Today you should read: Isaiah 36
A false prophet will have a hint of truth, or the appearance of it, but will ultimately use God to deceive others away from truth. Rabshakeh is a great example of a false prophet who does that in today’s passage. He is a high ranking Assyrian military official who speaks a hint of truth to the hopeless and desperate Israelites still under Babylonian exile. Rabshakeh asks them who they are trusting in and calls them out for trusting in Egypt for their delivery and salvation. He also speaks truth in telling them that Egypt will “pierce the hand that leans on them” (v. 6) and tells them that they must remember God’s promises and trust in God. So far, everything sounds great, right? Sadly, that’s how most false prophets work. Rabshakeh said all of the right things to God’s people in the beginning. However, he was ultimately telling them to place their trust in the Assyrian army instead of God in which Hezekiah warned them about. He even mocks Hezekiah and his promises of delivery from God without the Assyrian armies help.
This is an important reminder for us as we are bombarded by today’s “spiritual talk” that may give a hint of truth and will even name-drop “Jesus” but has nothing to do with the God we know and trust in the Scriptures. We’ve talked about this issue at length in previous sermons but it’s worth mentioning again that many false teachers are disguised as angels of light and we are told throughout Scripture to call them out and point people to Christ instead. A few years ago a Christian rapper did a great job in doing this through a song called “Fal$e Teacher$” to remind you to not allow people to tickle your ears with their God talk that really has nothing to do with Jesus.
By: Erik Koliser — West Campus Pastor
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