Monday, August 11, 2014

Hope for Our Brokenness: Micah 7:1-20


Today we conclude our journey through the book of Micah with two songs.  In Micah 7:1-20, Micah records a song of lament and a song of victory in order to give God’s people hope and call them to faithfulness in the midst of their distress.  The dynamic we see here is very instructive for the church today.  God’s people must learn to be hopeful and faithful in their brokenness and distress.  Too often we are tempted to hopelessly despair over or yield to the overwhelming wickedness of our world and the seeming strength of our enemies.  Micah’s songs teach us that it is possible to be broken over wickedness and distress while remaining faithful to God as our only hope.  My prayer today is for God to use this passage to fill us with hope and resolve to remain faithful to Him no matter what we may face.
[7:1] Woe is me! For I have become as when the summer fruit has been gathered, as when the grapes have been gleaned: there is no cluster to eat, no first-ripe fig that my soul desires. [2] The godly has perished from the earth, and there is no one upright among mankind; they all lie in wait for blood, and each hunts the other with a net. [3] Their hands are on what is evil, to do it well; the prince and the judge ask for a bribe, and the great man utters the evil desire of his soul; thus they weave it together. [4] The best of them is like a brier, the most upright of them a thorn hedge. The day of your watchmen, of your punishment, has come; now their confusion is at hand. [5] Put no trust in a neighbor; have no confidence in a friend; guard the doors of your mouth from her who lies in your arms; [6] for the son treats the father with contempt, the daughter rises up against her mother, the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; a man's enemies are the men of his own house. [7] But as for me, I will look to the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me.
[8] Rejoice not over me, O my enemy; when I fall, I shall rise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD will be a light to me. [9] I will bear the indignation of the LORD because I have sinned against him, until he pleads my cause and executes judgment for me. He will bring me out to the light; I shall look upon his vindication. [10] Then my enemy will see, and shame will cover her who said to me, “Where is the LORD your God?” My eyes will look upon her; now she will be trampled down like the mire of the streets. [11] A day for the building of your walls! In that day the boundary shall be far extended. [12] In that day they will come to you, from Assyria and the cities of Egypt, and from Egypt to the River, from sea to sea and from mountain to mountain. [13] But the earth will be desolate because of its inhabitants, for the fruit of their deeds. [14] Shepherd your people with your staff, the flock of your inheritance, who dwell alone in a forest in the midst of a garden land; let them graze in Bashan and Gilead as in the days of old. [15] As in the days when you came out of the land of Egypt, I will show them marvelous things. [16] The nations shall see and be ashamed of all their might; they shall lay their hands on their mouths; their ears shall be deaf; [17] they shall lick the dust like a serpent, like the crawling things of the earth; they shall come trembling out of their strongholds; they shall turn in dread to the LORD our God, and they shall be in fear of you. [18] Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in steadfast love. [19] He will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities underfoot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea. [20] You will show faithfulness to Jacob and steadfast love to Abraham, as you have sworn to our fathers from the days of old. (Micah 7:1-20 ESV) How can we remain hope filled and faithful while waiting upon God to bring about His final salvation? 

I.              A People Broken, yet Resolved (7:1-7): Song of Lament

In verses 1-7, Micah voices a song of lament, expressing his brokenness over the sins of God’s people and the distress it has brought about, but also his resolve to look to and wait upon God in faithfulness until He sees His purposes through.  In verse 1-6 we see Micah’s brokenness and the reason for it.  He is like a vinedresser who enters his vineyard and finds it fruitless.  This stripped vineyard serves as an illustration of the pitiful state of God’s people at the time.  Just as a vinedresser who gleaned his own vineyard without finding any fruit that he desires, so Micah has looked among God’s people without finding any examples of godliness among God’s people.  There are no godly leaders (2-4) or godly people (5-6).  He says that “the godly has perished from the earth” and that “there is no one upright among mankind” (2).  Leaders who should’ve been lovers of justice and compassion had become greedy men who were like a “brier,” pricking and hurting instead of loving and helping.  As a consequence, they are going to experience a time when a person cannot even trust his closest friends and family (5-6).  A “man’s enemies” will be  “the men of his own house” (6).  This probably refers to the time when siege will be laid against Jerusalem.  People will be willing to turn upon their own family in order to advance their own agenda or to save their own hides.  This is a far cry from the “HESED” that was supposed to mark God’s people (6:8).  This deplorable situation was reason for Micah to be broken (1). 
However, in verse 7 we also see Micah’s resolve and the reason for it.  Micah says, “but as for me, I will look to the LORD,” and will “wait for the God of my salvation,” confident that His God would hear him!  Micah’s brokenness “did not drive him to despair, but into the arms of the God to whom he was personally related.”[1]  He chose to do what God’s people are all expected to do in the midst of their distress, to watch and wait upon the Lord to bring about His salvation. 
Habakkuk was another prophet who experienced such brokenness coupled with resolve: [16] “I hear, and my body trembles; my lips quiver at the sound; rottenness enters into my bones; my legs tremble beneath me. Yet I will quietly wait for the day of trouble to come upon people who invade us. [17] Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, [18] yet I will rejoice in the LORD; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. [19] GOD, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer's; he makes me tread on my high places.” (Habakkuk 3:16-19 ESV)
This first song is a call to be broken over the sin in our country, community, church, in your family, and in your own life (and to express that brokenness in prayer), but have the resolve of Micah not to give into despair or to yield to it.  Resolve to watch and wait upon God to bring about His purposes in His time.  Remember also that waiting in the Bible is not a passive thing.  The waiting that the Bible envisions is an active waiting, where one looks to God in prayer and remains faithful to what they know in the meantime.
One final application of this passage that we need to point out is how Jesus applied 7:5-6 in Matthew 10:34-39.  He cited this verse to describe the kind of contention that the gospel would bring about.  Following Jesus can cause your family and friends to turn against you, therefore a person must resolve to love Jesus above their own family if they are going to follow Him. 

II.            A People Bold, yet Overwhelmed (7:8-20): Song of Victory

In verses 8-20, Micah voices a song of victory on behalf of God’s people.  This song has a hopeful, healthy boldness about it.  Boldness is not necessarily the same thing as being conceited or cocky. Here, God’s people agree with God about their sin and bear responsibility for it, but also display confidence in God’s promises and character to redeem and vindicate them before their enemies.  At the same time, God’s people are overwhelmed by the greatness of God’s forgiveness and faithfulness in verses 18-20. 
Think of this song as one with four verses (8-10, 11-13, 14-17, 18-20).  In the first verse (7:8-10), God’s people (the “me” and “I” in this section is probably “the daughter of Zion/Jerusalem” from 5:8) confess their faith in Yahweh to their enemies.  They look their enemies in the eye and tell them not to “rejoice over” them, because though they are currently experiencing “the indignation of Yahweh” due to their sin, there is coming a time when Yahweh will turn the tables and shame their enemies.  God’s people here are confessing both their sin and their faith that Yahweh will eventually plead their cause and vindicate them.  Then their enemies, who taunted them and their God, will be put to shame. 
The second verse of the song (7:11-13) celebrates the coming expansion of God’s people and the reality that they will be the only sheepfold that offers salvation to a world under judgment.  It will be a day for the building of their “walls,” because “in that day” the boundaries of God’s people “shall be far extended” and people from all over the world will come into the fold.  However, outside the boundaries “the earth will be desolate” because of the wickedness of its inhabitants (13).  What we see here is that God will expand His people and offer the safety of salvation to all who will come into His fold, but that judgment awaits those who refuse to come into His flock. 
In the third verse of the song (7:14-17), Micah offers a prayer to Yahweh that Yahweh answers.  Micah prays that Yahweh would “shepherd” His people with His “staff” and restore their former glory (14).  Yahweh replies that He will in fact do so.  He promises to show His people “marvelous things” as He did when He brought them out of Egypt.  This is another allusion to the New Exodus theme in the prophets.  On that day, Yahweh will humiliate the nations who are enemies of His people as He did the Egyptians (16-17). 
Verse four of this song of victory (7:18-20) ends the song and the book of Micah in celebration and wonder over the fact that God will hurl their sins into the sea in order to fulfill His covenant promises to His people.  The first line here, “Who is a God like you?” is a play on Micah’s name, which means, “Who is like Yahweh?”  Note how overwhelming it becomes when one ponders the questions.  Who is a God like Yahweh, who pardon’s the iniquity of His people and passes over their transgressions?  Who is a God like Yahweh, who “does not retain His anger forever” because “He delights in steadfast love (HESED)?”  Who is a God like Yahweh, who will “tread” the “iniquities” of His people “underfoot” and cast “all” their “sins into the depths of the sea?”  Who is a God like Yahweh, who will “show faithfulness to Jacob” and “steadfast love” (HESED) to Abraham as He has sworn, no matter what they do in return? 
The new exodus theme is brought even more in the similarities this song has with the Song of Moses in Exodus 15:1-18.  There we see the same question asked, “Who is like you, O LORD, among the gods?” (Ex. 15:11).  There we see the vindication of God’s people before their enemies and those enemies being put to shame celebrated.  There we see how God “cast” Pharaoh’s chariots and his host “into the sea” (Ex. 15:4).  These allusions are intentional, because God is promising here to do with their sins what He did with the Egyptian host.  Just as God overcame the Egyptians to deliver His people in the exodus, He will over come their sins to deliver them in the New Exodus.  But how will God do so? 
The gospel of Jesus Christ is the answer to how God would overcome the sins of His people in order to bring about their ultimate deliverance.   The work of Christ is how Yahweh has pardoned the iniquities of His people; it is how He has cast our sins into the depths of the sea.  Psalm 130:3 says, “If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?”  Our sins are a much greater foe than the Egyptians ever were.  But because of the sin atoning work of Jesus Christ on the cross, those foes are nailed to His cross and I bear them no more!  On the cross, Jesus publically shamed the forces of hell forever (Col. 2:15).  Christ’s death on the cross is also how God has shown how much He delights in HESED.  HESED calls covenant partners to be willing to die before they are disloyal to a covenant; in God’s case, He was willing to die to keep His covenant. 
Also, the victory of Christ in the Gospel should cause even greater boldness and humility to erupt among God’s people in the church.  We should be humbled and overwhelmed by such love, forgiveness, and faithfulness, but we should also be emboldened by it.  The gospel is the motivation in the great passage of Romans 8:31-39.  The reason we can live with the boldness that Paul calls us to in that passage is because of verse 32, because God has not spared His own Son.  If He hasn’t held His own Son back, but freely given Him up for us all, what other resource will He withhold in order to redeem His people?  May we say with Micah this morning, “Who is a God like you?”


[1] Leslie Allen, NICOT, 390

Tuesday, August 5, 2014

When God Puts His People on Trial: Micah 6:1-16


Have you ever considered what it would be like to be taken to court by someone?  If you have been in that situation, I do not envy you!  But what if it were God Himself who was taking you to court in order to bring a case against you?  What could you or I do in such a case?  There is no defense we could muster that would be sufficient.  There would be no holes in God’s case! 
Today we are going to see God take His people to court.  In Micah 6:1-16, Micah presents Yahweh’s case against and verdict upon His people for their disloyalty to Him, exhorting them to repent.  God’s people in Micah’s day had regressed to a place where they were the people of God in name only, something called nominalism.  They were like many so-called “Christians” today, who are “Christians” in name only, not in reality.  They are people that Paul warned Timothy about, people who have a “form of godliness,” but are not the real thing (2 Timothy 3:5).  This passage is a sobering word to such wickedness and worldliness in the church today.  God was not, is not, and will never be indifferent to the sins of His people.  We should learn from the example of Micah’s day and remember both the Lord’s saving acts and His faithfulness to execute justice upon those who break covenant with Him.  May God give us eyes to see what He truly requires of His people and grace to turn to Him with all of our hearts.  Only He can do such a work.  
 [6:1] Hear what the LORD says: Arise, plead your case before the mountains, and let the hills hear your voice. [2] Hear, you mountains, the indictment of the LORD, and you enduring foundations of the earth, for the LORD has an indictment against his people, and he will contend with Israel. [3] “O my people, what have I done to you? How have I wearied you? Answer me! [4] For I brought you up from the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery, and I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. [5] O my people, remember what Balak king of Moab devised, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him, and what happened from Shittim to Gilgal, that you may know the righteous acts of the LORD.” [6] “With what shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? [7] Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?” [8] He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?
[9] The voice of the LORD cries to the city— and it is sound wisdom to fear your name: “Hear of the rod and of him who appointed it! [10] Can I forget any longer the treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked, and the scant measure that is accursed? [11] Shall I acquit the man with wicked scales and with a bag of deceitful weights? [12] Your rich men are full of violence; your inhabitants speak lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth. [13] Therefore I strike you with a grievous blow, making you desolate because of your sins. [14] You shall eat, but not be satisfied, and there shall be hunger within you; you shall put away, but not preserve, and what you preserve I will give to the sword. [15] You shall sow, but not reap; you shall tread olives, but not anoint yourselves with oil; you shall tread grapes, but not drink wine. [16] For you have kept the statutes of Omri, and all the works of the house of Ahab; and you have walked in their counsels, that I may make you a desolation, and your inhabitants a hissing; so you shall bear the scorn of my people.” (Micah 6:1-16 ESV) How do a wicked, disloyal people turn back to God? 

I.              We Remember What the Lord Has Done for Us (6:1-5)

This chapter contains Yahweh’s covenant lawsuit against His people: 1-2: His “case,” the “indictment of the LORD…against His people.”  In this case, Yahweh is the Plaintiff, Judge, & Executioner, Micah is His representative, the mountains and hills are the witnesses, and God’s people are the defendants.  God begins by calling into question certain claims that His people are making about Him (3: He’s “done” them wrong, He’s “wearied” them) and then charges them to remember His “saving acts” throughout their history that completely contradict their claims.
Yahweh begins by reminding them of the Exodus (4): “for I brought you up from the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery, and I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.”   Leslie Allen states that “God’s basic act of grace on behalf of his covenant people was the Exodus, which in the OT was an event invested with much of the same significance that the Cross and Resurrection bear in the NT.”[1] God then reminds them of the Incident with Balak & Balaam (5a), an incident where the Lord clearly displayed His longing to the bless rather than curse them (Numbers 22-24).  Finally, He reminds them of the Crossing of the Jordan (5b).  Shittime was the last place they stopped before crossing the Jordan river and Gilgal was the first place they camped on the other side (Joshua 3:1; 4:19).  Another interesting connection with these places is that Shittim is also where God’s people broke covenant with Him (Numbers 25:1-9) and Gilgal is where they renewed the covenant after crossing the Jordan (Joshua 5:1-12).
The point in all of this is simply that Israel’s history is a story of Yahweh’s grace and mercy.  Their claims that God is doing them wrong are bogus.  He has never ceased to be there for them.  The problem isn’t Yahweh; it is His people. 
What are we to take from this call to remember the Lord’s saving acts?  I think it is that God’s people are to constantly remember all the Lord has done for them.  Remembering the redemptive acts of Yahweh was essential to keeping covenant with God in the Old Testament.  At most covenant renewals, a history of God’s redemptive acts would be rehearsed (Joshua 24, 1 Samuel 12).  Many of the yearly feasts and festivals memorialized God’s care for His people.  The Passover memorialized the redemption of God’s people in the exodus so that new generations would never forget Yahweh’s mighty redemption.  Likewise, it was during the Passover meal with His disciples that Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper, which memorializes an even greater redemption of God’s people. 
I know this sounds simple, but every believer needs to keep before them the great truths of their redemption & so does every church.  Contemplating our redemption should cause us to erupt in worship and devotion.  Whether it is prioritizing the Lord’s supper or preaching the gospel to yourself every day, we must make it a point to remember all the Lord has done for us. 

II.            We Remember What the Lord Truly Requires (6:6-8)

In verses 6-7, a hypothetical “worshipper” poses four escalating (burnt offering, calves, thousands of rams, ten thousand rivers of oil, and a person’s firstborn) questions meant to discover how a person can “come before Yahweh” and Him be “pleased.”  This, by the way, is the most important question in the universe: how can a person come before Yahweh and be right and pleasing before Him?  No question is more important to answer.  These questions, however, miss the mark because they make some faulty assumptions about God (that He can be BOUGHT) and man (that He can be made right with God through ritual).  Bruce Waltke says, “Micah’s generation transformed the covenant into a contract.  In a series of parallel lines, each beginning with a question, a representative ‘worshipper’ seeks to establish the price that will win God’s favor by raising the bid ever higher…Outwardly he appears spiritual as he bows before the Most High with gift in hand.  But his insulting questions betray a desperately wicked heart…He compounds his sin of refusing to repent by suggesting that God, like men, can be bought.”[2]
Verse 8 contains Yahweh’s response to these questions.  He has already told (Deut. 10:12-13; 1 Sam. 15:22-23) His people what is good (how to please Him).  He does not delight in sacrifices; He delights in a heart that loves Him and others.  He summarizes what He expects of His people with three imperatives.  They are first to DO JUSTICE (8a).  In the OT, “commitment to Yahweh included commitment to the covenant community.  JUSTICE is the key word so often used by the prophets to sum up this social obligation.  It covers and transcends a host of negative precepts, such as prohibition of oppression, perjury, and bribery.  It calls for a sense of responsibility toward the weaker members of society lest they go to the wall.  It insists on the rights of others…”[3] Secondly, His people are to LOVE KINDNESS (8b).  The rich Hebrew word, “HESED” is used here.  There really is no English word that adequately translates “HESED” because there is so much wrapped up in the word.  It is often translated “steadfast love” because it summarizes God’s covenant loyalty and faithfulness to His people.  It also summarizes the covenant faithfulness and loyalty of God’s people, which is why is also includes goodness, kindness, mercy, and compassion.  It is a deeply relational concept.  Where “HESED” is present among God’s people, they treat one another appropriately and where it is absent, there is great mistreatment of others.  Finally, Yahweh requires that His people WALK HUMBLY WITH THEIR GOD (8c).  This simply means to go about life in relationship with God, spending time with Him and seeking to obey His commands.  A questions we all need to answer from time to time is this one: how is our walk with God?
Have you ever noticed that God always keeps what it most important very simple?  Jesus said you could sum up the teaching of the Old Testament with two commands, to love God with all you are and to love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:34-40).  I’ve often noticed that people always want a list of what God wants them to do in order to please Him.  Lists aren’t necessarily bad, but the problem with a list is that we can think that checking a list is all that God’s wants.  People, God wants your hearts, and when He has your heart, then the stuff on the list will happen naturally.  At the end of the day, the heart is the heart of the matter. 

III.         We Remember That the Lord’s Justice Will be Served (6:9-16)

In verses 9-16, Yahweh declares His verdict upon His people for their covenant disloyalty.  Basically, they are feel His rod (9)!  There are two major issues at stake that we need to point out in the verdict.  The first one is the issue of God’s justice.  Yahweh’s own character will be at stake if He ignores the “treasuries of wickedness” among His people.  This is why He cannot “forget” the “treasuries of wickedness” any longer (10). This is why He cannot “acquit” the man with “wicked scales” and “a bag of deceitful weights” (11).  The Old Testament often speaks of how the Lord despises unjust business practices (Lev. 19:35-36; Duet. 25:13-16; Prov. 11:1; 16:11; 20:10).  God’s justice is also why He must address the fact that the “rich men” among God’s people are “full of violence,” that the “inhabitants” of God’s people “speak lies” and “their tongue is deceitful in their mouth” (12).  One commentator eloquently states: “Their God is no Olympian, remote from everyday living.  He is the Lord of the shopping center, whose claims over his people extend to the most mundane of life’s duties.”[4]
A second major issue at stake in this verdict is the issue is God’s faithfulness.  Most of these consequences (their eating but not being satisfied, their putting away, but not preserving, their preserve being given to the sword, their sowing but not reaping, their treading olives and grapes, but not enjoying their labors) are all spelled out in the law as covenant curses for disobedience (Deut. 28:30-31, 38-40).  In other words, God is actually keeping covenant here by striking them with a “grievous blow” and making them “desolate” because of their sins.  He would not be just or faithful to the covenant if He does not act. 
A final, summary sentence and rebuke is given in 16: He will make them a “desolation” and their “inhabitants a hissing;” they shall “bear the scorn of my people” because they have “kept the statutes of Omri” and “all the works of the house of Ahab. Judah would remember that the influence of these wicked kings led the Northern Kingdom to EXILE. 
Though this is not the first time we have heard a message like this in Micah, some of us need to hear again that God is not going to tolerate sin in your life indefinitely.  Don’t mistake His patience for His approval.  If you haven’t felt the rod yet, it is because He is being patient with you, not because He approves of your sin.  He will not be mocked by anyone who claims to belong to Him, but will see to it that we reap what we sow (Gal. 6:7-8).  Sound wisdom is to fear His name (9). 
This is a heavy message for us today.  We are all prone forget all the Lord has done for us.  As the great hymn says, we are all prone to wonder and we feel it.  We fail to do justice, love “hesed,” and walk humbly with God consistently.  We too are guilty of being “Christians” in name only.  But there is good news for us today, even before God in court.  Our Savior, Jesus Christ, did do justice, did love kindness, and did walk humbly with His Father without fail.  What’s more is that He has born the scorn of His people.  God has not required that we pay for our sins with our firstborn; He has paid for them with His own.  The gospel really is the answer to the greatest question in the universe.  A person is made right by grace alone through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone (Rom. 3:21-26; 1 Tim. 2:5).  The only way fallen men and women can stand before God in court is if they have an advocate who can win their case.  Jesus Christ is such an Advocate (1 John 2:1-2)!  Will you repent and turn to Him today in faith so that you may become a person who does justice, loves kindness, and walks humbly with God? 


[1] Leslie Allen, NICOT, 366
[2] Waltke, TOTC: Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, 195
[3] Leslie Allen, NICOT, 373
[4] Allen, NICOT, 378