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?
No comments:
Post a Comment