Through the Bible - Micah

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. (Micah 1:1)

A prophet whose name asks "who is like God?" calls a sinning people back to do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with their God.

A Contemporary of Isaiah Speaking to All Israel

How many of you read the book of Micah over the last couple of weeks? If you haven't, I encourage you to do so over the next several days. It is just seven chapters, but seven very powerful chapters.

The very first verse tells us the word came to Micah in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. That should bring to mind another prophet who wrote at the very same time. Isaiah 1:1 names the same kings, so Micah was a contemporary of Isaiah. But while Isaiah focused his attention primarily on the southern tribes of Judah and Benjamin, Micah saw a word "concerning Samaria and Jerusalem."

Jerusalem was the capital of Judah, the southern two tribes. Samaria was the capital city of the northern ten tribes. Remember that the nation split after Solomon's son Rehoboam took over, with Jeroboam I leading the north and Rehoboam the south. The northern ten tribes immediately departed from the Lord—not merely from Rehoboam's leadership, but in rebellion against the leadership of God. The southern tribes were not much better; they had some good kings intermixed with some horribly wicked kings. Micah, though from the south, carried a word from God for all the people of God in that day.

God Still Speaks

Like Isaiah, Micah "saw" this word as a vision. God spoke in diverse manners in the Old Testament. He spoke through a basket of fruit to Amos, through a burning bush to Moses, through a donkey to Balaam, and through visions to Isaiah and Micah. God is able to speak however He chooses.

One key thing we need to understand as we study these prophetic books is that God still speaks. Sometimes we think He spoke in the Old Testament through miracles and signs but is silent now. No—God is not silent, and we would do well to recognize He is speaking to us.

I mentioned Sunday morning that God is speaking to us through what is happening in our nation. Arnold Schwarzenegger just declared a drought here in California, and in the Scriptures every physical drought was an indication of a spiritual drought. Meanwhile other parts of the nation are having unbelievable rainstorms and floods. At prayer Wednesday morning, a dear sister in her 80s, Mary Malthus, prayed for the farmers who say they cannot plant their crops. I went and looked it up afterward, and sure enough, farmers throughout the Midwest cannot plant their corn this year because of the rain—perhaps 80% of the corn and 20% of the soybeans destroyed. God is speaking to us, and we need to listen.

A Slippery Slope—Then and Now

The spiritual climate of Israel between roughly 739 and 686 B.C. was on a very slippery slope downward. Can we see that in our nation today? This Monday is historic for our state—the Supreme Court referendum from the beginning of June goes into effect, and as of Tuesday the 17th our state can issue marriage licenses to homosexuals. It is no coincidence that Father's Day is tomorrow, the last Father's Day in California before we move into a time when our state declares that this kind of marriage is acceptable, which in the eyes of God it is not.

This morning in our elders meeting I asked them to fast and pray from sunup to sundown on Monday, that God would do a work in our state, and I put that before you as well. I was convicted this week thinking of how devotedly people in false religions like Islam keep their prescribed fasts. They look at us and wonder why we are not devoted to our God in that way. We need to deny ourselves, fast, and pray.

God says in 2 Chronicles, "If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and repent, then I will hear them... and heal their land." Sometimes we think it is all the heathen who need to change. But judgment begins at the house of the Lord (1 Peter 4:17). Were there not wicked Philistines, Canaanites, Syrians, Assyrians, and Babylonians around them? Yes—but God focuses on His own people and says, you are the ones called by my name; you must repent and be an example. Why would the pagans turn from idolatry if they look at you and see the same?

The Lord Comes Down in Judgment

Hear, all ye people; hearken, O earth... For, behold, the LORD cometh forth out of his place, and will come down, and tread upon the high places of the earth. And the mountains shall be molten under him, and the valleys shall be cleft... (Micah 1:2–4)

Nothing will stand before Him when He comes. The mountains melt and the valleys turn to wax before the fire. This is the power of this great God, and Micah sees it in a vision.

But why is God coming down? Verse 5 answers: "For the transgression of Jacob." Every time Israel walked away in rebellion, God called them not Israel ("governed of God") but Jacob ("deceiver, supplanter"). And He asks, "What is the transgression of Jacob? is it not Samaria? and what are the high places of Judah? are they not Jerusalem?" Samaria's sin was golden-calf worship, set up by Jeroboam I in Dan and Bethel right after the split—the very sin Israel committed at Sinai. Jerusalem too had become a high place for false gods.

Therefore I will make Samaria as an heap of the field... and I will pour down the stones thereof into the valley... For she gathered it of the hire of an harlot... (Micah 1:6–7)

God says He will completely level Samaria and the northern ten tribes—literally fulfilled in 722 B.C., after Micah wrote. Their harlotry was first spiritual, and that spiritual condition overflowed into physical sin. That is always how sin starts. Jesus said that out of the heart proceed evil thoughts and actions; out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.

Only the Gospel Changes a Nation

When you see the evil works in a nation, it is an indication of a heart condition that must be dealt with first. That is why it is interesting that the church in the world today is so focused on social justice and social reform—going to Africa over AIDS and hunger, addressing all these problems around the world. The only way to really deal with those problems is to deal with the heart behind them. That is why the gospel is so important. The gospel changed our nation during the Great Awakenings, and it can change our nation again.

We are living in dark days, but God's light is still in this earth through the church. We are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, called to proclaim the praises of Him who called us out of darkness into His marvelous light. This room on Sunday and Wednesday nights is an opportunity to be equipped and raised up to shine that light in dark places.

God Exposes Sin to Heal It

Micah says their wound "is incurable" (1:9)—and apart from God it is. Yet God says through Isaiah, "Turn to me and I will bind up your wounds." He alone can heal and transform.

In verses 10–15 Micah uses puns to address specific cities. "Declare ye it not at Gath"—Gath sounds like the Hebrew for weeping. He tells them to roll in the dust at the city of dust, and tells Saphir (which speaks of beauty) that her shame and nakedness will be shown. God is saying, I will expose your sin for what it truly is.

Many people are fearful of being exposed, because in our society we shame and embarrass those who are exposed. So when we tell people to come to the light of God, they are afraid. Jesus told Nicodemus that man hates the light because of his wicked deeds (John 3). But John writes, "If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin." God does not shine His light to make us a spectacle. He reveals our sin, but He reveals His blood that is greater than our sin and able to cleanse it.

Woe to Those Who Devise Iniquity

Woe to them that devise iniquity, and work evil upon their beds! when the morning is light, they practise it, because it is in the power of their hand. (Micah 2:1)

"Woe" means certain destruction. The picture is of people who wake in the middle of the night with a plan for greater wickedness and carry it out in the morning. Israel had become so depraved that they no longer even cared where they sinned. Every man did what was right in his own eyes—but three times in Judges it says they did evil in the sight of the Lord. There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is death.

They sinned "because it is in the power of their hand." Remember the man Jesus healed at the pool of Bethesda. After 38 years lame, he had little opportunity for physical sin. Now healed and free, Jesus told him, "Sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee." He now had liberty—and Paul warns us not to use our liberty as a license to sin. Some in the church today figure, "God's gracious; He'll forgive me, so it doesn't matter." Paul answers, "God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?"

These people coveted fields and houses and took them by violence (2:2). So God says in verse 3, "Behold, against this family do I devise an evil, from which ye shall not remove your necks." They planned their sin; God planned their destruction. They were haughty and proud in the face of judgment, as if to ask, "What are you going to do to us?" They did not want to hear it: "Prophesy ye not" (2:6). And so God says, fine—but you will be destroyed. The northern ten tribes were completely destroyed, just as He warned.

Wicked Leaders and False Prophets

In chapter 3 God focuses on the leaders.

Hear, I pray you, O heads of Jacob, and ye princes of the house of Israel; Is it not for you to know judgment? Who hate the good, and love the evil; who pluck off their skin from off them... (Micah 3:1–3)

He pictures these leaders devouring the people like cannibals, treating them as existing only to make the leaders wealthy and comfortable. As I look at our political scene today, it often seems the same—not public service, but people there for what they can get. They hate good and love evil, calling darkness light and light darkness, just as Isaiah said. Yet Romans tells us they are God's ministers, placed there by God, and they will give an account.

When trouble comes these leaders cry out, but verse 4 says, "He will not hear them: he will even hide his face from them at that time, as they have behaved themselves ill." God said the same in Jeremiah's day: turn to your false gods that are as many as your streets, because I will not hear you. And through Isaiah: "It is not that my ear is heavy... but your sin has separated you from me."

We should recognize that as God removes His hand of protection from a nation, the enemy is allowed to come in and destroy—as in Job, where God removed the hedge and Satan struck. Insurance companies call tornadoes and floods "acts of God," but they are not. It was a whirlwind that destroyed Job's children, and that is the hand of Satan. These things come upon a nation because its sin has separated it from God, so that He says, "I cannot protect you." As Billy Graham said, if God does not judge the United States, He will have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah.

God also speaks to the false prophets:

Thus saith the LORD concerning the prophets that make my people err... they bite with their teeth, and cry, Peace. (Micah 3:5)

They cried "Peace, peace" when there was no peace—the same lie Jeremiah confronted, and the same one Jesus said would mark the last days. People long for peace, and one will arise offering a false peace, but there will be no peace until the Prince of Peace is enthroned in the New Jerusalem. That is why the church prays, "Thy kingdom come."

Vision and the Spirit

To these false prophets God says, "Therefore night shall be unto you, that ye shall not have a vision" (3:6). Yet Amos 3:7 says, "Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets." Where there is no vision, the people perish. We need vision from God—and the only place to find it is before Him. Those who seek will find; those who knock will have it opened.

As the leadership met this morning, we discussed what the Lord might do over the next years. We need to seek Him, because He will show us. God told Jeremiah, "Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not." So I put it before you again: this Monday, fast and pray from sunup to sundown, asking, "Lord, what would you have me do?"

By contrast, Micah says of himself, "But truly I am full of power by the spirit of the LORD... to declare unto Jacob his transgression, and to Israel his sin" (3:8). One primary purpose of the Old Testament prophet was to expose error and sin. Thankfully, God has poured out His Spirit on the church, as Joel prophesied and Pentecost fulfilled. Jesus said it was expedient that He go so He could send the Comforter who guides us into all truth. Ezekiel foretold the day when God would give a new heart and write His law upon it, so that no longer would one need a prophet to say "Know the Lord"—God Himself would speak by His Spirit. The Holy Spirit now exposes our error and guides us, telling us, "This is the way, walk ye in it."

Some say, "I don't hear the Spirit." Have you been obedient to what He has already shown you in His word? As we obey, His voice becomes clearer.

Judgment on Judah, Then Restoration

The indictment is summarized in 3:11: "The heads thereof judge for reward, and the priests thereof teach for hire, and the prophets thereof divine for money: yet will they lean upon the LORD, and say, Is not the LORD among us?" Their judges were in it for reward, their priests were hirelings, their prophets wanted money—and all the while they claimed to lean on the Lord. Therefore, verse 12: "Zion for your sake shall be plowed as a field." God would destroy not only Samaria but Jerusalem too.

Yet in the midst of judgment comes the prophecy of restoration in chapters 4 and 5—a restoration that has largely not yet come to pass.

But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established in the top of the mountains... and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. (Micah 4:1–3)

Interestingly, that verse is written on the wall at the UN Security Council; it is the United Nations' ambition. I believe that is partly why they will be involved in the Antichrist's schemes in the last days. But these things speak of a yet-future kingdom, the millennial reign of Christ, when, as Isaiah says, the wolf lies down with the lamb. God will gather the afflicted, "and the LORD shall reign over them in mount Zion from henceforth, even for ever" (4:7). This kingdom will have no end (Isaiah 9:6–7).

We know how the story ends—the answer is in the back of this book. He will order and establish His kingdom forever, and we will reign with Him. Why has He not yet come? Praise the Lord that He has waited, for if He had come ten or twenty years ago, how many of us would not be part of that kingdom? He is not willing that any should perish. But I believe that wait is coming to an end.

The Ruler from Bethlehem

Who brings this restoration?

But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting. (Micah 5:2)

Verse 1 had said, "They shall smite the judge of Israel with a rod upon the cheek"—remember how they put a bag over Jesus' head, struck Him, and said, "Prophesy, who hit you?" When the magi came, the priests read this very verse and told Herod the Christ would be born in Bethlehem (Matthew 2:6). Bethlehem means "house of bread," and Jesus said, "I am the bread of life"—fitting that the Bread of Life was born in the house of bread. Ephratah means "fruitful."

This ruler is "from of old, from everlasting." It is wrong to think Jesus was created or came on the scene only 2,000 years ago. Colossians 1 and John 1 make clear He was there at the beginning, the one through whom and for whom all things were created, who holds all things together, and who will reign for eternity—the Alpha and Omega, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.

The Lord's Controversy in the Courtroom

Our nation loves courtroom dramas—O.J. Simpson, Judge Judy, Law and Order. People love justice. So God says, fine, I will call you into the courtroom.

Arise, contend thou before the mountains... Hear ye, O mountains, the LORD'S controversy... O my people, what have I done unto thee? and wherein have I wearied thee? testify against me. (Micah 6:1–3)

God calls heaven and earth as His witnesses, stands up as prosecutor, and puts Israel on the witness stand. He recounts His goodness: "I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed thee out of the house of servants; and I sent before thee Moses, Aaron, and Miriam." He reminds them how Balaam, the false prophet hired by Balak, could only bless them because God's blessing was upon them.

The people fire back: "Wherewith shall I come before the LORD... shall I come before him with burnt offerings... thousands of rams... ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my firstborn for my transgression?" It is as if they shout, "What do you want from us? We've given you everything—the temple, the priests, the offerings!"

He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God? (Micah 6:8)

God does not desire sacrifice and burnt offering. He has already shown them what He wants. Notice the order: do justly, love mercy, walk humbly. We tend to get it backward—we love justice for others and want mercy for ourselves. When someone cuts us off on the freeway we wish we had sirens to pull them over; but when we are speeding and see a black-and-white in the mirror, suddenly it's "Lord, mercy, mercy." God says, I want you to do justly and love mercy. Through Isaiah He told Israel, "I looked for justice, and found none," even though they kept all their feasts and fasts. And He calls the proud and haughty to walk humbly, because God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble.

Who Is a God Like Our God?

What does God look for us to do? Micah 7:1 answers: "Woe is me!" God brings the prophet who cried woe over the people to the place where he cries woe over himself. Isaiah pronounced woe upon Israel eight times in his first five chapters, then in chapter 6 cried, "Woe is me! for I am undone... a man of unclean lips." Paul tells the Galatians to restore the fallen "in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted." If we point a finger and say "woe is you," we must remember the fingers pointing back at us, and come in repentance: "Woe is me."

Remember, Micah's name means "who is like our God."

Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity... he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy. (Micah 7:18)

Our God delights in mercy. When Moses asked to see God's glory, God placed him in the cleft of the rock and proclaimed His name: "The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious..." God defines His own name first and foremost with mercy. So when we come before Him saying "Woe is me," He is ready to pardon and give mercy. He has done so for us, and He desires to do so for this world, not willing that any should perish. Thank God He has waited.

Closing Prayer

God, we thank You for this book. I pray that as we go from here tonight, You would challenge us to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk in humility with You, because You draw near to the humble. Draw near to this group, Lord, and shine brightly through us to this dark world, that we would see many come to know You in these last days. You prophesied through Joel that in the last days You would pour out Your Spirit upon all flesh; pour out Your Spirit upon this group and equip us to be witnesses unto You here in Escondido, in San Diego County, in California, and in the uttermost parts. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.