Don Graham Revival Ministries

A Prophet Besides

II Chronicles 18:1-27

Text: But Jehoshaphat said, "Is there not here a prophet besides that we might enquire of him?" (v.6) (KJV)

A few years back a fellow pastor was relating to me the latest woeful story of a pastor in another state who was fired from a prestigious pulpit simply because of his courageous and fearless preaching of the Word of God. As he finished the story my friend sadly lamented, "I wonder if it's any longer possible for a pastor in our churches to be a prophet in his own pulpit."

That lament still stings. It haunts me! I recognize that many preachers, driven by a fear of man, have decided it's not worth it and have succumbed to the pressure of currying the favor of man, diluting his message so as not to be offensive, and has become a mere "hired hand" to provide for the people what they want. Some have yielded to the pressure to produce and have decided they'll make the gospel palatable to our heathen generation so as to produce the numbers that most of their entrenched leadership demand. In such an environment, rare is it to find a pastor who is "a prophet besides."

Since the Bible teaches that "judgment must begin at the house of God" (I Peter 4:17), it is apparent that this judgement will first fall on the pulpits of the houses of God. I conclude this in fear and trembling having spent my entire adult life in the pulpit. That judgment rises on the eminent horizon with a threatening specter that must call the church and her pastors to seek God's face for authentic revival. I believe revival will sweep across our churches when once it has swept across our pulpits. Then with our pulpits ablaze with genuinely revived men of God, clean men bearing the vessels of God, the church will be turned "right side up." We then will have men who are not "court prophets," paid to say the proper things, but men who have become, like Micaiah, "prophets besides."

Upon his ascension to the throne of Judah, Jehoshaphat enjoyed unparalleled success in his early years as his "heart was lifted up in the ways of the Lord" (II Kings 17:6). As the fear of the Lord fell upon his enemies, Jehoshaphat enjoyed a respite from war. However, he soon allowed his heart to be lifted up in the ways of the world as he "joined affinity with Ahab" (18:1). As the two kings plotted their strategy to go together to battle at Ramoth-gilead, finally, Jehoshphat exercised some restraint and said, "Enquire, I pray thee, at the word of the Lord. " (18:4) Ahab called in four hundred of the hired court prophets and they promptly agreed in unison to go on to battle for they promised God would deliver them.

When Jehoshaphat heard this he asked, "Is there not here a prophet of the Lord besides, that we might enquire of him?" For revival to come to America's churches we must have some men in the pulpits who are "prophets besides", men like Micaiah, who are characterized by being....

I. Convinced Even Though Hated (v. 7)

In response to Jehoshaphat's request Ahab said, "There is yet one man...but I hate him; for he never prophesied good unto me, but always evil. " (v.7) Ahab hated Micaiah because he always told the truth and spake only "thus saith the Lord. " Ahab met another "prophet besides" in the person of Elijah the Tishbite who announced to him a three year drought and then promptly disappeared. When he met Elijah for the first time following three years of devastation from the drought Ahab asked, "Art thou he that troubleth Israel?" (I Kings 18:17) The Ahabs of this world usually hate the messenger of truth when they are unprepared to deal with that truth. A "prophet besides" will always love their people enough to tell them the truth. "Speak the truth in love" is the New Testament dictum...

Speak in love, yes, yes—but, speak the truth or you don't really love your people.

Jesus said, "And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake... "(Matthew 10:22). A "prophet besides" is willing* to be hated and will remain convinced through the storm. Again Jesus said, "Blessed are ye when men shall hate you... " (Luke 6:22-23). It was as absurd to hate Micaiah because he spoke the truth as it would be for a householder to shoot his dog for barking at night to warn of the presence of a burglar. We will be hated likewise because we cannot speak comfortably about people's present, nor hopefully about their future.

This hatred against those who warn is really directed toward God. Do not be surprised if the world hates you! It shows that you are no more of the world "...than was your Master. " Did He not say, "If they have persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. " The life message of Micaiah is a stinging rebuke to all who refuse to proclaim the whole counsel of God for fear of not being accepted or approved by man. Pray for God to raise up pastors who are thoroughly convinced even though hated.

Notice, also, that "a prophet besides" is characterized by being...

II. Composed Even Though Pressured (v. 13)

The court prophets were embarrassed by this lone voice of dissent and sought to pressure Micaiah into agreeing with their voice of approval. Unrelenting, uncompromising, and unyielding Micaiah responded by saying, "As the Lord liveth, even what my God saith, that will I speak. " (v. 13). The "prophet besides" will stand—even if he has to stand alone. He will not bow or bend to the pressure to make his message palatable to his people. He will refuse compromise and stand alone, if he must!

When the pressure comes from your ecclesiastical peers, it can be hard to bear. You see where other ministers, your peers and neighbors, are in evident compromise and yet they seem to prosper and are elevated as examples of how to do church work in the new millennium. Your denominational heads extol such success stories and you know it is at the expense of diluting the gospel. You hear subtle innuendoes from your own flock of the latest exciting church scene where everyone is flocking and the temptation to wilt to all this pressure is often overwhelming.

John the Baptist, another "prophet besides", refused to compromise and confronted evil in the court room of his day calling Herod's sin of adultery for what it was and yes, it cost him his life. Micaiah was thrown into prison. But the prophet in the dungeon with nothing but the bread and water of affliction is a happier man than the King in royal robes. Better a thousand times to be in the dungeon with Micaiah than faring sumptuously at Ahab's table with all his "paid preachers"!

When pressured from all directions the "prophet besides" will remain composed. He will stand alone! The ability to stand alone comes from knowing you are not alone!! God promises, "When thoupassest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shall not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. " (Isaiah 43:2). Note further that the "prophet besides" is marked by being...

III. Calm Even Though Mistreated (v. 23)

When Micaiah courageously exposed the paid preachers for the lying prophets they were (vs. 21-22), Zedekiah slapped Micaiah and he was thrown into prison and immediately put into solitary confinement with nothing but bread and water. When the pressure spills over in accusations, slander, persecution and even bodily harm, the "prophet besides" will be calm in the midst of the storm, knowing that His God is right there with him in the storm. He will claim God's promise: "No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shall condemn!" (Isaiah 54:17). Did not Paul affirm that we approve ourselves as the minister of God, "in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, in stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults" (II Corinthians 6:3-5).

Micaiah's prophesy proved to be accurate. Jehoshaphat and Ahab persist, listening to the majority voice (once again wrong) and experience humiliating defeat. Ahab is killed in battle and Jehoshaphat barely escapes alive as he "cried out, and the Lord helped him. "(v.31). Micaiah fades off the pages of the sacred record but not before leaving us with a crystal clear portrait of a "prophet besides". Will you join me in prayer that God's men will be let loose and set free to dare to be a "prophet besides" lifting the trumpet to their lips and sounding God's clarion call to repentance and brokenness unashamed and unafraid.

May all who determine to be a "prophet besides" rest serenely in His promise, "When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against Him. " (Isaiah 59:19). Amen and Amen!!!