Happy Lord's Day to you, and thank you for joining me for another edition of the Daily Bible Podcast. It is Sunday and it's time for us to go back to church. I hope you're making your way today. Maybe you're listening to this on the way to church. In that case, I am doubly honored that you would do that because if you're coming to our church that is Compass Bible Church of North Texas, you'll see me in the pulpit as well. I hope that's not too much of me. In one day, I'd probably be tired of myself if I heard me that much, so I can imagine where you might be. In any case, I'm grateful that you're coming and I hope that you have an amazing Lord's date, wherever it is that you go to church. But before we get there, we need to cover one, two big chapters of the Bible, but really one, because they're both pretty similar in their content and this is one of those cases where First Kings 22 and second Chronicles 18 really align pretty closely. There are a few minor differences, but really nothing that's so noteworthy that it would take an extended conversation on each chapter. Let me remind you, this is the last Sunday I'll be in the pulpit for Compass North Texas. Pastor PJ should be back this week, so thank you for praying for that. We're hopeful and optimistic that he'll come back energized and ready to go, which reminds me, I forgot to tell you, I'm gonna be out for a few weeks as well. I was talking about. Having my partner in crime again in the next couple days, and I totally forgot I was gonna be out too, so sorry. You're gonna have Pastor PJ for just a few weeks and then I'll be back. And then I think we're gonna be back together for several months before either one of us are out of the office again, which I'm sure will be a welcome reprieve for all of us. I don't like doing it by myself. He doesn't like doing it by himself. Neither one of us like this arrangement, but we do it because we need time off and that's a good thing and I'm sure you guys recognize that as well. But all of us want things back the way they're supposed to be. That's when all is good in the world. So with that, please pray for me as I prepare to leave. You'll still hear two more days of me on the podcast 'cause obviously I'm recording ahead, so I'm not gone yet, at least from your podcast channels here. But I will be gone from the office and god willing, I'll be down in New Braunfels with the family, enjoying some much needed away time with the kids swimming and hiking or who knows what else we might be doing. Okay, let's jump into First Kings 28. We'll use this as our baseline chapter to operate from. Although if there's anything important from Second Chronicles 18, I'll refer to that here. But First Kings 22 is really what I'm looking at. Okay, so we have Syria and Israel without war for a period of time. Now, remember, Syria, Damascus, these are important people that are always in opposition in some way, shape, or form to Israel. Remember Ben Hayad the first and Ben Hayad the second. We now have a time of peace, but in the third year. And Jeh APHA enters the equation and it seems based on putting second Chronicles 18 and First Kings 22, together, it seems like Ahab is trying to woo him into a partnership because in Second Chronicles 18, it says, after some years he went down to Ahab in Samaria, and Ahab killed an abundance of sheep in oxen for him, for the people who were with him and induced him to go up against Ray Moth Gilead. There's a little bit of political maneuvering happening here, and Phat falls prey to it. He says, look we need to get back Ray Moth, Gilead from the King of Syria. Will you join me? And then Phat says, Hey, I'm in. I am as you are my people. As your people, my horses. As your horses. Phat wisely requests something before they enter into battle. He asks King Ahab, Hey, how about we consult? A word from the Lord. How about we ask God what he thinks about this? And that's probably a really good posture for you to take. I remember James, the brother of Jesus in the flesh in his book says, don't assume that you're gonna go here and do this and make that prophet. He says, instead, how about you ask the Lord? And if you say, if the Lord wills we'll do this or that in this case, this is what Jeha Apha asks for. And so he does that. Except not quite, because he gathers the prophets together about 400 men, and he said to them, Hey, should we go up? And they say, yes, go up. God's gonna give victory. But PHA recognizes these are not prophets of the Lord, which is why he asks in verse seven of one Kings 22, is there not a prophet of Yahweh that we can ask? And then the King of Israel says, well, yes, but he hates me and I hate him. I don't like docking him because he never concerns, he never gives because he never prophesies good concerning me, but evil. And then Jha asked Hey, don't sweat it. Let's try him. Anyway, so they bring him in, they coach him a little bit. This guy by the name of Mackay, the son of Ila. And so he shows up to the threshing floor at the entrance of the gate of Samaria and one of their prophets, not of Yahweh, Zakiah, the son of Canna. Does this cool thing with the dramatic effect. He puts horns of irons on his head and he says, thus says the Lord. He uses Yahweh's name here with these, you shall push the Syrians until they are destroyed and all the prophets prophesied so, and said, go up and triumph. The Lord will give it into your hand. And so Miciah entering into this party here recognizes that he's in a losing battle. And so Mackay says, as the Lord lives what the Lord says to me. I gotta speak. I'm gonna speak honestly. And yes, when he's asked, the first time he answers, he says, go up in triumph. The Lord will give it into the hand of the king. But there appears to be an awareness of, I don't know, the sarcasm and irony that's happening here because in verse 16, Ahab says, how many times shall I make you swear that you speak to me? Nothing but the truth in the name of the Lord and the irony's richer because it's not typically the case he hates when miah. Answers him honestly. And he never prophesied good, he just previously said. And so it's ironic that now he's being forced to ask Mackay to speak to him the truth, which, why, by the way, Mackay, since you're going to church today, Mackay is the longer form of the short name Micah. Micah is the prophet that we're studying today, and the minor prophets. And both of those names mean who is like the Lord. Interesting, isn't it? Anyhow, this is what we're reading. Mackay. Mackay enters in and says, okay, while you ask for the truth, I'm gonna give it to you. And he offers a short word. Verse 17, I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains as sheep that have no shepherd. This is pretty clear. They're not gonna win. They're gonna be scattered on the mountains. And the shepherd that they used to have is no longer there suggesting death. And then King, the Ahab says to Jeh, I told you this is exactly what I was afraid of. But then mackay opens up the door just a little more. Mackay says, and this is where it gets really interesting, because this is something that I am, I feel like I'm above my pay grade here, but here's what he says. Therefore, hear the word of the Lord. So this is something God is showing him. I saw the Lord sitting on his throne and all the host of heaven standing beside him on his right hand and on his left. Okay? So you imagine the Lord with a heavenly counsel, all the host of heaven who are these beings per the angelic realm it seems. But perhaps there's more there because here's what happens. I. He says this, who will entice Ahab that he may go up and fall at Ray Moth, Gilead. And one said one thing, one said another, and then a spirit came forward and stood before the Lord saying, I will entice him. And the Lord said, by what means? How will you do that? And he says, I will go out and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his profits. Wow. This is fascinating. Because God now says, okay, that's what you're gonna do and you're gonna succeed at that. And therefore, verse 23 says, the Lord has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these, your prophets. The Lord has declared disaster for you. Wow. What is happening? Okay, couple thoughts here. Number one, notice that Maccha says that what's happening in the profits is real. That is Ahab's prophets are prophesying by a spirit. There is something genuine happening there, except though it's a genuine spiritual interaction, it is an evil spirit that's behind it. Now, what's more interesting is that how is that spirit anywhere near the presence of God? And furthermore, how is God endorsing or at least allowing this spirit to operate? And those are questions I can't answer. All I know is that what we have here is Macia saying this is what God has revealed to him. God has allowed this lying spirit to operate. And so even though God himself is not the cause of this lying, it's a spirit. God has certainly allowed it, which tells me that God is sovereignly over all things, including evil. Your vision of God is probably too small because it has to include things like this where God can operate doing, good all the time, of course, but allowing and permitting evil. This is a hard and difficult thing to wrap your mind around, but we have no way to escape it. We see it right here in verse 24. Zedekiah, the son of, Ana came near and smacked Miciah on the cheek. This is a meant to be a shame and a dishonor. And he says, how is the spirit of the Lord jumping from me to go to you? And on it goes. And then eventually King Ahab says, sees Macia. And then the king says, put this fellow in prison and feed him me rations of bread and water until I come in peace. And McKay says, if you come back, the Lord is not spoken by me. And then he says, by the way, all y'all in this room hear all you peoples, he wants everyone to know what's about to take place while Miciah is a prophet of the Lord. So we expect his words to come true. And that's exactly what happens in verse 29. We get to see what the battle looks like. But the king of Ahab, the King of Israel, Ahab thinks he's gonna pull a fast one. And he says, how about this king Jeh shaphat? I'll disguise myself so that no one knows that I'm the king, but you still go out as the king and let's just see what happens. I don't know what Jehoshaphat's thinking at this point in time, but he accepts the terms. He accepts the terms, and he goes out and he wears his king kingly regalia while Ahab is hiding himself. Well, what happens here is interesting as well because they find the king and in fact, the king of Syria says to his people, fight with nobody except the king. Find the king of Israel. Go after that guy. Let's take him out. And so they initially think, jehoshaphat's the guy, but they realize, oh, that's not him. And so they withdraw. What's interesting here is in verse 32, it only says in. It only says in verse 32 that PHA cried out, but it's better in second Chronicles. Instead of him just crying out, it says that he cried out to the Lord. In fact, here's what it says in Second Chronicles 1831. They say it's the king of Israel. So they turn to fight against him, and Pha cried out and the Lord helped him. God drew them away from him. So Jehoshaphat's cry in One Kings 22, verse 32 seems to be generic, but in two Chronicles 18, we see that it's actually a cry out to the Lord. Tophat has a relationship with Yahweh, the covenant God of Israel and Judah. And it's evident here because God delivers him. He doesn't deliver Ahab. In verse 34, it says, A certain man drew his boat at random. The Hebrew actually says in his innocence, that is, he's just shooting. Who knows what this guy's up to? He, maybe he's a new guy and he doesn't quite know where to shoot the air, so he just shoots it in the air at random, and then it lands exactly where God wants it to land. It hits King Ahab between the scale armor and the breastplate. Some have described this particular part. Of flesh that's available to be only the size of a nickel. Now, this is impossible. That's what we're saying. This is something that could not happen apart from God's providential ordination. He's leading things as he wants. And so then he says, look, get me outta here. I'm wounded, and he tries to stand up until the end of the fight. Eventually he dies. And verse 36, about sunset, a cry went out to the army. Every man to his city, every man to his country, the king's dead. Basically our battle has been lost. Here I. And so they buried him in Samaria. But notice verse 38 here, they washed the chariot by the pul of Samaria and the dogs licked up his blood. And also the prostitutes do their own thing with it. But notice the dogs licking at the blood. Does that sound familiar at all? If so, and it's because earlier God predicted that this would take place. Remember Ahab repented, and so God didn't bring about the catastrophe immediately. But because Ahab's repentance only lasted for a short time, God did eventually bring it about. And here it is right here, one Kings 2238. In fact, lemme give you the cross reference in case you're taking notes in your Bible here. The other reference is One Kings 2119. That's where the initial prophecy takes place. Remember, in the intervening chapter, Ahab Repent and things are delayed. But here we have the prophecy fulfilled. Ahab slept with his fathers and now ahh Isaiah, his son, reigns in his place. We have a brief note here on Phat Jehoshaphat's Reign is compressed, but we're gonna get a lot more detail about him in Chronicles and we're gonna cover that very soon. But suffice it to say, at least for now, he does what's right in the side of the Lord. Verse 30 43. He's a good king. He's one of the good kings, and he does good in God's sight, even though he makes some pretty serious errors in his leadership. He still overall is considered a good king and so phat, and we're gonna put a pen and we'll come back to him soon when Phat dies. Horam also known as Jo. Reigns in his place and we'll get to him in a few chapters as well. Ahh. Isaiah steps into the place of Ahab now. Ahh. Isaiah and Jeh that are also gonna interact with one another and we'll find out soon enough. That's not a good situation, but, ahh. Isaiah's verdict, verse 52. He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. Walked in the way of his father and in the way of his mother. And in the way of Jira B, the son of Nebat. Remember, JIRA B is the first king of the Northern Kingdom Israel. He does evil to golden calves. And Dan and Beersheba, not a good dude, sets up his own feasts. He's bad, and so he's saying a hisi here, walking in the same path, not changing anything at all. This is bad news for Israel, but we're not surprised at this point because this is what we've seen so far. Now a his I only rules for two years. So it's not a very long reign, but still even two years of bad is two years too long. Okay. What lessons can we draw from this? I think there's gonna be a few lessons that we're gonna see thematically in Jha, if that's life, but at least right now, let's just notice first of all that God is in control of both good and evil. I brought this up, I highlighted this for you when we saw Mackay's vision, but just keep this in mind. Anything that happens to you in your life is over the sovereign. Is under rather the sovereign oversight of God. And that should be enormously comforting to us. That means nothing can happen to us outside of God's will. He's perfect. He's good. He's just, he will always do what's right, even in his permission of evil coming upon you. Secondly, notice that Jeh. Ifat finds himself in hot water because of his companionship. Scriptures replete with. Admonitions against having close relationships with people that are unbelievers of not being unequally yoked. And therefore, you ought to see in this situation here, in this example, a reason for you to closely guard your friendships and closely guard your acquaintances. This is a good reason for you to be wise in who you allow into your life. There's probably a lot more here and I'd love to hear if you have any thoughts about that. Maybe you guys wanna send us an email at podcast@ntxcompassntx.org and let us know what you think about that. But that's only have for now. Let's pray together and let's close this thing out. God, we thank you for your wise and. Beneficial scriptures. They're so beneficial to our lives because they teach us. And in a narrative like this, we ask that you would help us to draw out applications and implications for our lives. Help us to see your wisdom on display. In fact, help us to be like Mackay, who's un. Unconcerned, at least in some ways of offending other people. He's willing to stand for truth and say what is true, even if it costs him his life. We wanna be bold like him. We want to be careful. Unlike Jeh, we don't wanna build evil alliances with people like Ahab. We want you to protect us. On the other hand, Lord, we also wanna be in friendships with people that are unbelievers for their sake. Help us to know how to wisely navigate those things and as we wrap up First Kings today. Lord, please give us grace to plow through Second Kings. Going back and forth from different kings is actually pretty challenging, so please give us a stamina to pay close attention, Lord, and to learn a lot from these chapters. We ask for your blessing today, not only over our Bible reading, but also over our church attending. May we learn much from you and grow in our walk with you. In Jesus name, amen. Thank you so much for joining me. It's my pleasure and privilege to do this with you. Hopefully I'll see you again tomorrow for one more edition and perhaps maybe two or three more or four more. Let's see what happens. A Daily Bible podcast. I'll see you then.

thanks for listening to another edition of the Daily Bible Podcast. This is a ministry of Compass Bible Church in north Texas. You can find out more information about ourChurch@compassntx.org. We would love for you to leave a review to rate to share this podcast on whatever platform you happen to be listening on, and we will catch you against tomorrow for another edition of the Daily Bible Podcast.