Micah 4:1-5; 5:1-5; The Shepherd Inspires Your Love for Him.

Class Outline:

 

Sunday December 8, 2024

 

Theme: The Lord has completely changed every believer and inspired in them love for Him.

 

MIC 4:1-5 [parallel passage in ISA 2:2-4]

And it will come about in the last days

That the mountain of the house of the Lord

Will be established as the chief of the mountains.

It will be raised above the hills,

And the peoples will stream to it. 

 

2 Many nations will come and say,

"Come and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord

And to the house of the God of Jacob,

That He may teach us about His ways

And that we may walk in His paths."

For from Zion will go forth the law,

Even the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. 

 

3 And He will judge between many peoples

And render decisions for mighty, distant nations.

Then they will hammer their swords into plowshares

And their spears into pruning hooks;

Nation will not lift up sword against nation,

And never again will they train for war. 

 

4 Each of them will sit under his vine

And under his fig tree,

With no one to make them afraid,

For the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken. 

 

5 Though all the peoples walk

Each in the name of his god,

As for us, we will walk

In the name of the Lord our God forever and ever.  

 

The kingdom of God on earth, and its presence and the presence of the King on its throne, will cause Israel all the nations to pilgrimage to the mountain of the Lord to learn His ways. 

 

Isaiah saw the nations coming to Jerusalem to pray and to bring forth gifts to Zion:

 

ISA 56:7

Even those I will bring to My holy mountain

And make them joyful in My house of prayer.

 

There is something curious about them:

ISA 56:6

"Also the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord,

To minister to Him, and to love the name of the Lord,

To be His servants, every one who keeps from profaning the sabbath

And holds fast My covenant;

 

These are not your typical multitude. How are they different?

 

Isaiah 60 personifies Zion as beaming and rejoicing because of God’s gift of glory and the nations coming to her.

 

ISA 60:1[Zion]

"Arise, shine; for your light has come,

And the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. 

 

ISA 60:5

"Then you will see and be radiant,

And your heart will thrill and rejoice;

Because the abundance of the sea will be turned to you,

The wealth of the nations will come to you.

 

Again, these many, and I would say tens of millions, perhaps more, are not the typical mob.

 

ISA 60:8 "Who are these who fly like a cloud

And like the doves to their lattices?

 

“Lattices” - The question is addressed to Zion, and the answer may easily be anticipated-namely, that this swarm of swiftly flying figures are hurrying to a house which they long to reach, as much as pigeons do to reach their pigeon-house. [Keil and Delitzsch]

 

ISA 60:9 "Surely the coastlands will wait for Me;

And the ships of Tarshish will come first,

To bring your sons from afar,

Their silver and their gold with them,

For the name of the Lord your God,

And for the Holy One of Israel because He has glorified you.

 

Micah saw the multitudes coming. He saw the glory that God would lay upon Zion.

 

Micah sees the mountain of the house of the Lord as the highest mountain. Zion’s greatness is God’s greatness (Psa 46-48). 

 

PSA 48:1-2

Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised,

In the city of our God, His holy mountain. 

2 Beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole earth,

Is Mount Zion in the far north,

The city of the great King. 

 

The last word, in the last day, is not judgment on man’s defeats, but gracious salvation.

 

The Lord’s way is specifically shown as godliness - “For from Zion will go forth the law.” 

 

Mankind with completely changed hearts:

 

The pilgrims want to know God’s ways and law, they no longer war, they enjoy peace and freedom and are gracious.

 

That they are under their own vine and fig tree also indicates that they no longer have appetites swollen with greed.

 

Vs. 5 snaps us out of the future vision and back to the here and now.

 

MIC 4:5 Though all the peoples walk

Each in the name of his god,

As for us, we will walk

In the name of the Lord our God forever and ever.  

 

We get a glimpse of the kingdom (vv. 1-4) and then we awaken from our day dream to the reality of worshipers of self and wealth and power and importance and who reject God. We live in a post-Christian era. 

 

Our reality:

Post Christian Era: Today, the distant echoes of the medieval culture upon which the West was built can barely be heard.

 

Post Christian Era:

The quest for personal well-being and self-gratification has replaced the older hunger for salvation. 

 

We can hide away and enjoy our own salvation, or we can work to spread the gospel and the truth of life to the plentiful harvest around us. To seek out our own personal salvation and lack care for others is to mix narcissistic hedonism with Christianity, when these are oil and water.

 

Christ doesn’t tell us to save the world, but He did tell us to be salt in it and the light to it.

 

Micah, and God who reveals Himself to him, will not let us disappear from the problem: again in vs. 5: As for us, we will walk

In the name of the Lord our God forever and ever.  

 

It’s not going to be easy - for until the kingdom comes, we will be like those in the second oracle, oppressed, persecuted, poor, and at times, disciplined (vv. 6-7). 

 

Peace of Christ that surpasses understanding. 

 

MIC 5:1-6

"Now muster yourselves in troops, daughter of troops;

They have laid siege against us;

With a rod they will smite the judge of Israel on the cheek. 

2 "But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,

Too little to be among the clans of Judah,

From you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel.

His goings forth are from long ago,

From the days of eternity." 

3 Therefore He will give them up until the time

When she who is in labor has borne a child.

Then the remainder of His brethren

Will return to the sons of Israel. 

4 And He will arise and shepherd His flock

In the strength of the Lord,

In the majesty of the name of the Lord His God.

And they will remain,

Because at that time He will be great

To the ends of the earth. 

5 This One will be our peace.

 

This prophetic account underlines the mysterious character of the divine initiative that chooses its elect from among the small.

 

They come to Zion. Who can ascend that mountain? 

 

Psa 15 A Psalm of David.

O Lord, who may abide in Your tent?

Who may dwell on Your holy hill? 

2 He who walks with integrity, and works righteousness,

And speaks truth in his heart. 

3 He does not slander with his tongue,

Nor does evil to his neighbor,

Nor takes up a reproach against his friend; 

4 In whose eyes a reprobate is despised,

But who honors those who fear the Lord;

He swears to his own hurt and does not change; 

5 He does not put out his money at interest,

Nor does he take a bribe against the innocent.

He who does these things will never be shaken.

 

God does not force them to be righteous. They are. 

 

Now, go back to Bethlehem. God’s divine initiative is to elect from the small. The Son of God was born in the small village of David by eternal decree. Born of a virgin, an infant helpless in a no-where place. 

 

God is telling the world that salvation is not by might, by bravado, by conquering, by power, or intellect, or influence, or wealth, or importance. Salvation is for those who by faith bow as sinners and believe in the One who can save them. Faith in the gospel comes from the helpless. Faith in the gospel of Christ is faith from one who knows that he cannot in any way save himself. 

 

The King is so mighty, wise, and powerful, that even standing between worlds in the interim time, the King’s presence gives us a peace that challenges all comprehension. 

 

Nietzsche: “God is dead … We have killed him. … How shall we, the murderer of all murderers, comfort ourselves.”

 

PHI 4:5-7

The Lord is near. 6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. 

 

Application:

Be at peace. Know that you must have a peace that does not depend on the fluctuations of the world where evil remains like the sea, but like the tide waxes and wanes.

 

Do not be a ship at sea without rudder or anchor, tossed here and there by waves and winds, but know and feel the presence of your Shepherd-King.

 

Rejoice.

 

Know that you will not change the ways of the world, but that you will touch many individuals in it. Be salt and light.

 

Be comforted by the presence of the King. He is coming. You will be with Him. You will see millions flock to Him, longing to walk in His ways. Won’t that be a sight!?

 

Be comforted. Show the world that you have peace because the King has given it to you. He has given Himself to you.

 

Merry Christmas. The King has been born. He has died for you already, and raised from the tomb. He sits at the right hand of power and will return in the clouds of the air for His saints, whom He asked to have with Him.

 

We can be at peace, gracious, kind, loving, alive, righteous, etc. as we wait for Him for He is in our midst.