Hope From the Word

Guest (Male): Are you facing what seems to be insurmountable odds? Pastor Bill Luebkemann has some encouragement for you if you're in Christ.

Bill Luebkemann: The Israelites have a small force. The Arameans have a large force. How large is it? Well, the words used here are "covered the countryside" compared to "two small flocks of goats." That's language that should help you to visualize how big these forces are.

But it doesn't matter how big your force is if God is on your side. And it doesn't matter how big the enemy is if God is on your side. And it doesn't matter what you're facing in your life, if God is for you, who can be against you? And nothing formed against you can stand.

Guest (Male): Abraham Lincoln once stated, "My concern is not whether God is on our side; my great concern is to be on God's side, for God is always right." Spoken like a man who knew a thing or two about the greatness of God. Today we'll read about some people who learned that lesson the hard way.

You're listening to Hope From the Word, and we'll be joined by Pastor Bill Luebkemann in just a moment. It's great to have you with us as we continue our study of 1 Kings. Chapter 20 is where we'll focus our attention today, so let's head there now.

Bill Luebkemann: The prophet came to the king of Israel and said, "Strengthen your position and see what must be done because next spring the king of Aram will attack you again." So now he's getting more free prophetic advice. He's won this battle, he's inflicted a great loss, he's run the king out of town, he's savoring the victory, and that prophet comes back to him and says, "Look, get strong and strengthen your position because they're coming back next spring." And you can be ready for them.

So we see a passage of time here because now next spring, we're talking about several months of delay. Again, we see God does not work in the same kind of way we would work. We would say, "Lord, we want the victory now. Let's go after the guy now, wipe him out now, get rid of him now, finish the battle now. Let's get it done now, now, now." And he says, "No, get ready. There's something about being prepared." And you won phase number one, part A is done. But there's something about being prepared, and you've got to be prepared for part two.

Meanwhile, the officials of the king of Aram advised him. The reason I say that is he has these officials here with him. I'm assuming that they were with him and that they must have escaped with him. Meanwhile, the officials of the king of Aram advised him, "Their gods are gods of the hills. That is why they were too strong for us. But if we fight them on the plains, surely we will be stronger than they. Do this: Remove all the kings from their commands and replace them with other officers."

So the 32 kings must have also escaped with him. "You must also raise an army like the one you lost, horse for horse and chariot for chariot, so we can fight Israel on the plains. Then surely we will be stronger than they." He agreed with them and acted accordingly.

Look, these officials were mistaken about the nature of God. They're thinking about multiple gods. They're thinking about their gods, your gods, my gods, the other guy's gods. We fought them in the hills. And this was a very common belief of the pagans at that time: that gods were localized. In other words, there are gods of the sky, gods of weather, gods of this area, that area, gods of the sea, gods of the land, gods in different countries. Well, they must have gods up on the hills there where they are, and we were fighting them and we couldn't beat them. But if we can get them down here on the plains where our god is stronger.

These people were guilty, though, of the same sin that many people are guilty of today: They remade God in their own image. That was the whole nature of having these multiple numbers of gods. Instead of looking to God's word to find out about the nature of God, so many times mankind remakes God in his own image. This is what we want God to be. We want God to be something that we think God should be. We'll put together a god of our own choosing, a god of our own likeness. We'll do it the way we think God should be.

And that's what they've done. And anybody who does that is really into idolatry because idolatry is worshipping ourselves or worshipping gods of our own making. When we say God is really like this or God is really like that, when we've changed the nature and characteristics of God to be the way we think they should be, then we've remade God into the image that we want him to be in. And that's plain and simply idolatry. That's what they've done here.

So they give the king some of this advice here, which is not going to work. "Remove all the kings from their commands, replace them with other officers, but also put together a new army just like the last one. Horse for horse and chariot for chariot. You're going to need a strong army. But you're going to fight them in the plains. Now, if we have the same size army we had before, so all things are the same. If everything's the same, but if we can fight them on the plains instead of in the hills, our gods are stronger down on the plains and their gods are stronger on the hills."

So this guy, Ben-Hadad, he says, "Okay, yeah, maybe I'll do it that way." He agreed with them and acted accordingly. The next spring, Ben-Hadad mustered the Arameans and went up to Aphek to fight against Israel. When the Israelites were also mustered and given provisions, they marched out to meet them. The Israelites camped opposite them like two small flocks of goats, while the Arameans covered the countryside.

Again, now we're reminded of the size discrepancy between the two armies. The Israelites have a small force. The Arameans have a large force. How large is it? Well, the words used here are "covered the countryside" compared to "two small flocks of goats." That's language that should help you to visualize how big these forces are. But it doesn't matter how big your force is if God is on your side. And it doesn't matter how big the enemy is if God is on your side.

And it doesn't matter what you're facing in your life, if God is for you, who can be against you? And nothing formed against you can stand. No weapon formed against you can stand. The man of God came up and told the king of Israel, "This is what the Lord says: Because the Arameans think the Lord is a god of the hills and not a god of the valleys, I will deliver this vast army into your hands, and you will know that I am the Lord."

In other words, the Lord says, "I'm going to have some jolly good times here, and I'm going to show you a jolly good time as well because they think that the Lord is a god of the hills and not a god of the valleys, I'm going to give you the victory. And by the way, it's going to happen down in the valley so that they're proven wrong."

For seven days they camped opposite each other, and on the seventh day the battle was joined. The Israelites inflicted a hundred thousand casualties on the Aramean foot soldiers in one day. This was 7,000 Israelites plus the 232, so 7,232, assuming the number was the same as the previous fall. The rest of them escaped to the city of Aphek, where the wall collapsed on 27,000 of them. And Ben-Hadad fled to the city and hid in an inner room.

Now, when 7,000 people get a victory over 127,000 people, in case you're not good at math, that's a ratio of about 18 to 1, roughly. Now, when your army gets a ratio of 18 to 1 against them and has the victory, then you should know that the Lord is on your side. And God said, "You will know that I am the Lord." And at this point, what should King Ahab have been doing there? I'm sorry I'm saying that, King Ahab. I like that movie. What should King Ahab have been doing? You should see it with Patrick Stewart in that movie. Really good.

What should King Ahab have been doing? He should have been saying, like the Israelites on Mount Carmel, "The Lord, he is God. The Lord, he is God." This was another chance to serve God. It was another chance to declare one's faith in the Lord. It was another chance to turn from his ways and to follow the Lord. Does he do it? No, unfortunately not.

His officials said to him—now, it was Ben-Hadad who was hiding now. So that's who we're talking about here in verse 31. His officials said to him, "Look, somehow his officials are always around. I don't know, maybe they're just not in the battle or they're a bunch of scaredy-cats. His officials said to him, 'Look, we have heard that the kings of the house of Israel are merciful. Let us go to the king of Israel with sackcloth around our waists and ropes around our heads. Perhaps he will spare your life.'"

Well, really they should have gone with ropes around their necks. But they say basically, "Let's go to him seeking forgiveness. Let's go to this king of Israel, this Ahab guy, and let's pretend that we're sorry and we want to be forgiven. Let's put the sackcloth on, let's put the ropes around our heads. Let's look like we're sorry, we're regretful, we know we've sinned, we want to be forgiven. Perhaps he'll have mercy on you. Perhaps he'll spare your life."

Wearing sackcloth around their waists and ropes around their heads, they went to the king of Israel and said, "Your servant Ben-Hadad says: Please let me live." The king answered, "Is he still alive? He is my brother." Hello, he's not your brother. He just tried to kill you, buddy. Why do you call him your brother? Aside from the fact that he's also an idolater who doesn't care about the Lord.

The men took this as a good sign and were quick to pick up his word. "Yes, your brother Ben-Hadad," they said. They were very quick to cue in on this. These guys were very sharp politicians. Ahab says, "Is he still alive? He's my brother." "Oh yes, yes, yes. He's your brother. Your brother Ben-Hadad."

"Go and get him," the king said. When Ben-Hadad came out, Ahab had him come up into his chariot. "I will return the cities my father took from your father," Ben-Hadad offered. "You may set up your own market areas in Damascus, as my father did in Samaria." Ahab said, "On the basis of a treaty, I will set you free." So he made a treaty with him and let him go.

Wrong move, buddy. Big problem here. Why is it a big problem to make a treaty with someone? Well, first of all, you didn't fight the battle. The Lord fought the battle. So you don't have the right to make a treaty. You didn't win. The victor gets to decide the terms. And you weren't the victor. The Lord fought the battle. And the Lord said, "You're going to know that I am the Lord your God."

So the most you should have done was said to Ben-Hadad, "Come back tomorrow while I ask the Lord what to do." Or better yet, "We're going to put you in jail till tomorrow and then we'll ask the Lord what to do, and we'll let you know tomorrow." Now, I don't think Ben-Hadad was sorry for anything he did. He was just sorry he lost. He was sorry he got caught.

He was sorry that he was standing there the loser. He was the guy that at the beginning of this chapter was taking the best of the wives and children and all the silver and gold. And then he expanded that to take everything that belonged to him. And now he's here begging for mercy, and Ahab is giving away the barn to somebody who the Lord God won.

It's kind of like you're in business with a partner and your partner does all the work and you negotiate some deal with someone behind your partner's back. Only it's worse than that, because Ahab and the Lord were not partners. It's more of a master-servant relationship. And the master here won the battle, and wasn't even consulted. Ahab said, "I'll make a treaty with you," and he let him go. "On the basis of a treaty, I will set you free." So he made a treaty with him and let him go. And that is not at all what God had in mind.

By the word of the Lord, one of the sons of the prophets said to his companion, "Strike me with your weapon." But the man refused. So the prophet said, "Because you have not obeyed the Lord, as soon as you leave me, a lion will kill you." And after the man went away, a lion found him and killed him.

Now the spotlight switches to the group of prophets that were in the land here. And the word of the Lord came to one of them, and he said to another one of them. So this is one prophet of God speaking to another prophet of God. And he says the word of the Lord came to him, "Strike me with your weapon." But the man said, "What? I don't want to strike you with my weapon."

But it was clear that this was the word of the Lord coming to the one guy for him to be struck by the other guy because he had to look like he was injured. So he said to his partner there, "Look, the Lord wants you to strike me. Take your sword and strike me. Don't kill me, just strike me." "And oh no, I can't do that," his buddy said. So the prophet said, "You have not obeyed the Lord. When you leave me, you're going to die by the usual way that God kills prophets who don't do what they say: They get eaten by a lion." Not a friendly way to go. And after the man went away, a lion found him and killed him.

The prophet found another man and said, "Strike me, please." So the man struck him and wounded him. The guy didn't want to get eaten by a lion. Then the prophet went and stood by the road waiting for the king. He disguised himself with his headband down over his eyes. So he's standing there by the road now looking injured because he is injured. He's got his headband down and he can't be recognized as a prophet.

See, this king Ahab didn't hang around the prophets too much, but he knew what they looked like. So you have this prophet now standing by the road waiting for the king to come by, and he's all bloody and everything, blood gushing down his body there, and he pulled his headband down and he looks all beat up and everything.

Here comes the king going by. As the king passed by, the prophet called out to him, "Your servant went into the thick of battle, and someone came to me with a captive and said, 'Guard this man.' If he is missing, it will be your life for his, or you must pay a talent of silver. While your servant was busy here and there, the man disappeared."

"That is your sentence," the king of Israel said, "You have pronounced it yourself." So this guy pretending to be an injured soldier along the side of the road as the king comes by, makes up this fake story and says, "Hey, I was in a battle and someone came to me and said, 'Guard this man with your life. If you lose him, it's going to be your life for his, or it's going to cost you a bunch of silver.'"

And he's basically asking the king for mercy, and the king doesn't have any mercy. He says, "You just pronounced your own sentence on yourself." Reminds me of David when he sinned with Bathsheba and Nathan came to him and told him the whole story, which was all a made-up story of exactly what David had done.

And David said, "That man must die." And Nathan said, "You are the man." And here's the king coming along, different king, different prophet, different year, month, and day, same kind of a situation. This king comes along, this prophet makes up this story here, and he's bloody and everything. This wasn't Heinz tomato ketchup. This was real blood here. And he tells it all.

Here's another chance for the king to show mercy. The king's going to need mercy himself. He could have shown mercy to this guy. But he doesn't. He says, "That is your sentence," the king of Israel said, "You have pronounced it yourself."

Then the prophet quickly removed the headband from his eyes, and the king of Israel recognized him as one of the prophets. He said to the king, "This is what the Lord says: You have set free a man I had determined should die. Therefore, it is your life for his life, your people for his people."

Sullen and angry, the king of Israel went to his palace in Samaria. Seems like this guy gets sullen and angry a lot. Seems like he's like a teenager or something, or even a pre-teen. We're going to see in the next chapter next week that he gets sullen and angry because he can't have something that he wants. He wants a new Nintendo, he can't get it, so he gets all sullen and angry.

He gets sullen and angry here because he's challenged by this prophet that he wasn't doing what God wanted him to do. He doesn't repent. He just never gets it. Over and over and over again, the Lord says, "You're going to see that I am the Lord your God." back in verse 13. "Then you will know that I am the Lord." Then when the spring came, verse 28, "And you will know that I am the Lord."

And neither time, neither battle that he won did he admit that God was the Lord. He never said, "The Lord, he is God," like the people did in Mount Carmel. And then when he has the opportunity to off this king, he doesn't do it. He doesn't go to the Lord and ask for clarification, "What should I do with this guy? Should I sign a treaty with him or get rid of him?"

He knew what he should have done. He doesn't honor God. He doesn't give thanks to God. He takes whatever he can get for himself, keeps it for himself, wants to look like he got the victory for himself. When he made that treaty with the guy, in effect what he was saying is, "This was my victory, and therefore I can make a treaty with you because I beat you. And therefore I won, and therefore I have the right to sign this treaty with you," when in fact he was basically spending God's money, spending someone else's victory by doing that.

And when he's challenged on it here, he still doesn't get it. He doesn't say, "I have sinned." This was the difference between the situation with David and Bathsheba and this situation. David, a man after God's own heart, fell into a grievous sin. But when Nathan confronted him on it and David said, "That man must die," Nathan said, "You are the man." And David repented. He asked God's forgiveness.

This guy was just mad that he got caught. He was sullen and angry. That's the mark of somebody who's just ticked off. Ticked off that they got caught, not willing to give God the credit, not willing to give God the glory. And God works in our lives, and we need to be able to give him the glory and be willing to give him the glory when we see what he does.

And when we see him working in our lives, he shows us all the time that he is the Lord. When we see things happen around us that are beyond our control or outside of the realm of possibility or beyond whatever we could have worked out for ourselves, the most we should be able to say to ourselves is, "Wow, the Lord is God. Look what the Lord did. How did God do that? Isn't that amazing? The Lord is God."

You're a believer in the Lord tonight. When you see God do whatever he does in your life, the response should be one of awe and amazement. "Thank you, Lord, for what you have done. You are the Lord. You are God. Isn't that amazing? Thank you for what you've done."

Right? You messed up, God calls it to your knowledge, you realize that you've messed up. "Hey, forgive me, Lord. Forgive me, Lord. I was crazy. Why did I do that? Wash my sin away, Lord. Renew me, make me into a new creation. Thank you for doing that, Lord." He did that by dying on the cross for us. But he washes our sin away every time we sin again when we come back to him.

And when we see the Lord work in our lives, when we see that we have done something wrong, when we come back to him, we should be thanking him for that. When the good things happen, we should be saying, "Wow, the Lord is God. Praise God for that." And when the Lord sets us straight in some way, disciplines us in some way, when we realize, "Wow, we were really off base there. I'm glad the Lord straightened me out there," then we should be one of, "Thank you, Lord, for disciplining me there. Thank you for showing me how wrong I was. Help me to get it right the next time and help me to walk with you and forgive me for that."

And we see here that King Ahab, he didn't learn any of those lessons. And he keeps on making mistakes over and over and over again, he does it. In the next chapter, he steals a guy's vineyard, kills the guy. His wife kills him, but it was really the king who killed him. He allowed his wife to do it. He does have a little bit of remorse at the end, and God relents a little bit. But then he goes on and continues to do foolish things after that. So read ahead and keep following along to see what Ahab does here and keep remembering that the Lord, he is God.

Guest (Male): You've been listening to Hope From the Word. We're currently in Pastor Bill's study of 1 Kings. If you'd like to hear this message again, you have several options. Visit our website at ccmarlton.org, download the Hope FM app to your smartphone or tablet, or look for us wherever you find your podcasts.

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For more information, go to ccmarlton.org. We hope to see you soon. Before the day is done, we'd like to connect with you. Share a praise report, prayer request, or what you're learning from this series. You can easily email us at our website, ccmarlton.org, or just call us at 856-983-1662. There's more to come from Bill's study of 1 Kings, and we'll have that for you next time on Hope From the Word with Pastor Bill Luebkemann. This program is brought to you by Calvary Chapel of Marlton.