GO THROUGH THE NARROW GATE INTO THE KINGDOM
Author: Sakkie Parsons
Translated from Afrikaans
Translator: Robin Barker
Someone sent to me the following section from the Word and then said rightfully, that our Lord will not allow someone to lie and so become part of a sinful deed.
NUM 23:19 “God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfil? “
The following section is what the person wrote to me about:
2 CHRONICLES 18-21
19 And the Lord said, ‘Who will entice Ahab king of Israel into attacking Ramoth Gilead and going to his death there?’ “One suggested this, and another that.
20 Finally, a spirit came forward, stood before the Lord and said, ‘I will entice him.’ “‘By what means?’ the Lord asked.
21 “‘I will go and be a deceiving spirit in the mouths of all his prophets,’ he said. “‘You will succeed in enticing him,’ said the Lord. ‘Go and do it.”
To begin with, we must clearly understand one thing: Our Lord is all knowing and He knew precisely, even before the creation, what was going to happen here and what was going to be the outcome/result thereof.
Well now, with that in mind:
As far as I am concerned, there are few rulers in the history of Israel, as far as evil is concerned, which could compete with Ahab and believe me there was some who were evil rulers. Ahab in his ‘evilness’ appointed 400 false prophets which prophesied exactly what Ahab wanted them to prophesy about. That lying spirit was in reality already within them.
So, I understand that when our Lord said – because it was not really a question, it was almost, to put it in this way, – a statement to show who, or what sort of spirit was going to cause the downfall of Ahab.
Because remember now, our Lord is Almighty and it was not necessary for Him to discover who was the lying spirit.
That is why we read: “And the Lord said” and not: “And the Lord asked?”
2CHR 18:19 And the Lord said, ‘Who will entice Ahab king of Israel into attacking Ramoth Gilead and going to his death there? …’
When our Lord said:
2CHR 18:21… “You will succeed in enticing him,’ said the Lord. ‘Go and do it.”
It was not an order but a statement to confirm what was going to happen.
All, to put it in this way, spirits could then see that our Lord had known all the time which spirit was going to cause the downfall of Ahab and our Lord simply confirmed exactly who and what is going to happen.
The best way for me to explain this last section is by: You and I are watching a rugby match on TV. It is a repeat screening and I have already seen the match, but you have not yet seen the match.
Now your team is facing the goal posts and your team is a point behind and after this kick the end whistle will blow.
You cannot handle the tension anymore and you ask me:
“Just tell me what is going to happen?”
I answer: “Yes, Piet is going to kick the ball between the posts.”
I did not make a prediction. I did not give a command. I just said what was actually going to happen and this is exactly what our Lord did in His all-knowingness.
He just confirmed what was going to happen.
Ahab was an extremely evil king and even though he knew all about our Lord.
This section just confirmed again, in spite of the kind of gospel preaching’s which is preached by some, about how our Lord will not abandon you, this is not true.
Because our Lord created me in His image and part of that ‘image/likeness’ is that I, like Him, have a will of my own, and that our Lord respects my will when it is relating to me, just like we must also respect His Will. Yet comes the day when I continually and continually and continually show Him that I really do not want to serve Him, that He, as in Ahab’s case, leave me to believe and do exactly what I wish to do and I. through my own will, have decided that this is how I want to live.
One similar example of this we find in Romans in the New Testament.
We read:
ROMANS 1:22-32
22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools
23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.
24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another.
25 They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.
26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones.
27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.
28 Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done.
29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips,
30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents;
31 they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy.
32 Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.
We read:
ROM 1:24 “Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts …”
As well as:
ROM 1:26 “Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts.
…”
And still further:
ROM 1:28 “Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, …”
Does this mean that our Lord has now, so to say, misled them to do what they have done?
No!
Never!
Our Lord has, because they want to live this way, as in Ahab’s case, allowed them to live their lives the way they wanted to live them.
Now, in my answer to the question that I was asked, I shared with you a section about one of the worst kings that Israel has ever had, I now want to share with you a little something about the best/greatest king that Israel ever had during the time of the Old Testament.
Amongst other things we read about him:
2KINGS 18:1 “In the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, Hezekiah son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign.”
Then we read about Hezekiah:
2KINGS 18:3 “He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, just as his father David had done.”
Later on we read this beautiful testimony about Hezekiah:
2KINGS 18:5 “Hezekiah trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel. There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before him or after him.
2KINGS 18:6 He held fast to the Lord and did not stop following him; he kept the commands the Lord had given Moses.”
Hezekiah was the best/greatest king that Judah ever had.
Today you now read this writing from the Word about the worst King of Israel and the best/greatest king of Judah and do you know?
Today you and I are on a journey and we will eventually, one day either spend eternity in hell together with Ahab, or we are going to spend eternity with Hezekiah in Heaven.
Our Lord wants all humanity (every person), also you and me, to be with Him in Heaven:
JOHN 3:16 "For God so loved the world (this means, all people) that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
JOHN 3:17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world (all people who accepted Jesus) through him.
JOHN 3:18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.”
Our Lord naturally through his omniscience (all-knowing), just as He also knew about Ahab, that most people eventually through their own will, will choose hell.
Listen to what our Lord says in his omniscience (all-knowing) and again He states the truth, just like He also stated in CHR 18:21 the truth, when He said at that time:
2CHR 18:21 “… You will succeed in enticing him,’ said the Lord. ‘Go and do it.’
Exactly as our Lord stated the actual truth, when He said what will happen, when people will be confronted with His Gospel:
MAT 7:13 “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.
MAT 7:14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”
Today if you, at this moment, are not sure if you are on the road to Heaven, says our Lord through this writing to you:
HEB 3:7 “Today, if you hear his voice,
HEB 3:8 do not harden your hearts …”
The decision lies completely with you.
You can, exactly where you are sitting now, in all sincerity pray the following short prayer:
“Jesus help me that I can be sure, that I am on the road to You in my Heavenly home. I accept You as my Redeemer and Saviour and I thank You that my life now belongs to You.”
Now you begin with regular study of the Word, regularly talking to Jesus through prayer and at the first and best occasion, become involved in a congregation which accepts the whole Word from our Jesus, the infallible Word from God.
You can immediately, as a matter of great urgency, become involve by attending a service, at the latest this coming Sunday morning.
Greetings,
Sakkie