Many leaders and movers and shakers in the world are surrounded by yes men. Instead of having people that can challenge them, correct them, stand up to them, and if need be, rebuke them, they have people who will simply rubber stamp all that they say and do. That is a bad place to be in.
And sadly, this situation can exist in the Christian church as well. There are some pastors and leaders who seem to have a powerful influence over their followers, including their inner circle. It is easy for these higher-up believers to allow the leader full rein, never challenging or questioning him.
The sign of a true, godly leader is to surround himself with those who are willing to praise him when he does well, but also to challenge and confront him when he does poorly or badly. Sure, all such critique and censure and challenge must be done prayerfully and carefully, but a Christian leader who only has yes men around him is in a very dangerous place – even a cult-like place.
And the sign of a true, godly prophet or those who work with or speak to leaders is a willingness to share both sorts of messages – the good and the bad. We need this for both secular leaders and for religious leaders. Both sorts of leaders need wise counsel. Both need to be told truth, even if it hurts. Both need praise when it is warranted. Both need rebuke when it is needed.
In light of all this, an incident I just read about again in Scripture nicely ties in here. It involves leaders of the divided kingdom: Jehoshaphat, the king of the southern kingdom, Judah, and Ahab, the kings of the northern kingdom, Israel. We read about what transpired between the pair in 1 Kings 22 (and see the parallel account in 2 Chronicles 18). This is what we find in 1 Kings 22:5-8:
And Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, “Inquire first for the word of the Lord.” Then the king of Israel gathered the prophets together, about four hundred men, and said to them, “Shall I go to battle against Ramoth-gilead, or shall I refrain?” And they said, “Go up, for the Lord will give it into the hand of the king.” But Jehoshaphat said, “Is there not here another prophet of the Lord of whom we may inquire?” And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “There is yet one man by whom we may inquire of the Lord, Micaiah the son of Imlah, but I hate him, for he never prophesies good concerning me, but evil.”
In verse 18 we read about how this in fact was the case: “And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, ‘Did I not tell you that he would not prophesy good concerning me, but evil?’” Here we have a prophet willing to challenge and rebuke. We do not know all that much about this prophet. Presumably he also gave “good” words to others when needed. But here Ahab hated him because he seemed to just be a bearer of bad news.
Old Testament examples
That of course is not the only biblical example of this. It is exactly what we find so many prophets in the Old Testament so often doing. Consider a few more examples of this:
Moses of course confronted the pagan pharaoh big time, culminating in the ten plagues. He was willing (with God’s help), to confront this very powerful figure, demanding that he bow down to the demands of almighty God, or face the consequences. And this led to the powerful and miraculous exodus from Egypt.
Another example is the prophet Samuel as we find in 1 Samuel. He had to rebuke King Saul more than once for his sin and evil. In 1 Samuel 13 for example we find him rebuking Saul for his unlawful sacrifice. He told him: “You have done foolishly. You have not kept the command of the Lord your God, with which he commanded you. For then the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever.”
And in 1 Samuel 15 we find Samuel confronting Saul for not obeying the command of the Lord concerning what he did and did not do to the Amalekites. As we read in verse 23, “Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, He has rejected you as king”.
The prophet Nathan of course is quite well-known for his dramatic confrontation with King David after his egregious sins with Bathsheba and Uriah. He told David a story that rightly incensed the king, and then said to him: “You are the man!” (2 Samuel 12:7). No one is above the law of God – not even the king.
Since I already mentioned Ahab, let me remind you of another prophet whom he greatly disliked: Elijah. Recall what Ahab said when he saw Elijah coming to speak to him: “Is it you, you troubler of Israel?” (1 Kings 18:17). In the very next verse, we get this brave response from Elijah: “I have not troubled Israel, but you have, and your father’s house, because you have abandoned the commandments of the Lord and followed the Baals.”
And then we read about Elijah’s confrontation with the 400 prophets of Baal in the rest of the chapter. The following chapters show how the prophet continued to be a thorn in the side of the evil king, including rebuking him for how he cruelly obtained Naboth’s vineyard in 1 Kings 21.
Of course prophets like Isaiah were constantly challenging the powers that be back in their day. Consider what we find in Isaiah 56. In verses 9-12 he strongly confronted Israel’s irresponsible leaders:
All you beasts of the field, come to devour— all you beasts in the forest. His watchmen are blind; they are all without knowledge; they are all silent dogs; they cannot bark, dreaming, lying down, loving to slumber. The dogs have a mighty appetite; they never have enough. But they are shepherds who have no understanding; they have all turned to their own way, each to his own gain, one and all. “Come,” they say, “let me get wine; let us fill ourselves with strong drink; and tomorrow will be like this day, great beyond measure.”
These so-called watchmen and shepherds in Israel should have been doing their God-appointed duties, but they did not. So Isaiah minces no words in rebuking them. This is just one of many examples of Isaiah being a true prophet of God by confronting all who were in need of confrontation, both great and small.
And finally we have the example of Jonah going to Ninevah (eventually), telling the Assyrians to repent. This was not a mission to God’s people but to a pagan foreign king. Yes, Jonah needed a bit of prodding here, but once he finally did show up in Ninevah and proclaimed the word of judgment, we are told that the whole city repented!
As we read in Jonah 3:4-5: “Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s journey. And he called out, ‘Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!’ And the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them.”
New Testament examples
It is not just in the Old Testament that we find leaders being challenged, warned and rebuked. We find this in the New Testament as well. The primary example involves Jesus confronting the religious leaders of the day. How many times do we see Jesus chewing out the scribes and Pharisees?
Over and over again we find him confronting these religious leaders, often in quite strong and not very flattering language. There are many cases of this to be found in the gospels. Sometimes an entire chapter is devoted to this. In Matthew 23 for example we read about the seven woes that Jesus pronounced on them.
He calls them “blind guides” (v. 16); “blind fools” (v. 17); “hypocrites” (v. 23); and so on. He even says they are like “whitewashed tombs” (v. 27). He was not worried about being nice or polite here. He called it as it was and was not averse to using powerful rhetorical devices in the process.
And we know that the Apostle Paul also was willing to rebuke and oppose those leaders who were in need of this. Just two examples can be mentioned. Peter was obviously a very large and important figure in the early church. Yet even Peter could get a very stern and very public rebuke when needed. As we find in Galatians 2:11-12:
“But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party.”
And in the Pastoral Epistles he could give strong words to leaders – or would-be leaders. In his letter to Timothy, Paul discusses deacons and elders and said this: “As for those who persist in sin, rebuke them in the presence of all, so that the rest may stand in fear” (1 Timothy 5:20).
So speaking truth to power – be they secular or religious leaders – is something we find occurring throughout the Bible. It is something all believers may need to do as well. As mentioned, we need clear leading and guidance from the Holy Spirit if and when we undertake this, but it is still part of the believer’s job description.
And the other side of the coin needs to be reiterated here as well. Leaders need to have more than an echo chamber around them. They need to have people surrounding them who are willing to speak out as needed, declaring the good, the bad, and the ugly. Leaders, like everyone else, need to hear the “full counsel of God” (Acts 20:27).
