The Kingdom Restored

INTRODUCTION

The book of Micah opens with God summoning the people of Israel to come and witness his judgement against Israel. Represented by the city of Samaria, and the Southern Kingdom of Judah or Jerusalem. The first half of the chapter we see God’s power and authority through the disruption of creation itself as He stepped out of His throne room in heaven to come down to earth.

Micah 3 points to another type of rebellion - rebellion against the wise counsel. Because the people had rejected the knowledge that they had been given they began to love evil more than good. They continued to turn to idols and pagan God’s.

Now in Micah 4 the writer pronounces Israel’s future: Assyria and Babylon will come in judgment against God’s people, taking them into exile. As a woman in child labor after a time the Messiah will be born. Micah now declares that the Savior will regather those who have been driven away from the Lord into exile, and the Lord God will be exalted in the eyes of all the nations. People will be drawn to the Temple of the Lord and the word of God.

Micah 4:1–5 ESV

1 It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and it shall be lifted up above the hills; and peoples shall flow to it, 2 and many nations shall come, and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. 3 He shall judge between many peoples, and shall decide disputes for strong nations far away; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore; 4 but they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree, and no one shall make them afraid, for the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken. 5 For all the peoples walk each in the name of its god, but we will walk in the name of the Lord our God forever and ever.

Hope is essential for life, and yet we travel a world today that is filled with hopelessness.

Many people may go through the motions of religious activity, but they have no true hope of forgiveness or eternal life. They are counting on their religious activity to provide theme the hope they desire.

Perhaps the state of hopelessness is more evident in a third world country where people have absolutely nothing to hope in or for bringing them to a totally destitute state of mind.

However, we experience the same hopelessness in America today. We live day after miserable day without hope. America is full of hopelessness to; we are just better at masking it.

We hide behind our fancy cars, we attend fun parties, we live for sporting events, but underneath all of it we can be just as hopeless as the guy in Cuba.

We mask our hopelessness with drugs, alcohol, pornography, politics you fill in the blank.

There is only one group on the face o the planet that have the opportunity to experience true authentic hope, and that is the Christian. Those who walk and follow in obedience to Jesus Christ.

Micah shifts from the judicial sentence at the end of chapter 3 reducing Jerusalem to a heap of rubble and its temple into a pagan high place in a deadly forest to a vision of a hidden future in which Jerusalem and its temple will become the center of global justice and righteousness and of internal peace a prosperity. We move from a picture of doom and gloom to a picture of Salvation and Hope.

The Only Certain Hope

The world has a system of hope that is little more than optimistic expectation that something good may happen in this life or, for the religious, the life to come.

People cannot help but hope; it is a part of our DNA as humans. Is it not better as a sports fan to have low expectations so that if your team does not do well your hopes will not be crushed.

Christian hope is very different from worldly hope. Christian hope is a Spirit given virtue enabling us to joyfully expect what God has promised through Jesus Christ.

Consider what Thomas Aquinas Said:

“Wherefore the good which we ought to hope for from God properly and chiefly is the infinite good, which is proportionate to the power of our divine helper, since it belongs to an infinite power to lead anyone to an infinite good. Such a good is eternal life, which consists in the enjoyment of God Himself. For we should hope from Him for nothing less than Himself, since His goodness, whereby He imparts good things to His creature, is no less than His essence. Therefore the proper and principal object of hope is eternal happiness.” (Summa Theologica, II-II.17.2)

“Mans Chief End is to Enjoy God Forever”

Results of The Kingdoms Restoration

1st Future Results

1. Walking in the Name of the Lord Forever

The world turns inward to find it’s hope and peace. The world looks for ways to better or improve themselves apart from God. The Believer turns to the God of the Bible and the Messiah who is coming back to rule and reign forever.

When Micah looked around his nation and the world all he saw were a people who chased after false gods and idols. Micah said that when the Messiah appears, “we will walk in the name of Yaweh our God forever and ever.” Never again will God’s people worship and chase after the worship of idols or false god’s.

“Then the Lord will rule over them in Mount Zion from this time and forevermore.”

Mountains, which often raise themselves above the clouds, provide the psychic and spiritual entrance into the heavens. Throughout the ancient Near East temples were located on mountains for this reason. In Egypt the formula ‘The gates of heaven are opened’ was recited at the daily opening of the sanctuary. In God’s revelation to Israel, his heavenly sanctuary and its earthly replica on Mount Zion are inseparable.

Mt. Zion was always seen as towering over all other all other mountains, through in terms of physical geography it was actually lower. The great and powerful nations began to discover its true heavenly quality when the Lord raised Zion out of its ashes, and peoples of all nations came to their full senses about it when God raised his Son from the dead and set him at his right hand in heaven.

What is Mount Zion and Why is it so Important?

At the highest point in Jerusalem, just outside the walls of the Old City, lies modern Mount Zion or what is known as “The Temple Mount”.

Every year hundreds of thousands of tourists and pilgrims flock to this location. The word Zion appears over 150 times in the Bible. It essentially means “fortification” and has the idea of being “raised up” as “monument” Zion is described both as the city of David and the city of God.

As the Bible progresses, the word Zion expands in scope and takes on an additional, spiritual meaning.

Zion is first mentioned in scripture in 2 Samuel 5:7: “David captured the fortress of Zion-which is the City of David.” Zion was originally and ancient Jebusite fortress in the city of Jerusalem. After David’s conquest of the fortress, Jerusalem became a possession of Israel. The royal palace was built there, and Zion/Jerusalem became the seat of the power of Israel’s kingdom.

When Solomon built the Temple in Jerusalem the meaning of Zion expanded even further to include the temple area.

The word Zion is also used theologically in a spiritual sense. In the Old Testament Zion refers figuratively to Israel as the people of God. (Isiah 60:14). In the New Testament Zion refers to God’s spiritual kingdom.

The Future Millennial Kingdom of God

The Millennial Kingdom of God is identified in scripture as a 1,000 year reign of Jesus Christ here on the earth. Some seek to interpret the 1,000 years in an allegorical manner. They understand the 1,000 years just to mean a really long time. However six times in Revelation 20:2-7 the millennial kingdom is specifically said to be 1,000 years in length. If God had wished to communicate a long period of time it seems he could have easily done so without giving it a number.

The Bible tells us that when Christ returns to the earth He will establish Himself as king in Jerusalem, sitting on the throne of David. The return is a literal, and physical return of Christ to establish the kingdom.

Now Micah gives three markers of this future kingdom that we will walk in the name of the Lord.

Results of Walking in the Name of the Lord

a) He will rule in perfect justice over the people.

In an unjust world everywhere we look it is hard to believe a perfect judicial ruling every time. There is only one who can judge righteously and perfectly every time.

Justice is a major concern in our world today. From the streets of our cities to the halls of the Supreme Court. We long for a just world yet we live in a society marred by the effects of sin.

At Jesus ascension following his resurrection He was instituted as the ruler of the world. Remember that Harold the Great was troubled at the news of the Messiah’s birth and the crowds who saw the wonders of God through Jesus’s hand wanted to institute Him as their earthly king. However, Jesus did not sit down on a throne in Jerusalem or Rome, He sat down at the right hand of the Father in heaven.

b) All Disputes will no longer be settled by war.

When we think about the history of our world, we understand that nations have been warring against nations for millennia. Today, the superpowers of our world jostle with one another for economic and military preeminence. Smaller countries strive for weapons of power that promise them greater control over their own destinies.

The threat of global war is an ever-present reality. That is why placing one’s hope in national identity is a fool’s errand. At any given moment our entire way of life could be wiped away, either by the external influence of another powerful nation or the internal control of a government that embraces totalitarianism. Regardless, our hope is never in our national identity—our hope is in God. One day, God’s Messiah will rule on earth, and we will find true “justice for all.”

c) Everyone will enjoy the fruit of his labor in security.

Messiah will reward the faithful among His people. On that day, all those who were deemed insignificant or had been scattered by the providence of God will be gathered into a mighty nation before the Messiah.

THE REVERSAL OF HISTORY

“Come let us go to the mountain of the Lord that they may teach us His ways”

Micah portray’s the reversal of history, a reversal beyond our human engineering to manipulate, by allowing his audience to overhear the conversation of the elect nations in their dramatic, liturgical procession to the new Jerusalem.

They are come to the Temple of God to hear the word of God. Moses had arranged for the nation of Israel to make three annual pilgrimages to the central sanctuary. Now Micah is enlarging it to include the nations of the world. In coming to the heavenly Zion to hear the new administration, the peoples will turn their weapons of war into instruments of tools used for plowing and cultivating the soil for planting of crops. People will now use the scars and valuable material of the earth to cultivate life instead of death.

2nd Present Result

2. We are Subjected to the Lord’s Discipline

Micah 4:8–10 ESV

And you, O tower of the flock, hill of the daughter of Zion, to you shall it come, the former dominion shall come, kingship for the daughter of Jerusalem. Now why do you cry aloud? Is there no king in you? Has your counselor perished, that pain seized you like a woman in labor? Writhe and groan, O daughter of Zion, like a woman in labor, for now you shall go out from the city and dwell in the open country; you shall go to Babylon. There you shall be rescued; there the Lord will redeem you from the hand of your enemies.

Now Micah returns to the present day while in the future kingdom the Messiah is coming to rule and to reign in the meantime Israel is going to be subjected to the discipline of the Lord by foreign rulers and powers of the world.

They will have no king to lead them and no counselors to provide wisdom. Remember the one thing that Israel wanted from the beginning was a King to rule over them like other nations of the world. God warned them of such a pursuit and now they are reaping the consequences.

The Double Prophecy

There is a present day application for the nation of Israel and a future application for the saints. God was preparing to send Israel into Assyria and Judah into Babylon.

We read that after an appointed time God would rescue his people from their captivity. We know that Judah was captive in Babylon for 70 years before Ezra and Nehemiah led the people back to Jerusalem during the rain of Cyrus of Persia. The future application is during the Messianic reign of Christ where the Lord will redeem his people from the hands of their enemies.

What is the Purpose of God’s Discipline?

We all remember disciplining our children or being disciplined as a child. Perhaps our parents sent us to our room to think about what we have done. I often wondered what the purpose was of this ritual.

How many of us if we were truly honest sat and reflected on what we had done deep in thought about the offense. No, most of us probably were considering how we could talk or manipulate our way out of the coming punishment.

The punishment that our human parents give us is given to bring about a desired result in our lives. Perhaps some of those include: be a productive member of society, be respectful, be honest, be trustworthy etc.

God’s Discipline is for His Children

Hebrews 12:7–8 ESV

It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.

God’s discipline in your life begins at your conversion. We immediately begin to learn and study God’s word and adjust our lives accordingly.

God’s discipline is not the same as condemnation. (Rom. 8:1)

God’s discipline Involves training both positive and negative.

How Does God Discipline us?

He could use….

Trouble at Work

Hardships at Home

Difficulties in Ministry

He may allow us to experience loss (David experienced the loss of a child)

God may allow the natural consequences of our sin to run its course in our lives.

Note: “We have been Forgiven but, we are also corrected.”

Why Does God Discipline us?

He disciplines us because He Loves Us.

He disciplines us to make us more mature.

He disciplines us to increase our virtue.

He disciplines us to Grow our Faith.

He disciplines us to Purify us from Sin.

Note: remember the end result of discipline is Holiness. The Father continues to work on our lives as a potter does the clay. He does not leave the lump of clay all mis-formed and useless. He throws it back into the fire time and time again until it is perfected.

(Now one gets away with sin, and no one escapes the discipline of the Father)

3rd Past, Present, and Future Result

3. God’s Plan Will Not Fail

Micah 4:11–13 ESV

Now many nations are assembled against you, saying, “Let her be defiled, and let our eyes gaze upon Zion.” But they do not know the thoughts of the Lord; they do not understand his plan, that he has gathered them as sheaves to the threshing floor. Arise and thresh, O daughter of Zion, for I will make your horn iron, and I will make your hoofs bronze; you shall beat in pieces many peoples; and shall devote their gain to the Lord, their wealth to the Lord of the whole earth.

The nation of Israel has always found itself surrounded by nations wishing to destroy the Holy City of God Especially those immediately surrounding Israel. God will not let this happen. The one fact that had escaped all of these pagan nations is that God had orchestrated all of these events even the discipline to fulfill His final plans.

We go all the way back to Daniel’s interpretation of King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream of the rise and fall of all the kingdoms of the world.

Rise and Fall of Nations

The statues Different Parts Represented Different Kingdoms with the Gold Head Representing King Nebuchadnezzar and Babylon:

The silver chest and arms represented the Persian Empire.

The Bronze Torso and Thighs the Alexandrian Empire.

The Iron Feet, the Hellenistic Empire.

The Stone and Mountain

The stone not cut by human hands became a mountain filling the whole earth and destroyed all the other statues leaving only the Kingdom of God that would be established and never be destroyed.

"Triumph of Christian religion" depicting a pagan statue, smashed and replaced by a golden Christ. This was painted by Tommaso Laureti in 1585 onto the ceiling of the Hall of Constantine, in the Vatican.

*Make Sure You are on the Right Side of the Battle

The scene is distress the nations are plotting and warring against God’s chosen people. The scene is dramatically reversed in 12-13 as we see the Lord’s plan unfold for the Salvation of His people.

The act of Salvation reveals itself in 2 Scenes united by a common Hero, the Lord of all the earth, and a common setting, the threshing floor.

Scene 1: The Plot to destroy the nations of the world by Bringing them to His threshing floor.

Scene 2: He completes the task by commanding the Daughter of Zion to pulverize them throwing them into the fire.

The plot twist and turn in the whole story of God that appeared to be a setback and negative for the nation of Israel was in fact all a part of God’s Divine plan.

God’s Threshing Floor

*All Nations are Laid Bare on the Threshing Floor of God.

First Command: The cry of the Holy war “arise O daughter of Zion.”

Second Command: The Great I Am now interrupts His cry to Equip His people for the Battle. (Equipped with iron Horns and Bronze Hooves

Third Command: the call to pulverize the enemy of the Lord.

Final command: Devote all that is left behind to the Lord of the whole earth who will once and forever destroy it.

_________________________________________________________________________

You may be asking this morning what significance any of these ancient texts have for you and me today on October 6, 2024.

Let’s be honest, even as followers of Christ today we may struggle at times to find hope in this messed up existence we call life. Maybe you struggle with overcoming the insurmountable situation in life that you find yourself in and feel irrevocably trapped.

Your actions may have contributed to your current situation or possibly it’s something that is out of your control. Maybe you have lost hope because you have failed to take advantage of the opportunities that God has given you in this life. You have squandered away that time that He has given you to live for Him.

You live in constant regret because you feel that your life choices have so derailed your life that it is impossible to get back on track.

Perhaps you feel downhearted because you have experienced a great loss in your life. The loss of a spouse, a child, parent. Perhaps you have lost a job and feel the weight and financial strain piling on top of your life.

Maybe your days are filled with depression, which is a lack of hope or optimizing for tomorrow. Most days you struggle to get out of bed and just exist. Maybe you are struggling under the weight of disillusionment. Most people fall into disillusionment because people they have placed their trust and faith in have let them down time and time again. It can leave you feeling as though you are completely alone in this world.

Finally, you may feel defeated by sin in your life. Perhaps it’s an addiction in your life that keeps you bound up in a prison cell frustrated and alone. Maybe it is anger or bitterness that has so consumed you that you feel hopeless to overcome it.

Ultimately Micah is reminding us that no matter what difficulty we are facing today whether it’s an invading army or an invasive sin, there is only one source of hope and His name is Jesus! Ultimately when you are facing any of the obstacles above there is nothing in this world that will help ease the pain or the loneliness. Only Jesus the one who came to restore what the enemy has broken.

The potter has taken the broken pieces of yours and my life and is working to put them all back together again, every last broken shard.

CLOSING

Revelation 19:11–16 ESV

Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.

Many people expected Israel’s Messiah to be a warrior king who would deliver the Jewish nation from the Roman occupation and oppression.

But God mercifully sent His Son first not as a warrior king but as a humble king - He came to save sinners not to slaughter them. At His second coming make no mistake He is coming to establish justice once and for all.

King Jesus dawns a robe dipped in blood, not his own blood shed for sinners but the blood of His defeated foes. Jesus treads the wine press of divine wrath as promised in Isaiah 63. Jesus will give people what they deserve. The punishment that fits the crime against God and against His people.

We have a glorious King who is seated on His heavenly throne. We Have a merciful High Priest who helps us in our time of need. We have a coming champion who will enact true justice and end all wars.

Jesus Christ is the hope of all the earth and the Joy your Heart Longs for. “Do you know Him today, do not Turn Him away!”