NT Framework - When angels motivate someone to go against God

Angels are both good and evil. What happens when an angel decides to move people and encourage them to go against God? There are some really interesting times that this has happened.

More information about Beyond the Walls, including additional resources can be found at www.beyondthewalls-ministry.com 

This series included graphics to illustrate what is being taught, if you would like to watch the teachings you can do so on Rumble (https://rumble.com/user/SpokaneBibleChurch) or on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtV_KhFVZ_waBcnuywiRKIyEcDkiujRqP).

Jeremy Thomas is the pastor at Spokane Bible Church in Spokane, Washington and a professor at Chafer Theological Seminary. He has been teaching the Bible for over 20 years, always seeking to present its truths in a clear and understandable manner. 

Transcript

Welcome And Series Context

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Welcome to Beyond the Walls with Jeremy Thomas and our series on the New Testament framework. Today, a smaller, bite-sized piece from the larger lesson. We hope you enjoy it.

Angels As Witnesses In Scripture

Ahab Micaiah And The 400 Prophets

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The prophets that come after Moses, they're like God's prosecuting attorneys. Whenever Israel broke the covenant, God would raise up a prophet, the prophet would go and serve as his prosecuting attorney. And he's bringing a case against Israel. And he's saying, Hey, you guys have broken the law, and then they'll call forth the witnesses. So you have the vision being described in verse 1, and then notice verse 2 where God's indictment begins through Isaiah. And who does, who does, who is summoned at the opening of the case? Listen, O heavens, and hear, O earth. See exactly what we saw in Deuteronomy 32, 1. And the reason is because he's calling the angels to actually serve as witnesses to Israel's violation of the Mosaic covenant. So angels serve this function between God and their his relationship with Israel, established at Mount Sinai. Interestingly, just as a side note, Revelation chapter 2 and 3, you know those two chapters have the seven letters to the seven churches. And there are seven angels, it says, who have, you know, of the seven lampstands. And these letters are addressed to these angels. And some think that those are actually really angels that serve a same type of witness function between Christ and his church. I think Robbie Dean gave a paper on it years ago at the pre-trip conference. I think he held that they were angels. Other people say, no, the angel's a messenger, it's a pastor, you know, this kind of thing. But but it's a it's a very uh provocative idea that they are actually angels, that those seven letters are written to, and that somehow angels have a relationship to local churches and the ministry that transpires there. So um it's a it's an option that's on the table, and this is the background for that option. Okay, the angelic witnesses to Israel and God's relationship under the Mosaic Covenant. Um let's turn to 1 Kings 22. Very interesting scene here, 1 Kings chapter 22, where we have a fallen angel that is uh goes forth to influence a political king, the king of Israel at the time, who was Ahab. And we learned some interesting things about angels on this in this chapter. The problem here was the area that had really belonged to Israel had been taken over by the Arameans, and so King, King Ahab, who you know, wicked King Ahab, right, had a lovely wife named Jezebel. Anyway, not many people name their daughter Jezebel. Have you ever noticed that? It's like naming your kid Cain or something, you know. But in this chapter, you know, the king, King Ahab, wants to go and take back Ramoth Gilead from the Arameans, and so he calls forth, you know, 400 prophets. And these 400 prophets say, Oh, you know, what does the Lord say? Oh, the Lord says you're gonna be successful, you know. Go take it, you know. And the other king, the king of Judah, says to his name was Jehoshaphat, he said, Hey, did you do we have a real prophet of the Lord here? He says, Yeah, there's this one guy named Micaiah, but I hate him because everything he says is always against me. So who wants to hear what he says? He says, Well, let's let's bring him forward.

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So in 22, um so is when he comes in.

The Heavenly Council And A Lie

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Then the messenger who went to summon Micaiah, this supposedly prophet who's always against Ahab, spoke to him, saying, Behold, now the words of the prophets are uniformly formally favorable to the king. Please let your word be like the word of one of them and speak favorably. You know, just just just say what everybody else said. I mean, come on. But Micaiah said, As the Lord lives, what the Lord says to me, that's what I shall speak. Now I'm not here to just get on the bandwagon. I'm gonna say exactly what the Lord says. And if if you like it, you like it. If you don't, tough cookies. When he came to the king, the king said to him, Micaiah, shall we go to Ramoth Gilead to battle, or shall we refrain? And he answered him, and now you have this is uh sarcasm. Okay. Go up and succeed, and the Lord will give it into your into the hand of the king. Now it's just total sarcasm, and the king knows that. The king said to him, How many times must I adjure you to speak to me nothing but the truth in the name of the Lord? And he said, Okay, so fine. You really want to hear the truth? This is what I saw. So now he's gonna give him the real scoop. No more sarcasm. I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains like a sh like sheep with which have no shepherd. And the Lord said, These have no master. Let each of them return to his house in peace. And what that's a prophecy of is that Israel's king, Ahab, is gonna be killed. They're gonna be like sheep without a shepherd, because their king's gonna be killed. And the Arameans are not going to, you know, track down the rest of the Israelis, they're just gonna go back to their home in peace. So they're gonna be defeated. That's the point. They're gonna be defeated and their king's gonna be killed. He says, This is, you should not go up, I mean, unless you want to die, right? And then verse 18, the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, Did I not tell you that he would not prophesy good concerning me but evil? You know, why did we have to bring this guy in here? It's all just negative. Now, the background for this whole story is an interesting one that involves the next section. And the question of like why you had 400 prophets that said, Oh yeah, go take Ramoth Gilead. So let's look at this background, because it involves angels. Micaiah said, verse 19, therefore hear the word of the Lord. I saw the Lord sitting on his throne. This was in his vision, and all the host of heaven standing by him on his right and on his left. Now, the host of heaven is a terminology for angels, right? Verse 20. The Lord said, Who will entice Ahab to go up and fall at Ramoth Gilead? In other words, who will go and, you know, trick him into going up to Ramoth Gilead so he can be killed. And one one of the hosts of heaven said this, another one said that. It says in verse 21, then a spirit came forward and stood before the Lord. Now, the spirit, again, that's the word ruach in the Hebrew for like wind. Okay, and that's why we make this association with physical wind in nature, because they operate in a similar fashion. So this spirit comes forward, he's standing before the Lord, and he said, I will entice him. And the Lord said to him, Okay, how are you gonna do it? Now, isn't this interesting, first of all? First of all, the Lord does not say, Okay, he doesn't say, he could have said, Okay, I want you to go do this.

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But he didn't do that.

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He actually put a question out there to the hosts of heaven, these angels, and he said, I want y'all to figure out what who's gonna do what, when are you gonna do it? In other words, he gave them some volition in the matter, didn't he? It's very interesting. He didn't just command them, he said, All right, you and then he didn't tell him how to do it. He said, All right, what do you think? You tell me how you're gonna do it. And so there's this opportunity in the angelic realm to have discussion, to decide amongst themselves how they want to carry something out, and then he's now gonna tell us how. And he said, verse 22, B, I will go out and be a deceiving spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. Now, first of all, that's a very strange thing to say, but notice the word mouth, right? Spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. What do we do with our mouth?

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I mean, we breathe, but what else do we do? We speak. Language. Language. Somehow, this one angel is going to influence the words that come out of the mouth of all his prophets.

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And if we read early in the chapter, you see there were 400 of them. And they all said the same thing. So they were all inspired by this spirit to say the exact same thing. Let's read on and elaborate a little bit more on this interesting situation. Then the Lord said to him, You are to entice him and also prevail, go and do so. Okay, so now you've told me the plan, you're gonna do it. Okay? Now therefore, behold, the Lord has put a deceiving spirit in the mouth of all these your prophets, and the Lord has proclaimed disaster against you. That's against Ahab.

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Thank you for joining us on Beyond the Walls with Jeremy Thomas. If you would like to see the visuals that went along with today's sermon, you can find those on Rumble and on YouTube under Spokane Bible Church. That is where Jeremy is the pastor and teacher. We hope you found today's lesson productive and useful in growing closer to God and walking more obediently with Him. If you found this podcast to be useful and helpful, then please consider rating us in your favorite podcast app. And until next time, we hope you have a blessed and wonderful day.