MICAH| WHO IS LIKE THE LORD

As a resident of that area, Micah, like one of his contemporaries Amos was most likely from the country and wasn’t involved in the national political scene.

Yet God chose this unlikely source to deliver a message of judgment to the leaders and people of Jerusalem.

In addition to the location of where he was from, we know that his name, Micah, asks the questions, “Who is like the Lord?”

His very name points to the power and prominence of God and points us to Him!

And as we will see in this book, that is exactly what Micah does by the end of his writing.

Micah’s prophecy was written over a period of 25-30 years roughly ending around 710 BC, around the same ending time as the book we covered last week Hosea.

While he was a contemporary of Hosea, Amos, and Jonah, his closest contemporary would have been Isaiah as both were writing primarily to the Southern Kingdom of Judah.

We find his address to them in Micah 1:1

Micah 1:1 KJV 1900

1 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.

The book of Micah breaks down into 3 parts, each beginning with Micah’s challenge to Judah to “Hear” in ch. 1:2, 3:1, 6:1

The first sections deals with Punishment that is coming in chapters 1-2

The second section deals with the Promises God will keep in chapters 3-5

The third section deals with the Pardon they would experience in chapters 6-7

I. 1-2, PUNISHMENT

EXPLANATION: God through his prophet Micah declares that judgment is coming!

Micah 1:5–7 KJV 1900

5 For the transgression of Jacob is all this, 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? 6 Therefore I will make Samaria as an heap of the field, And as plantings of a vineyard: And I will pour down the stones thereof into the valley, And I will discover the foundations thereof. 7 And all the graven images thereof shall be beaten to pieces, And all the hires thereof shall be burned with the fire, And all the idols thereof will I lay desolate: For she gathered it of the hire of an harlot, And they shall return to the hire of an harlot.

Micah declared that judgment was coming for Judah!

In fact, the judgment he foretold actually took place in 2 Kings 17.

In 2 Kings 17:13

2 Kings 17:13 KJV 1900

13 Yet the Lord testified against Israel, and against Judah, by all the prophets, and by all the seers, saying, Turn ye from your evil ways, and keep my commandments and my statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by my servants the prophets.

God in His mercy told Judah that judgment was coming!

And in 2 Kings 17 it came… and Assyria laid waste to Judah… and some years later Babylon would finish the job and wipe Israel off the map.

But their response was clear to the prophecies in the following verses: 2 Kings 17:14-17

2 Kings 17:14–17 KJV 1900

14 Notwithstanding they would not hear, but hardened their necks, like to the neck of their fathers, that did not believe in the Lord their God. 15 And they rejected his statutes, and his covenant that he made with their fathers, and his testimonies which he testified against them; and they followed vanity, and became vain, and went after the heathen that were round about them, concerning whom the Lord had charged them, that they should not do like them. 16 And they left all the commandments of the Lord their God, and made them molten images, even two calves, and made a grove, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served Baal. 17 And they caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire, and used divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke him to anger.

They doubled down on their wickedness.

They continued in their evil ways.

Micah gives further glimpse into what was taking place in Micah 3:10-11

Micah 3:10–11 KJV 1900

10 They build up Zion with blood, And Jerusalem with iniquity. 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? None evil can come upon us.

The leaders of the nation, both political and religious, were consumed by their material gain!

They would literally sell their judgments and their scripture teachings to the highest bidder.

Their morality and their loyalties were easily bought.

APPLICATION: Sounds kind of familiar doesn’t it?

We live in a time where our national leaders and the largest religious leaders are all controlled by money and power.

Our nation has rejected the Word of God and has gone after the idols of this world!

While Israel sacrificed their children on the altar of their false God Baal, we are sacrificing our children on the altar of convenience and social acceptance.

Taking the life of a precious child while they are in what should be the safest place, the womb of a mother.

Destroying a child mentally and emotionally by mutilating their bodies at the cries of the gender confusion crowd.

No, our nation isn’t much different than Judah was!

EXPLANATION: But don’t miss Micah’s response to the punishment that was set to come to Judah because of they turned their back to God.

Micah 1:8–9 KJV 1900

8 Therefore I will wail and howl, I will go stripped and naked: I will make a wailing like the dragons, And mourning as the owls. 9 For her wound is incurable; For it is come unto Judah; He is come unto the gate of my people, even to Jerusalem.

He was broken over his nations sin.

He was broken that this nation that he loved that once followed after God had turned their backs to Him.

And Micah fell before the Lord wailing and howling to Him.

APPLICATION: I love our country.

With all it’s failures and problems it’s still the greatest country on earth

My kids love to sing, “God bless the USA” and their favorite part is, “I’m proud to be an American!”

And I get just as upset when I see the direction our country is headed.

But when is the last time instead of getting angry and talking to a friend.

Or getting fired up with those on our side.

When is the last time you responded like Micah.

When you came before God with brokenness!

2 Chronicles 7:14 KJV 1900

14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

Maybe the reason we aren’t seeing God healing, is because God isn’t seeing us kneeling!

It would be good for our kids to not just see mommy and daddy getting angry about the condition of our country, but to see mommy and daddy crying out to God on our countries behalf!

To pray like Nehemiah what he saw the wall broken down.

A nation that turns it’s back on God is sure to fall, and God has shown mercy to our country for the past 247 years… but judgment could be just around the corner.

And it’s time for some Christians to get stirred up enough to bow before the Lord like Micah.

MICAH SAW THE COMING PUNISHMENT

3-5, PROMISES

EXPLANATION: Normally when we think of promises, we normally think of positive things that will come to pass.

But in these chapters, there are promises both for judgment and the promise for ultimate peace.

He begins by declaring judgment on the rulers

Micah 3:1–3 KJV 1900

1 And I said, Hear, I pray you, O heads of Jacob, And ye princes of the house of Israel; Is it not for you to know judgment? 2 Who hate the good, and love the evil; Who pluck off their skin from off them, And their flesh from off their bones; 3 Who also eat the flesh of my people, And flay their skin from off them; And they break their bones, And chop them in pieces, as for the pot, And as flesh within the caldron.

Then he deals with judgment for the false prophets

Micah 3:5–7 KJV 1900

5 Thus saith the Lord concerning the prophets that make my people err, That bite with their teeth, and cry, Peace; And he that putteth not into their mouths, They even prepare war against him. 6 Therefore night shall be unto you, that ye shall not have a vision; And it shall be dark unto you, that ye shall not divine; And the sun shall go down over the prophets, And the day shall be dark over them. 7 Then shall the seers be ashamed, and the diviners confounded: Yea, they shall all cover their lips; For there is no answer of God.

Then he deals with the judgment of the city of Jerusalem itself

Micah 3:12 KJV 1900

12 Therefore shall Zion for your sake be plowed as a field, And Jerusalem shall become heaps, And the mountain of the house as the high places of the forest.

God is a faithful God that always delivers on His promises, and when He promised destruction, they could be sure it was coming.

But then as he comes to chapter 4-5, he begins to point to some of the precious promises of blessings to come.

Micah 4:1–2 KJV 1900

1 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 it shall be exalted above the hills; And people shall flow unto it. 2 And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, And to the house of the God of Jacob; And he will teach us of his ways, And we will walk in his paths: For the law shall go forth of Zion, And the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

Micah 4:5 KJV 1900

5 For all people will walk every one in the name of his god, And we will walk in the name of the Lord our God for ever and ever.

Micah prophesied of the day that is to come when Israel and Judah will turn back to the Lord, and God would deliver on His promises.

His Abrahamic covenant!

His promise of blessing!

And the promises of chapter 4 are guaranteed because of the promise of chapter 5:

Micah 5:2–4 KJV 1900

2 But thou, Beth-lehem 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. 3 Therefore will he give them up, Until the time that she which travaileth hath brought forth: Then the remnant of his brethren shall return unto the children of Israel. 4 And he shall stand and feed in the strength of the Lord, In the majesty of the name of the Lord his God; And they shall abide: For now shall he be great unto the ends of the earth.

As he finishes chapter 5, it is a message of victory of their enemies!

Praise God that Israel’s failures didn’t negate God’s promises!

APPLICATION: I’m so thankful that even when I’m not faithful, God still is!

We’ve said it so many times, but if you could lose your salvation, you would!

But 1 Peter 1:3-5

1 Peter 1:3–5 KJV 1900

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, 5 Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

It isn’t up to you and I to keep our salvation, God is the one that keeps us!

And you can mark it down, every promise that you find in this Book, is true and will come to pass!

God will always keep His Word!

God doesn’t keep his promises because we are good… He keeps His promises because that is His character.

He always keeps His promises!

6-7, PARDON

EXPLANATION: God calls Judah into the courtroom.

In v.1-2 he calls the creation to witness the testimony of Judah

And in v. 3, he challenges them to “testify against me.”

God then declares just a few of the good things He has done for them in bringing them out of Egypt.

So Micah begins to testify in v.6

He is speaking on behalf of the people declaring, we have clearly done wrong, and God has clearly been good to us.

Micah 6:6 KJV 1900

6 Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, And bow myself before the high God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, With calves of a year old?

He begins asking, “what does God want” in v.6b

In v.7 he stretches it to an extreme

Micah 6:7 KJV 1900

7 Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, Or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

What is it that we need to do to appease the Lord?

Micah gives the answer in the next verse

Micah 6:8 KJV 1900

8 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?

APPLICATION: God wants us to living on honest and selflessly!

That’s what “to do justly” has the idea of.

“To love mercy”

God has shown an unfathomable amount of mercy to us… and that is what He desires us to show others.

“And the walk humbly with thy God”

Are you walking with God?

Psalm 119:105 KJV 1900

105 NUN. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, And a light unto my path.

Psalm 37:23 KJV 1900

23 The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord: And he delighteth in his way.

God desires not some grand show of religion toward him.

He isn’t looking for some incredible act of sacrifice like the offering of thousands of animals.

No, God desires the simple daily walk with Him!

Each day taking a step closer and closer to Him!

ILLUSTRATION: We know very little about the man named Enoch.

His life is a fairly short but interesting study.

But the thing he is known best of is the simple testimony we find about him Genesis 5:22

Genesis 5:22 KJV 1900

22 And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters:

Genesis 5:24 KJV 1900

24 And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.

It almost seems as if Enoch was just walking with God each and every day.

Each day, He just got a little closer to the Lord than he was the day before.

Until one day, God said, “Enoch, your closer to heaven than you are your earthly home, why don’t you just come on home to me.”

And Enoch took one step on the earth, and the next step in glory.

APPLICATION: I wonder if that would be the desire of your heart?

To walk so closely with the Lord that one day you could take a step on this earth and the next a step into His presence.

To get to the point that you are just more like the Lord than you are like those on this earth!

Is your desire that of Paul’s in Philippians 3:10

Philippians 3:10 KJV 1900

10 That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;

“God I want to know you more than anything!”

Is that the desire of your heart this morning?

For most Christians, sadly they are too busy with their life to take the time to walk with God!

But friend you can change the very direction of your life this morning if you will choose not to do some grand display… but to choose to walk with God.

CONCLUSION

APPLICATION: I love how Micah wraps up his book.

Micah 7:18 KJV 1900

18 Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, And passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? He retaineth not his anger for ever, Because he delighteth in mercy.

That first phrase sounds so familiar! It’s what Micah’s name means!

In the midst of nation that has turned their back to the Lord… God has promises to pardon them!

It’s so unlike you and me, something that is so unnatural to forgive when someone has hurt us or turned their back on us.

But “Who is a God like unto thee?”

And then he says those wonderful words that should leave us stunned form now through eternity.

Micah 7:19 KJV 1900

19 He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; He will subdue our iniquities; And thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.

God takes our sins and buries them in the deepest sea!

And it is in a no fishing zone! Because they can never be pulled back up again!

That’s what God has done for us!

Friend, when is the last time your were broken before God for someone else’s sin?

We like to complain with our lips to others, but we rarely pray with our lips to the Lord about others!

Maybe if we were broken over the condition of our nation, we could see a change!

We have a God that keeps His promises

He never fails, and whatever this Book says you can take to the bank.

God desires for you to walk with Him!

How close are you to the Lord?

Can you truly say that you are walking with Him?

Or are you simply relying on the walk of someone else to be enough for you.

When you choose to walk with Him, you’ll say with Micah, “Who is like the Lord?”

Related Media

Related Sermons