The previous three chapters of Micah have been indictments against Israel and its prophets. The prophets are false and the country immoral and unjust, crushing the weak and glorifying the ruthless. Micah, through the power of the Holy Spirit, bravely condemns his people and their sins.
The tone changes in Micah 4 to one of redemption and promise. Here God lovingly makes promises that He will bring Israel together again and make them a light to the nations.
Here are the big promises I noticed from chapter 4:
1) Verses 1-2:
It shall come to pass in the latter days
that the mountain of the house of the
LORD
shall be established as the highest of the
mountains,
and it shall be lifted up above the
hills;
and people shall flow to it,
and many nations shall come, and say:
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of
the LORD,
to the house of the God of Jacob,
that he may teach us his ways
and that we may walk in his paths.”
This is a promise: “It shall come to pass”. But what exactly is it that will come to pass? What is the “mountain of the LORD”? When is the time when people will flock to the house of God with open and ready hearts? Is it yet to happen or has this happened or is it happening now?
Let’s start with the last question first: when is this supposed to happen? There is an image later in the chapter which is repeated almost identically in Isaiah 2:1-5:
…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 (Micah 4:3)
This image has come to represent world peace (check out this statue in front of the United Nations) or a time when war is unnecessary and weapons can be converted into everyday tools. I love this image and the fact that it’s in front of the U.N., but I don’t believe that such an age of peace will ever be ushered in by the United Nations. For a world of peace we need a world without sin and unfortunately the United Nations is made up of sinners – sinners stuck in a world of sin as much as the world they’re trying to fix.
But this world peace is coming (despite our futile and failing efforts) through the hand of Him who promised it. God is promising to bring in peace and change to the world through the only possible source – Himself. Only through Him can the world truly be 1) rid of sin – which means peace! – and 2) unified. If our problem is a lack of unity then we need not a unity through our common humanity (because, as we can see, it doesn’t work! we disagree too much) but a real and binding unity in the body of Jesus Christ and His Holy Spirit. So what we will have in common is not “We’re all human” but “We have been made one with God in Christ”.
Both of these passages from Isaiah and Micah were talking to God’s people about the time of the Messiah. Think about it – who has united the nations and led them to God? The “mountain of the LORD” described in verse 2 is the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, a place “exalted as a source of instruction, justice, and righteousness” (from the ESV Study Bible Notes). Ancient gods supposedly lived on mountains (like Zeus on Mount Olympus) but here we see God’s mountain – the place where He is rightly identified and worshipped – rising above all other mountains, “established as the highest of the mountains” (Micah 4:1). The true God will be lifted and exalted above all the other fake and false gods and He will be worshipped. He will became a focal point of humanity – which indeed Jesus has.
It’s hard not to see Him as the “highest of mountains” in human history – it is quite impossible to get around Him. He’s so important and so changed history that our calendar is divided into two time periods before and after Christ. Truly He unites people together – people from all different backgrounds and religions – and makes them the Lord’s.
But how come we don’t have world peace right now if this passage is about the Messiah? He came, didn’t He? Why isn’t there world peace? Well, this passage is about today – and think about it, because every day there are people all over the world streaming to Jesus and becoming children of God – but it is also about the last day. There have been instances when swords were no longer needed, but there will come a day – the last day – when swords or guns or tanks or A-bombs will never be used again and God will have ultimate mercy on those He made righteous through Christ and ultimate vengeance on those who refuse to turn from their sins. Both are a promise.
Think about this way: there will be world peace when all of God’s enemies are killed and gone. That idea might make you uncomfortable, but think about it: can there be world peace any other way? And if it still makes you uncomfortable, Why? If God is supremely good, why does that idea bother you?
2) The second promise is a rescue from Babylon for Israel:
Writhe and groan, O daughter of Zion,
like a woman in labor,
for now you shall go out from the city
and dwell in the open country;
you shall go to Babylon.
There you shall be rescued;
there the LORD will redeem you
from the hand of your enemies. (Micah 4:10)
This is told to Israel in many other places in the Old Testament as they were conquered and forced to live in Babylon. This is God’s message of hope: Hang on, I will come for you.
So how do we live in the light of such promises? How did Israel live in the light of such a promise in Babylon? It must’ve changed everything! In Babylon Israel would have been under their control and their rule, subject to their culture (which was offensive in many ways to Israel). They were probably looked down upon, probably hated.
Right now as the body of Christ we are under slavery in this world – this is our Babylon, it is not our home. That can become extremely depressing unless we look to God’s promises. We have two important promises right here in Micah: God will draw the nations to Himself in peace and He will deliver His people out of the worst situations. If He said He will deliver us, He will. Look at history: less than a century after Israel was led to Babylon they were released and returned home.
God makes promises out of love and for our hope and joy, and it is ultimately in Christ that all of God’s promises coalesce. Praise be to a wise, wondrous, and merciful God!
“For who has known the mind of the Lord?
or who has been his counselor?” (Romans 11:34)
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