Rebellion in the Kingdom Part 1

The ministry of Micah vs. 1

Micah 1:1–2 ESV

The word of the Lord that came to Micah of Moresheth in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem. Hear, you peoples, all of you; pay attention, O earth, and all that is in it, and let the Lord God be a witness against you, the Lord from his holy temple.

Micah 1:1 ESV

The word of the Lord that came to Micah of Moresheth in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.

I don’t think I go through a day without wandering about what is going on. Read or watch the news, you can’t help but think that. That's what’s going on here. But Micah points out an external concern.

Two great concerns dominate this period of Israel’s history, one external and one internal.

The external concern was the spreading power of the Assyrian empire: the same Assyria whose capital had been brought to repentance by the preaching of Jonah about a generation earlier. By now Assyria had returned to its rapacious ways. As the superpower of its time, and under new and vigorous leadership, Assyria cast its shadow far and wide. Assyria’s policy was to recruit a vast standing mercenary army that was practically invincible in battle. To pay for these forces, they intimidated their surrounding kingdoms to extract crushingly high tributes. “In other words,” writes Waltke, “the conquered nations supported the international army that raped them.” The political history of this era consisted mainly of rebellions small and large against this policy, to which Assyria would respond with overwhelming and savage force. Conquered peoples would be relocated en masse into the vast Assyrian domains, and conquered lands were organized as permanent Assyrian provinces.

one external and one internal. The external concern was the spreading power of the Assyrian empire: the same Assyria whose capital had been brought to repentance by the preaching of Jonah about a generation earlier. By now Assyria had returned to its rapacious ways. As the superpower of its time, and under new and vigorous leadership, Assyria cast its shadow far and wide. Assyria’s policy was to recruit a vast standing mercenary army that was practically invincible in battle. To pay for these forces, they intimidated their surrounding kingdoms to extract crushingly high tributes. “In other words,” writes Waltke, “the conquered nations supported the international army that raped them.” The political history of this era consisted mainly of rebellions small and large against this policy, to which Assyria would respond with overwhelming and savage force. Conquered peoples would be relocated en masse into the vast Assyrian domains, and conquered lands were organized as permanent Assyrian provinces.

As the prophets saw it, the political and military problems were mere symptoms of a greater and deeper problem.

So there was the second problem: the moral and spiritual condition of Jerusalem. Just as Western civilization has abandoned its Christian foundations in our time, Judah had abandoned its religious heritage. Despite an outward embrace of biblical religion, Jerusalem had turned its heart away from the Lord, and the fruit of its unbelief was rampant corruption and vice.

Transition: I think when we look around us, we see the outward threats and the inwar. Micah has a lot to say to us today. Just as Judah’s kings had to respond to danger, we too live in a threatening world, and Micah calls us to a calm reliance on our faithful God. And just as Jerusalem’s true religion was revealed by its outward conduct, our profession of faith is likewise tested by our obedience to God’s Word. Micah asks us a question: are you in as much wonder of the one who created and sustains all things, or are you wondering more about what is going on around you?

God judges based on His holiness. vs 2-7

Micah 1:2–7 ESV

Hear, you peoples, all of you; pay attention, O earth, and all that is in it, and let the Lord God be a witness against you, the Lord from his holy temple. For behold, the Lord is coming out of his place, and will come down and tread upon the high places of the earth. And the mountains will melt under him, and the valleys will split open, like wax before the fire, like waters poured down a steep place. All this is for the transgression of Jacob and for the sins of the house of Israel. What is the transgression of Jacob? Is it not Samaria? And what is the high place of Judah? Is it not Jerusalem? Therefore I will make Samaria a heap in the open country, a place for planting vineyards, and I will pour down her stones into the valley and uncover her foundations. All her carved images shall be beaten to pieces, all her wages shall be burned with fire, and all her idols I will lay waste, for from the fee of a prostitute she gathered them, and to the fee of a prostitute they shall return.

Vs. 2: Hear, you peoples, all of you; pay attention, O earth, and all that is in it. God is sovereign over everything. This isn’t spoken to a specific person, but to all the people of the earth. Micah’s God isn’t a national, tribal deity; he is the God of the universe.

“Lord God” really means sovereign Lord.Micah is say, “Look, everything that is about to happen, politically and militarily, are all my acts of divine sovereignty.” Micah wants us to see a God who is sovereign over all things and tells us that all history is theological.

“Witness against you” not among you, but against you. The nations are to know not only that the Lord will judge his people, but also that he will judge them.

God says to the people, “Come, see what I am about to do to my own people for their sin.”

Vs. 3 -4. high places, mountains will melt, valleys will split open. The Lord is coming out of his place. What display of awesomeness.

Vs. 4 shows the catastrophic consequence of God’s coming to the earth: creation essentially disintegrates before him.

This doesn’t just show God’s power over nature, but to emphasize his terrifying might against rebellious humankind.

John Calvin writes: “Such figures of speech symbolize how defenseless we are, how totally unable to resist God. For if God should suddenly appear, who could withstand his furor?” Ultimately, the scene of creation melting at God’s approach belongs to the last day, but that final judgment “is anticipated in every prior intervention of God in judgment in the affairs of men.”

The religious leaders serving in Jerusalem’s temple might speak lightly about sin, but the Lord who dwells in the heavenly temple will come to “tread upon the high places of the earth.”

Phillips, R. D. (2010). Jonah & Micah. (R. D. Phillips, P. G. Ryken, & I. M. Duguid, Eds.) (pp. 147–148). Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing.

There’s no benefit for the church be light on sin. The religious leaders serving in Jerusalem’s temple might speak lightly about sin, but the Lord who dwells in the heavenly temple will come to “tread upon the high places of the earth.”

And why does God come down with such force? Why does he call the nations together so that he can be a witness against them: verse 5

Phillips, R. D. (2010). Jonah & Micah. (R. D. Phillips, P. G. Ryken, & I. M. Duguid, Eds.) (p. 147). Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing.

Vs. 5 Unlike the deities of the world, our God is not capricious. he don’t give into a sudden and unaccountable changes of mood or behaviour. He doesn’t have mood changes. It’s because of transgressions: Word meaning rebellion. and Sin, meaning failing to meet a standard.

Vs. 6 But it’s not against the nations that God brings judgement, it’s against his own people. People are danacing and celebrating that God is going to come and judge the nations like Assyria. And as they dance, they hear those words, Jerusalem? Samaria? It is thier judgement that God comes to bring.

Vs. 7 What is the charge here? It’s the idols. God here is shown as the ultimate iconoclast as God gathers the idols and smashes or burns them up. God will not share himself with any other.

Just picture the people as they hear this: relieved. God will destroy Samaria: how fitting! But then the knife comes home. Has not Jerusalem become like Samaria? Are not the sins of Samaria the very sins currently cherished in Jerusalem? God is coming to trample the high places: but look around and notice that Judah’s capital itself is one such high place in its arrogance and idolatry.

This must had shocked the people hearing this. They were the heirs of Abraham, Moses, and David, the people who possessed the Bible and worshiped at God’s true temple. But here is the problem: corruption had set in. False worship was tolerated. Sexual promiscuity had become common. Greed dominated civic government, injustice grew uncontrolled, and the ruling class oppressed those beneath them. God had warned Jerusalem through the prophet Amos, but few had listened. Now, under the weak leadership of King Jotham, God was setting up Jerusalem for fire and destruction. God would come to judge, for, as the apostle Peter later wrote, “It is time for judgment to begin at the household of God” ().

Let me ask you this: Do we see how similar this situation is to that of the church?

Those other churches that don’t believe in the gospel anymore? Good redennse. They deserve that. They don’t believe in the Bible anymore. They‘ve given up and compromised so much, they aren’t even a church anymore.

Do we see how similar this situation is to that of the Christian church in the West today? We are the heirs of faithful generations, but presuming on God’s kindness, the Christian church has tolerated man-centered worship, false doctrine, and unholy living. Like Jerusalem of old, Christians in the West look out and see a culture awash in moral depravity. In comparison, we think we are doing pretty well. But the Lord says, “No, I am coming to cleanse you, my people. The problem is not how the world is living, but how the church is living. Your loose sexuality, your lack of interest in my Word, your self-absorbed approach to worship, your lack of mercy for the needy and poor, your low motivation for evangelism—for these and many other sins I am causing your labors to fail, permitting your children to stray, and allowing the wicked to achieve their aims.” This is how Micah’s message relates to the church today. We see what is happening in the world and affirm God’s judgment on it. But God applies his Word directly to us, saying, “The church has become like the world, worshiping the world’s false gods, and so will fall under my judgment.”

We come and read the book of Revelation and celebrate at how God will pour out his judgement on the world, but how do we deal with this text?

Vs. 7 What is the charge here? It’s the idols. God here is shown as the ultimate iconoclast as God gathers the idols and smashes or burns them up. God will not share himself with any other.

Vs. 7 What is the charge here? It’s the idols. God here is shown as the ultimate iconoclast as God gathers the idols and smashes or burns them up. God will not share himself with any other.

We come and read the book of Revelation and celebrate at how God will pour out his judgement on the world, but how do we deal with this text?

We are the heirs of faithful generations, but presuming on God’s kindness, the Christian church has tolerated man-centred worship, false doctrine, and unholy living. Like Jerusalem of old, Christians in the West look out and see a culture awash in moral depravity. In comparison, we think we are doing pretty well. But the Lord says, “No, I am coming to cleanse you, my people. The problem is not how the world is living, but how the church is living. Your loose sexuality, your lack of interest in my Word, your self-absorbed approach to worship, your lack of mercy for the needy and poor, your low motivation for evangelism—for these and many other sins I am causing your labours to fail, permitting your children to stray, and allowing the wicked to achieve their aims.” This is how Micah’s message relates to the church today. We see what is happening in the world and affirm God’s judgment on it. But God applies his Word directly to us, saying, “The church has become like the world, worshiping the world’s false gods, and so will fall under my judgment.”

1 John 2:15 ESV

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

1 John

Have I, have you, begun to love the world around you and all it has to offer, more than the God who has stepped down from his thrown to mount the greatest rescue the world has ever known, to call you out of darkness and into his marvellous light, so that anyone who repents and believes in the gospel of Jesus Christ, that Christ died for our sins and rose again, will have life.

God’s hatred of his people’s sin is so deep that he will not hesitate to use idolatrous nations to judge his idolatrous people.

I was convicted of this and continue to do this often. As a parent dissplining my kids. Noticing that i’m Disciplining them for the very thing that I have just been showing them. Is that more true with the world And the church? We are called to be holy as God is holy. We are called to be in awe of him. We are called to have mercy and grace as God has so lavishly poured out on us. Is the world around us just taking what they are seeing in us on step further?

BI: God is the universal Judge and sovereign King who is active in his universe and will act in the face of sin.

Transition: The Lord is the universal Judge and sovereign King who is active in his universe and will finally act in the face of sin. And as God’s people face judgement, the prophet reacts.

Lamenting as God judges vs. 8-16

Micah 1:8 ESV

For this I will lament and wail; I will go stripped and naked; I will make lamentation like the jackals, and mourning like the ostriches.

Vs. 8 For this I will lament and wail. What is he wailing over? The destruction of Samaria. Micah is lamenting to describe his own frantic reaction to the idea that judgment that will happen. He goes barefoot and naked through the countryside of southwest Judah announcing the coming doom. Twelve towns and cities are talked about, with the seventh one being the centrepiece: Jerusalem. THis is like a hit list of geographical locations. Targets for judgement. Micah begins by lamenting for the nation as he walks through the land, crying wildly like an animal (1:8–9). The towns and cities on the divine “hit list” are then mentioned (vv. 10–15), and finally Jerusalem is commanded to wail and mourn for the loss of her youth as her people are led into exile (v. 16).

Daniel–Malachi Section Overview

The prophet uses a lament genre to describe his own frantic reaction to the prospect of judgment. He goes barefoot and naked through the countryside of southwest Judah announcing the coming doom. Twelve towns and cities are mentioned, with the seventh one being the centerpiece: Jerusalem. The text is a type of geographical “hit list,” as it targets for judgment a sequence of towns in Judah. There are major difficulties in the identification of these towns, and the Hebrew text is difficult to understand in places. But the general theme is impossible to miss. Micah begins by lamenting for the nation as he walks through the land, crying wildly like an animal (1:8–9). The towns and cities on the divine “hit list” are then mentioned (vv. 10–15), and finally Jerusalem is commanded to wail and mourn for the loss of her youth as her people are led into exile (v. 16).

Vs 9 For her wound is incurable is talking about her idolatry, which is so deep and entrenched that it was like an “incurable” disease. And as a disease it spread to Jerusalem like a plague or disease.

Vs. 10 - 15 Micah names cities. They are word plays in Hebrew.

Tell it not in Gath. Davids lament over his friend Jonathan and King Saul.

Beth-le-aphrah are told to roll in the dust, the name means “house of dust.” Sign of lement, terrific grief.

Shaphir mean’s brilliance or beauty = nakedness and shame. Prisoners of war were escoted from captured villages.

Zaanan means exit, but they won’t be able to exit.

And it was God who put them to death. They had given their land over to idol worship, so after decades of patient warnings, God took their land away. They had debased their culture with immorality and saturated their religion with false worship and teaching, so God gave them over completely to the pagan idolatry they had come to love. The ten tribes disappeared from history and will never be found, for God executed his penalty of death on their transgressions and sins. The judgment of Samaria was a foretaste of the final judgment of all the world for its sins. Yet for all his disgust with the sins of Israel, Micah rightly lamented and wailed

Micah 1:8 ESV

For this I will lament and wail; I will go stripped and naked; I will make lamentation like the jackals, and mourning like the ostriches.

Phillips, R. D. (2010). Jonah & Micah. (R. D. Phillips, P. G. Ryken, & I. M. Duguid, Eds.) (pp. 156–157). Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing.

Dempster, S. G. (2018). Micah. In I. M. Duguid, J. M. Hamilton Jr., & J. Sklar (Eds.), Daniel–Malachi (Vol. VII, pp. 442–443). Wheaton, IL: Crossway.

Micah 1:9–16 ESV

For her wound is incurable, and it has come to Judah; it has reached to the gate of my people, to Jerusalem. Tell it not in Gath; weep not at all; in Beth-le-aphrah roll yourselves in the dust. Pass on your way, inhabitants of Shaphir, in nakedness and shame; the inhabitants of Zaanan do not come out; the lamentation of Beth-ezel shall take away from you its standing place. For the inhabitants of Maroth wait anxiously for good, because disaster has come down from the Lord to the gate of Jerusalem. Harness the steeds to the chariots, inhabitants of Lachish; it was the beginning of sin to the daughter of Zion, for in you were found the transgressions of Israel. Therefore you shall give parting gifts to Moresheth-gath; the houses of Achzib shall be a deceitful thing to the kings of Israel. I will again bring a conqueror to you, inhabitants of Mareshah; the glory of Israel shall come to Adullam. Make yourselves bald and cut off your hair, for the children of your delight; make yourselves as bald as the eagle, for they shall go from you into exile.

Micah 1:8–16 ESV

For this I will lament and wail; I will go stripped and naked; I will make lamentation like the jackals, and mourning like the ostriches. For her wound is incurable, and it has come to Judah; it has reached to the gate of my people, to Jerusalem. Tell it not in Gath; weep not at all; in Beth-le-aphrah roll yourselves in the dust. Pass on your way, inhabitants of Shaphir, in nakedness and shame; the inhabitants of Zaanan do not come out; the lamentation of Beth-ezel shall take away from you its standing place. For the inhabitants of Maroth wait anxiously for good, because disaster has come down from the Lord to the gate of Jerusalem. Harness the steeds to the chariots, inhabitants of Lachish; it was the beginning of sin to the daughter of Zion, for in you were found the transgressions of Israel. Therefore you shall give parting gifts to Moresheth-gath; the houses of Achzib shall be a deceitful thing to the kings of Israel. I will again bring a conqueror to you, inhabitants of Mareshah; the glory of Israel shall come to Adullam. Make yourselves bald and cut off your hair, for the children of your delight; make yourselves as bald as the eagle, for they shall go from you into exile.

Transition: Christians should look on a godless world through these same eyes of Christ. Do we weep over the lost state of the world? Are our hearts burdened over the judgment that family and friends are securing by just refusing to believe in the one who can save them? Like Jesus and the prophets, we are to tell people the truth about the death that awaits them in hell unless they repent of their sins. But notice the attitude with which we should announce God’s judgment. People are offended by the Bible’s prophetic message, but what if they saw tears in our eyes and a heart that is broken for them? How heartless it is when Christians denounce the sins of the culture, but make little effort to point out the way to God’s mercy through faith in the blood of Christ.

Phillips, R. D. (2010). Jonah & Micah. (R. D. Phillips, P. G. Ryken, & I. M. Duguid, Eds.) (p. 157). Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing.

Gospel Move: At the end of , Jerusalem is portrayed as a lamenting and helpless mother wailing over her population as she sees them heading into exile. This anticipates Jesus’ lament over Jerusalem itself as he describes himself as a hen who wanted so much to gather its chicks under its wings, but it doesn’t happen (). But Jesus did not look on helplessly as his people went into exile. He went the way of the cross, submitting himself to humiliation, mutilation, and finally death, going into exile in their place. The Gospel still shines through in this text. Christ died for our sin and rose again.

Dempster, S. G. (2018). Micah. In I. M. Duguid, J. M. Hamilton Jr., & J. Sklar (Eds.), Daniel–Malachi (Vol. VII, p. 445). Wheaton, IL: Crossway.

Transition: Which brings us to “so what.”

BI: God is the universal Judge and sovereign King who is active in his universe and will act in the face of sin.

So What?

So, how do We escape this?

I don’t know about you, but I struggle with this text. Micah isn’t talking about the world and judging them, he’s talking about who God is going to judge his people for loosing the wonder of our awesome God.

Really struggled with this, because I don’t want to be the person to break this. Do I talk general, or do I get into the specifics. But that’s not what I think God is intending for us as we read his word. He’s looking at us. Me and you. And saying, I will come and witness against you.”

God is saying to you and to me, “No, don’t worry about all those people. I am coming to cleanse you, my people.” The problem is not how the world is living, but how the church is living. What an amazing weight. There’s a big message of divine wrath.

We had some work done at our house not to long ago. Talking to them about they up bringing. Mennonite. They listened every week about how bad they were and that they needed to change.

God offers us a simple way to escape God’s judgment. God just doesn’t bring judgement without of way of things being redeemed. It comes in the very first word of Micah’s first oracle: “Hear.” It was a failure to hear that ultimately caused Samaria’s demise and threatened Jerusalem with the same. God sent his prophets, but his wicked people would not listen. Micah’s prophecy still speaks to our world today. God’s Word speaks to us. If we will hear and listen, then we will fear the Lord and turn from your transgressions and sins.

The amazing thing is that God did not stop speaking to the world with the prophets. In time, he sent the Great Prophet, his own Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus called out to the world with a message of mercy and grace, a call of forgiveness and new life through faith in him. Jesus will deliver you from God’s judgment on your sins. “Truly, truly, I say to you,” Jesus declares, “whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life” (). Hear, listen, and believe on Jesus Christ, and you will be saved.

Jerusalem and Samaria refused to listen to the Word of the Lord.

Jesus calls on his people in the church, he calls to you and me, to hear his Word and obey his commands. “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (). Are you walking in the light of Christ, or are you dabbling in the darkness of sin and worldliness? If you are not following Jesus in a holy life, then remember God’s threat to chastise Jerusalem. Yes, God will destroy Samaria—but what of Jerusalem and its very same sins? Do not walk in darkness. Follow Jesus, and you will have the light of his life.

BI: God is the universal Judge and sovereign King who is active in his universe and will act in the face of sin.

BI: God is the universal Judge and sovereign King who is active in his universe and will act in the face of sin.

Reflection

What was Judah and Israel guilty of?

List some specific idols that you are tempted to erect in your own life.

How does loyalty to God lead to freedom in our lives? Think about an event in your life where you found this to be true.

How does loyalty to idols lead to bondage in our lives? Think about an event in your life where you found this to be true.

Redmond, Eric. Exalting Jesus in Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk (Christ-Centered Exposition

Redmond, Eric. Exalting Jesus in Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk (Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary) . B&H Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

Redmond, Eric. Exalting Jesus in Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk (Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary) . B&H Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.