotion to You. Lord, she saw something of the reality of who You were, and she fell at Your feet.
And Lord, as we come to Your Word, we want to stay at that place, down at Your feet, in the spirit of a bondservant before our Master. We would put other things aside and say, “Speak, Lord; Thy servant is listening.”
We are thankful, Lord, that when You speak, they are words of life. We are thankful for the enabling power of Your Holy Spirit for speaking and hearing, and for allowing Your very Word to come and penetrate and work within our lives.
Lord, as we come today, so we come to Your Word. We are looking continually at You. We are beholding a Person, desiring that You would be speaking the reality of Your very self into lives today. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.
As we shared last week, I have been considering this matter of how I can be encouraged in these days when there is so much declension. I guess I was personalizing it: How can I be encouraged when you see so many departing and going another way? How can we stay on the path that He has set before us?
How can we stay hot in our love for Him when so many are growing cold? How can we stay faithful when there are those who are unfaithful, even as our brother Jerry has been sharing? How can we overcome when so many are being overcome by the things of this life?
This is the question, and we are thankful that the Lord gives us great encouragement in the Scripture. As we look back at the nation of Israel, we are thankful, as Paul says to us in 1 Corinthians, that Israel is before us as an example, that we can learn lessons from them because we are those living in the end of the ages. He has many lessons that He desires to teach us.
As we considered the history of Israel last week, we were particularly looking at King Asa. We wanted to see how the Lord can speak and encourage us in this day and time. These ones, throughout their times, were living in times of weakness, departure, and declension. It is pretty easy for us to look around today and see that we are living in that same time.
We are not where we should be, either individually within our lives—which is a great personal conviction—or corporately. Are we really being the testimony of Jesus that He is calling us to be? We want the Lord to speak and encourage our hearts, that we may press on in these days.
During the time of David and Solomon, Israel reached its zenith. The glory of the Lord came down and dwelt there. The Lord tabernacled among them in a very real and living way. That is the desire of our hearts today: that, in a similar way, He can tabernacle among us and be our encouragement.
In the days of David and Solomon, the temple was completed, and there was a satisfaction upon the Lord’s heart. But it is sad that because of the sins of Solomon, immediately after his death division came between the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom. Great declension and departure set in for a season.
As we look at the history of the northern kingdom, there were really no periods of reviving or recovery. But, thank the Lord, as we look at those within the southern kingdom, within Judah, there were periods of recovery. They came back to the Lord’s heart, and what He was after was expressed within their midst. We see His blessing there.
Sadly, it was an ebb and flow. Yet in these times of recovery, as we look at these kings, what is the key? What are we really looking for? We see that one of the great keys is that the Lord is looking for a heart. He found that in David, a man after God’s own heart.
As we looked at Asa last week, and as we look at Jehoshaphat today, we see those who have a heart for the Lord. They are not so much focused on their own personal interests, but upon His desire and His heart. Praise God, when the Lord finds these ones, He reacts. He brings in periods of recovery, bringing not only individuals but the southern kingdom back to Himself.
It can be encouraging to see the depths of declension into which they had fallen, and then, when the Lord moves, He brings them back to what is upon His heart. It gives us hope and encourages us in these days, for God so desires this.
As we looked at last week, there was one key verse in particular that spoke to us. It is in 2 Chronicles 16. This is what we see the Lord doing. He was doing it then, He has been doing it throughout history, and He continues today. The Lord is there searching.
For the eyes of the Lord move to and fro throughout the earth,
that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His.
The Lord is looking for that heart, and not merely to support such ones, but to strongly support them. In these days, in the battle that we are in, strong support is needed. We are thankful that, as we looked at Asa last week, the Lord found one after His heart.
As we look today at 2 Chronicles 20, toward the end of Jehoshaphat’s life, the Lord testifies of him.
He walked in the way of his father Asa, and did not depart from it, doing right in the sight of the Lord.
What has touched me is this matter of those doing right in the sight of the Lord. It was not that they merely had a theory. It was not that they merely had a desire in their heart. It was not just that they had a vision of what God was after. They let it impact their lives, and they responded. They did what was right in the sight of God.
Their very lives and actions manifested this reality. This is what it says of Jehoshaphat: he was doing what was right. The Lord is looking for those who are doing. When we see Him, we are captured by Him and by what is in His heart; but He does not want merely to capture us in that way. He desires fruit within our lives to express, in this day and time, what our God is after.
These ones were not satisfied merely for their own lives to be captured. They walked in a way and set an example so that others came in. There was a corporate response to what was upon God’s heart. Praise God for that, and for how they were faithful in the midst of weakness and declension.
We were also reminded last week that these are kings whom we are considering, but praise God, each one of us, when we are born again, has been made a king and priest unto Him. These are lessons for each one of us. We have been made a royal priesthood. There is a kingly life within us that desires to be expressed, and He wants that life to be lived out.
As we look at the church today, where are we? What is our condition? We are thankful that the church had a glorious beginning. It had a marvelous, healthy birth and a wonderful beginning.
Over and over in the Book of Acts, we see how the Word of God went forth, and there was much growth and increase. We see the very life of Christ prevailing over the circumstances in which they lived. In spite of the Roman government and various things that came against them, the life of the Lord through His people went forth and was expressed in a wonderful way.
But it is sad that toward the end of the first century, we already begin to see signs of declension and weakness. In the letter to the church at Ephesus in Revelation 2, it says, “You have left your first love.” In some of the epistles, we see that there were already activities of antichrist and the spirit of antichrist.
We are thankful that throughout church history, when God could find those whose hearts were set on Him, God reacted and brought about wonderful recoveries. That is what He is looking for in this day and time. He is looking to bring us back so that the testimony of Jesus would shine brightly in this day and time.
As we considered Asa last week, we saw one of the key things that he did: he recovered the altar. He recovered not merely a physical altar, but a reality of bringing the people back to the Lord. When we think of the altar, we are reminded of the cross, that marvelous person and work of our Lord Jesus Christ.
We have just remembered Him at the table. We are thankful for all that He has done and for the price that He paid, the cost. We want that reality to be working in our hearts and lives today, and we want to continue to be faithful.
Sadly, though Asa was faithful for most of his life, toward the end his faith waned. There are lessons there for us. I like to say that our God is a God of full disclosure. He puts it all out there. He does not try to hide the warts, sins, and failures of these men.
They are just like us. We have good days and bad days. We have times when our faith is strong and times when our faith is weak. But He remains faithful even when we are not faithful. He continues to call us back to Himself, to strengthen us. Thank the Lord.
Overall, as you look at Asa’s life, God was satisfied. Could there have been more? Yes. But God saw one who was after His heart.
Now, as we come to King Jehoshaphat today, we want to use much the same approach we used with Asa last week. We will do a rough review of the history of the life of Jehoshaphat, and then we will return to consider some of the lessons.
The life of Jehoshaphat is covered in four chapters: 2 Chronicles 17 through 20. When he became king, he strengthened himself as king, and he continued to strengthen Judah. They were in a good and healthy place.
What is significant in the life of Jehoshaphat is that he recovered the reality and authority of the Book of the Law. Where others had perhaps neglected it for a season, he brought it back. Not only did he bring it back for himself, but he sent out those who would preach the Word, share the Word, and teach the people of God. Praise God, they responded, and Judah was further strengthened.
Then we come to chapter 18, one of the oddest chapters in the Bible as far as a turn of events. In chapter 17, Jehoshaphat is going strong, and it appears that he is doing well. Then, all of a sudden, in chapter 18, we read how he allied himself with Ahab.
Ahab was the worst king in the northern kingdom. He had married Jezebel. For some reason, Jehoshaphat formed an alliance with him. He visited him and was talked into going into battle with Ahab against the Syrians to recover Ramoth-gilead.
Ahab had his prophets who said that the Lord would give them victory, but Jehoshaphat asked, “Is there not yet a prophet of the Lord?” So they called Micaiah, and he came and faithfully declared the Word of God. Sadly, Jehoshaphat ignored it. Micaiah said that if they went out, they would be destroyed in battle, but Jehoshaphat went with Ahab anyway.
In the battle, the Syrians overwhelmed them. They were destroying them left and right. In the midst of this, Jehoshaphat cried out to the Lord, and the Lord, in His mercy, saved and delivered him. At least he finally came to his senses.
Jehoshaphat returned to Jerusalem, and another prophet of the Lord went out to meet him and got right in his face: “What are you doing, allying yourself with all these wicked people?” Praise God, Jehoshaphat responded to this prophet. He humbled himself, repented before the Lord, and brought in additional reforms so that Judah was strengthened again to be the people of God they should be.
After they were strengthened, we see another invasion. Judah was always getting invaded. They were invaded by the Moabites, the Ammonites, and the Maonites—the Edomites, the descendants of Esau. It is a little easier to say, “the Edomites.”
Again, they were overwhelmed. It was a huge army that came against them. But what did Jehoshaphat do? Even though he was scared—indeed, it says he was very fearful—he humbled himself before the Lord. He cried out to the Lord, and he and the people of Judah came and sought the Lord.
Praise God, the Lord came in. He answered prayer. He gave them a battle plan—the weirdest battle plan in history. They do not teach this battle plan at West Point. He told them to gather the army, put the singers in front, and go out singing.
Here was this huge army out there, and Judah had these men coming out singing in front. I do not think many military strategists have understood that plan yet. But because of their faithfulness to the Lord, the Lord won a great victory. The enemy self-destructed. They began fighting among themselves and destroyed one another.
When Judah looked out, they were all dead. So Judah received great plunder and spoil, and they returned with thanksgiving to Jerusalem. They returned with joy.
It is wonderful how, when they returned to Jerusalem, do you know where they went? They returned to the house of the Lord. They did not first go to their own houses. They went back to the house of the Lord to acknowledge that it was by His hand and His might that all this occurred. Then there was another period of peace and rest.
Sadly, toward the end of Jehoshaphat’s life, he made another alliance with the king of Israel, Ahab’s son Ahaziah. They were going to build a fleet of ships together. It was an economic alliance. The Lord stepped in and destroyed all the ships. It was utterly disastrous.
As we look at this overall history of Jehoshaphat, we see one in whom there were times of faithfulness and times of unfaithfulness. We see God’s mercy coming in and restoration enabling him to press on into what God had for him.
Let us turn to 2 Chronicles 17 and read a few verses concerning Jehoshaphat.
And Jehoshaphat his son then became king in his place and made his position over Israel firm.
He placed troops in all the fortified cities of Judah,
and set garrisons in the land of Judah and in the cities of Ephraim which Asa his father had captured.
And the Lord was with Jehoshaphat, because he followed the example of his father David’s earlier days and did not seek the Baals,
but sought the God of his father, followed His commandments, and did not act as Israel did.
So the Lord established the kingdom in his control, and all Judah brought tribute to Jehoshaphat; and he had great riches and honor.
He took great pride in the ways of the Lord and again removed the high places and the Asherim from Judah.
Later on, it tells us that he was thirty-five years old when he became king and reigned for twenty-five years. He had lived entirely under the reign of his father Asa, so he had seen both the strong points and the weak points of his father.
It is very precious in verse 3. We said last week that David is the example king, the king against whom others are measured. Yet we have One greater than David: our Lord Jesus. The Lord is looking for His life to be expressed through us.
As Jehoshaphat considered David’s life, what particularly influenced him was David’s earlier days. He saw simplicity, devotion, and utter abandonment to the Lord. Later, David was distracted by Bathsheba, by counting the people, and by other things. But Jehoshaphat looked back to the earlier days, when there was a purity of devotion and being sold out to the Lord.
This really inspired Jehoshaphat. There was a faithfulness there that encouraged him on and on. I love how it says in verse 4 that he sought the God of his fathers. He did not simply sit back and expect manna to fall down out of heaven. He sought the Lord.
The Lord says, “Seek Me and you will find Me.” Praise God. In the days in which we are living, are we those who are seeking Him? Jehoshaphat had hunger and thirst. He wanted to taste and see how good the Lord was, so he was seeking the God of his father.
He was not doing what Israel was doing. He saw the error of their ways, and he pursued following after David and seeking the Lord, that He could come in in a wonderful way. He also removed all the idols from the land.
You will notice, over and over again, as you go through these kings, that they are constantly removing idols. When there are times of strength and the real testimony is coming forth, idols are put aside. But when weakness and unfaithfulness come in, the hearts of the people are drawn back.
They may continue serving the Lord, but they also serve their idols. They follow their own selfish interests. During the time of Asa, when he was in a weakened place, many people began following idols again. Jehoshaphat had to drive them out.
It is interesting how this applies even in our own lives. When the testimony of Jesus is strong and His life is strong, there are no rival thrones within our hearts. There is a being sold out for Him. But in times of weakness and declension, we can have idols in our hearts too.
We have to ask, “What are our idols?” Yes, we are serving the Lord, but are we also serving our own idols and interests? Today we do not have many physical idols—unless you visit some Chinese restaurants, where there always seem to be idols everywhere. I had to get one Chinese thing in for you there.
In general, our society does not have many physical idols. But the issue is our hearts. In our own hearts, we begin to be attracted to things, and these things divide our heart’s affection. Where once our heart’s affection was wholly for the Lord, all of a sudden it becomes divided and shared.
Yes, we love the Lord, but we are loving these other things. Many of these things are not necessarily bad things. They may be so-called good things. It can be our family, where everything revolves around the family. It can be our career. Praise God for our careers, opportunities, and the jobs the Lord provides.
The same is true of education. It is wonderful to receive an education, but does that become the driving force within our lives? Does everything else become secondary? It can be the pursuit of a new car, automobile, the latest iPhone, the latest Samsung, or whatever new gadget is out there.
What is the focus of our heart? What is drawing us? In times of weakness, many other things draw our hearts, and we find ourselves in a divided place. It is a weakened place. But when the testimony is strengthened, when there is that coming back to Him, we return to a place of strength.
How did Jehoshaphat strengthen the people of God? He strengthened them through the recovery of the Word of God in their midst. As we continue in 2 Chronicles 17, we see that Jehoshaphat was really captured by the Word of God.
Asa recovered the altar, and Jehoshaphat recovered the reality and authority of the Word of God. Whether we are speaking of the cross, the person and work of Christ, or the living reality and authority of the Word of God, it all focuses us upon the headship of Christ.
The Lord Jesus Christ must have His rightful place within our lives, individually and together. These truths draw us into various aspects of His headship. Do we know this matter of the headship of Christ—Him being Lord and having that rightful place within our lives?
Praise God, as we come to this table, as we come to Him, and as we come to His Word, this becomes more and more clear. There is a drawing of us unto Him, for His headship to be expressed in our lives and in our lives together.
Jehoshaphat was so captured by the Word that he desired all the people within Judah to know it. So he sent out his officials, Levites, and priests to teach the Word of God throughout Judah. The people responded.
It is wonderful that Jehoshaphat had this desire for the people of God to hear the Word of God, and that the Lord used various ones to go out and teach the Word.
It is sad how much the teaching of the Word of God has been watered down in this day and time. It is often there to please man. No, Jehoshaphat desired that the Word of God would be used to please the Lord and draw people back to the Lord in a very living way.
We have a marvelous example of one who was captured by the living Word. In verse 16, there was Amaziah, one of the commanders. The Word of God went out and captured him in such a way that he freely offered himself to the Lord.
That is the spirit of a bondservant. That is the spirit of consecration. There was no twisting of his arm and no pressure to make him do something. The Word of God touched him as he saw the Lord in a fresh way. He freely responded and gave himself to the Lord.
That is the fruit of the living Word of God. Tragically, in times of weakness, we find ourselves pressuring people to serve the Lord: “You have got to do this,” or, “You need to do this.” But when there is a time of strength, there is a freewill offering: “How can I serve? I desire to give myself to the Lord, that I can be about my Father’s business.”
These were valiant men. As Jeffrey shared, these were mighty men of God—strong in the Lord. They were God’s mighty men because they had been captured and touched by the Lord in such a wonderful way. All of this came from the Word of God being living and active within their lives.
As we know today, the Word of God is under great attack. It is tremendous how strong the attack upon the Word of God is in this day. We can understand it from the world, but it is tragic how much the Word of God is under attack within Christendom.
The Word of God is devalued. Many within Christendom say that the Word of God is outdated, that it is not relevant today, that it is too narrow, or that it is sexist. They say it is only for men and always puts women down. It is not very popular in the feminist movement today.
There are certain portions that are not preached. People say, “Oh, we do not need to look at those portions.” They water down and ignore certain parts. Even in Bible studies, people can say, “Well, the Word of God says this, but I believe this. So-and-so says that.”
It is tragic today how the Word of God is under such an assault. The very foundation of the Word is being challenged, even when it comes to the work of Christ and what He did. Who is He? What is a Christian? What was the work of the cross? What is the church?
These things are distorted and devalued today. As we take this table and celebrate the victory our Lord had at Calvary, it is watered down and devalued when people say, “Yes, Christ died, but the problems in your life go back through generations. The cross was not enough for you. You need to break these generational curses.”
Others say, “You need to go back before you were saved and renew your memories. Go back and get all this stuff straight.” But the cross was enough. The Lord is saying today, “No, I am enough. I am all-sufficient at Calvary. I won the victory. When you were set free at Calvary, you were free indeed.”
The tragic thing about many Christians today is that when we were saved, our chains came off; but we did not walk out of the prison cell. We just sat there and did not enter into the glorious freedom that we had in the Lord. He wants us to step out in faith and enter into what He has done for us.
Throughout history, whenever there have been times of great recovery, the Word of God has always been significant. Whether we are speaking of Ezra and Nehemiah, or Philadelphia, which was commended because it kept the Word, the Word of God has been central.
Even throughout the Reformation, the Reformation was brought about through the Word of God. We had one man, Martin Luther, who read in the Word of God about being justified by faith. As Luther read the Word and compared it to what was taught and practiced by the Catholic Church, there was a great contrast.
He said, “No, this is what we need. We need the truth of the Word of God practiced.” The Lord used him and others to bring about this great Reformation.
Brothers and sisters, how do we know today whether what we are doing is scriptural if we do not know the Word of God? If we are in the Word of God and certain things are occurring, we can say, “Wait a minute. Why is this?” Is there a contrast in our lives individually? Is there a contrast among the people of God today between what is in His Word and what is being taught and practiced?
The sad thing today is that so many of us do not know His Word. When error comes in and deception is around us, we are not even aware of it. Would the Lord bring us back to the Word of God, that we would know and recognize the things that are of Him and the things that are not of Him?
It would not be merely for our own self-satisfaction or self-glory. The Lord is after the life of His Son to be expressed, and He is jealous for that life to be expressed today. We have such an opportunity to feast upon His Word today. May we be faithful to redeem the time and get that Word within our hearts and lives.
As we move on to 2 Chronicles 18, this is one of the strangest turns in Scripture. We go from one who has been so strong to his compromise. There are many lessons we can learn from Jehoshaphat’s compromise.
Now Jehoshaphat had great riches and honor; and he allied himself by marriage with Ahab.
Some years later he went down to visit Ahab at Samaria, and Ahab slaughtered many sheep and oxen for him and the people who were with him, and induced him to go up against Ramoth-gilead.
Ahab king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat king of Judah, “Will you go with me against Ramoth-gilead?”
And he said to him, “I am as you are, and my people as your people, and we will be with you in the battle.”
We are not sure what motivated Jehoshaphat to do this. If you look at various commentaries, you will find a whole spectrum of possible reasons. We do not know if he was naïve. We do not know if he was just a big-hearted fellow who wanted to be friends with everybody.
Some people really want to be friends with everyone. Perhaps Jehoshaphat thought, “I am king here; he is king there. I want to be his friend.” Some people know that the Lord desires unity, so they try to restore unity in their own strength.
Perhaps Jehoshaphat thought, “I know the Lord wants us to be one nation. I will go visit Ahab, and we will try to bring them back into the unity the Lord wants.” Perhaps he was secretly ambitious or proud. We do not know. But what we do know is that this alliance was wrong and harmful.
Jehoshaphat’s son married Ahab’s daughter, and this would have significant effects later on. There was a period of about eight years between the marriage and Jehoshaphat’s visit to Ahab, so this alliance had been going on for some time.
Who was Ahab? Ahab is always described as an evil person and a hater of God. What does Ahab represent to us, and what does the northern kingdom represent? It represents believers pursuing their own desires rather than God’s heart.
They are self-centered and pursuing their own things. They are deceived ones creating their own religion. Whether it is called the apostate church or a religious system, Christ is not the Head, and they are doing their own thing. Yet Jehoshaphat went and allied himself with him.
We see what the Lord thought of Ahab in 2 Chronicles 19:2. When Jehoshaphat returned after the battle, the Lord had mercifully saved him, and the prophet went out to meet him.
Should you help the wicked and love those who hate the Lord, and so bring wrath on yourself from the Lord?
Jehoshaphat, through compromise, allied himself with Ahab, and it brought about tragic results. As we apply this to our hearts today, are we in a place of compromise? Are we compromising not only with the things of the world, but also with religious systems and everything out there?
There are many who say, “We can work together. We will help you.” Remember during the time of Ezra, there were those who came and said, “Let us build with you.” Ezra said, “No, we have no part with you.” They were about the work of the Lord.
We are not speaking of merely casual relationships. In the Lord’s eyes, the northern and southern kingdoms were all the people of God; they were the children of God. But the issue is that some would enter into alliances and join in intimate working relationships with those who were totally against what was upon God’s heart.
They would overlook error and heresy for the sake of unity. Much of this is influenced by a spirit of humanism today. Jehoshaphat and Ahab’s alliance was based on personal affinity, not godliness.
When we form these alliances, we end up condoning what is wrong. Jehoshaphat condoned the sins of Ahab. When we form intense relationships with those in error, compromise occurs. Do we really see this today? Do we see the subtlety of those in error who are trying to distract us?
There are even those who say they are for the Lord, but who actually serve themselves and oppose the testimony of Jesus. There is a great battle today over the testimony of Jesus, and it is so sad that much of it is going on within Christendom.
When the Word of God is devalued and Christ is devalued, this is the effect. We can say, “We are all God’s children. Let us gather together. Let us work together.” Praise God, we are all God’s children, but He also calls us to walk wisely.
At certain times, Scripture tells us not to ally ourselves or associate ourselves with certain ones. In 1 Corinthians, it speaks of certain ones committing certain sins and says not even to have a meal with them. That goes against the spirit of humanism and human love that says we must be open to everybody.
The Lord says that if a person is in such sin, do not even eat with them. If we take that stand, we may be misunderstood. That is when the reality of the cross comes into our lives, and we touch the glory of God.
Praise God, when we are faithful to Him, the cross comes in and we experience His goodness and mercy. We cannot ally ourselves or compromise with such things, because it only pulls us down.
We remember the old Spurgeon illustration about the person standing on the table and the little boy down below. The person on the table could not pull the boy up, but it was very easy for the boy below to pull the other person down.
It only takes one bad apple, as Proverbs speaks of, to corrupt the whole thing. We need wisdom today. Within Christianity, yes, we are all called to love one another; but there is a holiness to God’s love that needs to be recovered in this day and time.
We can be open to all, but we do not ally ourselves with all. We do not form those alliances. It ends up having a weakening effect upon the testimony of Jesus. Would the Lord strengthen us not to enter into these places of compromise?
Jehoshaphat was visiting Ahab, and Ahab was trying to flatter him, smooth-talking him. It is interesting because, a little while earlier under Asa, Israel had attacked Judah. The northern kingdom came to attack, but they could not win.
When the direct onslaught and battle did not work, they tried flattery and compromise. This is the way the enemy works. He may try one tactic to tempt you directly, but if that does not work, he will try some other way.
He may say, “You are such a strong Christian. You really know the Lord. You love the Lord so much. This area over here is evil, but you are strong. It will not affect you. You can handle all this temptation.” No. Let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.
There is a subtle flattery that the enemy can use. Through this flattery, Ahab said there was a good thing they could do together: redeem the city of Ramoth-gilead, which had been captured by the Syrians.
Why did this appear to be such a good thing? Ramoth-gilead was one of the cities of refuge, a place to which someone could flee for safety when in trouble, when wrongly accused, or when others were against him. It was a city created by God.
Ahab tried to say, “This is such a good thing. We can go down and work together on this.” But it was a good thing being done in the wrong way and with the wrong person, because Ahab’s motive was not for the Lord in any way.
Jehoshaphat was in a relationship and position where he should not have been. Perhaps his conscience began bothering him, because all of a sudden he said, “We need to inquire of the Lord. Should we go into battle?”
Ahab brought out all his prophets. Of course, they were serving man rather than God, so they said exactly what Ahab wanted to hear: “Go down into this battle, and you will win. It will be a great victory.”
But Jehoshaphat sensed that these men were not really from the Lord, and he asked if there was a prophet of the Lord. So they called Micaiah. At first, Micaiah was a little sarcastic because the man sent to get him had told him that everyone else was saying Ahab would win and that he should say the same thing.
Micaiah initially repeated the same message, but Ahab and Jehoshaphat saw right through him. They said, “Do not be sarcastic with us. Tell us the truth. What is the Word of the Lord?”
The Word of the Lord was that they would go out and be destroyed. I appreciate Micaiah because there he was: two kings sitting on their thrones, surrounded by their people and all these prophets, and this one little man walked in among them.
He was called to be faithful. In the midst of adverse circumstances, he took a stand for the Lord and declared the Word of God. He did not know what would happen to him. As soon as he declared the Word, Ahab could have killed him. But he was faithful to the Lord because he knew he was serving the Lord.
He said, “You are going to suffer defeat.” Sure enough, they did. Jehoshaphat wanted to hear from the Lord, but he did not listen. I do not know why he did not listen. He went out into battle, and the Syrians overwhelmed them.
In the battle in which Ahab was killed, Jehoshaphat cried out to the Lord, and the Lord saved him. Then he returned to Jerusalem.
In 2 Chronicles 19, we see another prophet.
And Jehoshaphat the king of Judah returned in safety to his house in Jerusalem.
Jehu the son of Hanani the seer went out to meet him and said to King Jehoshaphat,
“Should you help the wicked and love those who hate the Lord, and so bring wrath on yourself from the Lord?
But there is some good in you, for you have removed the Asherim from the land and have set your heart to seek God.”
So Jehoshaphat lived in Jerusalem and went out again among the people from Beersheba to the hill country of Ephraim, and brought them back to the Lord, the God of their fathers.
Jehoshaphat then made further reforms. It is interesting that the first set of books was called Kings, and this is Chronicles. It is interesting how the Lord uses prophets. At this time, none of what we call the writing prophets were active, but the Lord had faithful ones who shared His Word.
This one in 2 Chronicles 19:2 was Jehu, the son of Hanani. Do you remember Hanani? Last week, Hanani was the one who confronted Asa when Asa had done wrong. Asa did not listen to him and threw him in prison. This was now Hanani’s son.
I really appreciate Jehu because he had seen his father confront the king, and he had seen what happened to him. His father had been thrown in prison. Yet Jehu, in wonderful faithfulness, went out when the Lord said, “Go out.” He did not know whether he would end up in prison or not.
But there he was, sharing the Word and rebuking Jehoshaphat. Praise God, Jehoshaphat repented. He came back and humbled himself before the Lord.
It is wonderful how Jehoshaphat humbled himself. He did not blame anybody else. He did not blame Ahab, saying, “Ahab tricked me. It was Ahab’s fault. I had a bad day.” No, he accepted the rebuke, accepted responsibility for his actions, repented, and humbled himself before the Lord.
One thing we see in Jehoshaphat is that he recognized that his troubles were based on choices he made. Every problem in his life came from a choice he made. He chose to ally himself with Ahab, and because of that, he suffered these troubles.
He was not blaming the enemy or anyone else. He made the choice to go. He accepted responsibility for it, humbled himself before the Lord, repented, and got right back in the race. He was not disqualified. The Lord said, “I can use you now. I can continue using you.”
Do we have that ear to hear when the Holy Spirit brings a word of conviction to us? Do we hear? Are we going to be a proud Asa, or are we going to have the spirit of Jehoshaphat? That is what we need in this day and time.
As we continue with Jehoshaphat’s life, Judah was invaded again. It was a great invasion. The enemy came in and surrounded them in a mighty way. Let us look at 2 Chronicles 20:1–4.
Now it came about after this that the sons of Moab and the sons of Ammon, together with some of the Maonites, came to make war with Jehoshaphat.
Then some came and reported to Jehoshaphat, saying, “A great multitude is coming against you from beyond the sea, out of Aram; and behold, they are in Hazazon-tamar, that is Engedi.”
Jehoshaphat was afraid and turned his attention to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.
So Judah gathered together to seek help from the Lord; they even came from all the cities of Judah to seek the Lord.
Notice, over and over again, how prayer plays such a significant role in these times of crisis. In times of crisis and need for recovery, prayer is brought in. These people were in a desperate place. They said, “We need to come together. We need to seek the Lord.”
Jehoshaphat was afraid, but as Jerry mentioned a few weeks ago, “But God.” He was afraid, but God was on their side. They humbled themselves and came to the Lord. This was an overwhelming situation, and once again they fell on their knees, seeking the Lord in prayer.
There was desperateness there. Brothers and sisters, in the days we are living in, in these times of declension, how we need that spirit of desperation to capture us in the matter of prayer. We can be too content with where we are.
But once we become desperate for God to recover His testimony, once that desperateness captures us and we say, “God, You need to move. We are not where we should be. God, You are jealous,” then there is a response of prayer.
We do not have to work up prayer or create it. It comes as the response. Would the Lord recover that spirit of desperate prayer, intercession, or travailing prayer—whatever term we use—within our hearts in these days?
They gathered together to seek the Lord. As they prayed, they declared how wonderful and majestic He is. They had confidence in Him. They were declaring who He is, His past faithfulness, and His promises. Even as they humbled themselves, they confessed their weakened position.
In 2 Chronicles 20:12, they prayed:
O our God, wilt Thou not judge them?
For we are powerless before this great multitude who are coming against us;
nor do we know what to do,
but our eyes are on Thee.
We are powerless. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon You. All Judah was standing before the Lord with their infants, wives, and children. It is wonderful how the families were there. There was a togetherness. They were not leaving it to a few.
Everybody was together: husbands, wives, and children. The families were in the house of the Lord to seek Him in a marvelous way and to discover God’s way and direction. As they waited, the Lord answered their prayer in a wonderful way.
He raised up an individual to speak a word, a word of wisdom and direction for the days and times in which they were living. In 2 Chronicles 20:15, he said:
Listen, all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem and King Jehoshaphat:
thus says the Lord to you,
“Do not fear or be dismayed because of this great multitude,
for the battle is not yours but God’s.”
Praise God, brothers and sisters, as we are about what the Lord has called us to in this hour, it is not our battle. We are simply coming together and standing on the Lord’s side.
As we gather on Wednesday nights to pray, and as people gather at other times to pray, it can seem overwhelming. We pray for the world, for the Middle East, for Ukraine, for the slaughter of people in Africa, for the spirit of humanism in this country and how it affects us.
We see how much the antichrist has impacted lives and penetrated the church in such a sad way. We are just like these ones: we feel powerless. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on You.
As we humble ourselves before Him, as we get into our rightful place down at His feet, then the Lord can send forth a word: “Thus saith the Lord. Remember, it is not your battle. The battle is the Lord’s.”
In verse 16, the Lord told them to go out against their enemies the next day. Then, in verse 17, we read:
You need not fight in this battle;
station yourselves, stand and see the salvation of the Lord on your behalf, O Judah and Jerusalem.
Do not fear or be dismayed;
tomorrow go out to face them, for the Lord is with you.
Praise God, they responded and went out. They had such confidence in Him. They went out singing. Spurgeon has a sermon called “The Singing Army.”
The wonderful thing about their song is that it was a song of victory, yet they sang it before the victory had even been won. They did not wait until afterward to sing the song of victory. They sang it beforehand.
What were they singing? They were not singing some mighty fighting song, trying to pump themselves up. They were not singing, “Jesus Is Lord,” “Onward, Christian Soldiers,” or “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God.” They were not singing battle hymns.
They were singing what Lance would call a little ditty:
Give thanks to the Lord,
for His lovingkindness is everlasting.
What kind of fighting song is that? When John Philip Sousa was putting together motivational songs for armies to march to, you do not sing little songs like this. But this shows that the battle is not ours. We stand and see the mighty salvation of our God.
We give thanks to Him because His mercy, His lovingkindness, is everlasting. He has won battles before, and He will continue winning battles. This song of triumph declares who He is.
They could sing this song because their eyes were upon the King, not upon the enemy. When they looked at the enemy, they were terrified. But with their eyes upon the King, upon the Lord, they worshiped Him. They went out worshiping in the spirit of who He is and how mighty He is.
The Lord won a great victory. The enemies started fighting among themselves and totally destroyed themselves. Judah was then able to gather all the plunder and return to Jerusalem.
As I mentioned earlier, when they returned with joy and thanksgiving, what was their attitude in victory? They were not proud of themselves. They were not saying, “Look at what we did. We really beat those Syrians.” No, they were acknowledging the Lord.
They came to Jerusalem with harps, lyres, and trumpets, to the house of the Lord.
They came back to offer a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving because the victory came from Him, and they were returning to Him in a marvelous way. Because of this, they entered into victory, peace, and rest.
There is a sad event in the last part of 2 Chronicles 20, from verse 35 to the end. We are not quite sure exactly when it took place in Jehoshaphat’s life, but he allied himself again with the northern kingdom.
This was Ahab’s son, Ahaziah. It was in the latter part of Jehoshaphat’s life because Ahab had died and Ahaziah became king. Jehoshaphat formed an alliance with him, and the Lord was totally displeased with it. He came in and destroyed all the ships they were going to build.
There is a warning and a lesson for us. We have to be careful. Perhaps there are things in our lives that were stumbling blocks earlier in life. Maybe there were things that were real challenges to us, and we overcame them earlier on.
But later in life, we need not be fearful, but watchful. Things that have caused us to stumble in the past can come back. If we are not continuing to be watchful and to stay fresh with the Lord, the enemy can use similar tactics to trip us up again.
We need to be wise and aware of this. Jehoshaphat got into all this trouble because he made this choice. Again, he chose to form an alliance. But overall, he had a faithful life and a good heart. The Lord speaks of his good heart.
His failures teach us, and his faithfulness teaches us. We see how the Lord is calling us in this day, in the days of declension in which we live, to allow Him to meet us in a wonderful way.
As we have looked at Asa and Jehoshaphat, and, Lord willing, will look at other kings later on, we can see some keys to recovery—the things the Lord used to come and work among His people.
The key issue is the heart: hearts and lives in which there is not merely something hidden inwardly, but something expressed outwardly. These are hearts that seek His purpose and desires and stand for the testimony of Jesus, that He might have all that He is after.
We must allow the cross to become very real and personal within us: the cross, the person, and the work of Christ—who He is and what He has done. There is a reality there. There is a great battle against it, but it needs to be recovered fully within our hearts and lives.
The deception will grow. The spirit of antichrist is growing more intense in this day and time. We need clarity. We also need the clarity of the Word of God—the Word living within us, feasting upon that Word, and becoming strong within our lives.
We need to know what the Word says, so that when we encounter situations in which people are in error or deceived, we can recognize it. We can stand for the Lord and not ally ourselves with them in any way.
The Lord also needs to recover the matter of prayer in a fuller and greater way: being in that place of desperation and absolute dependence upon Him, realizing that we are weak in ourselves, that we can do nothing, and that we are powerless.
But our eyes are upon Him. As our eyes are upon Him, He can bring about a mighty victory.
Another thing we see as we look at these kings is the role various prophets played. In the overall scheme of things, most people looking back at these chapters may regard these prophets as afterthoughts. But in God’s economy, they were major players.
We remember the kings’ names, but do we remember the names of little prophets like Jehu and these others? These were mighty men of God, faithful at that point in time to speak the Word of the Lord in a time of declension.
The Lord needs ones like that in this hour and day. It is an interesting study, if you ever have time, to go back through these chapters and look at the prophets—the so-called nobodies who were raised up. Some are recorded as being used only once. They spoke one or two sentences.
But that Word of the Lord, those one or two sentences, changed the direction of a nation. It captured a king’s heart. It brought people back to God. We need that Word of God spoken in living ways in the days in which we are living.
May the Lord help us to learn and continue to have teachable hearts, particularly in the days in which we are living, that we may be those whom the Lord can use to bring about a recovery of the testimony of Jesus.
Praise God, we do not have to stay in the condition we are in. There is hope for us. There is a glorious hope that we have in Christ Jesus, and He is jealous for it.
Have we reached that place of jealousy for it? Have we reached that place of desperation for it? Would the Lord shatter our contentment? Would the Lord shatter merely our routines of life, that we might come to a place of desperately seeking Him?
May we desire that He would move in the day and time in which we are living, in each one of our lives. That is my prayer for my life. I am desiring that, and may each one of us desire it. Let us pray.
Lord, we are thankful that we can confess that You are the way, the truth, and the life.
Lord, we get so distracted at times. We can allow our affections, our hearts, to become divided. But bring us back to that place, Lord, as that little chorus says, “where no rival thrones survive,” where we serve only You.
Cause it to become a reality in our lives, not merely a cute little song to sing. Lord, as we offer ourselves to You, would the light of Your light shine within us?
Where we have things that are displeasing to You, point them out, that we can offer ourselves back to You in a fresh way, to truly be about Your business in this day and time in which we are living.
In Jesus’ name. Amen.