4 ~ The Smooth Stone of Proclamation
In 2 Chronicles 18 King Jehoshaphat of Judah made an alliance with the wicked Ahab, king of Samaria, to go into battle against a common enemy, and then sought divine guidance for the decision!
~ Dr. Morriss wrote:
I have had people come to me for advice. They do not want advice. They just wanted me to agree with their prejudices, and they want me to agree with the course of action they had already decided upon. Jehoshaphat said, “We will be with thee in the war.” And then he suggested that they talk with the Lord. (SB, 80)
Jehoshaphat mistrusted the prophets serving Ahab, and asked if there were any others, and Ahab directed him to Micaiah ben Imla who never gave him an encouraging word, so he hated him. After an initial, unsatisfactory exchange, Micaiah prophesied Ahab’s death in battle. On the day of battle, Ahab disguised himself and had Jehoshaphat wear his royal robes. This could not save him, as Dr. Morriss wrote of 2 Chronicles 18:26-30:
They went to do battle. Now the enemy leaders had said, “Fight ye not with small or great, save only with the king of Israel” (2Chron. 18:30). When they saw Jehoshaphat in his robes, they took after him. The Scriptures say Jehoshaphat cried unto the Lord, and the Lord heard his prayer and turned the soldiers in their pursuit. Somewhere out there old Ahab, smug in his disguise, was riding along in his chariot when a soldier aimlessly shot an arrow in the air. Did I say aimlessly? There are no accidents in the plan of God. That arrow honed its way to the heart of Ahab; and just as Micaiah had prophesied, before the sun went down, wicked King Ahab had died in battle. The king was dead who had demanded of the prophet of God, “I adjure thee, [tell me] the truth” (2 Chron. 18:15). (SB, 83-4)
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Proclaim the Truth About Christ:
We should stand up with boldness to proclaim to the world the truth about Christ. . . . Tell people the truth about Christ. He is the unique personality of all human history. He was both God and man. As man he thirsted, but as God he could give of the waters of everlasting life. As man he hungered, but as God he could give of the bread of heaven. As man he grew weary and sat beside Jacob’s well; but as God he could say, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28). As man he walked upon the dusty shores of Galilee, but as God he planted his feet upon the waves of the Sea of Galilee and walked upon the water. As man he might shirk death, but as God he could take up his life on the other side of the grave. . . . Proclaim with boldness that he is the unique personality of all human history. He is the God-man. (SB, 85-6)
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Proclaim the Truth About His Church:
I am just old-fashioned enough to believe that when God created man, he created one man and that there existed in that one man the seed or the potentiality for all the other coming men of all the ages. Wherever you see a descendant of that first man God created, he has certain characteristics which are just like the first man God created. Likewise, I believe when Jesus created his church, he created one church and there existed in that church the potentiality for all the other coming New Testament churches. Wherever you find that New Testament church, it has certain characteristics of the first church. Some of these characteristics are believer’s baptism, salvation by grace, a democracy, and a church that has Christ as its head, the Word of God as its message, the Holy Spirit as its administrator, and the winning of the world to Christ as its mission. (SB, 87)
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Proclaim the Truth About the Condition of Man:
We need to tell the world the truth about the condition of man. Man without Christ is lost. Without Christ man is on his road to hell. He not only is awaiting some future judgment, but he is already under the condemnation of God. Jesus boldly declared the truth when he said to Nicodemus, “He that believeth not is condemned already” (John 3:18). We need to proclaim boldly that without Christ there is eternal separation. (SB, 88)
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Your goodness may get you around in your community. It may cause your grocer to brag on how you pay your honest debts. Your neighbors may brag on you. Your goodness may even get you elected to public office. But let me tell you something — your goodness is not good enough to get you to heaven! God says your righteousness in his sight is as filthy rags.
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You and I, no matter how good we are, no matter how moral we are, no matter how high our standards are, there is still a guilty distance between Jesus Christ and us. (SB, 90)
Proclaim the Truth About Conversion:
We need to tell the world the truth about the possibilities of conversion. “Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2 Cor. 5:17)
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The world is full of people who are irritable, who are mean, who are living in sin, and who are not satisfied. They are guilty and react to truths. They need to know that Jesus is the Christ, that the church is made up of a regenerated membership that is his church. The world needs the truth about the condition of man. Man is lost without Christ, but Christ offers him salvation. Let us pray that we might proclaim the truth wherever we are. (SB, 96)