Shouldest Thou Help the Ungodly

2012-03-31

“And Jehu the son of Hanani the seer went out to meet him, and said to king Jehoshaphat, Shouldest thou help the ungodly, and love them that hate the LORD? therefore is wrath upon thee from before the LORD.” (2 Chronicles 19:2)

King Jehoshaphat of Judah is a paragon of serving the LORD. In 2 Chronicles 17:3, we read, “And the LORD was with Jehoshaphat, because he walked in the first ways of his father David, and sought not unto Baalim.” High places were removed (17:6). The Bible was taught openly by the priests and princes (17:7-9). As a result, we see that “the fear of the LORD fell upon all the kingdoms of the lands that were round about Judah, so that they made no war against Jehoshaphat” (17:10). We see, however, that Jehoshaphat has a soft spot for wicked Ahab. His heir married his daughter (21:6) which had far reaching implications for the whole kingdom. He agreed to go out to war with Ahab against Syria, and they lost.

Jehoshaphat, though he was a great king, did very poorly by being connected with Ahab. This very well pictures ecumenicalism today. Jehoshaphat said to Ahab, “I am as thou art, and my people as thy people” (18:3). No! Wrong! Even after consulting the prophet of the LORD Micaiah, he still followed this pagan king into battle. Ecumenicalism causes us to sacrifice the standards of the Bible for the “greater cause” of the group. What concord do we have with Belial? As born again believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, we should not be saying how much we have in common with groups that are involved with false doctrines. We MUST be separate from these groups. Separate does not mean that we do not love them. Separate does not mean that we should see ourselves as superior (though our doctrine is). Separate means not joining into covenants with their churches, or do anything that may explicitly or implicitly endorse their doctrines. In many cases, these people need to get saved. We must be separate and get right with God so that we can love them and get them saved.