Riches of the Kingdom 4
(week 09, 2007)
Olubi Johnson
In our last article we saw that offence blinds the heart from revelation and causes one to miss the fullness of one’s destiny, like John the Baptist did.
This week we want to look at the example of Ahithophel: to avoid the kind of offence he fell into and what we need to do to get the riches of the Kingdom.
Ahithophel was David’s close friend (Psalms. 55.12-14) and counsellor (1 Chronicles. 27.33).
However, when David sinned and committed adultery with Bathsheba and later murdered her husband, Ahithophel became offended against David.
The reason for this was because Bathsheba was Ahithophel’s granddaughter (2 Samuel 11.3; 2 Samuel. 23.24). So even after God had forgiven and chastened David for his sin, Ahithophel felt that for justice to be really done David should be killed.
In other words, Ahithophel, being wise in his own eyes, thought he was wiser than God who forgave David, chastened him but did not kill him (2 Samuel.13:13-15).
Ahithophel carried this offence in his heart for years. When Absalom rebelled against his father David, Ahithophel saw this as his opportunity to take revenge on and kill David.
God turns the counsel of Ahithophel to foolishness (2 Samuel. 15.31; 17.14), so Ahithophel commits suicide (2 Samuel. 17.23) and goes to hell and Absalom’s rebellion is crushed.
The lesson here for all of us is this: offence and rebellion will never be supported by God no matter how justified it looks in your eyes.
What David did was horrible and God rightly judged and chastened him: it is God who chastens his leaders not man and it is God who determines when and how much to chasten them. We are to pray for them even when they have done wrong and leave the rest to God and not try to punish them ourselves by our own actions.
So while what David did was bad, what Ahithophel did was worse: offence sent Ahithophel to hell, while David’s honest heart made him genuinely repent of his adultery and murder.
Do not allow offence, bitterness and envy to take root in your heart: they will poison or defile you spiritually (Hebrews.12.15), make you miss your destiny and even send you to hell.
How can a godly man, like Ahithophel, whose counsel was like the oracle of God (2 Samuel 16.23), go to hell while an ungodly man like Manasseh (2 Chronicles. 33:2-10) who later repents (2 Chronicles. 33:11-20) go to heaven?
This is because unrepented offence against those in spiritual authority reminds God of Satan’s rebellion against God (Isaiah. 14.12-15; Ezekiel 28.12-19).
So quickly repent of offence, before it takes root in your heart and poisons you with bitterness.
Use the love of God to overcome offence: love for God, His Word and His servants that show you revelation knowledge from the Word that transforms you into the image of Christ.
The other things you need to do as a daily habit in order to get the riches of the Kingdom are:
1. Pray for life in sufficient measure so that the light of life can enlighten your understanding:
Ephesians 4:18(NKJV): having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardening of their heart;
Observe that hardness or stubbornness of heart is the root cause of alienation from the life of God and consequent darkening of the understanding.
2. Pray for the spirit of wisdom and revelation:
Ephesians 1:15-20(NKJV): 15 Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, 16 do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, 18 the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power 20 which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places,
3. Pray in tongues:
1 Corintians 14:1-2; 2:7(NKJV): 2 For he who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God, for no one understands him; however, in the spirit he speaks mysteries. 1 Cor 2:7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory,
4. Read and study the Word in the light of anointed prophetic preaching and teaching that give you the keys (Matthew. 16.17-19, Luke. 11.52) of revelation knowledge that will ‘open’ scriptures to you.
Luke 24:32(NIV): They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”
Psalms 36:9(NKJV): For with You is the fountain of life; In Your light we see light.
2Timothy.2:15(NKJV): Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
2 Timothy 3:15-17(NKJV): 16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.
