The Minor Prophets

[Philip Aust] I'm going to get into our message. I wanted to thank Mr. Davies for his message, because we're going to see all kinds of overlap. (And if I need glasses I'll pull them out here momentarily. I put in a new set of daily contacts this morning. We'll see how we do.)

I'm going to start in Micah 1. I went to my Bible from Ambassador College and I only had four notes in the book of Micah from my Ambassador College days. I'm going to ask us to spend a whole lot of time here today. Micah is not necessarily a book we give a whole lot of attention to, which probably is a good justification for why we should. Micah 1, and verse 1, reads this way – and we’ll read several verses.

Micah 1:1-5 – The word of the LORD that came to Micah, the Morasthite, in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem. Hear, all ye people; listen, O earth, and all that is in it, and let the Lord God be witness against you – the Lord from His holy temple. For, behold, the LORD is coming out of His place, and will come down, and tread on the high places of the earth. And the mountains will melt under Him, and the valleys will split like wax before the fire, like the waters that are poured down a steep place. All this is for the transgression of Jacob and for the sins of the house of Israel. What is the transgression of Jacob? Is it not Samaria? And what are the high places of Judah? Are they not Jerusalem?

You know, the book of Micah begins with a stinging indictment against Samaria and Jerusalem. Both happen to be capitals representing Israel. It's here that Micah really establishes two truths in the first five verses.

One is that we just saw here momentarily, in verse 2, is that God is on His throne. Now you may have an in-text citation. Psalms 11, verse 4, reads this way:

Psalms 11:4 – The LORD is in His holy temple, The LORD is on His heavenly throne. He observes everyone on earth. His eyes examine them. So we see that right off the bat in terms of verse 2.

A second truth we see, and we’ll continue to see as we work through this book today, is that God hates sin. He despises sin. And what we're going to wind up picking up, as we move through the book of Micah today – this minor prophet – is, in particular, He will have His due – justice – for those who sin. And in a case like this, He is going to deal specifically with idol worship.

I Kings 16, verses:30 through 33 – I'll ask us to run over there just for a minute. 1 Kings 16, verses 30 through 33 – again, as a reminder, how much God detests sin. 1 Kings 16, verse 30, reads this way – here’s the Sin of Ahab, as the sub-header:

1 Kings 16:30-33 – Now Ahab, the son of Omri, did evil in the sight of the LORD – more than all who were before him. And it came to pass, as though it had been a trivial thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, that he took as wife, Jezebel, the daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Sidonians. And he went and served Baal and worshiped him. Then he set up an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal, which he had built in Samaria. So we get a little bit of historical context in terms of what was taking place in Samaria, and the tradition that had long been established there. Verse 33: And Ahab made a wooden image. Ahab did more to provoke the LORD God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him.

So what we again get in Micah – these first several verses – is God's hatred for this idolatry that was set up there in Samaria. If we go forward then in verse 6 we read the following:

Micah 1:6-7 – Therefore I will make Samaria a heap of ruins in the field, places for planting a vineyard. I will pour down her stones into the valley, and I will uncover her foundations. All her carved images shall be beaten to pieces, and all her pay as a harlot shall be burned with the fire. All her idols I will lay desolate, for she gathered it from the pay of a harlot, and they shall return to the pay of a harlot.

You know, if you go back and see – by background – and you can do a nice historical study on what Samaria was like at the time – it was known for a place steeped in idolatry and one, in a case like this, God said that He will deal with. And He does so, in this case, by ripping Samaria to pieces. What God disdains is that Israel had played a harlot for too long. I'll only make a reference here, because Deuteronomy 23:17-18 makes the exact same note. It's there that God points out, via Moses, that they had long – too long – played the harlot. At the time of Micah's writing, if we see some of the language that appears here, in 6 and 7, the city of Samaria was really known for it's corrupt religious system. One aspect of this system – and we touched upon this when we were moving through the book of Acts – is they routinely had a precedent of having female priestesses at the temple. And they had such a corrupt religious system that it was commonplace for those who, believing that they were worshiping God, to come to the temple and have sex with these priestesses, to pay this money – what they believed to be an offering – and the sex itself they believed constituted a drawing closer to God, because the priestesses were representative of God, or gods, as a deity. God hated this practice. We catch this numerous different times in scripture. God has such disdain for this that, in verse 7, He says, as we move on, that He will burn this offering. He will not only remove the people and destroy them, He will burn the offering for what it represents.

As you then move forward, in verse 8, it says the following:

V-8-9 – Therefore I will wail and howl. I will go stripped and naked. I will make a wailing like the jackals and a mourning like the ostriches. So what we get here is we get a person to change, whereby, in a case like this, Samaria is represented as the one who's clothes are stripped and who wails. And, in verse 9: For her wounds are incurable. For it has come to Judah. It has come to the gate of My people – to Jerusalem. What Micah starts – in this book of Micah – what Micah starts with is, that the people of Samaria and Judah were deeply involved in sin. And despite the fact – as we move through the first nine verses – they reach a point of understanding their sin, and crying and weeping sorely, God does not refrain from bringing the consequences of sin to pass – exactly like Mr. Davies offered in that first message. In a case like this, Samaria will wind up falling like a domino before Jerusalem, but they both will fall, because God will allow them to pay for their sins.

So begins the very first part of the sixth minor prophet of the twelve that Micah now writes. Micah – this is the only minor prophet, the only book he writes. Today, I'm going to ask that we spend some time reviewing the book of Micah, because there is a lot here. And let's do so this way. Let's find out a little bit about the individual who God inspired to write – that would be Micah. Let's then understand some of the background for the book of Micah. Let's concisely review what it contains. There is no way we can go through all the verses in all seven chapters, but we will touch on a number of them, so you get a fuller sense of what's in the book of Micah. And then lastly, let's take away three lessons that God offers us in this book.

I've titled this message, Micah: Dire Warnings and Israel's Restoration. Dire warnings and Israel's restoration. Now having, as I've already noted here, having only some comments – though, I've read the book of Micah a number of times – I've never gone thoroughly through it. In terms of source material, I do reference my Ambassador College notes, because they offered an initial foray into the book. There are a number of additional sources that are valuable: The Ambassador Bible College lectures on it by Mr. Gary Antion. He actually offers three lectures. We're going to not – not going crazy here – we're going to do three lectures in 50 minutes. So that's it. We're going to move through it a lot faster. I also note Halley's Bible Handbook that has a considerable amount of good information on Micah, as well as the Open Bible Commentary. And there are a number of additional sources that we – I – can reference along the way. Feinberg, as a commentator, did an excellent job with the book, but I'll offer that as background.

Let's then start who and then who is Micah. Who is Micah our author? Micah was a prophet to Israel's northern kingdom, but also to Judah's southern kingdom. Now here's where I probably would advance…. If you have a map in your Bible – I do really well with maps (I may be the only one in the room who does) – but ,if you have a map about the kingdom years on the back of your Bible – just to get a visual, in terms of where we're dealing with – because again, we're going to deal with Samaria in the north – that's Israel's kingdom – and Jerusalem in the south, which is Judah's kingdom. And as we move through the book – no surprise here – we're going to see a whole lot of details about Samaria and the sins that they have, and then it's going to bridge over to Jerusalem, because we're going to wind up focusing on Jerusalem shortly thereafter. The same things were happening in Jerusalem in that southern kingdom, but they just were delayed. And so Micah is going to address both of them here as we see this today.

If we get some background – some further details about who Micah is – Micah happened to be from a smaller town, Moresheth Gath, You can go to verse 14 to see this – I won't read that today – and that happens to be a town located about 25 miles southwest of Jerusalem on the border of Judah and Philistia, near Gath at the time. And that's why I made reference to the map, because you could probably place Gath on your map. Micah's name is a modern variation of Michael. And most simply, it means who is like the Eternal. If you go to Micah 7, verse 18, he actually kind of writes his own name in this book, which is interesting, because the language that's offered in 7:18 is actually a translation of his name.

In terms of character, commentators such as Feinberg and others, describe Micah as a striking personality. I'm going to take you to, if you will, Micah 3, verse 8. They note that he has to be one who is deeply moved by the prophetic message that he's offeres, and we begin to understand why, just by reading verse 7 – I read in contrast to verse 8, which is where we're heading.

Micah 3:7-8 – So the seers shall be ashamed – there were seers in Samaria, and seers in Jerusalem – and the diviners abashed. Indeed, they shall all cover their lips, for there is no answer from God. The visual picture there in 7 is, God is going to make them so ashamed with the power that He brings that they will – you know, the old “see no evil, hear no evil, say no evil” – that they will hold their mouths in fear to what God is doing to them. And then, in verse 8, it reads: But truly – here's Micah – but truly I am full of power by the Spirit of the Lord, and of justice and might, to declare to Jacob his transgression and to Israel his sin. So what we find, and as we move through the book, you'll see kind of a different set of writing styles that he uses – some variation in text. In fact, if you go and look, his writing style is oftentimes a combination of Hosea and Amos. In terms of Amos, if we go back to the book of Amos that we covered a little while back, Amos tended to be very objective – very neutral in the writing style – very factual. Hosea, if you remember by background, tended to be very passionate about writing. So you're going to see, as we move through this book today, you're going to see some objectivity – the stating a fact – and then him empathizing with the people to whom he's prophesying. So that's the background, in terms of Micah.

When then was the book written? Well, we started in verse 1, and I offer the following: Open Bible Commentary only says one and the same with what we've read. Micah prophesied in the days of Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah – all kings of Judah. The span of time that we're dealing with is really 735 to 715 – a twenty year span there. And while most of Micah's prophecy is indeed, as we've already noted here, for Judah or Samaria, he also addressed the fall of Israel – excuse me, there was an address for Judah, would be Jerusalem. He also addressed the fall of Israel, which is Samaria. Therefore, much of the writing takes place before the Assyrian captivity of Israel in 722 BC.

What is the general message, if we're going to move into the book? Halley's Bible Handbook states the following – or offers the following: Micah's message which is to both Israel and Judah, addressed primarily to their two respective capitals, that being Samaria and Jerusalem. It's three main ideas are their sins – those in both locations – their destruction, and their restoration. And then Halley offers this: “These ideas in the book are actually mixed up….” Now here becomes kind of the confusion, if you read this, because what you're going to find are different voices spoken of from different perspectives and in very different ways. And so Halley's Bible Handbook offers that these explanations “are actually mixed up with abrupt transitions between present desolation and future glory.” And we'll see that as we move forward. In the book, Micah is going to speak of a number of different things that may seem commonplace today for our society. He'll speak of idolatry, evil business practices, dishonesty, cheating, bribery, internal strife and corruption. And in each case, we will see at the tail end of each of these sins that God hates them all.

The general purpose for the book is so that others come to an understanding of the sins of Israel and Judah, and that God – this is going to sound contradictory, but it is important to at least note this – in His mercy punishes those who are disobedient. That one is kind of hard to stomach, because routinely we as human beings tend to think of the fact that punishment is not for good. And yet, we know, from a number of different places in scripture, that God punishes those He loves. He allows them to endure hardship to teach a lesson. There are times in our lives – and it's difficult to even address this – there are times in our lives when we go through very difficult tests and trials. And during those times, God is teaching you and me. In fact, in many ways, as human beings, we oftentimes get a lesson much more clearly when we go through a trial than when we get that information and we're going through good times. And so that's what we're going to see here. And that's generally the tone of the book – the major lesson of the book.

So let's then deal with the book in various parts. It really is broken down into three main parts. Chapters 1 through 3 is where Micah is going to condemn Samaria and Jerusalem for their sins. So that's our first break. Our second break – that middle section – chapters 4 and 5 of Micah – is where Micah is going to describe the blessings God has for a nation who is faithful to Him. And then in the third section – Micah 6 and 7 – we're going to see that Micah will revisit the consequences of sin and then ultimately the blessings for turning to God.

You know, I was reminded, even as Mr. Dobbins asked the opening prayer there, he talked about encouragement here. And I thought to myself what's difficult about the book of Micah is that there is so much bad that happens, but the reality is, at the tail end, as Mr. Herbert Armstrong used to say, the end of the story is so great. And that's indeed what we get out of the book of Micah. So we've already started the first section there – Micah 1 through 3, where Micah condemns Samaria and Jerusalem. We see the start of this. You might then term Micah 1, Sins Against God, because what we're going to find, in progression, is, chapter 1 is going to be Sins against God, and then, in a case like this, all of the people sinning against God. In the second section, we're going to see Sins of the Leaders Against the People. And then we're going to transition in the third section – no, excuse me, that happens in chapter 3 – the second section is Sins Against Fellow Man”. And chapter 3 is going to be The Leaders Sins Against the People. So we're going to get some pieces here.

We moved our way through the first several verses – up through 9. It's really here that Micah states that Samaria could cry and weep, as I've already noted, but God will make His people pay for their evil. If you've not seen this – and I had to go reread this sections in Ezekiel 23…. If you go to Ezekiel 23, by background – you may have a marginal reference here – it actually offers a tale of two sisters that actually represent Samaria and Jerusalem. Oholah – O-H-O-L-A-H – and Oholibah. And these two sisters actually represent the corruption that Samaria and Jerusalem experienced, or demonstrated, by their idolatry. So I won't go to Ezekiel 23 – in fact, that's a whole separate message of itself – but it offers a beautiful parallel reference to what we read here.

We read up to 9. If you go forward, from 10 forward, we really get a play on words from 10 to 15. Now the only thing I'll offer here is, that if you go back to the original Hebrew, in verses 10 through 15, we actually see a series of puns that are offered – or word plays. In each case, God actually has a reason for why He offers a town, and also the consequence of that town. And I'll just give you one example – is you'll read in just a hair here:

Micah 1:10 – Tell it not in Gath, weep not at all in Beth Aphrah. Now I only note the Beth Aphrah, because what is used here is each of these towns have a meaning in the original Hebrew. Beth Aphrah actually means the dust. And then he offers the phrase – immediately before this – “roll yourself in the dust.” So what God actually does, via Micah, is He actually offers a series of condemnations using cities to link with it the condemnation that is associated with it. Now again, that's a whole separate sermonette on it's own, because you can go through every one of these locations, and you can pinpoint them on a map, but God doesn't accidentally inspire these, what He says, in a case like this, for example, one city meaning dust, roll yourself in the dust. He, in essence, provides these condemnations one after another, all the way up to 15 – which then, in a case like this, moves us to 16. And 16 I will read as we close out the first chapter. Verse 16 reads this way:

V-16 – Make yourself bald and cut off your hair, because of your precious children. Enlarge your baldness like an eagle, for they shall go from you into captivity. At the end of this first chapter, Micah is noting that Samaria and Jerusalem are not allowed forgiveness, because they have gone too far in their sins. Now this is kind of a tough one to deal with, because we oftentimes think of and long associate God with being a forgiving God – and He is that. But He's also a God that, once someone has habitually sinned to the point of searing his or her own conscience, God will allow that person suffer greatly in order to understand what he or she has done. Now I offer an example here, because at times you may know of individuals, or I might know of individuals, or I've talked with individuals who will tell you that they have moved progressively and incrementally so far into sin that they had lost their original bearings – understanding what God actually expected of them. And this was one of the points that was made, again, in the first message that Mr. Davies offered there. There are times when we can get so far from reality in committing a sin that we begin to come up with excuses of why we're not that bad off. If it helps here, we’ve long used the example of a frog in water, slowly turning that water up, and the frog boiling while it sits there looking at you. Here's one of the realities that God knows human beings sometimes deal with. And so, as we get to the tail end of this section, as Micah is inspired to produce these condemnations of Samaria and Judah, the reality is that God will allow them to go through horrible times in order for them to be truly and deeply repentant. What God is desirous of is preventing us from losing out on eternal life. There is the ultimate name of this. And that's what we see in verse 16. So the first chapter, as we've already addressed and I've noted, deals with in this case sins against God.

As we move to chapter 2, we see sins against fellow man. And again we're not going to move through the entire chapter – there are too many verses to cover – but I'll start reading in verse 1.

Micah 2:1-4 – Woe to those who devise iniquity, and work out evil on their beds! You probably get a quick visual here. These are individuals who, oftentimes, will lay awake – maybe at night, maybe during the day – and come up with ways in order to rip people off, in order to hurt other people. And that's what he's addressing here. At morning light they practice it, Because it is in the power of their hand. They covet fields and take them by violence, also houses, and seize them. So they oppress a man and his house, a man and his inheritance. You know, in this case, as we read verse 1 – and I'll only reference Jeremiah 4:22, which says “they are wise to do evil, but they have forgotten to do godly.” That single verse in Jeremiah is quite telling. If we go and look back at what was happening at the time that Micah's writing in Samaria, these were people that were coming up with ways to be corrupt. They were coming up with ways in order to inflict pain and harm on others. They were coming up with ways in order to steal land, as an example here, and to take things from other people. Verse 3 reads: Therefore thus says the Lord, “Behold, against this family I am devising disaster, from which you cannot remove your necks, nor shall you walk haughtily, for this is an evil time.” He is providing, in a case like this, an accurate rendering of what is actually taking place. And in verse 4: In that day – what day are we speaking of? Well, by background, we know that this is the Day of the Lord – a day of reckoning – and it will happen. And in that prophecies are oftentimes dual, Judah and Israel experienced this. But we also know as we move through the book that there is a whole lot of prophecy that will unfold at the end time. You know, you don't have to stray too far. You can go over and read 2 Timothy 3, and read the sins that take place immediately before Jesus Christ returns. I hate to scare you, but those are the same sins that Samaria and Jerusalem were dealing with at that time. So what we see here, by background, is God says, “There will be a day of reckoning.” God tells them that He will take away their things. He will take away their inheritance and He will give it to others. And those disobedient will have nothing to say about it.

We happen to live in a time where everyone has an excuse for something. There is always a reason why some violation of law, some sin is okay. And God says, “I will not stand for that. There is no reason for you to violate law.” And that's the point He's driving home here. We drop down to verse 4:

V-4-7 – In that day, one shall take up a proverb against you, and lament with a bitter lamentation, saying: “We are utterly destroyed! He has changed the heritage of my people; how He has removed it from me! To a turncoat He has divided our fields.” Therefore, you will have no one to determine boundaries by lot in the congregation of the Lord. God will take it all away. Verse 6: “Do not prattle,” you say to those who prophesy. So they shall not prophesy to you. They shall not return insult for insult. You who are named the house of Jacob, “Is the Spirit of the Lord restricted? This whole set of language, that moves up through 8 here, is that they are saying, “Don't tell us these things. We don't want to hear it. We're much more comfortable dealing with false prophets, because at least what they say is soothing to our ears! It doesn't make us accountable for anything.”

But as we move through this section of scripture, up through verse 10, we actually see that those who happen to be false prophets – those who happen to be prophets, who claim to be prophets of God, are actually false prophets – are the ones taking bribes. There is bribery going on left and right in front of them. And God says, “You have taken advantage of these people.” They have fallen in direct contrast to James 1:27, which is true religion, by background, to visit the fatherless and the widows. They're not even close to that. They've completely abandoned them.

And as we move through this, up to verse 10, and I'll only go as far as verse 10 here, but what we find Micah saying, “Stop doing this! Stop doing this behavior.”

Now the strange part is, I've noted this before out of Halley’s Bible Handbook, Micah will flip on us, and he does a flip for us as we get to the latter two verses of chapter 2. We get a millennial inset, and we get a point of encouragement in verse 12. It reads this way:

V-12-13 – I will surely assemble all of you, O Jacob, I will surely gather the remnant of Israel. I will put them together like sheep of the fold, like a flock in the midst of their pasture. They shall make a loud noise because of so many men. What he's really doing here is, he's saying – going back to the original promises, believe it or not, made to Abraham – to the original covenant made at Sinai. He said, “I will allow you to go through horrible punishment for your sins, but then I will bring you all back.” So we get a point of encouragement in verses 12 and 13. God promises to gather them all together physically, but also His people spiritually, at one point in the future, in verses 12 and 13.

Which takes us to chapter 3 – God's indictment of Samaria and Judah's leaders, in particular. Micah 3, verse 1, reads:

Micah 3:1 – And I said, “Hear now, O heads of Jacob, and you rulers of the house of Israel. Is it not for you to know justice?” You know, by background here, we're reminded that there are a number of places in scripture that God says good judgment is key to a leader. I'll go to Isaiah 59…well, I'll reference Isaiah 59 – I won't take us there only for sake of time – but Isaiah 59 talks about how God's hand is not slack. If you remember about how anyone's iniquities separate themselves from God? And as you read Isaiah 59, it underscores the importance of any leader taking responsibility for his actions. You know, I was reminded of a verse later in Hebrews 13 – whenever we were at GCE, because it was read a number of different times – about the responsibility those pastors have in terms of serving the congregation, in terms of caring for the congregation, but also being accountable for the congregation. And we see this here. Those who happen to be referenced in Micah were not responsible. In fact, if you go forward, we see in verse 2: You who hate good and love evil, who strip the skin from My people, and the flesh from their bones. Verse 3: Who eat the flesh of my people – now if it helps here, and I went and did a thorough check of this one. It is not referencing cannibalism here. It's referencing, by using very graphic language, that what their actions are similar to, like removing the skin from people. So he's using very vivid language in order to understand that they are not caring for their people as instructed. And the prophets at the time weren't. In a case like this, they were only out for their own interests.

If you want to drop down – and again there is a whole lot more here than we can cover – verse 4 talks about:

V-4 – Then they will cry to the Lord, but He will not hear them; He will even hide His face from them at that time, because they have been evil in their deeds. What will wind up happening is, God will come and have His just punishment on them. And we see this all the way through there. In verse 5, the section judgment on the prophets…if you would drop to verse 6, it reads this way in verse 6:

V-6 – Therefore, you shall have night without vision, and you shall have darkness without divination. The sun shall go down on the prophets and the day shall be dark for them. You know, really what it's talking abbot here is that there is lack of vision for these individuals. And because of that, God is going to darken their view – darken their sense of everything. He's going to put them in darkness, he offers here. And in contrast, we get, in verse 8, the following:

V-8 – But truly I am full of power by the Spirit of the Lord – again we read this – this being Micah – and of justice and might, to declare to Jacob his transgression and to Israel his sin. And then, we get a series of “Now hear this….” What we get from verse 8 is a “cry aloud, spare not” – from Isaiah 58:1. Because Micah has been inspired from God's Holy Spirit in order to speak out against these prophets who have done wrong for too long. Then it moves us through the first section – those first three chapters of Micah 1 through 3.

We then move into a second – a middle section – Micah 4 and 5. And this is a millennial chapter in 4. Here's where we see Micah write of blessings a nation received that is faithful to God. And so, we see here – and I have no idea if you have the same marginal reference or the same note in your Bible – this is one that I took from Ambassador College. This whole section oftentimes deals with what we speak on and address – because it's symbolic of the millennium – at the Feast of Tabernacles. And so, what you get here is very millennial language, because this will come to fruition for, eventually, Judah and Israel, but also for everyone spiritually. So, what we find here in verse 1 is the following – chapter 4, and verse 1:

Micah 4:1-3 – Now it shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established on the top of the mountains. You may have a marginal reference here – I know I did. Daniel 2, and verse 44 is a reminder that a mountain is representative of God's Kingdom. And if we read the middle part here, “He shall be established on top of the mountains,” one of the things I was reminded of is, that once Christ comes back to Earth, once His Kingdom is established here, we would go to the – maybe by inclination – go to the idea that everyone is going to follow immediately. But sadly, that won't take place. In fact, the language here is a reminder that, while Christ will be on earth, it will be an educational process, where nations will – we know Egypt from the Old Testament – will be resistant. They'll say, “Fine, I'm not doing it. Whatever it is, I'm not doing it.” So, however many generations it will take in the millennium for everyone to learn God's truth, it'll take time. And that's what he’s referencing here. But He will – God's Kingdom will – be on top of all other kingdoms. The latter end of 1: And shall be exalted above the hills, and peoples shall flow to it. Many nations shall come and say, “Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us His ways, and we shall walk in His paths.”  That's familiar language from Isaiah 2. For out of Zion the law shall go forth, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He shall judge between many peoples, and rebuke strong nations afar off; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.

You know, we oftentimes see here is that nations will go through a period of coming to a realization of following and honoring God. And I noted Egypt here. God will allow them to be humbled. And it will happen over time. In a case like this, He will allow specifically, as the early on, Judah and Israel, the greater nation of Israel – and later on, kingdoms of Israel and Judah – He will allow them to be humbled, but at a given point, as they move forward, that humbling will eventually bring a greatness. It's really only their sins that have cut them off from the excellence that God provides.

If we look at modern day Ephraim and Manasseh, they have long been harbors for blessings. In fact, the language, even as I was growing up, was that oftentimes any nation that was conquered by England or by the US, oftentimes, would benefit down the road, because we have been so overwhelmingly kind in giving monies and aid to individuals or different nations. But sadly enough, that only lasts for so long. And as America continues to go a certain direction, in terms of it's sin, everything that we've had as a blessing is now in jeopardy. And we're seeing it all happen before us. Those blessings that we've had are all being taken away.

As you move through 4 and 5, we begin to understand that the Kingdom that is set up will not be temporary. It will be a Kingdom that lasts forever. And I'll just make reference to Israel's restoration in Zechariah 8, verse 22. And God will promise to bring back those who are hurting. Now you can go… there are a number of different prophecies in Amos and Ezekiel that apply here, in terms of the numbers who will be brought back. Remember the prophecy of thirds? And the fact that a small remnant will be left? Well, only that remnant will be brought back. You know, if you go back to the time of Micah, Samaria and Jerusalem were about to experience an agony that is akin, as we read here and move forward in verse 10, to a woman giving birth. You know, having watched Sarah give birth a couple of times – and I got a couple of eyebrow raises on that one. Oh, I…you come firsthand – Sarah's probably got better stories for you than I do – you come firsthand, whenever you see a woman anguish in labor about all the pain she goes through. I know that Sarah will tell you that I was not the best of husbands. In fact, oftentimes I was the one who needed oxygen or a wet rag on my head, and the nurses all got a good laugh out of me. But as you watch this come to pass, I'm reminded of how much a woman goes through, in terms of giving birth – how painful it is to give birth. And yet, that's the language we see in verse 10, those birth pangs will eventually give rise to – as we see here – a city. There will be restoration – and that took place historically – and it will take place in the future. God will allow punishment, but He'll also, after the correction, take care of Israel.

That then takes us to Micah 5. We're moving through chapters a bit rapidly here, but we see then multiple interpretations in verse 1.

Micah 5:1-5 – Now gather yourself in troops, O daughter of troops. He has laid siege against us. They will strike the judge of Israel with a rod on the cheek. You can go to a number of different places historically that may reference this. I'll make one reference – Zedekiah in 2 Kings 25:2 through 6, would apply here. You can go and look at that. This striking on a cheek may be a reference to the dishonor that the leaders of Samaria and Judah had at the time, or Samaria and Jerusalem had at the time. They were showing dishonor to God, so God said He will strike them. It may also be a reference to the Messianic prophecy of Christ being struck on the cheek. We would tend to lend to that last explanation, because as you continue reading in verse 2, it reads this way: “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to Me The One to be Ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from of old – from everlasting.” You know what we find here in this single verse is a prophecy regarding Jesus Christ coming from Bethlehem. And Micah is inspired to write this here. We see that. We see that the Jews desired a physical redeemer as we move into the New Testament. And we can see that a number of different places. The sad part was – and we this with the Pharisees and Sadducees – was they were angry with Christ. In fact, they were oftentimes opposed to Him, because they were desirous of a physical redeemer at the time Christ came. They were not of the mindset that He would come as a carpenter. What they missed was the greater lesson – that He did come as a Redeemer, but He came as a spiritual Redeemer, not a physical redeemer. The physical redeemer will come later and that will come whenever He comes – returns to this earth. But we see that as we move through 5. Verses 4 and 5 say this: And He shall stand and feed His flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord His God. And they shall abide, for now. He shall be great to the ends of the earth. And this One shall be peace. When the Assyrian comes into our land, and when he treads in our palaces, then we will raise against him seven shepherds and eight princely men.

Now you probably picked up there, he is now empathizing with us. He's switching roles with us and he's also making reference to the Assyrians, who would shortly take them over. But he's also referencing down the line what will inevitably happen with Ephraim and Manasseh. So we get a whole lot of layers here. As we move through this we recognize, in 10, that Israel and the tribes and nations descending from Israel will be punished for their disobedience, which raises an important question before we get out of 5. In so many instances, should they be responsible for what they don't know? Well, we're a nation – well, long said, “one nation under God, indivisible.” We're a nation who were much more clear, in terms of in understanding of, what God's truths were, sadly, just several generations ago – now mind you, not perfect. In fact, maybe here's where I can pull in Rahab. Because we can probably go back to those who founded this nation and find all kinds of flaws, but in terms of our moral corruption, what's happened over the last 10, 20, 30 years, at an ever increasing rate as we watch the news, sadly, we are leaving God as fast as we can. And that's, in part, what Micah is addressing here. And so that's what he offers Samaria and Jerusalem – Judah and Israel – Israel and Judah – in a case like this, as a prophecy – a warning – so that they turn from their sins. And sadly, they did not.

And this then moves us to the last section, which is Micah 6 and 7. And this last sections actually deals with consequences of sin and blessings for turning to God. Now I don't know if you noted this, but each of these earlier sections – these natural breaks on 1, and on 4, and on 6 – actually, are marked by the warning that Micah has provided to say, “Hear!” and “Listen!” in each case. And so that's how, generally, these breaks work. And we see the same thing happen here in chapter 6 verse 1:

Micah 6:1-5 – Hear now what the Lord says, “Arise, plead your case before the mountains, and let the hills hear your voice. Hear, O you mountains, the Lord’s complaint, and your strong foundations of the earth. For the Lord has a complaint against His people, and He will contend with Israel. Really, what's being said here is, “God is taking you to court. The laws have been established, He has a lawsuit against you. And He will address that lawsuit and there will be consequences.” Verse 3: O My people, what have I done to you? You know, if you go back…because he's really referencing the history of Israel, going all the way back to Jacob. You know, if we go back to what Joseph was able to do, in terms of bringing the Israelites into Egypt, and then flourishing, and then at a given point, crying out in pain – crying out for the oppression of the slavery that they dealt with. God brought them out of Egypt. We were reminded of that on a more recent holy days and feast. God brought Israel out. God gave them a land. He didn't give them any land. He gave them – remember by language – a land flowing with milk and honey. And God says, “From all of this, you have treated Me and the laws I offer you with contempt.” Verse 3 reads: O My people, what have I done to you? And how have I wearied you? Testify against Me. I hold you in contempt of court. For I brought you up from the land of Egypt, I redeemed you from the house of bondage; and I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. O My people, remember now what Balak, king of Moab, counseled, and what Balaam, the son of Beor answered him – from Acacia Grove to Gilgal, that you may know the righteousness of the Lord. You know, when we go through this, God is not desirous of – and we see this so many different ways – God is not desirous of things from us. We just talked about offerings a little bit earlier. God doesn't want our stuff. God doesn't care about our stuff. God cares about us. He cares about our hearts and our minds. That's what God wants. God desires our attention. God desires our faithfulness. God desires our 100% dedication to Him. That's what Micah is inspired to write of here. And the same applies to you and me today.

In verse 3, if you drop down – here's a key verse.

V-8 – He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you, but to do justly – here's our charge – to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God? God gives us marching orders and He makes it unmistakably clear. “Do these three things and I will take care of you.”

You know, if you go from there, in verses 9 through 16 – and I won't read this section – what we actually find is, again, He's contrasting this – of people who speak evil and do evil continually. In a case like this, because of that, they experience rampant disease. Because of that, their farmland will not produce. You can go back to Deuteronomy 13, and see there that God provides a curse for those who do not obey Him. And that's exactly what happened to Samaria and Jerusalem and those two kingdoms at that time.

You know, sad to say, if I bring this to the present, we live in a time when people don't want to follow God. I've got an important point, that Mr. Davies made a little bit earlier, is we oftentimes try to make God over in our image. You know what? That stinks in God's nostrils. God doesn't want us to make Him over in our image. Our job,…He's the threshold. He's the mark. Our job is to make ourselves over into God's image. Our job is to get our noses in the Bible and understand who and what God is, and modify ourselves, so that we reflect Him – not the other way around. And that's the point he's making here to the people to whom he's prophesying.

Micah 7 then moves into repentance and eventually God's mercy. Micah 7, verse 1 reads:

Micah 7:1-2 – Woe is me! For I am like those who gather summer fruits, like those who glean vintage grapes. There is no cluster to eat of the first-ripe fruit which my soul desires. So what he's saying here, if you go through this, is “I'm going out to my garden, and I've done all the work. I've put in the fertilizer. I've kept the bugs away. And I'm ready to harvest. And there is nothing there. There is no fruit at all. Verse 2 read this way: And the faithful man has perished from the earth, and here is no one upright among men. They all lie in wait for blood. Every man hunts his brother with a net. Instead of a nation who has been given the greatest gifts of all, he says they are all lying in ditches with knives, waiting to knife each other. They're all ready to take each other captive. They're all ready to go after the other person by whatever means necessary to take from that person – to steal, to cheat, whatever it might be. He said, “I've given you everything and this is how you look to me.”

As we move then up through the tail end of…well, let's go to verses 5 through 7. Micah 7:5-7. This becomes…here's the time in which they live. You know, really it's a help, because it's a reminder of how things will get even before Christ returns. I'll read verse 4:

V-4-7 – The best of them is like a brier. The most upright is sharper than a thorn hedge. The day of your watchman and your punishment comes. Now shall be their perplexity. Do not trust in a friend. Do not put your confidence in a companion. Guard the doors of your mouth from her who lies in your bosom. For son dishonors father – you know, I might stop momentarily. We have reached a point even today – I know that sounds odd – where you can't trust each other. In fact, we reached a point in so many instances – and there are certainly positives for having things like cell phones – but we've reached a point where, in so many cases, where cell phones seem to be commonplace for everyone. And something gets caught by a cell phone, and put online, and next thing you know, a whole family has fallen apart. And really, that's what he's addressing here. These nations have reached a point where nothing…you can't trust anyone. For son dishonors father – verse 6 – daughter rises against her mother, daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. A man's enemies are the men of his own house. What we, though, find in 7, is, that whereas everyone is not reliable, and untrustworthy – can't be trusted – verse 7 reads this way: Therefore I will look to the LORD. I will wait for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me. You know, in comparison to all we see, we find that God is reliable. And as then you move to the back end of this. Despite the fact that everything looks dark, God says, “I will allow you to go through punishment, but I will deliver you.” And that's what we see at the tail end.

So what lessons do we take from the book of Micah? Well, I'm going offer three, and I'll throw them out your way, and I'll just make mention of a couple of scriptures that fit here.

Number one. Micah clarifies the consequences of sin. Micah makes clear the consequences of sin – the result of sin – sins against God, sins against our neighbor. Matthew 22 – the two great commandments fit here. We see vividly in Micah's writing that we reap what we sow. Galatians 6:7 is a reminder of that. So that's the first lesson we should take from the book of Micah.

Second lesson. Micah establishes what God requires of His people. Now obviously, we've been clear that God expects obedience. Micah 6:8 is a reminder of that in that, by language, Micah is inspired to say that God desires what? Three things: justice, mercy and humility. Through all of this, then, we are reminded that God has very clear expectations for those who He calls. It's not a do what you want and show up on Sunday or Saturday, and a couple of “Amen, Hail Mary's” and we're good. That's not how it works. That's not what we've been called to. And Micah offers a reminder of that.

Third lesson. Micah confirms that there is a wonderful world yet ahead. Despite all of the bad news we read and hear, there is exceptional news as we read this book. We see this through so many different points he makes and through so many different verses. And indeed, while God wants mercy from us, He's the originator of mercy. You can go back to Micah 4 – those first five verses – to be reminded of that.

So we've done a number of things today. We've seen by background who Micah is. We've gotten an overview of the book. And we've made our way through many of the verses, so we get a fuller sense of what's offered here.

We began Micah with a direct indictment against Israel. And we saw in those first few verses of the book that God is on His throne, number one, and that God sees everything. He saw the sins that were taking place in Samaria and Jerusalem, and He sees the sins that take place today. He held them accountable, and He holds you and me accountable. While Micah's prophecy was fulfilled by physical Israel's captivity, a second fulfillment is set to take place yet ahead. Make no mistake. God is true to His word. Those who violate His laws will meet punishment. And yet, with punishment will come change and restoration, just as God has promised. In the end, the ending will be better than the beginning. If you would, read with me the last three verses in conclusion – Micah 7, verse 18:

Micah 7:18-20 – Who is a God like You, pardoning iniquity and passing over the transgression of the remnant of His heritage? He does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in mercy. He will again have compassion on us and will subdue our iniquities. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea. You will give truth to Jacob and mercy to Abraham, which You have sworn to our fathers from days of old.

There is a lot in the book of Micah to learn of, certainly hope you have benefited from going through it today.