Micah chapter 4.    Tuesdays, 29 April and 6 May 2008

Micah has been emphasising the impending judgment. He had warned God’s people of the folly of assuming that they were untouchable and of presuming that the Lord was among them simply because they had the city of Jerusalem and the Temple. Micah prophesied what to them was unthinkable. The time would come when Zion would be like a ploughed field, Jerusalem like piles of rubbish and the mountain of the house of God overgrown with a forest of trees. So chapter 3 ended with such scenes of desolation.

In the Last Days (vv 1 to 5)

However, with chapter 4 comes fresh hope: here is presented a glorious vision of the future, a time when God’s purposes for His people and, indeed, for all nations would be accomplished – in the last days. Despite the coming judgments, eventually the future for God’s people will be glorious. It is absolutely certain; God’s promise stands sure. This is especially the case, because there is a twofold witness to this particular promise. Micah’s contemporary, Isaiah, prophesied in almost the same words, In Isaiah 2 vv 2 to 4:

“And it shall come to pass, in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And He shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.”

Beyond the years of captivity, exile and dispersion among the nations of the world, Israel, the people of God, may be assured that God’s promises will never fail. Israel will be gathered together again in the land of promise, the temple will be rebuilt in Jerusalem and from there the Lord will reign supreme in an era of peace and fruitfulness. This will all be fulfilled in the millennial reign of Christ when Jesus will have returned to the earth and been accepted as the true Messiah. That the temple will be rebuilt and the details of its construction were revealed later, after the foretold judgments had come upon the land, at the end of the book of Ezekiel.

We must rest assured that God’s promises to His people Israel have not failed. There has been no cancellation of the promises, neither have they been transferred in a spiritual way to be applied to the Church. No! The Church has its own place and promises. God does not change. God does not lie. In the last days, God will resume His dealings with His earthly people who, for two thousand years have, as it were, been set aside. The church will be snatched away, “raptured”, to meet Jesus in the air (I Thessalonians 4 v 17). Then, following a seven year period of “The Great Tribulation” (Matthew 24 v 21; Revelation 7 v 14), Daniel’s seventieth week (Daniel 9 v 27), when Israel will be surrounded on all sides by the nations of the world, and at the point of utter defeat, Jesus will return, and all His saints with Him, to defeat the enemies and establish His kingdom on earth (Zechariah 14 vv 1 to 9). And He shall reign for a thousand years (Revelation 20).

This is the time of which Micah speaks. Satan also will have been bound for a thousand years (Revelation 20) and the nations of the world will have to look to the Lord for guidance and judgment. The Lord will teach them His ways and they will walk in His paths. What a change from today when, all over the world people are forsaking God’s ways for their own, when our own government is stubbornly ignoring the voice of morality to press down a pathway of destroying human life, creating genetic confusion, rejecting the God ordained and natural family structure of husband and wife, mother and father and when even some “church” leaders seem to be supporting them. The nation will reap the consequences but the government will never admit that the increasing problems and disasters are the results of their actions. So, for instance, they will proclaim, with an endless supply of ready statistics, that the unprecedented spread of sexually transmitted diseases and increase in under-age pregnancies has no correlation whatsoever with their foolish attitudes to sex education, provision of contraceptives, liberal counselling and so on. Yet the greater their input into sex education, the worse the problem gets… the worst in Europe.

They fail to see that rejection of Biblical attitudes to the correct and loving disciplining of children has produced a generation of spoilt youngsters, many of whom have no respect for authority and little or no regard for anyone else. The “no-smacking” brigade always maintains that physical punishment never achieves anything. Of course, they always try to distort the proper and reasonable application of such discipline into angry aggression, violent loss of temper and abuse. That is to distract attention from the right course. They never seem to realise the folly of what they are saying. Since the advent of their “we-know-better-now” policies, the behaviour of an increasing number of children and young people has become a matter of national concern. It is their attitude that does not work and that has, in fact, landed us in the current mess.

When, in the last days, the Lord will come to clear up the mess, He will show the right way: the way of peace when weapons are turned into farming tools; the way of fruitfulness, plenty and prosperity when all shall rest under their own vine and fig tree enjoying the rewards of their own efforts; the way of blessing when there will be no fear of violence and oppression. What a perfect society that will be!

Jerusalem will be the centre of the Lord’s sovereign rule. It, and the house of the Lord, will be exalted above the mountains and hills. Huge geographical changes will take place at the Lord’s second coming, as described in Zechariah 14. The Mount of Olives will be split in two creating a valley from east to west. That Jerusalem itself will be lifted up in the upheaval is indicated by the fact that living waters will flow out and down from the city towards the Mediterranean Sea and in the opposite direction towards the Dead Sea. God is righteous. All His promises are sure and steadfast. Israel, the people of God, and the Temple in Jerusalem, will be the centre of government and blessing for all nations. Whatever the nations of the world might choose, the people of God can proclaim, “We will walk in the Name of the Lord our God for ever and ever.” (v. 5)

In That Day (vv 6 to 7)

At this time God will fulfil all the promises made to His people from Abraham onwards. As the result of their idolatry and disobedience the people have suffered down through the centuries as God has chastised and disciplined them. They have “halted” or “limped” between two opinions, between the Lord and the Baalim. That was the challenge of Elijah on Mount Carmel (I Kings 18 v 21). They had been weakened and driven out of the land of promise in successive waves from the Assyrian attacks on the north, the Babylonian enforced exile and then following the catastrophic war with Rome (66 – 70 AD). But none of this was because God had forgotten His people or been unable to deliver them. Neither had God cast them off altogether. In fact, it was God Who had afflicted them.

Jacob too had limped (halted) after a man (the Lord) had wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. He touched the hollow of his thigh and Jacob was never the same, self-reliant, arrogant man again (Genesis 32). And in that day, the day of Messiah’s reign, the lame will be the remnant upon whom all God’s promises of the land and blessing will come. They will no longer rely on themselves and their own works, but they will lean on God. The remnant will not be some weak, desperate scrap salvaged from the wreckage of what was Israel. No! For those which had been cast off will become a strong nation over whom the Lord will reign from Mount Zion for ever. God’s promises are sure. In that day, this shall be their song:

“Sing, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel; be glad and rejoice with all the heart, O daughter of Jerusalem. The Lord has taken away your judgments, He has cast out your enemy: the King of Israel, even the Lord, is in the midst of you: you shall not see evil any more.
In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem, Fear not: and to Zion, Let not your hands be slack. The Lord your God in the midst of you is mighty; He will save, He will rejoice over you with joy; He will rest in His love, He will joy over you with singing…
…At that time will I bring you again, even in the time that I gather you: for I will make you a name and a praise among all people of the earth, when I turn back your captivity before your eyes, says the Lord.”

Zephaniah 3 vv 14 to 20

The Kingdom Will Come to All Israel (v 8)

Everything falls into place when God’s people return. When Jacob, who is also Israel, returned to the land of promise from serving his uncle Laban, God told him to go back to Bethel where He had first encountered the Lord. Because of that tremendous first meeting, Jacob had called the place Bethel, “House of God”. In preparation for returning to that hallowed place, Jacob instructed his household to put away the strange gods that were among them, to be clean and to change their garments. When they journeyed on from there, the terror of God fell upon the cities that were round about them. (Genesis 35 vv 1 & 2) Such will be the case when a repentant Israel turns with all its heart to the Lord in the future.

Jacob journeyed on. Rachel died in childbirth, just by Bethlehem. As she died, she called the name of her son Benoni (son of my sorrow); Jacob, however, called him Benjamin (son of my right hand). It was here that Jesus was born, the Father’s well-beloved Son, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. However, in the fulness of time, He suffered and died for our sins, rose again and is now exalted, the Son of the Father’s right hand. Jacob travelled on and spread his tent beyond the tower of Edah. (Genesis 3 v 21) The tower of Edah is the tower of the flock. Set at the extremity of the possessions of Jacob at that time, it was a stronghold to keep an eye on the activities of any enemy; yet Jacob went deep into enemy territory to extend his possessions and influence. God’s people today are in a spiritual warfare to drive back the powers of darkness and to extend God’s Kingdom here on earth. And Micah declares to God’s returning people of the last days that their influence will go far beyond any earlier territory. They will come to this same place of return – the tower of the flock (or, the Tower of Edah), the stronghold of the daughter of Zion. It will come to the first dominion, or, in other words, to the original set-up of the twelve tribes of Israel. The return to the promised land, and the establishment of the Messianic Kingdom will not be just by and for the Jewish people, but by and for the whole house of Israel. When Ezekiel had the vision of the valley of the dry bones, it was a revelation of the restoration of an apparently hopelessly separated, lost and even dead nation to a living, victorious army of God’s people. And God showed that this was the whole house of Israel. The New Testament confirms that all Israel shall be saved – that is every tribe represented. (Romans 11 v 26)

Meanwhile Back to the Present Scene (vv 9 to 13)

God has revealed His mercy and His faithfulness. He has shown how every promise will be fulfilled. Nevertheless, before that time comes, there is much to be endured. The confidence of the people has been in their own strength and in their own king. They had desired a king like the nations to rule over them when the Lord their God was their King. They had had their desired kings – proud, stubborn, self-seeking, and rebellious against the ways of the Lord – and now they were facing the consequences.

God, in a Divine and righteous way, taunts these people who had wanted a king like the nations rather than Himself. Why are they crying out loud? Have they not got a king to deliver them? Have their advisers perished? Their troubles now are like the pains of a woman in labour. Yet in that very thought there is hope. Out of labour pains comes a new life and all the joy and blessing associated with it. God warns the people through Micah of the future invasion of the Babylonians, but this prophetic word is delivered when the Assyrians were the dominant and terrifying world rulers. It would be a painful time, which we from our vantage point in the 21st century can verify actually came to pass. But it would be from that painful time that the Lord would redeem His people to be His forever. Out of the pains of being defeated, exiled, driven out and scattered throughout the nations, God would redeem His people. A new nation will be born in a day. In that day it will be seen that God’s promises never fail.

However, before that day eventually dawns, many nations will rise up against Israel to seek to destroy them. In 1948 Israel again emerged on the world stage as an independent nation. Since that time the nation has suffered repeated attacks from the surrounding countries, many of whom have avowed their desire to wipe Israel off the map. This is all a prelude to the final assault upon the nation which will take place at the end of the seven year Tribulation period. Zechariah, in chapter 14 vv 2 and 3, describes what will happen:

“For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city. Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations, as when He fought in the day of battle.”

The remainder of the verses depict the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah, and all the saints with Him. He it is Who will defeat the enemies of His people. The nations did not know that this was all in the Lord’s plan when they attacked Israel; that He was drawing them on to their own destruction at the hands of the very people they sought to destroy. Yes, God’s people, as always and according to His exceeding great and precious promises, will always have the victory over every foe.

The promises of the Lord are perfect. In every respect they are and shall always be fulfilled. The cry of God’s people through the ages, today and in the future is, “There has not failed one word of all His good promise.” (I Kings 8 v 56) God’s people will rejoice in victory and Jesus, the promised Messiah and Deliverer, will reign as King of kings and Lord of lords.