Wednesday Discussion

All right, it is good to see everybody here. I am glad that you are with us tonight as we continue our study together through the book of Micah. We will be discussing Micah chapter three. If you have your Bible, you can open it to the Old Testament, the book of Micah, which is located about two-thirds through the Bible. It is a small book in the Old Testament.

As you are turning there, I want to reference a verse in the New Testament. In 1 Corinthians chapter 10, the Apostle Paul says in verse 11, "Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition or our instruction upon whom the ends of the age have come." Paul is discussing the events that happened to the people of Israel thousands of years ago. He states that all these things were written down in the Old Testament for our instruction, those of us living in the latter days, so that we might learn from these experiences. He goes on to say, "Therefore, let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall."

The things we are studying in the book of Micah, which occurred 2,800 years ago, are applicable to us today, living in the 21st century in a nation that did not exist back then and experiencing all kinds of technological advances that would have been unimaginable to people of that time. Yet, God's word remains relevant. All these things were written for our instruction and admonition.

I hope you had a chance to study and read through Micah chapter three this week and look at the observation questions we provided. If you no longer have those observation questions, you can find them on the website, discuss.lifeandconnection.com, or we will have some available in the back tonight along with the application questions. They are currently printing more of the application questions, so if you do not have this paper, you can grab it when you head out to the rooms in just a moment.

Micah chapter three is where we have been reading this past week. Hopefully, you have taken some time to read through it, pray about it, and think about it, perhaps even read it in a couple of different versions. There are many things happening in this chapter. God, through the prophet Micah 2,800 years ago, is speaking to the nation of Israel. Very specifically, in this passage, the focus seems to be on the southern portion of the nation of Israel. The nation was divided into two kingdoms, as I have mentioned before. There was a northern kingdom called Israel and a southern kingdom called Judah, with the capital city of the southern kingdom being Jerusalem, located on the mountain of Zion or Mount Zion.

There in the part of the nation called Judah, Micah references the people in Jerusalem and Mount Zion. He is speaking to the leaders of the nation. The judgment in Micah chapter three is upon the leaders of the people of Judah, calling them to repentance because of their sin.

We have already considered some of the sins of these people previously. In chapter one, we saw that they were involved in the sin of idolatry. Last week, in chapter two, we observed that they were filled with covetousness. As a result of their covetousness, they were defrauding and robbing from one another. Now, as we come into this passage, we see more things that are listed to the people. God says to the people of Israel at that time, "Listen up, you rulers of the people. You are leading the people towards sin."

The religious leaders were also the political leaders at that time. We have a clear separation between church and state in our nation, and many different places in the world today highly exalt that separation. However, in Israel 2,800 years ago, they were a theocracy. God was the leader of their nation, and so the political leaders were also the religious leaders. In this passage, God is addressing the leaders, the judges who would cast judgment on all the problems and issues of sin in the nation during that day, the priests who would lead the people in the worship of the Lord, and the prophets who would speak to the people on behalf of God.

All three of these groups are mentioned in this passage: the leaders or judges, the princes, and then the priests and the prophets. The princes, the priests, and the prophets are the ones being addressed in this passage because of their sin. They were leading the people into error.

As I mentioned in our very first week together, the prophet Micah was speaking to the people of Israel at the same time as the prophet Isaiah. In Isaiah chapter three, the prophet Isaiah says, "Oh, my people, those who lead you cause you to err and destroy the way of your paths." Isaiah was saying the same thing Micah is saying: those who are leading you—your prophets, your priests, and your princes—are leading you towards sin.

Micah says, "Listen up, all you leaders. You are supposed to know what is right, what is just, and how the Lord wants you to walk. Yet you are leading the people into wickedness." The wickedness they were leading the people into includes idolatry, covetousness, and defrauding their people. In this passage, he speaks about their sin.

In a very metaphoric kind of hyperbole, this section of Scripture talks about leaders stripping the skin from their people. The leaders were treating the people in such a negative and wicked way that God says, "It's like you're stripping the skin from them, taking the flesh off of their bones, and putting their flesh into a cauldron or a pot." It’s as if they were cannibalistically eating the people.

Of course, the people of Israel, when they heard these words, would have said, "We're not doing that. We're not skinning the people and putting their body parts into a big pot and eating them. We're not cannibals. We're not doing that at all." Yet, in God's eyes, the defrauding and robbery of the people by the leaders of the nation was no different. That’s how vile and wicked it was to God.

This really causes me to think: How does God see our sin? A lot of times, we can minimize our sin, and we do this by comparing ourselves to other people. The people of Israel in Micah's day would have compared themselves to the Philistines, their enemies, or to the Syrians, the Moabites, or the Assyrians, who were the most powerful nation of that time.

It’s interesting because in this passage, God says, "You leaders of my people, you are flaying the people. You're skinning the people." This was actually a torture that the Assyrian Empire developed during this period. They would take captives and rebellious individuals against their nation and skin them alive. It’s a pretty gruesome picture. Junior high boys might think that’s awesome, but it’s pretty gross.

The people of Israel would look at that and say, "That is so wicked. Those Assyrians are so bad." Yet God says, "Your sin is no different. You're defrauding your brother. You're robbing from one another. You are covetous. You don't judge with equity and fairness." In the eyes of God, it’s no different.

God sees our sin far more wickedly than we do, and we have a terrible way of minimizing our own sin. There’s that challenge: How do we see our sin? The way we often minimize our sin is by comparing ourselves to others. We say, "I'm not as bad as that guy. I'm not perfect, but I'm certainly not as bad as those people over there." I’m sure that none of us here have ever been guilty of that at all. But those people down the street? I just did it, right? Comparing ourselves.

In the New Testament, the Apostle Paul says that it’s not wise to compare ourselves by ourselves or by other people. In 2 Corinthians chapter 10, he addresses this issue.

In verse 12, we see a significant moment in Micah chapter 3. After Micah has pronounced judgment upon the leaders of Israel, there is a cry for mercy from these leaders. However, it is a cry that comes too late. They have not repented. God has been calling them to turn away from their sin for years through multiple prophets, yet they have refused to heed that call. Now, judgment is imminent.

During this period, the judgment would come through the nation of Assyria. As Assyria began to move as the tool of God's judgment, the people would cry out, "Oh, Lord, deliver us!" Yet, God responds that He will not deliver them because of their iniquity and the evil of their deeds, as stated at the end of verse 4. In verses 5 through 7, God speaks very specifically about the evil of their deeds, proclaiming judgment against the false prophets of Micah's day.

We discussed this briefly last week. There was a group of individuals we would refer to as soothsayers. Even though God's judgment was approaching, and prophets like Isaiah, Micah, and Hosea were warning the people that God would judge them for their sin, other figures in the nation, who were regarded as prophets or mouthpieces of God, were misleading the people. Instead of calling for repentance, they reassured the people that everything was fine, saying, "God loves you, and you are His people, so you will be blessed." They proclaimed, "Peace, peace," insisting that all would be well.

However, God was declaring that there would be no peace for the wicked. These soothsayers soothed the people with false words of comfort. Micah highlights how they would offer blessings in exchange for money. If someone did not pay them, they would not provide a blessing; instead, they would speak a curse. Essentially, they acted as prophets for hire. You would pay them to receive a favorable word from God, but without payment, they would do nothing. They were akin to fortune tellers or diviners.

God declares that He will judge these wicked prophets among the people who are leading them into sin. The primary way they led the people astray was by failing to speak against the sins of God's people, unlike Micah, Isaiah, or Hosea. These false prophets allowed the people to continue in idolatry and covetousness.

All the things that we've already looked at were not calling the people to repentance. They were condoning their sin. This is very similar to what the Apostle Paul refers to in the New Testament in the book of Romans, chapter one, verse 18. He states that the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of those who suppress the truth in unrighteousness. They are suppressing the truth; they are holding back the truth. They know what is right; they have God's law, but they are not calling the people to repentance.

Who knows why they were doing that? They may have been doing it because they themselves had forgotten God's law. It could also be that it is hard to confront people about their sin. We all know that it is difficult to challenge someone. As a result, they would refuse to take those actions. By not calling the people to repentance, they essentially approved of their sin.

As we discussed this today, Pastor Jason made the comment that what we don't confront, we confirm. When we do not confront someone's actions, we confirm them. These prophets, by not confronting the people's sin, allowed them to continue in it because it is uncomfortable to address such issues. Therefore, God says there will be a judgment that will come upon them, and they will not know where this judgment is coming from. Their eyes will be closed; there will be darkness for them and no vision. They will be ashamed because they were saying, "Peace, peace," when there was no peace.

Then the word of the true prophet comes. In Micah chapter 3, verses 8 through 12, Micah states, "But truly I am full of the power of the Spirit of the Lord," in verse 8, "and of justice and might to declare to Jacob his transgression and to Israel his sin." The job of Micah, and the job of a true prophet of God in the Old Testament, was to declare the sin of the people, to make it very clear what they were doing that was in opposition or rebellion to God, and then to call the people back to righteousness.

This means showing them where they were out of order and then calling them back to righteousness. That is the task of the Old Testament prophet. There is sometimes discussion in the church about whether there is still the office or position of a prophet like there was in the Old Testament. Not really, because we have the revealed word of God. In the New Testament, we are told in 2 Timothy chapter 3 that all Scripture, the Bible, is given by inspiration of God and is useful for doctrine, for rebuke, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness so that you and I...

The people of God would know how to walk in righteousness. The word of God plays the part of the Old Testament prophet in our day. It rebukes, corrects, and calls us to walk in righteousness. This is where we get our instruction—from God's word. The mouthpiece of God was Micah at this point in time, and he calls the people out for their sin. He identifies three groups of people: the priests, the prophets, and the princes.

The princes were not judging righteously. They would take bribes, and when a judge takes a bribe, they get prosecuted for it in our day and thrown in jail because it is wrong. It perverts justice and does away with righteousness. Micah says that the princes of the people were taking bribes and giving unjust judgments. The priests were just hirelings; they were doing the job only to get the money. The prophets were like fortune tellers, trying to make money from speaking forth the word.

As a result of this, Micah tells the people in the very last verse of Micah chapter three that a judgment is going to come upon Mount Zion and Jerusalem. To the southern tribes, it says, "Therefore, because of you, Zion shall be plowed like a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps of ruins, and the mountain of the temple like bare hills of the forest."

We may not live in a farming community, but occasionally we pass a farm stand or go through San Pasquale Valley and see a field that has been freshly plowed, with all the dirt turned up. Micah says that this is what is going to happen to Jerusalem because of their sin; it will be completely destroyed. This prophecy would literally be fulfilled about 150 years after Micah spoke these words, through the Babylonian Empire. Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, is a name you may recognize if you have read through the book of Daniel in the Old Testament or watched Veggie Tales. He came in and destroyed the city of Jerusalem in 586 BC.

Before that, around the time of Micah, the Assyrians came in and surrounded the city. They almost destroyed it and devastated all the other major cities in the land of Judah as a direct result of the people's sin.

In this passage, there is a lot going on, and I think we have some good questions to discuss tonight. Don't forget to grab your application questions as we go there. But before we proceed, let me pray quickly that God would direct us. Father, thank you for your word.

Thank you for making it so that the Jewish people recorded the Old Testament. They did such a great job of keeping the records of the prophets, the Psalms, and the Pentateuch. Because of their diligence, we can study these texts and learn from them. God, you had these things recorded and maintained for centuries, even millennia, so that you could speak to us and teach us.

I pray that you would open our hearts to hear from you through your Word tonight and teach us, we pray in Jesus' name. And all those that agreed said, Amen.