MPC 27th June 2004.Micah 7 - "The Hope and the Glory"
Maurie Cropper MPC 27th June 2004.
Former Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev was in the US to attend the funeral of his Cold War foe President Ronald Reagan, when he said that their interests to make peace with each other coincided. He's quoted as saying "we all lost the Cold War, and won only when it ended."
In 1985 the two men signed an agreement that stated their mutual conviction that nuclear war was unthinkable. They initiated a batch of new cooperative enterprises to improve relations. "That was the beginning of hope," Gorbachev said.
Hope for Gorbachev came in the form of improved relations with another superpower.
"The country was being stifled by the lack of freedom," said Gorbachev. "We were increasingly behind the West, which was achieving a new technological era, a new kind of productivity. And I was ashamed for my country -- perhaps the country with the richest resources on earth, and we couldn't even provide toothpaste for our people."
The prophet Micah was also someone ashamed of his country. But unlike Gorbachev, it wasn't because of the lack of toothpaste, it was because Micah's people had turned their backs on God. Their road to prosperity was leading them further and further away from God. In fact achieving prosperity in any way possible had now become their focus... had become their god.
And for Micah, instead of finding his people to be trusting only in God, and therefore living godly lives... to his misery... not one godly person remained! He couldn't find one godly person.
Although he'd presented God's case against Israel, not one person had repented and turned back to God. It's as though the penny hadn't dropped for anyone. They're as rotten and evil and conspiring as they ever were. Instead of changing and coming up smelling like cultivated roses, the best of them were as prickly as brier, and about as upright as a thorn hedge.
And Micah says they're the best of the worst.
It's no wonder he's feeling like misery!
Pick it up at verse one in chapter seven.
What misery is mine! I am like one who gathers summer fruit at the gleaning of the vineyard; there is no cluster of grapes to eat, none of the early figs that I crave. The godly have been swept from the land; not one upright man remains. All men lie in wait to shed blood; each hunts his brother with a net. Both hands are skilled in doing evil; the ruler demands gifts, the judge accepts bribes, the powerful dictate what they desire- they all conspire together. The best of them is like a brier, the most upright worse than a thorn hedge.
Micah's been walking around the city pronouncing God's case against Israel. Now he feels the full weight of Israel's situation. Micah's a bit like the watchman who's job it was to walk the city walls and warn the city's inhabitants of any danger, or the arrival of a dignitary.
Which reminds me of when I used to work in a bank in the 1960's.
Back then, the bank had what they called 'Inspectors'. And it was their job to pull a surprise visit and check all the banks records. If things weren't up to scratch you got a rap over the knuckles. They were a scary bunch. And everyone used always be watching out for when they'd spring a visit on you.
Well here's Micah saying that God is about to visit his people. And like the bank inspector, God's going to carry out a full audit of their lives. And if their ledgers don't add up... and according to Micah they certainly won't, then they're going to cop it.
And their punishment will come in the form of confusion.
Which will be a big deal for people so accustomed to having it all together. So instead of being in control they're going to be reduced to complete panic. Confusion everywhere.
Used to giving orders and manipulating people for their own evil purposes, they'll find themselves face to face with the One Authority that can't be manipulated and won't be used! God himself is going to visit them.
Check it out from the second half of verse four.
The day of your watchmen has come, the day God visits you. Now is the time of their confusion. Do not trust a neighbor; put no confidence in a friend. Even with her who lies in your embrace be careful of your words. For a son dishonors his father, a daughter rises up against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, a man's enemies are the members of his own household.
People they once trusted, will turn against them. Even family members. It's going to be a dog eat dog world! Talking of dogs, a counselor once said, that some marriages are like a tick-on-the-dog relationship. Where one person is sucking the last bit of blood from the other person.
Well Micah says that it's going to be worse than that.
In these households there's going to be no dog left. Only ticks!
The sort of mistrust that Micah predicts certainly occurs when a city is under siege. When people will do anything to save their own skins.
Time and time again when a nation occupies a neighbouring country, people have collaborated with the enemy and turned against even their own families.
The confusion was going to begin with Israel's so-called ally Assyria storming and destroying Jerusalem. So Micah's saying that part of the confusion will be their uncertainty about who can be trusted.
This picture of judgement and the confusion and mistrust that accompanies it was one that Jesus also referred to. In fact to parallel the idea of judgement with his own coming to earth, Jesus quotes this verse from Micah.
This is what he says in Matthew 10:32
Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven. Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn 'a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law -- a man's enemies will be the members of his own household.' Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
Now before you jump to the wrong conclusion, Jesus isn't meaning that Christians should neglect or turn against our families. That's not his point. In essence what Jesus is saying, is that by winning people to Himself, their family members will turn against them.
In fact just like anyone who would dare to align themselves with Micah, or for people like Jesus' disciples, and others... who turned and followed Jesus... they would now be targets for other people's anger.
So when we give over our lives to following Jesus, we shouldn't be surprised by the negative reaction that it brings out in people... even from family members.
It's unfortunate. And it's incredibly sad. But Jesus says that when it comes to our relationship with him, it's all or nothing. And if we choose nothing, that's what we'll get at the end of our life. So if like the people in Micah's time, we think that life with God can be satisfied by anything else other than a relationship with Him... then at the end of this life we'll find we have lost what we thought we had.
But if making Jesus the focus of our life, then at the end of this life we will have lost nothing. And gained a right relationship with God.
Or to quote Jesus:
"39Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it."
Now back to Micah.
With the prediction of confusion, and families in disarray, you'd reckon Micah would've chucked the towel in. Given up!
I mean if you were in his shoes wouldn't you throw away all hope of things ever being any different? After all, Micah's tried God's way of doing things. Maybe he should just take control and try and fix it all himself. Most people would have given up hope on God long ago.
Reminds me of a book that caught my eye in a bookshop. The title of a book was: The Selfish Gene. The author said that we humans are nothing more than throwaway survival machines, who exist for the preservation of selfish genes.
We're at their mercy. Richard Dawkins says that the world of the selfish gene is one of savage competition, ruthless exploitation, and deceit.
And that's certainly the view that Micah had of those around him.
And here's Dawkins' answer to the 'selfish gene'.
Dawkins says 'that the only HOPE there is... is that we'll have the power to control the selfish gene'. Which isn't quite Lego to me.
I mean, according to Dawkins, he's holding out the HOPE that we humans, who are made up of what he calls selfish genes, will somehow be able to win out against those same selfish genes.
So in Micah's case does he simply go it alone?
With the HOPE that he can win out Israel's rebellious attitude?
NO WAY!
His response is clear. And it's to the point. Verse 7: "But as for me, I watch in hope for the LORD, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me."
Micah's faith in God was unshakable. He knew that the Lord would never let him down. Although he saw the leaders of Israel abusing their responsibilities, and society falling apart all around him, Micah refused to sink into despondency. Or to try and fix things himself. For him, the right thing to do is to place his hope in the Lord, and wait for the saviour.
Micah's trust is in the Lord. Especially when he's never found any redeeming qualities in anyone else.
And because of his hope in God he can step back from the situation. He doesn't have to be a control freak. He can simply wait for God to act.
And so completely assured that God will take care of everything and in his time, Micah now speaks out against the enemy of Israel.
An enemy that's licking its lips and gloating over its prey who's weakened by her self-reliance and foolish self-confidence.
So on behalf of his undeserving people, Micah, full of confidence in the Lord, tells Israel's enemy not to be too quick to gloat. Because although God is going to punish his people, they won't be totally destroyed.
In fact a time will come when they'll once again return to build their broken walls and become a city of prominence.
He certainly doesn't mince his words in what he says to his nation's gloating rival.
Look at what he says from verse 8.
Don't gloat over me, my enemy! Though I have fallen, I will rise. Though I sit in darkness, the LORD will be my light. Because I have sinned against him, I will bear the LORD's wrath, until he pleads my case and establishes my right. He will bring me out into the light; I will see his righteousness. Then you my enemy will see it and will be covered with shame, you who said to me, "Where is the LORD your God?
And with a short rebuke to Israel's enemy, Micah says: "My eyes will see her downfall; even now she'll be trampled underfoot like mire in the streets."
Yet once again God will restore Jerusalem as a city that will attract people from everywhere. Or as Micah puts it, there in verse 11:
The day for building your walls will come, the day for extending your boundaries. In that day people will come to you from Assyria and the cities of Egypt, even from Egypt to the Euphrates and from sea to sea and from mountain to mountain.
And like those different peaks of time that we spoke of a couple of weeks ago, Micah's prophecy might be referring to the return of God's remnant a couple of generations later, or maybe its a reference to the later time of Jesus, when people once again came from far and wide to Jerusalem.
Or maybe it's the time after Jesus, when people from many nations were in Jerusalem, and heard the preaching of the disciples and came to faith in God.
The point is, Micah's prophecy was declaring that although Jerusalem was about to suffer from the hands of their enemy, a time was coming when it would again be a place of influence.
Because God was both at work and in control.
The rebelliousness of His own people, or the strength of their enemies, wasn't going to deter God from His plan for His remnant people.
So now Micah speaks to his people of a coming restoration. And he puts his message in terms they understand. Into language that was familiar to them.
He speaks of God as a shepherd. That God's promise of caring for his people like a shepherd will involve them being restored to Him, just as in days of old. As in the days when he brought them out of Egyptian slavery, and restored them to the land of His promise.
Micah speaks of a time when nations will clasp their hands over their mouths as they stand in awe of God's power. Pick it up in verse 15 with the Lord God speaking.
As in the days when you came out of Egypt, I will show them my wonders.
And then in verse 16 Micah says:
Nations will see and be ashamed, deprived of all their power. They will lay their hands on their mouths and their ears will become deaf. They will lick dust like a snake, like creatures that crawl on the ground. They will come trembling out of their dens; they will turn in fear to the LORD our God and will be afraid of you.
Micah's prophecy culminates in focusing on the mercy of God. A mercy shown to his faithful remnant. Micah asks, 'Who is like the Lord?' because unlike all other so-called gods, Micah's God pardons sins and forgives those who turn from their rebellion against Him.
All other gods want retribution and show no mercy.
Only Micah's God forgives sins.
A fact not lost on the people of Israel. And something they never forgot.
Because about seven hundred years later the subject of who could forgive sins would once again take centre stage in the life of God's people.
It was at the time of Jesus' ministry. And particularly to the poor and the destitute. In fact to people like those of Micah's day, the disadvantaged, the outcasts of a nation. People exiled to the edge of society.
It was to a person like this, a paralysed man, that Jesus speaks to with words that shocked those around him.
Turn with me to the book of Matthew, chapter nine, verse 1:
Jesus stepped into a boat, crossed over and came to his own town. Some men brought to him a paralytic, lying on a mat. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven." At this, some of the teachers of the law said to themselves, "This fellow is blaspheming!" Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said, "Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts? Which is easier: to say, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up and walk'? And so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins..." Jesus turns to the man and says, "Get up, take your mat and go home." And the man got up and went home. When the crowd saw this, they were filled with awe; and they praised God, who had given such authority to men.
You see the point is, Micah's been hoping, waiting, and watching for a saviour. The bits were all there for Micah.
His trust was in his God, who listens and saves (v7), who is light in a dark world (v8), and will take Micah out of the clutches of darkness into the light (v9), and show Micah what true righteousness looks like (v9), righteousness that will be ultimately seen by everyone on the day of judgement (v10).
Micah's God will have the nature of a shepherd. He will lead and protect his sheep, even to the point of giving up his own life to save them.
As I said, all the bits were there for Micah. All he was waiting for was for God to connect it all together by coming and saving his remnant.
And it's not rocket science to see that God connected it all together when he sent His one and only Son, the Lord Jesus.
Jesus, fully man, yet as God, he willingly came as light into a world full of darkness. He demonstrated true righteousness. He forgave sin, and like a shepherd he called his people to follow him.
Ultimately, he humbly gave up his own life to save them.
So everything Micah waited for culminated in Jesus.
So I'm going to conclude our series in Micah with two final thoughts.
Like Micah, is your hope placed in your Saviour God, the Lord Jesus Christ?
If not, then hoping you're are right with God by any other means... including thinking that simply being a good person makes you right with God... can best be described as false hope!
The Bible says, if people place their hope in being good, or being powerful, or thinking that they don't need God, then they're still under the judgement of God. So please, carefully consider your relationship with God, and consider it from His perspective.
But if like Micah, you have placed your hope in your Saviour God, then you have a lot in common with Micah.
You and I live in a dark world where the pursuit of prosperity has become a goal that is worshiped. A world where people are trampled upon in the pursuit of privilege and power. A world where fearing the Lord and trusting in God is considered irrelevant, or at best a sign of weakness.
So in a very real sense, Christians are like mini Micahs.
Ambassadors with the message of hope of God our Saviour.
And as ambassadors, we're to pick up where Micah left off.
We're to draw people's attention to Jesus, the one who can save people from God's judgement.
And as in Micah's day, there's no time to lose.
Because one day, it'll all be too late.