Micah 4:9-5:2; 7:18-20, Things Angels Long to See (2)

Let us pause to consider the perplexity of the prophets and the faithfulness of the Sovereign Lord.  The gospel, by which we mean the death and resurrection of Christ, resolved a myriad of mysteries from the Old Testament.  What God did in Christ was beyond imagination.  As Isaiah said (64:4), and Paul echoed (1 Cor. 2:9), For since the beginning of the world men have not heard nor perceived by the ear, nor has the eye seen any God besides You, who acts for the one who waits for Him. 

Let us use the prophet Micah as an illustration.  Micah saw three historical movements but could not have known how God would move from the situation in Micah’s day to the promised glories of the Messianic kingdom.

·        The exaltation of Jerusalem, Mt. Zion.

o      Micah 1-3 describes the destruction of Jerusalem, a judgment brought about by their idolatry, injustice and covetousness and encouraged by countless false prophets.  Yet Micah 4 begins with an entirely different message, of Jerusalem and the temple being the center of worldwide revival. 

o      What Micah could not understand was how Bethlehem (Micah 5:2) would be the key to this change.  The Ruler would come from there in the latter days and would bring about a kingdom of righteousness.

·        The salvation of the nations.

o      Micah saw Israel as God’s people through whom the Gentiles would come to worship the true God.  Again, Israel was unfaithful.  In Micah 1-3 they are called five times My people; yet they have fallen into idolatry.  They are not God’s effective witness to the nations.  And yet, again, in Micah 4:1-3, who is worshiping in the mountain of the Lord?  Many nations shall come (v2).  Again we ask how this can be?

o       Again the answer is in Bethlehem (5:2-4).  In His kingdom the remnant of His brethren will be there; and He shall be great to the ends of the earth.  Micah knew that the answer revolved around the Messiah, the One to be born in Bethlehem.  But he could not understand salvation to the ends of the earth.

·        The forgiveness of sin.

o      The first calling of the prophet is to cry out to God’s people to repent of their sin.  Micah does this.  Yet he is also told by the Lord that there will be restoration, His people walking in righteousness.  How can this be?

o      The closing verses (7:14-20) are prayer and praise from Micah.  He knows God by His Name (Ex. 34:6-7) as merciful and forgiving.  He knows through the sacrificial system as well as by the story of Abraham and Isaac (Gen. 22, which also took place on the mountain of the Lord), that Bethlehem’s Ruler must also be the Savior, the sacrifice, the Savior from the seed of the woman (Gen. 3:15).  The hope of Micah was the hope of all the righteous in Israel.  But who could have thought that the One born in Bethlehem would arrive at Golgotha and then be resurrected from a tomb in a nearby garden.

Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!  How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out! (Rom. 11:33-36)  With this in mind, let us be those who faithfully wait on the Lord.