Through the Hollow pt1

Through the Hollow...what happens when we exit from acting like we are supposed to act for the applause of others and instead enter into a vital, transformative relationship with Jesus?

That’s the question that should be burned into our minds by the end of this series.

We live in a world of fake- filters, influencers, personas, burner accounts, and actors. Everything is performance. “Real” is a selling point, even when it is not real.

And the backlash towards- “I am just being myself” leads to excesses in the opposite way. I am not going to attempt to improve, or grow, or renew- I am just STUCK and this is all there is ever going to be.

Into all of that comes Jesus, who says that false, hollow worship is an affront to God- “my people will worship me in truth” and that we are not stuck but meant for more- “I have come to give them life to the fullest.”

So how do we get there?

Well to know how to “get there” we have to know how we got here. And Micah is the story of another group of people with the same problem. A prophet sent to the divided nation of Israel- who have both become so consumed with performance and manipulation that they are destroying themselves- and the people God dearly loves.

Let’s go to Micah 1 and look at the first part of Micah’s indictment of the nation.

So the first thing I want us to catch are the initial indictments of the nation (there are more of these to come, but this is like God’s opening statement in His prosecution of the nation)

Look at verses 5-9

The nation is in rebellion against God. And that rebellion is led by the leaders of the nations- delineated by the references to Samaria and Jerusalem the 2 seats of power in the divided Kingdom.

Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah (1) The Divine Warrior Comes to Judge Samaria and Israel (1:2–7)

Micah raises and answers two rhetorical questions. There probably is metonymy of effect for cause here, so that the sense is: “What is the cause of Jacob’s rebellion? What is the cause of Judah’s high place?” The answer is supplied: Samaria and Jerusalem are! Once again the NIrV brings out that idea: “Who is to blame/ for the wrong things Jacob has done?/ Samaria!/ Who is to blame for the high places/ where Judah’s people worship other gods?/ Jerusalem!” But these capitals, in turn, represent the seats of power—corrupt leadership had infected the whole land

First, the nation has become a place where other gods have replaced God

Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah (1) The Divine Warrior Comes to Judge Samaria and Israel (1:2–7)

Ahab and Jezebel had increased such idolatry and pagan worship in the Northern Kingdom of Israel (

“carved images” and “idols” have replaced the worship of God

It is strange that this has happened to a people who have seen God do so much. They have stories of God delivering them over and over again throughout their history.

In fact, without God they were not even a people. He called them from among the nations and made them into their own nation.

Without God, they do not exist.

Funny when you stop and think about it. That’s the story of all of humanity.

There is a song by Waterdeep that says “Many men will pour their gold and serve a thing that shines. Many men will read your words but they will never change their minds…”

That is these people. And let’s be honest, that can be us.

Idols are sneaky. They start off seeming to be harmless, but they slowly consume. And sometimes they are even neutral things- but they become idols because we attach more importance to them than to obeying God.

And idols turn us into something we do not want to be- whores for other gods.

I don’t use that word lightly, and I know it may be shocking, but Micah uses this language to make a point. The nations are selling themselves to these “gods” to gain riches for themselves. They become fat of the prostitution of themselves to other gods, rather than the blessing of the Lord.

That is the true threat of the idol- what does it want from us?

And then go to verse 9.

We have idolatry. We have selling ourselves.And the extent is beyond salvaging

“It has reached the gate of my people”- the sin has infected the entire nation.

Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah (2) Micah Laments the Coming Invasion of Judah (1:8–16)

Hillers interprets “Jerusalem” as in apposition to “the gate of my people,” explaining that Jerusalem was “the center of political and religious life for the people.” He says “gate” is “a kind of synonym for ‘city’

Church, when sin runs unchecked, it gets into the DNA of a culture and can, if unaddressed, even corrupt the church.

We see that in our day and time. Churches making pronouncements that are beyond outrageous- they are literal heresy.

Adding to and taking from scripture

Insisting on “new revelations’ based on the conditions of the culture

Turning unrepentant people into anointed prophets of God

We live in that day. So did Micah.

And look at verse 2- God SEES all of this.

Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah (1) The Divine Warrior Comes to Judge Samaria and Israel (1:2–7)

The purpose of the previous summons is next stated: “that the Sovereign LORD may witness against you.” When Adonai (ʾădōnāy) and Yahweh (YHWH) occur together (as here), “Sovereign” is an accurate rendering of Adonai (usually Lord, in contradistinction to YHWH, usually LORD). As Master of everything, He rules over all (see 1:3; 4:13). “Witness” reflects the legal or court setting. The Lord of the universe will testify against “you.”

We cannot hide our idolatry from God. We can act like He blesses it or has condoned it or ignored it. But that’s never the case. He may be biding His time and sending us messages and messengers- like Micah- but He is not pleased and He is not ignoring.

His patience is LONG, but His reach is long as well.

What is God’s response?

Well go with me to verses 3-6

God is coming. With judgment.

Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah (1) The Divine Warrior Comes to Judge Samaria and Israel (1:2–7)

King Yahweh now appears in a theophany as Divine Warrior in preparation for punishing his covenant-breaking people. “The Lord is coming” and “he comes down” describe his intervention in history

He is going to the heart of where the idolatry is occurring and passing sentence.

God does not play with sin and He does not play about His name.

The imagery Micah uses here makes that clear

mountains melting

valleys ripping open

water flooding out

Turning this rebellious nation into a heap and tearing it down to the studs.

Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah (1) The Divine Warrior Comes to Judge Samaria and Israel (1:2–7)

J. E. Smith fittingly asks, “How could mere man stand in the presence of such a God when the most substantial of earth’s topography cannot endure his coming?” These verses provide the divine perspective on the events that were to occur in the latter eighth century B.C. when Shalmaneser and Sennacherib invaded Israel and Judah. “The Lord was coming not to save Israel from her enemies, but to deal with her as an enemy.”

The first simile (“like wax …”) probably is intended to go with mountains melting; the second (“like water …”), with the valleys splitting apart. The NIrV nicely captures that thought: “The mountains will melt under him/ like wax near a fire./ The valleys will be broken apart/ by water rushing down a slope.”

Why is God so harsh?

Because the nation of Israel should know better- they know the Lord

Because the nation of Israel is supposed to be an example to other nations of how to follow the Lord- not leading people astray

Because the sanctity of the nation is needed to bring the Messiah- and God is not going to have His plan undone

Now in our day and time, the new covenant is with us. Followers of Jesus- across the nations. But we are STILL under the authority of God to accomplish His plan and purpose, and when we choose idols over Jesus we are also flirting with God stepping in and wrecking shop.

We also should know better- we have been saved out of this crap- why go back?

We are supposed to be an example, a city on a hill, why are we acting like people who do not know Jesus- blessing what God has cursed and cursing what God has blessed

The Church is God’s instrument for the redemption of the nations- if we are corrupted there is no plan B.

So God is going to land with both feet. But what is His intent.

This is where some of us have church and religious trauma that we need to acknowledge. Because for some of us, we grew up hearing about God’s wrath and judgement- like in the verses we have looked at- but never about its purpose and God’s intent.

So go with me to verses 10-16.

All these awful judgments are passed- a result of God’s arrival in verses 2-5. But what God is coming for is to bring the people to repentance- so they can one day be restored.

“rolling in dust” “lamentation” “wait anxiously for good” “make yourselves bald…cut off your hair”

All these are examples of repentant people in the old testament.

Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah (2) Micah Laments the Coming Invasion of Judah (1:8–16)

As a sign of mourning over the coming catastrophe, those who live in Beth Ophrah are told to “roll in the dust

People who see their sin and are so convicted that they have to publicly demonstrate their repentance.

Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah (2) Micah Laments the Coming Invasion of Judah (1:8–16)

A mourning rite is in view. Only certain kinds of cutting the hair and beard were prohibited in the Pentateuch (

We have lost that in 2026. Public repentance is not something we do often or well.

Not as a result of shame or guilt- there is no repentance in coercion or manipulation.

But when God has landed on you with both feet and reminds you that no matter how far you have strayed you are actually His beloved child, who He wants to come home- that can and truthfully should provoke a real, visceral response.

It’s why we have people to pray with folks at the end of services. Why we offer people a place to come and pray at the front of the church. And we have kleenex.

Because when we see the deceit that has overtaken our lives, and how far we have wandered, and then see the God who has come down for us, dignity is gone. It is time to run home.

That’s the good news of the Gospel- Jesus never says we can’t come home. The story of the prodigal son is the grandest illustration of this. The indignity of the son coming home starving and covered in pig crap is matched by the indignity of the father who runs to embrace his son, who has come home.

See God also does not stand on ceremony when His children come home. He rejoices in our return- and forgives and restores because He loves us- and He came to wreck our worlds so we would remember how good our Home is.

So as we start this series, let me ask you, where have you allowed other little idols and high places to hollow out your faith- where are you trusting in things that are not Jesus?