New Conquerors (Micah)

September 6, 2020

We have been studying through the story of God in the Old Testament. Genesis through Kings seems like a rollercoaster ride. God creates everything right, but man sins. God judges the world through a flood and starts over with Noah. Then, he makes promises to Abraham. The rest of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, Samuel, and Kings are about God trying to keep those promises. But as we go through those stories, we learn about how mankind resists God's help. In Kings, we see that God set up Israel as the nation of nations under David and Solomon's rule. Ultimately, Solomon fails to be wholly faithful to God, and the kingdom splits into two nations (Israel/Samaria and Judah/Jerusalem). This is a time of decline for all of God's people. God tries to correct his people, but he eventually lets Assyria and Babylon destroy them.

At this stage of our Bibles, everyone is wondering what the point of God's promises is. When we read the Bible from cover to cover, we get confused because we think it is chronological. But, as we skip ahead to the prophets, we find an answer to the question, "What about the promises God made to Abraham?" Isaiah, Hosea, Amos, and Micah all reveal God's plan to us simultaneously. Isaiah is comprehensive, detailing all of God's plans and why he is choosing to do things in this way. Hosea illustrates God's love. Amos illustrates God's justice and judgment. Micah, which we plan to look at tonight, is like a miniature Isaiah. In this book, God tries to fit much of the information of Isaiah into seven chapters. If you want an easy way to remember the structure of Micah, it is repetitive. There are three sections. The first part of each section is judgment. Then it has a section of promise. So it goes back and forth from judgment to promise to judgment to promise to judgment to promise.

Opening Judgment Against Two Mountains (1-2)

The first two chapters of the book are primarily about God's judgment of Samaria, Israel's capital, and Jerusalem, Judah's capital. But, at the very end, there is a promise of hope.

Micah 1:2--4 (ESV) --- 2 Hear, you peoples, all of you; pay attention, O earth, and all that is in it, and let the Lord God be a witness against you, the Lord from his holy temple. 3 For behold, the Lord is coming out of his place, and will come down and tread upon the high places of the earth. 4 And the mountains will melt under him, and the valleys will split open, like wax before the fire, like waters poured down a steep place.

We see God stating that he is about to come down and walk on all the earth's high places. He will cause all the mountains to melt and the valleys to split open. This is not your routine destruction. God is describing total destruction. In verse 6, he details the destruction of Samaria. In verse 9, he says that Samaria has an incurable wound, but he also says that the same wound has spread to Judah.

Have you ever had a wound that gets infected and starts to swell? If that wound is left untreated, it will eventually grow to the point where an entire leg has to be amputated, or the person may die. This is God's way of saying that the sinful nation of Israel has influenced Judah. Now they are also growing more wicked. The rest of Chapter 1 is full of puns that make no sense in our language. He says, "The house of dust" Beth-le-aphrah should roll itself in the dust. The beautiful city will be covered in nakedness and shame. All ten puns show the reversal of fortune for those who are evil.

In Chapter 2, he tells them their sins.

Micah 2:1--2 (ESV) --- 1 Woe to those who devise wickedness and work evil on their beds! When the morning dawns, they perform it, because it is in the power of their hand. 2 They covet fields and seize them, and houses, and take them away; they oppress a man and his house, a man and his inheritance.

These people are oppressing and stealing. Imagine living in a time where people can rob and seize property that does not belong to them. Men should not have the power to do that in Israel. That goes against the law of God.

Micah 2:6--9 (ESV) --- 6 “Do not preach”---thus they preach--- “one should not preach of such things; disgrace will not overtake us.” 7 Should this be said, O house of Jacob? Has the Lord grown impatient? Are these his deeds? Do not my words do good to him who walks uprightly? 8 But lately my people have risen up as an enemy; you strip the rich robe from those who pass by trustingly with no thought of war. 9 The women of my people you drive out from their delightful houses; from their young children you take away my splendor forever.

God points out that they are trying to suppress the truth and call God evil while they are the ones stealing people's property. God's word is good. He gave his laws to keep this from happening, but no one listens to his law. Instead, they set up preachers who tell them what they want to hear.

Micah 2:11 (ESV) --- 11 If a man should go about and utter wind and lies, saying, “I will preach to you of wine and strong drink,” he would be the preacher for this people!

At the end of Chapter 2, God makes a promise to gather the remnant as his flock. He will break open the walls of the city to lead them out away from these evil people.

Micah 2:12--13 (ESV) --- 12 I will surely assemble all of you, O Jacob; I will gather the remnant of Israel; I will set them together like sheep in a fold, like a flock in its pasture, a noisy multitude of men. 13 He who opens the breach goes up before them; they break through and pass the gate, going out by it. Their king passes on before them, the Lord at their head.

Judging The Leaders (3-5)

The second section of the book begins with a judgment against Israel and Judah's leaders in Chapter 3, but then it transitions into a huge promise in Chapters 4-5.

Leaders and Prophets Are Crooked (3)

In Chapter 3, the leaders are described horrifically.

Micah 3:1--3 (ESV) --- 1 And I said: Hear, you heads of Jacob and rulers of the house of Israel! Is it not for you to know justice?--- 2 you who hate the good and love the evil, who tear the skin from off my people and their flesh from off their bones, 3 who eat the flesh of my people, and flay their skin from off them, and break their bones in pieces and chop them up like meat in a pot, like flesh in a cauldron.

That is disgusting. But obviously, he is using hyperbole. He just depicted God's people as his flock, and now he uses that image to say that the leaders are horrible shepherds. They eat the sheep and abuse them.

Verses 5-7 describe the prophets as men who teach what will give them what they want. They abuse the position of authority given to them so that they can get what they want.

Then, he ends Chapter 3 by saying that the leaders are all crooked. They take bribes and pervert justice while saying that God is with them. Imagine living in that society. Imagine all the leaders are pushing for laws to be passed that allow them to take your property. The use their position to make money while we suffer the loss of everything. Then, we go to the prophets, and they tell us everything is fine. As long as the leaders pay them good, they quiet the people and get them to go along with the injustice. But if the prophets suffer, they disapprove. The relationship between their leaders and prophets is much like the relationship between our leaders and the media.

What Is God Going To Do? (4-5)

In Chapter 4, God uses the mountain imagery of Chapter 1 to say that he will establish a new mountain as the highest of mountains. People on this mountain will do and teach God's word. There will be righteousness instead of injustice. He will rescue and redeem the lost sheep of Israel.

Micah 4:8--10 (ESV) --- 8 And you, O tower of the flock, hill of the daughter of Zion, to you shall it come, the former dominion shall come, kingship for the daughter of Jerusalem. 9 Now why do you cry aloud? Is there no king in you? Has your counselor perished, that pain seized you like a woman in labor? 10 Writhe and groan, O daughter of Zion, like a woman in labor, for now you shall go out from the city and dwell in the open country; you shall go to Babylon. There you shall be rescued; there the Lord will redeem you from the hand of your enemies.

The first ten verses of Chapter 4 show us that God will establish a new kingdom with a new king. Then, beginning in verses 11, God starts to lay out his plan in greater detail.

1. Nations will rise up against God's king and God's people, but God will give Zion victory over those nations. (4:11-13)
2. They will lay siege against God's people and strike God's judge on the cheek, but that judge will be the good shepherd. He will give his people peace. (5:2-5a)
3. God destroys the Assyrian (representative of evil nations) by making his sheep lions amid beasts. (5:5b-9)
4. God will cut off all of the evil in the nations. (5:10-15)

This whole section is so full of love toward the remnant of his people. All of those hoping for God to rescue them are given great news of a coming kingdom.

Final Judgment Against The People (6-7)

The last two chapters are more practical. In Chapter 6, God makes it clear that one of two things must happen. Either he has to judge his people, or they have to repent.

Making A Case For Repentance (6)

Chapter 6 is God indicting the people for their sin. Like other prophets, God sets this up with a dialogue that is on the people's minds. He asks rhetorical questions to help them understand their sin.

Micah 6:1--4 (ESV) --- 1 Hear what the Lord says: Arise, plead your case before the mountains, and let the hills hear your voice. 2 Hear, you mountains, the indictment of the Lord, and you enduring foundations of the earth, for the Lord has an indictment against his people, and he will contend with Israel. 3 “O my people, what have I done to you? How have I wearied you? Answer me! 4 For I brought you up from the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery, and I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.

This question is asking the people to explain how God has done something wrong. God says that he has only done right for Israel. He saved them from Israel and Moab. Notice how they respond in this dialogue.

Micah 6:6--7 (ESV) --- 6 “With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? 7 Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?”

They people say, "Okay, we are sinners. What does God want from us?" They don't say that God has done something wrong against them because God hasn't done anything wrong. They ask, "How can we get him to stop being mad at us so that we can find blessings again?" But God doesn't want sacrifices. Listen to what he wants.

Micah 6:8 (ESV) --- 8 He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

God says the same thing his prophets have been saying. He wants the people to repent and stop being unjust toward God and one another.

The last part of Chapter 6 proclaims God's justice and righteousness. He has to judge the sinful people who refuse to repent and give back what they have stolen.

The Situation of the Righteous (7)

Chapter 7 describes the feelings of those who are righteous in an evil society. It starts with "Woe is me!" But then it transitions to a decision to wait on the Lord and trust him even though life is full of suffering at the wicked's hands.

Micah 7:1--6 (ESV) --- 1 Woe is me! For I have become as when the summer fruit has been gathered, as when the grapes have been gleaned: there is no cluster to eat, no first-ripe fig that my soul desires. 2 The godly has perished from the earth, and there is no one upright among mankind; they all lie in wait for blood, and each hunts the other with a net. 3 Their hands are on what is evil, to do it well; the prince and the judge ask for a bribe, and the great man utters the evil desire of his soul; thus they weave it together. 4 The best of them is like a brier, the most upright of them a thorn hedge. The day of your watchmen, of your punishment, has come; now their confusion is at hand. 5 Put no trust in a neighbor; have no confidence in a friend; guard the doors of your mouth from her who lies in your arms; 6 for the son treats the father with contempt, the daughter rises up against her mother, the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; a man’s enemies are the men of his own house.

Do you see how the godly people are dying at the hands of the wicked? God tells them not to trust people in times like this. Can you imagine having to keep your faith hidden to keep from being put to death? This is a situation Christians faced in the first and second centuries. Apparently, that was the situation in Micah's time as well. These evil kingdoms were persecuting the righteous.

In the rest of Chapter 7, the righteous choose to wait on the Lord and trust in his promises. They call for God to shepherd his people (14) and destroy the evil nations just as he has promised.

The final words of this book are a statement of faith in a God who is always faithful and always does what he says he will do.

Micah 7:18--20 (ESV) --- 18 Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in steadfast love. 19 He will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities underfoot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea. 20 You will show faithfulness to Jacob and steadfast love to Abraham, as you have sworn to our fathers from the days of old.

Notice the character of God in these verses. God is compassionate and merciful. He is willing to forgive those who repent, and his primary desire is to fulfill his promises to Abraham.

What's The Message?

The primary message of this book is that God is planning to redeem and rescue his people from this wicked world. God's people feel surrounded by wickedness. The darkness is closing in on them, and they cannot see the light. They lose their homes and their fields because of unjust and greedy people. But God knows those who are his, and he has plans to rescue them by sending a shepherd king to destroy their enemies and give them a kingdom above all the kingdoms of the earth.

God will not stand by while his righteous people are suffering and put to death. He will change the world and create a nation of righteous people who keep his laws. These righteous people will follow their shepherd and become lions.

This text is used by Matthew to say that Jesus is the shepherd king who would come. He is the great redeemer and rescuer of Israel born in Bethlehem.

Matthew 2:6 (ESV) --- 6 “ ‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’ ”

Application

I imagine that everyone picked up that Jesus is the king and Shepherd that was promised. But why aren't all our enemies destroyed, and where is the new Jerusalem? If we look at this kingdom like the kingdoms of the earth, we will be perplexed. Jesus did not establish a kingdom like the kingdoms of the earth. Instead, our world is continually going through cycles of justice and corruption, as it has many times throughout history. David's life is a supreme example of that. His suffering was described for us in 1 and his righteous reign in 2 Samuel. After God punishes Israel and Judah with Assyria and Babylon, he will restore them to their land and bless them. But by the time of the New Testament, men and women are forced to endure injustice again. Then, we see that righteous Christians have suffered somewhere on earth ever since the beginning of Christianity.

So how does the book of Micah fit into the world we see? Obviously, there is always corruption like in Micah's day, but what about God's promises? If we understand the kingdom as Jesus revealed it, all of this makes perfect sense. All of our experience here on earth is just the beginning. There is a harvest day when we will see the glory of the New Jerusalem prepared for those who love God.

We just studied how heaven's kingdom is like a field where the wheat is allowed to grow amidst the weeds until the harvest. Notice the similarity of Matthew 13's parable with Micah 5.

Micah 5:7--9 (ESV) --- 7 Then the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many peoples like dew from the Lord, like showers on the grass, which delay not for a man nor wait for the children of man. 8 And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the nations, in the midst of many peoples, like a lion among the beasts of the forest, like a young lion among the flocks of sheep, which, when it goes through, treads down and tears in pieces, and there is none to deliver. 9 Your hand shall be lifted up over your adversaries, and all your enemies shall be cut off.

God depicts his people as dew among the grass. We are giving life to the people around us. Then, he describes us as lions among beasts. The picture is that we have power and dominion. Maybe we don't feel that powerful, but this is what we are described as in Micah. This is our description because we are like Jesus.

Consider how Jesus was both a lamb and a lion. He was gentle, tender, and compassionate toward people who persecuted him. But his words and actions completely destroyed their hope of claiming to be righteous. The wicked rulers of Jesus' day killed the most wonderful, loving, and innocent man ever to live. In the eyes of some, they won, but the truth is that they lost. Why? Because there is a resurrection.

The same paradox takes place as we live in the world. If they kill us, we win. To live is Christ and to die is gain. For some, this will bring life like the dew. For others, it will bring death and destruction. Paul described this in 2 Corinthians.

2 Corinthians 2:14--16 (ESV) --- 14 But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. 15 For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, 16 to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things?

We might struggle to understand why the righteous suffer, but as we look to Jesus, we know the outcome of being patient and waiting on the Lord. God will either convert those who persecute us or give the justice that is deserved at the end. Either way, we are more than conquerors.

Conclusion

Do we feel like conquerors? We should because Christ has given us the victory. Even though we live in a twisted and corrupt nation, we can have a positive impact on those around us. God is working through us to conquer those who are against us and bring them under his rule.