God’s Sovereignty in Micaiah: Imprisoned - Faith in All Circumstances with Derek Thomas

THOMAS: Well, hello again. This is  number three in our study of characters   in the Bible who found themselves imprisoned for  a season. And we've been looking at the lessons   that they learned themselves and, perhaps, the  lessons that you and I can learn from similar   trials and difficulties that are not  literal imprisonments but certainly   when things aren't quite going our way.  And the character today is Micaiah,   a prophet that we find in 2 Chronicles chapter 18.  And we'll set this in the context in a moment but   again, I'm not going to read the entire chapter  which is lengthy, but I'm going to read verse 33. "But a certain man drew his bow at random and  struck the king of Israel between the scale armor   and the breastplate. Therefore, he  said to the driver of his chariot,   'Turn around and carry me out of the battle,  for I am wounded.'" And then, in verse 34,   "And the battle continued that  day and the king of Israel was   propped up in his chariot facing the  Syrians until evening, then at sunset   he died." And this is, of course, the death of  King Ahab of the northern kingdom of Israel.

I'm tempted to call this study "A Lucky Shot"  because, from a human perspective, that's   precisely what it was. A certain man drew his bow  at a venture. He wasn't even aiming at anyone in   particular. It just so happened that it struck the  king of Israel, Ahab, and it was a fatal wound. John Bunyan, at the time of the Civil  War, he lied about his age. He was   technically underaged to be participating in the  Civil War in the middle of the 1640s in England.   And for all kinds of reasons – his  mother had died, his father had   remarried, it was not a great relationship for  Bunyan, I think. And so, John Bunyan decided to   run away and I don't think he ever saw any of  the battles. He certainly wouldn't have fought   in any of the battles, but I'm pretty sure he  saw the effects of those set battles and the   horrible injuries, unimaginably horrible  injuries that he would have undoubtedly seen.

"When I was a soldier," he writes this in his  autobiographical book, "Grace Abounding to the   Chief of Sinners." "When I was a soldier, I, with  others, were drawn out to go to such a place to   besiege it. But when I was just ready to go,  one of the company desired to go in my room.   To which, when I had consented, he took my place.  And coming to the siege, as he stood sentinel,   he was shot into the head with  a musket bullet, and died."   What do we call that, for Bunyan at  least? "A lucky break." But of course,   we have a doctrine of providence that nothing  happens without God willing it to happen,   and without God willing it to happen before it  happens, and without God willing it happen in   the way that it happens. And that's a similar  thing to this man who draws a bow at random.

The occasion in this chapter is a marriage  alliance between the southern kingdom   of Judah, where Jehoshaphat is  king, and his wife is unnamed, and   Ahab and Jezebel in Samaria in the capital of the  northern kingdom of Israel. And they are agreeing   that Jehoshaphat's son, Jehoram, and Ahab and  Jezebel's daughter, Athaliah, were to be married.   And it was meant to secure peace from fifty  years of hostilities between Judah and Israel.   And a banquet is being held in the northern  capital in Israel, in the city of Samaria. Now, it's somewhat shocking that this marriage  alliance is even on the cards because Athaliah,   who was to marry Jehoshaphat's son,   Jehoram, after her husband died, she  ensured the death of all her offspring   and extended family, except for one grandson,  Joash, in order that she might usurp the throne  

for six years before eventually she dies. She was  executed. But you think we live in weird, terrible   times. Well, it's almost beyond description as  to how bad things were in this period of history. So, let's go to this banquet in Samaria.  And Ahab suggests, perhaps after drinking,   suggests that the way to cement this marriage and  the alliances of these two houses is a good war,   and to go against Ramoth Gilead, which  was in Syrian hands, and recapture it for   Judah. And he asks for prophets to come, and  all his prophets, of course, are sycophants   who will say what the king wants to hear. And the  prophets come, and they all say things like, "Yes,   you will be wonderfully successful, so go."  And then he says, "Is there not a prophet?"   realizing that these were all sycophants. He  asks, "Is there not a prophet of the Lord to   give me advice?" And yes, there is, and he's  Micaiah but he doesn't like Micaiah. In fact,   he specifically says that he hates him because  Micaiah never says anything good about Ahab.

Initially, Micaiah plays the game and goes along  with the other prophets, telling Ahab what he   wants to hear, but in a tone and a manner that  probably suggested that he was being ironic. And   then when he is chided, he tells Ahab the truth  that if he goes into battle, he will die. And Ahab   has one of those moments where he says, "I told  you that this man never says anything good about   me." But he goes into battle, nevertheless, and  dies. And Micaiah, of course, is put in prison. Let's analyze this narrative and draw   some lessons from it. And the first is this,  that God is sovereign, that God is sovereign.   I take a no-risk view of history, that is to  say, that the future in all of its details,   macrocosmically and microcosmically, are all part  and parcel of a divine plan. The execution of a   divine decree that all things work together  for the good of those that love Him. In terms   of a theory and an understanding of history both  past, present, and future, all of it is ordered by  

God completely and without exception. I  believe in the total sovereignty of God. And prophecy, of course, would be meaningless  if that weren't true. The fact that Micaiah   or any other prophet can make a prophecy  about the future, and that that prophecy   comes true in all of its details, means that  God is in charge of that future. His dominion is   total. There are those in our time, it's not quite  as popular now as it was maybe twenty years ago,   but there was an upsurge twenty years ago of  a view that we sometimes refer to as "open   theism," that God plans big things, you know,  the big things are all planned but the details   have to sort themselves out by themselves. And  that, therefore, the future was open. Open theism.

But that...it would only take one little detail  to change the course of history. An arrow,   a lucky shot, would change the course of history.  And what the Scripture is saying, or what the   chronicler wants you to understand here,  and the book of Chronicles is written   at a much later period to underscore that God's  covenant is sure and that God's promise is sure. None can stay the hand of God. None  can say to God, "What are you doing?"   It was the lesson of Joseph, "You meant it  for evil," he says to his brothers, "but God,   at the same time, meant it for good." God has a  plan. God has a purpose to ensure the survival   of the godly line of King David in a covenant  that He made with David in 2 Samuel chapter 7,   that Messianic promise, great David's  greater Son would rule and reign forever.

In all the messiness of life, in all the muck  of life, God still has a plan. God still has a   purpose. In the words of the Shorter Catechism,  "God has foreordained whatsoever comes to pass."   "The king's heart is a stream of water  in the hand of the Lord, He turns it   wherever He wills," Proverbs 21 and verse 1.  "The lot is cast into the lap, but the decision   is wholly from the Lord," Proverbs  16 and verse 33. God is sovereign. Secondly, God is sovereign in chance events.  From a human point of view, there is a concept,   we all understand it, of luck,  things that seem to be random,   things that at least appear to us to  be contingent. I studied mathematics.   I have a bachelor's degree in mathematics. I  remember studying probability theory. I remember   studying, at one point, chaos theory. It sounds   like a contradiction in terms, there's chaos  but there is a theory, there are equations.  

You and I understand that Las Vegas wouldn't  exist if there wasn't a theory of chance.   It couldn't possibly survive unless they know,  using algorithms of probability, that in the end   they will make a profit. Even though there will  be losses along the way, they will make a profit. God is sovereign even over what appears to us   to be random and chaotic events. They are  not random or chaotic to the sight of God.   Jesus said not even a sparrow falls  to the ground, not even a hair   without God's will. God is present,  and there's no telling what He can do.   What appears to be a random, lucky shot  fulfilled the purposes of Almighty God.   That's the God we worship. That's  the world in which we live.

Thirdly, God is sovereign over  evil. Let me pick up verse 23,   "Now, therefore, behold the Lord has put a lying  spirit in the mouth of these your prophets.   The Lord has declared disaster concerning you,"  and for which, this is Micaiah speaking now to   Ahab about his sycophantic prophets,  "And the Lord has put a lying spirit   in the mouth of these your prophets," and for  which Micaiah was struck on the cheek. And   Micaiah says something else to Ahab, and Ahab  says, "Seize Micaiah, and take him back to Amon   the governor of the city and to Joash the king's  son and say, 'Thus says the king, "Put this fellow   in prison and feed him with meager rations of  bread and water until I return in peace.'''"   It's a difficult statement, isn't it? God has put  a lying spirit in the mouth of these prophets.   You might balk at that. It certainly  needs some nuanced interpretation.

Let's pick it up somewhere else.  Peter, on the day of Pentecost,   speaking about the crucifixion of Jesus in Acts  chapter 2. And he says to the people in Jerusalem,   "You, by wicked hands, slew Him, but it was all by  the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God.   Yes, you did something that  was evil. Your intent was evil,   but it was all by the foreknowledge of God." As  a caveat, as we think about divine causality,   we make caveats that God is not the author of sin.   He is sovereign over all events,  but He's not the author of sin.

The Westminster Confession, for example,  employed what had been part of medieval theology   that there was a recognition of  first causes and second causes.   Think of those words in Amos chapter 3,  "Does evil befall a city, and the Lord   has not done it?" "Does evil befall  a city and the Lord has not done it?"   Now, think of it from a point of view of spiritual  and emotional well-being. When we settle this   biblically, intellectually, emotionally  that God has ultimate control of all things,   including evil, and that this is  gracious and precious beyond words.

The Heidelberg Catechism, question 27,   "The Almighty and everywhere present  power of God upholds heaven and earth,   with all creatures, and so governs them that herbs  and grass, rain and drought, fruitful and barren   years, meat and drink, health and sickness, riches  and poverty, yea, all things come not by chance   but by His Fatherly hand." When a person  believes and cherishes that, it changes his life. This is more than just the language of  permission that God permits something to happen.   When Spurgeon was challenged that this  is nothing but fatalism and Stoicism,   he replied, "What is fate? Fate is this, whatever  is must be. But there is a difference between that   and providence. Providence says  whatever God ordains must be,   but the wisdom of God never ordains anything  without a purpose. Everything in this world   is working for some great end. Fate does not say  that. There is all the difference between fate and   providence that there is between a man with good  eyes and a blind man." God is sovereign over evil.

"God is sovereign over life and death."  That's another lesson here. He was sovereign   over the life and death of King Ahab. Of  course, Jehoshaphat should never have been   in this situation, but we can also say that it is  appointed unto man once to die, and after death,   the judgment. Yes, deep in unfathomable minds of  never-failing skill, He treasures up His bright   designs and works His sovereign will. Yes, God is sovereign over life and death, but  He's also sovereign to ensure the final outcome.   And the final outcome, of course, was the survival  of the house of David in Jerusalem. That was   the goal, that was the plan. And the  death of Ahab and the destruction of this   alliance was part and parcel of that.

There are two lessons, I think, I want us to  think about as we think about the death of Ahab.   A specific one, Jehoshaphat learned  something about prayer in this incident.   If you were to turn to chapter 20 and verse  3, "Then Jehoshaphat was afraid and set his   face to seek the Lord and proclaimed a fast  throughout all of Judah." I think this incident   brought Jehoshaphat to a better  place, to a greater sense of faith   and a sense of leaning more and more upon  the Lord. Out of this imprisonment of Micaiah   and the consequences that followed, Jehoshaphat  learned something, I think, about prayer.

But there's a second lesson.   Learn patience when things are bad. This is a  rotten chapter. Just as Samson's story is a mess,   life can be messy. Sometimes, we find ourselves  in the muck. The end is going to be good,   however. God is in control. God knows what He  is doing. And to change the course of history,   all it took was a random shot, a random arrow that  just happened to pierce the king in a vulnerable   spot in his armor as he rode along in his chariot,  playing games of war to impress King Jehoshaphat.   But it was an arrow that fulfilled   a prophecy of a faithful prophet and man of God,  Micaiah, who was imprisoned for his prophecy.

Well, in lesson four, we'll look at one  more character from the Old Testament.