NT Framework - Do Good Angels Deceive

And, can we as good Christians do the same? 

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

SPEAKER_00 0:00

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.

Was The Spirit Good Or Evil

Rahab’s Lie And Lesser Harm

Ambush Ethics For Christians Today

SPEAKER_01 0:10

Okay, uh, well, we there was a question a few weeks ago that I wanted to, that someone had that I needed to answer. And this relates to the 1 Kings 22 passage, where uh you had uh King Ahab and King Jehoshaphat are sitting there talking about going to war against the Ammonites, and they bring in the 400 prophets, and the 400 prophets say, Oh, yeah, yeah, you've got them, go get them. And then uh they say, Jehoshaphat says, Yeah, well, do you have another prophet? And he says, Well, yeah, we've got this one. I don't like this guy because every time he comes in here, it's it's never good news. And so I really don't want to hear from him, but he's pressed by Jehoshaphat, and he brings in this prophet named Micaiah. And um in this passage is when Micaiah explains that he sees a uh saw a vision, and in the vision you see the Lord sitting on his throne and all his the angelic hosts, and the Lord says, Hey, uh somebody go and you know put a you know false prophet uh word in the mouth of all these prophets. Now, by the way, these prophets were these 400 prophets were actually true prophets, but they were all on the payroll of Ahab. So they had been uh compromised. They were now compromised and uh not truly really prophets anymore. So they were gonna give a false word to Ahab, and then Ahab was gonna go into battle and be killed. And so uh in that story where the Lord asks these angels, Hey, who's gonna go do this thing? Uh one of the it says a spirit said, I will go, and he said, Okay, and what's your plan? You know, and he says, I'll go be a uh lying or deceptive, you know, uh voice in the mouth of all these prophets. And the question becomes, okay, well, was this a good angel or was this an evil angel? Now every Christian immediately has a response to that question. Uh they immediately usually have a theological response, not necessarily a biblical textual response, they have a theological response. It's like when we hear um a question about like, well, what about what about babies? You know, do they go to heaven? Because they haven't believed. You know, so most people will have a knee-jerk reaction about what happens to you know on a question like that. And they'll say, well, they've got to be saved, you know, they just immediately respond, you know, out of a theological, and they you this could be right, this could be wrong. Uh, but the important thing is to evaluate the text and see what the text says. So usually the way I answer these types of questions is I will start down a path and then I will be very interested to see where this path goes. I won't just have a knee-jerk reaction and say it's got to be this way. So here's my discussion of that. It's highly controversial, first of all. There are about seven or eight views. I'm only sharing three here. Some people say it was just a story that Micaiah was telling. It wasn't didn't really happen. He's just describing something that held the truth. Other people say, no, it was an evil angel. I mean, obviously, I mean, why would an evil angel, I mean, why would a good angel, you know, be a lying mountain uh lying, give a lie to these prophets or whatever. And then that would be like Charles Rowry. Others say it was a good angel, for example, for example, somebody who taught at the exact same seminary as Charles Rowry, Tom Constable. So at a very esteemed seminary, one of the most esteemed of the 20th century, Dallas Theological Seminary. And so two guys on staff held completely opposite views. My interpretation is actually that the Spirit was a good angel who stands by to serve the Lord. There are several reasons why. The first is in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, verses 11 through 12. So it's a different passage, but it gives an example. It says God will send a deluding influence. It doesn't say God will use somebody else to sending a deluding influence or anything like that. It says God in the last days will send a deluding influence on those who've been given the truth multiple times, but keep rejecting the truth. And the purpose, it says, is so they might be judged for not believing the truth, but for taking pleasure in wickedness. King Ahab certainly fits the bill. He never wanted to hear the truth from the prophet Micaiah. God sent him the truth over and over and over, and he kept rejecting the truth, and because of this, he was building up a situation where he was to be judged by God and ultimately be killed. Okay, this was God's will for Ahab that he be killed. Um that's the first idea is that we see this in the Bible that God will do this to certain people who've been given truth over and over and over. Next, uh, God permits fallen angels to do certain activities. Yes, he permits them to do things. The story of Job is a good example where God permits uh fallen angels, well Satan, to go and cause problems for Job. But we have no examples in the Bible actually of God commanding an evil spirit to carry out tasks for him. We don't have one example. If there is one example, this would be the one example. So it'd be a lone example. So fallen angels are functioning under Satan in a hierarchy, and they are there to carry out his task. Third point. In Matthew 12, Jesus says, Hey, look, if Satan is casting out demons, which is what they accused him of doing, you are indwelt by Satan casting out demons. He says, Well, then Satan's kingdom is divided against itself, and it will certainly fall. In other words, Satan's demons don't carry out tasks that are contrary to Satan. They only carry out tasks that are in line with Satan's purposes. So if this was an evil angel, then what you'd be saying is that you have an evil angel who's going to do something for God to actually be against Satan's kingdom, which was, you know, why would Satan want to kill Ahab? Make no sense. He was being used as a puppet of Satan to carry out Satan's purposes. So it wouldn't make any sense with that passage. It would seem contrary. Now, all that is just to do this. It's to say, it's to make you say, okay, okay, I hear what you're saying. I'm not really totally convinced of it. And so I reject it. That's what most, they'll just stop right there. All I've said right now is to prompt you to say, okay, can you take me to second base now? Because that's just first base. We haven't even got into this issue yet. So you want to ask further questions. Okay, that's a good idea. So what we're going to do is talk about some more things. Uh, God and the story of Rahab and the two spies. You remember this story? The two spies come to Jericho, they go to this prostitute's home, Rahab, and she hides them on the roof, and the soldiers come and they say, Hey, did these two men come here? And she says, Oh, they came, but they went out this way. And uh yet she had them on the rooftop, right? Hiding them. Now, in the book of James, James chapter 2, God says that Rahab was justified because when the mess the spies came to her, she sent them out another way. All this involves the lie. Rahab lied. I mean, can anybody disagree with that? She lied. And yet God commends her and says she is justified by work, she was already a believer, but this is a justification by work seen, right? By doing that. And again, this sometimes bothers people. But if she had not lied and said, no, they're over here, then what would have happened? The king would have taken these two spies and he would have killed them. But here's the question whose land was it? Was it the Canaanites' land? Or did the land belong to Israel, including those two spies? See, there's much more going on. The one who was, they were actually going to be murdering these two spies because they were living on Israel's land. And so, in effect, this is like someone coming in your house and murdering you. Okay? So there's a lot more going on there. And so, of course, God commends Rahab. Rahab recognizes that the land belongs to these people. And so she lies to protect them because the alternative was murder would have happened. Sometimes we have to in a situation decide. Let's just say, I mean, you can be put at gunpoint, for example. And if you rat someone out, you know, this will happen to you, or if you don't, you'll you'll die. In other words, you have you have only really two decisions to make, and neither one of them is what you should do, really, ethically, biblically. Uh so which one do you choose? Well, the one that is of least harm. That's what you choose to do. Uh you don't have really any other choice. Okay? The one that causes the least harm. Um and God commends this over and over in the Bible. He sees that there's a lesser evil, and he says that's the thing you have to do in these types of cases. Um, otherwise, you're not you're not thinking right. Um, here's another one. God told Joshua to set an ambush in order to trick or deceive the army of I in Joshua chapter 7. God gave them a trick. He told them to deceive. Why? That's the question. We're not supposed to say, I doubt that. It says it. What we're supposed to do is ask why? And here's where we get to the ethics of war and the ethics of dealing with the criminal world. As a question, we could always put forth a question: could a Christian function as a member of the CIA, the FBI, or a police force who is going to carry out an ambush to capture uh, let's say, uh, criminals who are working in sex trafficking or drugs and all of this. Can a Christian be involved in that because they're using a deception to capture criminals? Yes, 100%. Why? Because criminals have forfeited their right to function in the real world with the rest of us who want to live on the standard of truth by living in a world of deception. And so they don't have any rights in this world. And this is why I think at least the justification theologically is for God saying, okay, this person doesn't want to function in the world the way I've created it in terms of standards of truth and so forth. They want to live in that world, therefore they do not have access to those things, and they those things can be used against them.

SPEAKER_00 11:17

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 uh 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.