God sent a lying spirit to carry out judgment against King Ahab by confirming him in his rebellion. This act was not deception from God Himself but a permitted strategy within His sovereign rule to execute justice on a king who had persistently rejected truth and sought after false prophets.
“I will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And the Lord said, ‘You shall persuade him, and also prevail. Go out and do so.’”
(1 Kings 22:22)
Ahab, king of Israel, hated true prophecy and consistently surrounded himself with false prophets who told him what he wanted to hear. When Jehoshaphat asked if there was a prophet of the Lord to inquire of, Ahab reluctantly called Micaiah:
“There is still one man, Micaiah… but I hate him, because he does not prophesy good concerning me, but evil.”
(1 Kings 22:8)
Micaiah revealed a vision where God was sitting on His throne, asking who would persuade Ahab to go up to battle and fall at Ramoth Gilead. A spirit came forward and said it would be a lying spirit in the mouths of Ahab’s prophets. God allowed it.
“Therefore look! The Lord has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these prophets of yours, and the Lord has declared disaster against you.”
(1 Kings 22:23)
This was a judgment consistent with Ahab’s hardened heart. He had rejected true prophets before (most notably Elijah) and had led Israel into idolatry and murder, including the death of Naboth (1 Kings 21). The lying spirit was not an act of divine deception but of divine justice.
Paul later explains the same principle:
“And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie…”
(2 Thessalonians 2:11)
When people persistently reject the truth, God may give them over to deception as a form of judgment. He allows them to believe lies because they chose not to love the truth.
God is not the author of lies, but He rules over all (even evil spirits) and uses them to fulfill His righteous purposes. In Ahab’s case, the lying spirit confirmed the judgment already declared. Ahab went into battle despite the warning, and he died exactly as God had said.
