Micah 3-5
Notes
Transcript
Review: Micah preached Judgement for those who chose to follow after what they desired rather than following after God, and gives hope of a coming Salvour.
1The problem reaches to the highest levels! Chapter 3
1The problem reaches to the highest levels! Chapter 3
Theme: God has a plan for a better relationship with His people.
Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah (1) Guilty Civil Leaders (3:1–4)
The “establishment” was controlled by corrupt public officials who winked at (and even participated in) all the unjust and oppressive practices Micah has been condemning up to this point.
Look through these verses. You will find the 3 areas of historical Jewish governance listed - Rulers, Courts, Religious (Priests & Prophets).
Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah (2) Peace Prophets and Micah (3:5–8)
Mays adds, “Money talked louder than God” to these false prophets
They were more interested in the honorarium than the honour. - J Limburg
For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.
The rulers and leaders are corrupt, and devour the people rather than shepherd them.
The opposite of what Jesus would one day do!
Whoever closes his ear to the cry of the poor will himself call out and not be answered.
v6 gives us a glimpse of the intertestament period when God remained quiet for 400 years!
Therefore it shall be night to you, without vision, and darkness to you, without divination. The sun shall go down on the prophets, and the day shall be black over them;
Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah (2) Peace Prophets and Micah (3:5–8)
The punishment will fit the crime. It is better not to speak at all than to declare a message that leads others astray.
Shift comes in Verse 8!
But as for me, I am filled with power, with the Spirit of the Lord, and with justice and might, to declare to Jacob his transgression and to Israel his sin.
Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah (1) Guilty Civil Leaders (3:1–4)
Craigie observes: “ ‘Justice,’ Disraeli said in a speech to the House of Commons (1851), ‘is truth in action.
Justice is mentioned 4 times in Micah. About a 130 times in the Bible.
Micah says what God wants him to say rather than what the congregants are paying him to say.
The truth is that Jerusalem will be wiped out!
Therefore because of you Zion shall be plowed as a field; Jerusalem shall become a heap of ruins, and the mountain of the house a wooded height.
Because of King Hezekiah’s repentance this did not happen until 522BCE.
Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah put him to death? Did he not fear the Lord and entreat the favor of the Lord, and did not the Lord relent of the disaster that he had pronounced against them? But we are about to bring great disaster upon ourselves.”
2God’s peace will someday control everything.
2God’s peace will someday control everything.
Chapt 4
There can not be peace without first having Justice.
Peace is only suitable for a just people. Where crime is rampant, there is not peace. Look at South Africa. They had theft in the government for year and the people were in a government enforced “truce” but when the corrupt government officials were arrested, looting, and other crime broke out to the level that it is destroying the country.
Future Hope!
Future Hope!
After foretelling of the destruction, Micah encourages the listeners with the fact that people would again go up to Jerusalem to worship God.
Now it shall come to pass in the latter days That the mountain of the Lord’s house Shall be established on the top of the mountains, And shall be exalted above the hills; And peoples shall flow to it. Many nations shall come and say, “Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, To the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, And we shall walk in His paths.” For out of Zion the law shall go forth, And the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
Whenever you read the words “latter days” the context will help you determine if this is now history of yet future or both.
“Peoples” in the last line of verse 1 = all nations in verse 2 AND Isaiah
Peace comes from walking “in His paths.” v2
Peace gets wildly practical and international in verse 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;
V 4 is for the Jews
V 5 is for “all people”! and we who walk with our God.
Vs 6-8 is about everyone
But the pain of the coming judgement for unrepented sin is first! v 9-13
Will be literal events in 586 BCE and completely accomplished in 522BCE. remember that the book was written leading up to 700 BCE.
God gives time for people to accept His plan. This should not be mistaken for failure to implement His plan.
They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.” For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God,
The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
3God’s deliverer will come to make it all possible.
3God’s deliverer will come to make it all possible.
Chap 5 (Mt 4:14–5:3)
Second most popular passage from Micah among conservative Christians, and most known worldwide.
Micah gives details so people will see it as God changes His course of action.
But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days.
Now birth labor is a good thing! It brings the one who will make the difference for all mankind (the remnant brothers)! v3
Note the things we learn about the messiah here:
Born in Bethlehem
He did not begin at His birth
ruler
His coming would be a transition time
He will draw God’s family to Himself
He will shepherd
What He does is about God - YAHWEH and not Himself
Security
Peace
Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah (5) From Helpless Ruler to Ideal King (5:1–4; Mt 4:14–5:3)
Jesus, of the Davidic line, is above all a gift of God to this world. To those who feel shut in on every side, like the besieged citizens of Jerusalem who first heard these words, Jesus brings the prospect of deliverance and security. And that is the essence of the Christmas message: God makes a gift to a besieged world through whom deliverance may come
Until then we have Rom 5.1 as a source of inner peace with God.
Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
A remnant is delivered!
A remnant is delivered!
“In That Day…” God will destroy all that leads people away from a relationship with Him.
Those that value money over a relationship with God will regret it.
Those who are “spiritual” with no focus on God’s truth will feel the purge! 12-14
God’s wrath will be executed on all but His church.
and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.
For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,
Conclusion: God has a plan for a better relationship with His people.
Yes that plan includes purifying us of sin, disrupting the power structures of our lives and of our world.
Yes that includes “the Son whom the Father sent to be the Saviour of the World”
Yes that will lead to a life of peace when God’s plan is finished.
Plans usually have more than one step. Good plans deal with the underlying issues that seek to destroy the desired outcome. This is the message of the middle chapters of Micah.
1Believe God when He says he will bring judgement.
2.Look to God’s source for peace
3.Find peace now and for our future in God’s plans and a life with Him rather than the things of this life.
Verse of the week:
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.
Reading 5.1-5a