Come Out

“Jehoshaphat had ten ships of Tarshish to go to Ophir for gold. But they did not go, for the ships were broken at Ezion-geber.” (1Kings 22:48)

Jehoshaphat was king of Judah. He came to be king at the age of thirty-five years old when his father, king Asa died. King Asa was a righteous king who tried to do right, but he allowed the idol places to exist and didn’t abolish them. King Jehoshaphat was like his father in that he acted righteously. (1Kings 22:41-43) But king Jehoshaphat made friends with the king of Israel, Ahab, who was evil in the eye of God. Jehoshaphat took Ahab’s daughter, Athaliah, to marry his son Joram. This displeased God because Athaliah swayed Joram to do evil as Ahab had. (2Kings 8:18) Jehu the seer rebuked Jehoshaphat for it. “And Jehu the son of Hanani the seer went out to meet him. And he said to King Jehoshaphat, Should you help the ungodly and love those who hate Jehovah? And by this bring wrath on you from before Jehovah. But there are good things found in you, in that you have taken away the Asherahs out of the land and have prepared your heart to seek God.” (2Chronicles 19:2-3) He also removed the sodomites from the land. “And the rest of the sodomites which remained in the days of his father Asa, he took out of the land.” (1Kings 22:46)

In those days gold was being shipped from Ophir. Jehoshaphat had ships built to go to Ophir for gold. King Ahaziah, son of king Ahab who became king when king Ahab was killed, begged him to have his servants to go on his ships. (1 Kings 22:40) King Jehoshaphat was reluctant at first but agreed. (1Kings 22:48-49) But the ships were broken up. “And after this Jehoshaphat king of Judah joined himself with Ahaziah king of Israel; he did wickedly to do so. And he joined himself with him to make ships to go to Tarshish. And they made the ships in Ezion-geber. And Eliezer the son of Dodavah of Mareshah prophesied against Jehoshaphat, saying, Because you have joined yourself with Ahaziah, Jehovah has broken your works. And the ships were broken so that they were not able to go to Tarshish.” (2Chonicles 20:35-37)

What a lesson for us. Our plans may be great, but if our alliances are evil, they will not prosper. God’s Word warns us about aligning ourselves to unbelievers. God sees this as evil. I’ve heard so many times how good an unbeliever is, all the good things they do. But remember God sees the heart. And if they are unbelievers, their hearts are dead. They are enemies of God and in the kingdom of sin and death. Their words and deeds may sound and look good, but their hearts and motivations are not in line with God. God’s aversion to His temple which we are, temple of God’s Spirit, aligned and defiled by darkness. “Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers; for what fellowship does righteousness have with lawlessness? And what partnership does light have with darkness? And what agreement does Christ have with Belial? Or what part does a believer have with an unbeliever? And what agreement does a temple of God have with idols? For you are the temple of the living God, as God has said, "I will dwell in them and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people." Therefore come out from among them and be separated, says the Lord, and do not touch the unclean thing. And I will receive you. (2Corinthians 6:14-17) Paul uses strong words to warn us against this.

In the book of Revelation, we read how the righteous are told to leave Babylon or suffer with her. We can make the relationship to God’s people aligned with sinners in marriage, in business and any other joint affair.  They will suffer the destruction that is coming to the unbeliever. “And I heard another voice from Heaven, saying, Come out of her, My people, that you may not be partakers of her sins, and that you may not receive of her plagues.” (Revelation 18:4)

We know that Jesus had relationships with sinners. But in every relationship that Jesus had with a sinner, He mercifully knew they would repent and believe on Him. There’s Matthew the tax collector (Matthew 9:9,10), the Samaritan woman (John 41:1-42), Zacchaeus (Luke 19:1-10) and others who Jesus said needed a physician. “And when the Pharisees saw, they said to His disciples, Why does your master eat with tax-collectors and sinners? But when Jesus heard, He said to them, The ones who are whole do not need a physician, but the ones who are sick. But go and learn what this is, I will have mercy and not sacrifice. For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” (Matthew 9:11-13)

This tells us our mission and outlines our relationship to sinners.  Our mission is to sinners to share Jesus and bring them to repentance.  In review of our relationships, those who are sinners should be receiving the Word of God from us. That should be our only motivation for our relationship with them. We have many associates, many people we know and come in contact with that are not believers. To have a relationship with any should be because we love them with the love of Christ and want them to come to Jesus. This needs lots of prayer and interceding for them. Although we have been given the mission from Jesus, we are not Him. We need the guidance and wisdom of the Holy Spirit to know when and how to speak to them. When we see that they are not receptive at all, then we should “come out” of that relationship, but continue our prayers for them and believe for others to keep bombarding them with the seed of the Gospel until it takes root in their souls and begins to bear fruit. (Mark 4: 26-32)