Who is the 401st Prophet?

Many people have asked me where I got the name for my YouTube channel and website. It comes from one of the greatest stories in the Old Testament—the story of Micaiah the prophet.

In I Kings 22 we find that wicked King Ahab has decided to go to war against Syria. He has invited good king Jehoshaphat of Israel’s southern kingdom, Judah, to join him. So Ahab hosts a banquet and the two kings prepare for war. But before beginning the campaign Jehoshaphat asks in I Kings 22:5: “First, let’s inquire of the Lord.” So Ahab gathers his 400 prophets and asks them, should I go to war? And the prophets tell him, by all means go to war. God will give you a great victory. For some reason Jehoshaphat must have had his suspicions about Ahab’s prophets so he asks, Is there a prophet of the Lord here that we may inquire of him? Is there anyone who speaks for God? Ahab says yes, but I hate him. He never prophesies good concerning me, but evil. Jehoshaphat says, don’t talk that way. So Ahab tells one of his officers, go get Micaiah.

The officer finds Micaiah and he tells him; “The 400 prophets have foretold victory for the king. Let your words be like the words of one of them.” Follow the crowd. Say what everyone else is saying. Micaiah responds the way every Christian must respond under these kinds of circumstances. He says, “What the Lord says to me, that will I speak.” Under no circumstances will Micaiah water down his message to please the crowd or the powers that be. This is truly speaking truth to power, something that almost no one in our society does. Not our so-called journalists, not our academic community, not the talking heads in our media, not the preachers in our churches. Many have no intention of finding truth and declaring it. 

Micaiah is taken before Ahab and asked, should we go into battle? And Micaiah says, “Oh yes, go and triumph king.” Ahab knew he was being sarcastic so he says, “Tell me the truth in the name of the Lord.” Micaiah responds, I had a vision of the children of Israel scattered like a sheep that has no shepherd. Ahab, you will go to battle and you will die. Ahab turns to Jehoshaphat, See what I mean! He never prophesies good for me.” Then Micaiah says, “Now therefore behold, the Lord has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these your prophets; the Lord has declared disaster for you.”

Ahab is really angry and orders Micaiah to be put in prison. Give him nothing but bread and water until I get back. Then Micaiah gives one of my all-time favorite responses. He says “If you come back, I’m not a prophet of the Lord.”

So Ahab and Jehoshaphat head into battle but Ahab decides to bypass Micaiah’s prophecy with a sneak scheme. Just a word to the wise. Don’t try to fool God. At any rate, Ahab disguises himself as an ordinary soldier, knowing the Syrians will deliberately try to kill the king, the leader of the troops. He slinks back in the formation and lets Jehoshaphat take the lead. But a Syrian archer shoots a random arrow into the air and it hits Ahab between the joints of his armor. He bleeds to death on the battlefield.

The 400 prophets were wrong—their prophecy was false. Micaiah, the 401^st prophet was right because he represented the living and God and refused to compromise his message.

Today, the followers of Jesus Christ need to be like Micaiah. We need 401^st prophets to speak God’s truth to a world that desperately needs it. The people of our day are being fed a steady diet of false prophecies. I have listed seven of them in my series on the great deceptions of my life time. We do not hear of Micaiah again. We do not know how long he stayed in that dungeon. But we know where he is today. He is in the presence of his heavenly Father, the God whose truth he declared.

Thank you for watching. Be sure and read I Kings 22 for yourself and check the resources below. May our God, the God of Micaiah, bless you this day in a mighty way.

The original sermon on the 401^st prophet—where I got the name for my ministry—was by the great preacher Vance Havner. I have a copy of it on my website. It can be found here: https://www.the401stprophet.com/the-401st-prophet