The Power of God's Word

This is undoubtedly one of the strangest stories in the Bible. Certainly we have to ask why this northern prophet, if he was a true prophet, was willing to lie to the southern man of God. We also have to wonder why a liar spoke the true word of God, and why God punished the disobedient man of God but not the lying prophet. And indeed, the passage produces more questions than these in our minds. But it is important to see that this chapter was not written to simply tell us a good story and gratify our curiosity, leaving us with a minimum of questions. The focus is relentlessly elsewhere--that is, on the word of the Lord. That’s why I’ve arranged the text under three points: we see the word of God fulfilled, confirmed, and ignored in this chapter. The phrase “the word of Yahweh” occurs nine times in this passage. Indeed, this passage demonstrates to us one major thing: God will always keep His word! It doesn’t matter whether that word is given to prophets or to kings; God always fulfills what He promised.