Live Humbly - Micah 4-5

Good morning Harmony!

It’s been one of those interesting weeks this past week, because we were packing backpacks Wednesday, and then yesterday morning we spent some time out at Laquay sharing information and praying for folks, then yesterday afternoon we took our two college students back to school and got them settled in because as may of us know, school starts back up tomorrow.

The school year has begun, but I gotta to tell you, from what I understand there are some great events coming up for the youth, and there are going to be some other great events comming up this fall that we as a church should be looking forward to.

Now the past couple of weeks we have been in Micah, and we’ve made it through the first three chapters. And the first three chapters have been this kind of describing the sins of Israel and Judah and pronouncing judgement upon them.

And two weeks ago we saw how our humility affects our walk with the Lord.

Then last week we saw how we are all leaders and how we should and should not behave as leaders that desire to lead others to Him.

This week we are going to be in chapters 4 and 5 of Micah and we are going to see this change from speaking of the judgement and discipline of our Lord to the plans that God has for us.

Our main point for today is that

Main Point: God has an ultimate plan, and that is why He takes the responsibilities He gives us so seriously.

We know God has an ultimate plan, and He has given us responsibilities as Christians and as leaders that He has empowered us to carry out.

Beginning in chapter 4, verse 1 we read -

Micah 4:1–2 CSB

1 In the last days the mountain of the Lord’s house will be established at the top of the mountains and will be raised above the hills. Peoples will stream to it, 2 and many nations will come and say, “Come, let’s go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us about his ways so we may walk in his paths.” For instruction will go out of Zion and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

Prayer.

As we are going into chapters 4 and 5, something is different about Micah’s prophecy. It changes from this proclamation of destruction to one of a future hope, where the Lord’s house is established, and people from many nations come together and go to the house of the Lord.

He will teach us, so that we may walk in His paths.

From chapters four and five we will see four actions God takes to bring hope once again to the nations of Israel and Judah, and ultimately to the world.

The first action that God takes is:

1. God will REIGN from Zion, 4:1-8.

Again, verse 1 says that the Lord’s house will be established at the top of the mountains. God’s throne will be present.

And verses 3 through 8 continue to explain what that means as we read on -

Micah 4:3–8 CSB

3 He will settle disputes among many peoples and provide arbitration for strong nations that are far away. They will beat their swords into plows and their spears into pruning knives. Nation will not take up the sword against nation, and they will never again train for war. 4 But each person will sit under his grapevine and under his fig tree with no one to frighten him. For the mouth of the Lord of Armies has spoken. 5 Though all the peoples walk in the name of their own gods, we will walk in the name of the Lord our God forever and ever. 6 On that day— this is the Lord’s declaration— I will assemble the lame and gather the scattered, those I have injured. 7 I will make the lame into a remnant, those far removed into a strong nation. Then the Lord will reign over them in Mount Zion from this time on and forever. 8 And you, watchtower for the flock, fortified hill of Daughter Zion, the former rule will come to you; sovereignty will come to Daughter Jerusalem.

He’s going to settle disputes. And we aren’t talking little disputes. He’s going to settle world war level disputes. When Jesus Christ returns there will be no more war because when He returns there is going to be peace. Peace because He rules with strength and because there will be nothing to fight over.

Why?

Because verse 4 tells us that each person will have their oiwn provision, and there will be no one there to frighten them. We’ll get into why there won’t be anyone there to frigten them in a moment, but understand that all of your needs will be met and you won’t have anything to worry about if you are one of those that have placed your hope and faith in Christ.

Verse 5 says that even though everyone else is following after other gods, here the Godly remnant of Israel - those that have chosen to follow after God and obey Him - they will follow after the Lord our God.

Here again, this was written to give hope to the remnant that were to remain after the Babylonian exile, but it still speaks to us today because we are grafted in to that same hope and that same remnant. We have becom heirs with them, Galatians 3:29 tells us that if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, heirs according to the promise.

Even if the whole world follows after another god that is fame or fortune or religious actions, we will follow the Lord our God.

And verses 6 through 8 tell us that He is going to do the gathering. He is going to assemble His people, the broken, the scattered, the injured - because he knows our pain and our persecutions, He is going to gather us into a strong nation.

It doesn’t speak of the proud or the strong here, or those that think they have it all together but don’t. He says I am going to gather the humble, those who rely on me and follow me and love me, those that have been loyal and have been broken and scattered because of their faith, God says I am going to gather them and make them a strong nation.

And verse 8 says Israel will be a watchtower for the flock - again, we are a part of that family of Israel.

Why is all of this so important?

Why was it so important to lead into this chapter with the judgement and the discipline from chapters one through three?

Because they weren’t relying on God!

Look, if our parents had just let us have our way all of the time, we’d be pretty lost. God had to correct them so that they could be able to be a part of that blessing.

We need to accept that God is going to reign. As believers in Christ that means that we have hope in an eternal victory with Him, and that also means that we must have the humility to follow Him.

If you aren’t a believer in Christ He isn’t going to force you into being one here, but He does have to pronnounce judgement and justice for His people, as we will see in a moment.

This gets us to the second action that God takes to bring hope to his people:

2. God will REDEEM His people, 4:9-13.

In verses 9 through 13 Micah talks about how God is going to change His people from being exiles to being victors:

Micah 4:9–13 CSB

9 Now, why are you shouting loudly? Is there no king with you? Has your counselor perished so that anguish grips you like a woman in labor? 10 Writhe and cry out, Daughter Zion, like a woman in labor, for now you will leave the city and camp in the open fields. You will go to Babylon; there you will be rescued; there the Lord will redeem you from the grasp of your enemies! 11 Many nations have now assembled against you; they say, “Let her be defiled, and let us feast our eyes on Zion.” 12 But they do not know the Lord’s intentions or understand his plan, that he has gathered them like sheaves to the threshing floor. 13 Rise and thresh, Daughter Zion, for I will make your horns iron and your hooves bronze so you can crush many peoples. Then you will set apart their plunder for the Lord, their wealth for the Lord of the whole earth.

Verses 9 through 11 speak of the exile of Israel to Babylon, and it sort of gives me this impression of Philippians 2:12 where Paul is talking about working out our salvation with fear and trembling.

And I say that because that is what the people here in verses 9 through 11 are being told that they will do. Verse 9 is saying that you need to figure out who it is that is your King and Counselor, and it isn’t man.

And in that, as you are working that out, God is going to redeem you from the grasp of your enemies.

You’re going to go through some trials and some bad stuff so that you will be redeemed and so that you can be redeemed and can have the victory in My power God says.

The lost don’t know the plans of God, but you do because I’m telling you right now that if you will trust God and follow Him and humble yourself before Him you will have victory over anything that the enemy brings about in your life.

God will reign from Zion, God will redeem his people, and third:

3. God will RESTORE His Kingdom, 5:1-6.

We had an interesting discussion going on Wednesday night where we were discussing the Kingdom and what it is and where it is.

Ultimately God’s Kingdom is everything in Heaven and everything He created. he created the entire universe, therefore it is all a part of His kingdom.

So what do we mean then that God will restore His kingdom?

Chapter 5 verses 1-6:

Micah 5:1–6 CSB

1 Now, daughter who is under attack, you slash yourself in grief; a siege is set against us! They are striking the judge of Israel on the cheek with a rod. 2 Bethlehem Ephrathah, you are small among the clans of Judah; one will come from you to be ruler over Israel for me. His origin is from antiquity, from ancient times. 3 Therefore, Israel will be abandoned until the time when she who is in labor has given birth; then the rest of the ruler’s brothers will return to the people of Israel. 4 He will stand and shepherd them in the strength of the Lord, in the majestic name of the Lord his God. They will live securely, for then his greatness will extend to the ends of the earth. 5 He will be their peace. When Assyria invades our land, when it marches against our fortresses, we will raise against it seven shepherds, even eight leaders of men. 6 They will shepherd the land of Assyria with the sword, the land of Nimrod with a drawn blade. So he will rescue us from Assyria when it invades our land, when it marches against our territory.

Again, written for the Israelites 700 years before Christ was even born, and yet Micah speaks here of Christ coming to redeem us.

It was written to a people that are getting ready to be exiled.

Verse one speaks of grief and attack - things we still can understand today.

Maybe you’re here today and this verse is speaking about you. Something’s going on, you’re holding on by a thread. Maybe you’re anxious about school starting, as a parent or as a teen or a child and there is something about that that is causing you grief.

Maybe it’s something in your own thoughts that are crushing you as you try to fight your way out of whatever it is that is going on in your life.

If that’s you today, then the hope of verses 2 through 6 should change you.

Verse 2 speaks of our Savior’s birth in Bethlehem, one will come from this tiny little humble town to be ruler over my people - His origin is from before the world began, because Jesus is there as Creator in Genesis.

This miraculous birth is stage 1 in His restoring the Kingdom, in that He made a way by coming into the broken kingdom personally to see to it’s restoration.

God didn’t send a servant, God Himself came to seek and to save that which was lost. He gave us the very image of what humility is when He came through the smallest tribe in the humblest way - wrapped in swaddling clothes and born in a manger.

Verse 3 says Israel will not hear from me for a while. Stage 2, He’s going to prepare a place for us. He’s provided the way, now He’s preparing a place for us.

And stage 3 He will return and gather those who are still here.

Micah is seeing an aweful lot of New Testament stuff here, and here He’s talking about the first coming, the ascension, and the return of Christ in two verses!

If we were to look into the future from Micah into 1 Thessalonians we would see similar thoughts in Paul as he wrote 1 Thessalonians 4:16 and 17:

1 Thessalonians 4:16–17 CSB

16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the archangel’s voice, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are still alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.

And verses 4 through 6 says He will shepherd His people, He will protect them, they will live securely, He will be their peace. When the enemy comes against us we can have peace and strength knowing that He has restored the Kingdom and He has won the victory!

Our God is going to reign, He’s going to redeem His children, He’s going to restore His Kingdom, and lastly:

4. God will REMOVE His enemies, 5:7-15.

God’s going to remove His enemies, because it’s necessary in order to restore His Kingdom. It’s necessary in order to restore His righteous justice in the Kingdom.

Verses 7 through 15:

Micah 5:7–15 CSB

7 Then the remnant of Jacob will be among many peoples like dew from the Lord, like showers on the grass, which do not wait for anyone or linger for mankind. 8 Then the remnant of Jacob will be among the nations, among many peoples, like a lion among animals of the forest, like a young lion among flocks of sheep, which tramples and tears as it passes through, and there is no one to rescue them. 9 Your hand will be lifted up against your adversaries, and all your enemies will be destroyed. 10 In that day— this is the Lord’s declaration— I will remove your horses from you and wreck your chariots. 11 I will remove the cities of your land and tear down all your fortresses. 12 I will remove sorceries from your hands, and you will not have any more fortune-tellers. 13 I will remove your carved images and sacred pillars from you so that you will no longer worship the work of your hands. 14 I will pull up the Asherah poles from among you and demolish your cities. 15 I will take vengeance in anger and wrath against the nations that have not obeyed me.

God’s people will be a blessing to those that hear the Word of the Lord and follow Him, and they will be a source of fear and destruction to those that do not.

Verses 7 and 8 point us towards the end times. Micah was pointing those that would be the remnant of Israel to the end times, and Christ still does that for us today.

To those that would receive God’s grace and forgiveness and follow Him, God’s Word is welcomed. It brings with it eternal life with God in a sinless, perfect Heaven.

To those that would reject God, those that would reject His Word and would choose to live in sin, sin is what broke the kingdom. It’s what has caused all of the problems, all of the crime, the lies - our God is a just God that can’t allow those things.

God’s Word says here in Micah that He will completely remove or destroy the enemy.

And that enemy is sin. Those that have received His word gladly will have their sins forgiven and they are separated from sin - they are a new creation, and they no longer desire to sin because the Holy Spirit is there to teach them and to protect them.

Those that desire to remain in their sin, they are attached to it, and they’ve chosen that sin over following Christ. They will spend their eternity in eternal destruction and fire.

God has always been pointing toward the end. Even in his judgment, he is preparing us for something else.

In an edition of his One-Minute Uplift newsletter, pastor Rick Ezell writes: “George Tulloch led an expedition to the spot where the Titanic sank in 1912. He and his crew recovered numerous artifacts. Before leaving the site, Tulloch’s team set out to raise a 20-ton piece of iron. They were successful in lifting it to the surface, but a storm blew in and the ropes broke and the Atlantic reclaimed her treasure. Tulloch was forced to retreat and regroup. Before he left, he did something curious. He descended into the deep, and with the robotic arm of his submarine, attached a strip of metal to a section of the hull. On the metal he’d written these words, ‘I will come back, George Tulloch.’

“Jesus uttered the same words to His disciples: ‘I will come back.’ Jesus made a promise He intends to keep. We can be certain that Jesus will come again. We have His Word on it. We can trust Jesus Christ to keep His Word. He is coming back.

The question is, are you going to be ready?

Would you stand and pray with me?

Prayer.

If you’re here today and there’s something that is in your life that you need to humble yourself and give over to the Lord, while the music is playing softly you can do that right now.

If you need someone to pray with you or if you need to know more about who Jesus is and what it looks like to follow Him you can simply come forward, and someone will pray with you or talk with you about who He is or about baptism or about what any of that looks like. You can do that today.

If you need more time or you aren’t quite ready to come forward today or if there’s something else that you need prayer for and you’d like us to pray for you or to talk to you later you can text “prayer” the number on the screen or you can fill out a connect card from your bulletin and someone will contact you.

We’re going to take a moment as the music continues to play softly in the background and as people are making those decisions, be praying for those that are struggling with those decisions around you. If there’s someone around you that you can see is struggling with something, pray with them. Let’s just take this moment in a mindset of prayer to allow Him to work amongst us today.

Prayer.