MICAH 1-7 THE PROPHECIES OF OBADIAH JONAH AND MICAH2013 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Micah 1-7 The Prophecies Of Obadiah Jonah And Micah

We are looking this evening at

The books Obadiah, Jonah, and Micah, which are the books that we read this week and going through the Bible in three years. Now as we look at these books, we're looking at and working our way through the minor prophets. We've already seen Hosea and Joel and Amos, and now moving on to Obadiah, Jonah, and Micah. So the first book we'll be looking at tonight is the book of Obadiah.

Obadiah ministered around 605 through 586 BC, which was the time when Babylon destroyed Jerusalem. Babylon conquered Jerusalem, took away the captives, and Obadiah's ministry was specifically geared towards or against the nation of Edom.

because the nation of Edom had come against Judah as well as Babylon. And so his purpose was to proclaim judgment against Edom, but then also to declare deliverance for Mount Zion. The context for that, if you want to look at the history of what was going on, you can look at 2 Kings chapters 23, 24, and 25, or you can kind of just remember that

things that we went through as we went through the book of Jeremiah because that was the time frame that Jeremiah was ministering as well. So he's talking about Edom because they joyfully watched as Judah fell to Babylon and also participated in the destruction as we'll see throughout the book of Obadiah.

Now, so on our timeline, here's what it looks like. You see Obadiah there, right during the midst of the Babylonian captivity, the nation of Judah, the city of Jerusalem was conquered. The people were taken captive to Babylon. And it's around that time that Obadiah is prophesying against the nation of Edom. Here's what it looks like on the map.

You have Israel and Judah, which we've been looking at, the divided kingdom. Judah was where Jerusalem was, and that's where Jeremiah was as he was prophesying. But Edom was a little bit south and east, a little bit below the Dead Sea. And this was populated by the descendants of Esau.

And so if you go back in history, think about Genesis, you know, you had Jacob and Esau. They were twin brothers, right? And the descendants of Jacob, also known as Israel, becomes the nation of Israel. Well, the descendants of Esau are the nation of Edom. And so God is speaking against Israel.

The nation of Edom, the descendants of Esau through Obadiah, particularly for their attack against Judah, who is their relatives or their brothers, God will save. And so here we're looking at Obadiah. We're starting in chapter 1 and finishing in chapter 1 because there's only one chapter in Obadiah. The key verse is verse 15. It says, "...for the day of the Lord upon all nations is near."

As you have done, it shall be done to you. Your reprisal shall return upon your own head. And so here God is speaking through Obadiah to Edom, but then also in general to all nations. And it's interesting to me that God is making sure that

to point out that we understand and know that God doesn't just deal with the nation of Israel and Judah. God just doesn't deal with his people, but he will judge nations and he will bring justice to nations. And that's what's happening here with the nation of Edom. In verses 1 through 4, God says, I will make Edom small.

He's going to reduce Edom. In verse 4 he says, I will bring you down.

He describes Edom as being lifted up. Now, Edom geographically was kind of high elevation. Some of the peaks are around 6,000 feet high as opposed to like Jerusalem is at about 2,300 feet high. So, you know, it's higher and they're lifted up, but also it's representative of their hearts of pride are lifted up. And so God is saying, you're lifted up and I will bring you down.

That is God's guarantee. Whoever is lifted up will be brought down. That's absolutely guaranteed, 100% without exception. In fact, we even dealt with that on Sunday as we talked there in Luke chapter 18. Jesus used the example of the kids, remember? And he said, whoever humbles himself will be exalted, but whoever exalts himself will be humbled or brought down.

And so the pride of Edom is really the issue that's going on. They're resting in themselves, trusting in themselves, and exacting, you know, their version of vengeance upon the nation of Judah. And God says, I'm going to bring you down for your great pride. Well, then in verses 5 through 9, God goes further to say, Edom will be cut off.

Not only is Edom going to be made small, but then Edom is going to be cut off. And he's using some illustrations here. He says, look, thieves leave things behind. You know, if your house gets robbed or someone, you know, goes through the stuff in your car, they leave things behind. They don't take everything out of your home, typically, right? There's some things that are left behind. But in regards to Edom, God's saying...

There's not going to be anything left behind. He says, grape gatherers, when they're picking the fruit off of the vine, there's some grapes that they miss. They leave some behind. But in dealing with the nation of Edom, nothing will be left behind. And so everything that Edom was known for will be reversed.

He says, all of your hidden treasures will be found. All of your alliances will be broken. All of your friends will turn against you. All of your wise men will be gone. And your mighty men will be dismayed or afraid. Then in verses 10 through 16, God explains why. He says, for violence against your brother Jacob. So again, Edom is populated by the descendants of Esau.

And Judah is populated by the descendants of Jacob. And so they come from these two brothers. And so God says, you're violent against your brethren. You're violent against your brother. And so this is why I will bring this destruction upon you.

And he tells them, you should not have done, you know, different things seven times here in this passage. He says, you shouldn't have gloated over their destruction. You shouldn't have rejoiced as they were taken captive. You shouldn't have spoken proudly against them or entered the gates. You shouldn't have cut off those who escaped. That's kind of how far it went. You know, they were like rejoicing over the destruction, but some people escaped from Judah.

And the Edomites captured them and gave them to Babylon and said, here you guys go. These guys were trying to get away. You know, we're just trying to help out a little bit here. And so they delivered up, you know, those who escaped over to Babylon. And God says, you should not have done that. And so he says in verse 15, as you have done, it shall be done to you. This is a law that cannot be changed. There's two laws that we see here in this book. First of all,

If you've lifted yourself up, you will be brought down. And if you bring yourself low, you humble yourself, you will be lifted up. That's a law. That does not change. That's the way that God works. But here's a second law. You reap what you sow. And we'll see this all throughout God's word. You reap what you sow. Paul says in Galatians 5, 6, 7 and 8 actually, that if you sow to the flesh, you'll reap destruction. But if you sow to the spirit, you'll reap everlasting life.

This will never change. He says, as you have done, it shall be done to you. It's an important reminder for us because, well, we got to stop sowing bad seeds and then expecting good results. And sometimes we wonder why we're getting bad results, but it's not really a surprise when we realize we're sowing bad seeds. So what you reap is what you sow, or what you sow is what you reap.

Well then in verses 17 through 21, he says there shall be deliverance on Mount Zion. So he speaks against Edom, but then he also goes on to look at Jerusalem, which is where Mount Zion is.

And he says, Mount Zion shall be delivered. Even though there's this destruction going on by Babylon, there's going to be a restoration. There's going to be a deliverance and my people will inhabit the land once again. And so it's a blessing and a reminder of the promises of the future that God has for his people while he announces the judgment upon Edom.

Now the judgment upon Edom is so great. In verse 18 he says, No survivor shall remain of the house of Esau.

And so the Edomites, he says, there's not going to be any survivors. And we have found that to be true. History has proven that to be true. The Edomites really disappeared off the scene in 70 AD when Rome defeated Jerusalem as well as the Edomites. And so there was a few Edomites left in that time. In fact, Herod was a descendant. But ever since 70 AD, there has not been any Edomites again.

And that is the book of Obadiah. Now we head into the book of Jonah. Jonah, of course, is a very famous book, a very famous story. It's often mocked or disputed. But as we study this book, I would remind you that Jesus...

Jesus believed that this was a real account. And that's good enough for me. Jesus believed it, so I will as well. In Matthew chapter 12 verse 40, he refers to Jonah being three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish. And he says, in the same way, the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the hearts of the earth. And so Jesus refers to Jonah.

The book of Jonah and the, you know, events that are recorded in it as actual events and as a foreshadowing of what will happen to him. So the prophet Jonah, we don't know exactly, you know, when all of this took place, but it took place somewhere in the time frame of 793 to 753 B.C.

There's a reference to Jonah in the book of 2 Kings that kind of puts us in that time frame. He prophesied to the nation of Assyria, or more specifically to the capital of Assyria, which was the city of Nineveh.

And so the purpose of his prophecy was to announce judgment upon Nineveh. But the book as a whole we also see demonstrates the mercy of God both in the city of Nineveh and in the prophet Jonah. You can look at the historical parallel in 2 Kings chapter 14 and see some of the events that were going on as Jeroboam is the king there in Israel at that time.

So here's what it looks like on the timeline. So we were with Obadiah, you know, a couple hundred years earlier. Now we're rewinding a little bit. We're back when the Assyrian Empire is the ruling power of the day. And Jonah is sent by God to Assyria, to Nineveh, to announce the judgment of God.

Around the same time, you know, Isaiah is prophesying and right into the time of Hosea and Amos as well, which we've already looked at. So Jeroboam is the king of Israel during this time. And then it's a little bit after this in 722 BC, Israel is taken captive by Assyria. And so it's a little bit before Israel is completely conquered by the Assyrian Empire, which is, you know, Nineveh is the capital of that.

Well, here's what it looks like on the map, the geography of Jonah. It mentions Gath Hefer as Jonah's home. And so that's it there in the northern part of the nation of Israel. And then you also see Joppa on the map. That'll become important in this story as Jonah flees from the presence of God.

And then also here you can see the Assyrian Empire. This was a vast empire that, you know, was the ruling power of the day. And Nineveh is right there on the Tigris River. It was the capital of this empire and it's the city that God called Jonah to minister to. I like the way that Warren Wiersbe describes this book. He says, the book emphasizes God's grace both to Nineveh and to Jonah.

He says, And so really this is dealing with the heart of Jonah as well as the city of Nineveh. So we start in chapter 1 of Jonah. Verse 17 is the key verse.

It says, now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. So the beginning of this book, God speaks to Jonah and he says, Jonah, go to Nineveh and deliver the message that I will give to you. He says, their wickedness, in verse 2, has come up before me.

The city of Nineveh was very wicked. So wicked that God says, I'm going to bring judgment upon them in 40 days. And so it was some serious things going on there in Nineveh. But God tells Jonah to let them know about this judgment in advance. One of the things that we see, you know, in the book of Jonah is that when God announces judgment...

It's really an opportunity to repent. And we've seen that repeatedly throughout the prophets. God many times will announce judgment to people as an opportunity for them to wake up and to change, to repent and to get right with God. And that's what happens with the city of Nineveh. But not quite yet. Because Jonah gets this instruction. He thinks about going to Nineveh. He thinks about what God has said. And he decides, you know, I don't want to do that.

And so it tells us that he arose to flee to Tarshish. Now Tarshish is believed to be in modern day Spain. We don't have an exact location for it, but it was essentially the farthest place that the Jewish people knew about. It was like, you know, as far away as I could go, that's where I'm going to go. That's what Jonah was thinking.

And so we see, you know, even prophets sometimes try to run from God. I don't know about you, but I've tried to run from God before. I've, you know, received instruction. He's ministered to me. And it's not something that I'm particularly excited about. And so I try to avoid it or I try to make sure that it can't happen or I can't do it. And Jonah tries to do that as well. We've all experienced

tried to run from God. Now, why was Jonah running from God in this case?

Was it because he was afraid of the Ninevites? I mean, they were exceedingly wicked, but that's not what's told to us. It's not that he was fearful of them. Was it because he was afraid of speaking for God? And we see that that's not the reason that's given. But in chapter 4 of Jonah, verse 2, Jonah gives the reason, and it's essentially that he did not want God to forgive them.

He says, I know you're gracious and compassionate. You're merciful. And I didn't want them to have the opportunity to repent. I wanted them to get judged. I wanted them to experience the judgment that you had in store for them. And that's why I ran, he says in Jonah chapter 4 verse 2. So he doesn't like the Ninevites. He wants them to be judged. So he runs. He goes. He gets a ship. They're in Joppa. He runs.

tries to go to Tarshish, but then in verses 4 through 9, we see that a mighty tempest comes upon the sea. There's a great storm, and these sailors are fearful of their lives. I mean, this is not a normal storm for them. They've been on the sea. They know what to expect. They've dealt with and gone through storms, but this one was different. They're about to lose their lives. And so this storm comes again,

upon them, but we see Jonah's asleep there in the bottom of the boat. It's interesting, you know, when you and I run from God, we often find ourselves in a similar spot. The storm doesn't bother us. Instead, we just keep running. We keep pushing harder and faster, trying to not let God catch up, no matter how much resistance we are getting. We get fast asleep in

our rebellion in our, well, whatever it is that we fill our mind to try to distract us from what is really going on. And so we can immerse ourselves and fall asleep in work or in entertainment or whatever it might be in a relationship because we're running from the Lord. In verses 10 through 17, we see that Jonah is thrown into the sea. When Jonah wakes up, they wake him up. They say, hey,

You got to cry out to your God. You know, we don't know what's going on, but something major is happening. Jonah says, I know what's happening. I'm running from God. So here's what you got to do. Cast me into the sea. Now they didn't want to do it. They tried rowing hard. They did everything that they could, but finally they said, we're going to die. The ship's about to break up. And so we'll listen to you and we'll cast you overboard.

Now for these guys, running from God was not really a big deal until they found out who his God was.

The culture in that day, their thoughts about gods were that gods were local deities. You know, they kind of had their local jurisdiction. And so if you're running from God, that's not really a surprising thing, you know. I just, I need to get away from the God of Corona, so I go to Riverside, you know. Like, it's local in their minds. But Jonah says, no, my God is the God, the creator of the heavens and the earth. And they realize that.

Oh, this is a bigger deal. Why do you think you can run from him? And so they realize then the trouble that they're in. And that's why they finally give in and cast him into the sea. So Jonah is there in Gath Hefer. He hears from the Lord. He decides, I don't want to go to Nineveh. So he goes down to Joppa. He gets a boat and he heads out on the Mediterranean Sea in the opposite direction. Now check this out.

Here you can see there's Joppa, you know, he's going across there. On the far right, you see the city of Nineveh. And then on the far left...

is the area of Tarshish or the the place called Tarshish so literally Jonah is like running in the opposite direction as far as he possibly can to try to get out of doing what God has called him to do and so just learn the lesson from Jonah when you're tempted to do that because we all are no matter how secure you think your plan is no matter how much you think you can handle it uh

God's not going to let you do that. So you can try to run. You can move in the opposite direction. But you cannot run out of the presence of God or out extending past the arms of God. Well, Jonah chapter 2 now, verse 10 is the key verse. It says, So the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land. Here, Jonah repents. He's there in the great fish pond.

Often we refer to it as a whale. It doesn't specifically say that. Fish and whales are kind of different, so we don't know exactly what kind of animal it was. But Jonah is there for three days and three nights. Now, I don't know what that was like, but if you want to experience what it was like, maybe just pour all kinds of guts and stuff into a sleeping bag and then crawl in there and stay there for three days and three nights and see if you like it.

Make sure there's some acid in there too to kind of, you know, take care of the hair on your body and things like that. Whiten the skin. Who knows exactly what Jonah was experiencing, but this was not a pleasant time. But still, you know, he represents well the stubbornness of our hearts. It's three days later, he finally says, okay, Lord, I give. I surrender and I'll repent and call out to you. So he cries out to the Lord now.

The amazing thing, though, that we see is that even though you can see the stubbornness of Jonah, you can see the heart of Jonah. I mean, he's running. He's doing the exact opposite. The amazing thing about the grace of God is that when you call out to him in the midst of your stubbornness and rebellion, that God answers and God hears and God allows you to return back to him. You know, if God was like us, we might not do that, right? We'd be like,

You just stay there. You know that you had your chance. You had your opportunity. You're getting what you deserve. But Jonah repents. He calls out to the Lord and God listens. He calls out to the Lord. He says, I'm going to look again towards your holy temple. I'm going to be submitted to you. I'm going to surrender to you. I'll sacrifice to you. And so God instructs this great fish.

To, you know, hit the eject button. And Jonah is vomited out onto dry land. So he's trying to run to Tarshish. God intervenes. The fish takes him back to where he came from. Back to the shore. And he is spit up there on the dry land. Now we don't know exactly where he was spit up. That's just a, you know, general representation that he was brought back to the shore from which he fled. Chapter 3 now verse 10 is the key verse.

It says, then God saw their works that they turned from their evil way and God relented from the disaster that he had said he would bring upon them and he did not do it. So now Jonah makes his way to Nineveh. In verses 1 through 4, you see this happening. He goes to Nineveh because in verse 1, it tells us the second time God spoke to Jonah and said, go to Nineveh.

I think this is interesting, and I love the account of Jonah, because we learn so much from it. Listen, running from God will not change God's command. You can try to run, you can be rebellious, you can be stubborn, but when you finally repent, many times God's going to give you the same command that he gave you before. I can look back in my own life, and I

I seriously see a Jonah, you know, in my own history. There was that time as I was running from God. And it was amazing how God spoke to me as, you know, He brought me back and brought me to the point where I was in the belly of the great fish and finally repented and got right. And there was this, you know, time of restoration that God was doing a work. And I remember so clearly there was a time that...

I was back serving at the church. I was back teaching again. Just, it was, you know, great to be back with the Lord. And I shared a message to the youth on a Friday night. And as I shared that message, you know, it was something that I was studying and I was seeking the Lord and hearing from Him. And so I shared the message that I believed God had put upon my heart.

Well then, after I shared that message, it was like a couple days later, I happened to come across a recording of the message that I had shared last with the youth group before I ran away from the Lord. And it's amazing how the messages were, the points were the same.

That the Lord was just showing me. He brought me back. It was kind of like full circle. And it was so comforting for me because I really saw, you know, the grace of God in restoration and bringing me back to where he wanted me to be. And it was the same thing that I was at when I decided that I was going to run from the Lord. And so it's amazing how God works like this in our lives. You can run from God and you can try to be stubborn, but it doesn't get you out of what God wants you to do.

And so when you come back, when you come to your senses, when you finally repent, don't be surprised when God gives you the same command that he gave you before you started running away from him. This time though in verse 3 it tells us that Jonah arose. His repentance is proven by his obedience. And so he arose, he goes to Nineveh and he gives the message. In 40 days Nineveh shall be overthrown. He's walking through the city praying.

It says it's a three-day journey. So probably not just the city itself, but all of the surrounding area as well. He's walking through it and he's announcing, in 40 days Nineveh will be overthrown. Well, the people hear the message in verses 5 through 10. We see that Nineveh turns from their evil way. They believe God. When this announcement of judgment comes, they believe it. They say God's going to judge us. And so they decide...

To repent. There's massive revival as this whole city turns to God. The people are responding even though Jonah is somewhat reluctant. And as we go on into chapter 4, you see he's not happy about this.

Which is interesting. People are responding even though, can you imagine if Pastor Greg Laurie, you know, at the Harvest Crusade, he gets up and he shares, but he's like, you know, I really don't want, I want you guys to be judged. I really don't want you to believe this, but here's the message God told me to give, and so I have to give it. So here's the judgment that's coming, you know. And then, and then the people are responding. You know, it's amazing. It's the Word of God that people are responding to. A lot of it doesn't really matter about, you know,

the attitude, the tone of voice, or those kinds of things. It's the Word of God that's powerful, and the people are responding to this Word from the Lord. They repent, they believe God, they cry out to God, and they turn from their sin.

I like what David Guzik says about repentance. He says,

They're not trying to, you know, blame somebody for their sinfulness or anything like that. They just recognize, they call out, and they own, you know, their actions and own their wickedness. And so God responds in verse 10. It says that He sees their works.

and he turns from their evil way. He sees their works. And so it's not just sorrow and emotion, but it's action. They turned away from sin and God relented from the disaster. And so again, when God announces judgment, it is an opportunity to repent.

So here's the journey of Jonah. He tries to head out from Joppa to Tarshish. God interrupts, brings him back to the land, and then he calls him again to go to Nineveh. It's about a 500 mile journey to Nineveh from the nation of Israel. And so he takes that journey. He begins to give the message and the people respond. Now in chapter 4, verse 11 is the key verse.

God says, And should I not pity Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than 120,000 persons, who cannot discern between their right hand and their left, and much livestock? In verses 1 through 4, we find that Jonah is displeased and angry. Now, Jonah is revealing here, he has a heart problem. God relents from this disaster, and it displeases Jonah.

He's exceedingly angry, it says. He wanted them to receive judgment. That's what he says in verse 2. He says, that's why I didn't want to come. Because I knew you're gracious and merciful. You're slow to anger. You're abundant in loving kindness. And I didn't want them to get those things. He really wanted them to be judged. You can see there's great bitterness here in the heart of Jonah. And God wants to deal with that. And so Jonah's upset.

And so in verses 5 through 6, he goes out to a hill nearby and he watches the city. He's like still hoping, God change your mind again and still bring the judgment that you wanted to bring. You can see the issue of bitterness here. Now you and I can learn from this. There is an issue of bitterness sometimes in our hearts. And we need to learn to love our enemies because God loves our enemies. And as hard as that is for us to understand, this is what God is teaching Jonah. I love them.

And so I'm going to show compassion to them as they turn and get right with me. God loves those people that you don't love. He loves those people that you are bitter against. He loves them, even if you do not. And so we need to learn to love them.

In verses 7 through 11, God tells Jonah it's right for him to have pity upon Nineveh. And so he's teaching Jonah with this illustration. He prepares a plant for Jonah because he's hot out there. He's out in the desert watching the city. And so God allows a plant to grow up and give him shade. And he's like, oh, I love this plant. It's awesome. But then God prepares a worm.

And the worm eats the plant and this wind comes. And so the plant dies. And now Jonah's angry and displeased even more because this plant that he loved died. And God says, look, you were happy about this plant. You were attached to it. And you wanted to die when this plant was gone. Now do you understand? You see the illustration here, Jonah? You cared about this plant. I care about the people of Nineveh. And so when they give me an opportunity to show them grace, I'm going to do it.

He says, you were concerned about one plant. Shouldn't I be concerned about the 120,000 kids that are there? And all the animals that are there? Even if all the adults are corrupt, they're innocent. Shouldn't I give them the grace and mercy that I want to give them when they turn and repent and believe me? Again, this issue of bitterness. Here's what we need to understand. The people that we are bitter against, their sin is paid for. God forgives them.

And we need to as well. Well, that's the book of Jonah. Now we head into the book of Micah. The book of Micah takes place around 750 to 730 BC. Somewhere in that time frame is when Micah is ministering. He prophesies primarily to the nation of Judah, the southern kingdom of the nation of Israel. And his purpose is to exhort Judah to live in the covenant with God.

If you want to look at the historical accounts that go along with this, you can check out 2 Kings 15, 16, and 17. And it's in that time frame. So we see here Micah, he prophesied around the same time as Hosea. Now Hosea, we saw last week, prophesied to the northern kingdom.

Micah prophesies to the southern kingdom. And so it's about the same time the northern kingdom is about to be destroyed. And so Micah is speaking to the southern kingdom and again calling them to repentance with this illustration of seeing what's happening to the northern kingdom, their sisters, you know, their brothers that are right there with them.

So he prophesied during the reigns of Jotham, who was mostly a good king, Ahaz, who was not a good king, and then also Hezekiah. And it's possible that his message had a big part to play in the revival during Hezekiah's day. So his message is primarily to Judah. He also gives references to the northern kingdom as well.

Here's what it looks like on the map. Now Micah's home is mentioned as being Moresheth Gath. Which is there in the southern kingdom. A little bit away from Jerusalem. And he's speaking to you know the nation of Judah. As well as the nation of Israel a little bit. And specifically mentions Samaria. And some other cities in Judah. Which we'll see here in chapter 1.

So chapter 1 verse 1 is the key verse. It says, The word of the Lord that came to Micah of Moresheth in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem. In verses 1 through 4, it says, The Lord will tread on the high places. Remember what we learned in Obadiah? Whatever is exalted and lifted up, God will bring it low. In the same way, God will tread on the high places. Those who are lifted up

He's going to descend from heaven. It says in verse 3, Behold, the Lord is coming out of his place. He will come down and tread on the high places of the earth. And so he reminds them that God is the creator and that he will come down and set foot in the high places is where they would worship false gods.

And he's going to come down and deal with that idolatry is what Micah is saying. Now he singles out Jerusalem and Samaria as the primary violators in this idolatry. Samaria was the capital of Israel and Jerusalem was the capital of Judah. And so it was most prevalent in those heavily populated centers of the nations.

He says in verses 5 through 7, I will make Samaria a heap of ruins. Because of the sins of Samaria, he says, I'm going to bring this judgment.

He says, I'll make them a heap of ruins and uncover her foundations. So the destruction is going to be so great that the foundations are going to be left open. So there's going to be nothing left on top of them. Now this actually happens not very long after Micah is prophesying these things. Again, he was, you know...

prophesying around the same time as Hosea, who prophesied right up to the destruction of Israel by the nation of Assyria. And so this happened, you know, maybe 10 or 15 years after Micah is prophesying these things, Samaria actually becomes a heap of ruins. He says in verses 8 through 16, your precious children shall go into captivity. As he records this, it's clear judgment is not joyful.

It's not a joyful thing for the prophet who announces it. It's not a joyful thing for God who delivers it. And it's not a joyful thing for the person who receives it. It's not joyful for anybody. It's not a joyful thing, judgment. Now, as he goes through these verses 8 through 16, he's listing a bunch of different towns. They're little towns that are in Judah.

And he's using some plea on words that we don't really get in the English, but are there in the Hebrew. And so I want to give you a couple examples of that. But he's talking about Nineveh. Again, here's the Assyrian Empire. Nineveh is the capital. So they repented during Jonah's ministry, but...

At some point later, probably not too much longer after they kind of got back to their old ways. And so they are now, you know, on an assault against this whole area. And they're going to come against the nation of Israel as well as the nation of Judah. And so he says they're going to come against Samaria. They're going to make it a heap of ruins. And then from there, they're also going to go into the land of Judah.

Now we know that Babylon is the nation that conquers Judah, but Assyria tries. And they do take a lot of Judah's cities. They do, you know, do a lot of conquering in the nation, but they're just unable to conquer the city of Jerusalem itself.

And so he lists some of these cities here. You can see Shafir and Gath and Marashah and Lachish or Lachish, Adullam. And so these are cities that he's talking about. Now, let me just give you a couple examples. In verse 10, he mentions Beth-Aphra. And, you know, Assyria is going to come. Now, Beth-Aphra means house of dust. And he says, roll yourselves in the dust.

Shaphir, mentioned in verse 11, means beautiful. And he says, you will pass by in naked shame. Zanon, mentioned in verse 11, means going out. And he says, the inhabitant of Zanon does not go out. And that just continues on. And so all of these cities, he's using their names and the meaning of their names, you know, as a play on words to kind of get their attention and they would understand what was going on.

So Assyria is going to come. They're going to conquer Samaria. And then they're going to head into Judah and conquer a bunch of cities. They're going to come against Jerusalem. Remember that happened during Hezekiah's day. And they're going to attempt to overthrow Jerusalem. But they will be unsuccessful because Hezekiah calls upon the Lord and God delivers them. Chapter 2 now verse 1. He says, Woe to those who devise iniquity.

And work out evil on their beds. At morning light they practice it because it is in the power of their hand. In verses 1 through 5 he says, Woe to those who devise iniquity.

He's addressing the nation. He's saying there's people who are planning and plotting iniquity. They think about it at night on their beds. They're thinking about what can I do tomorrow. They're planning out the iniquity that they're going to do. And then in the morning when they get up, they do it.

And so they're practicing the iniquity that they thought about and meditated on. And, you know, you can think about it. There's a difference between first degree murder and manslaughter, right? The first degree murder is the premeditated. It's planned. And then manslaughter is accidental. It wasn't thought out ahead of time. It wasn't, you know, with malice. It was just an accident that took place.

In a similar way, they were sinning against God and it wasn't that they just, you know, they fell short like we all do, but they were planning it out. They were making arrangements, you know, and so God is going to deal with them. He says, you devise iniquity, then verse 3, behold, against this family I'm devising disaster. And so you're planning your sinfulness and so I'm planning your disaster.

Remember the law. You reap what you sow. And so if you plan iniquity, God will plan your disaster. If you're living in sin because you think it will please you or be what you need, you're going to experience the judgment of God and you'll realize how foolish that was. In verses 6-11, he says, My people have risen up against me. They've risen up against me. They're telling the prophets to be quiet.

They're calling God's word prattle or nonsense or foolishness, but they're named the house of Jacob. He says in verse 7, Is the spirit of the Lord restricted? Are these his doings? Do not my words do good to him who walks uprightly? God says, do you think I'm limited? Do you think my word is limited? When we don't want to listen to God's word, when we disregard his warnings, we are thinking that it's restricted.

That it can't reach us. That it's, you know, different for us. We always think that we're the exception to God's word and the rules or the, you know, exception that is different for us. But it's not. God's not restricted. His word will be fulfilled. We will reap what we sow. He says, do good, or does not my words do good to him who walks uprightly? God's word does good

For those who do it. And so love the word of God. And do the word of God. And it does good for you. But disregard the word of God. Don't think that his word is restricted. He will bring the judgment that is deserved. He says in verse 10. Arise and depart for this is not your rest. Because it is defiled. It shall destroy. Remember he called the land of Canaan. The promised land. It was their rest. He was bringing them into the rest.

that he had provided for them where he was going to bless them. But he says, it's not your rest anymore. This is not what I provided for you. This is not what I intended for you. Instead, you've used my resources to rebel against me. And so now the land is going to put you out. It's defiled and they will be cast out. This is not what I intended for you, God says.

Then in verses 12 through 13, he ends the chapter saying, I will gather a remnant of Israel. So he says they're going to be cast out, but as so many times we see in the scriptures, God says, it's not over. I'm not done with you completely. I'm going to bring you back. I have great things in store for you, but before that happens, I'm going to need to deal with the sinfulness that is going on.

Chapter 3, now verse 8 is the key verse. He says, And verses 1 through 7, he addresses the leaders of the nation. He says,

The rulers hold a heavy responsibility in the rebellion of the nation and in this judgment that is going to come. So he calls them out specifically and he says, you guys, you're not fulfilling what you're called to do. Instead, you hate what is good and you love what is evil. God describes them kind of as cannibals. They're oppressing the people, consuming the people and living off of the people and they're his people.

And so he says in verse 4, Then they will cry to the Lord, but he will not hear them. He will even hide his face from them at that time because they have been evil in their deeds. So these leaders have been oppressing the people, hating good and loving evil. So when the time comes of God's judgment, then they're going to cry out to the Lord. But God says, I'm not going to hear you. This is an important thing to remember. To whom much is given, much more is required.

And so the leaders of the people, even when they cry out to God in this time of judgment, God says, I'm not going to listen. Because you know better and you knowing better still did wickedly. And so your judgment is going to be complete. It's an important reminder. If you have authority, whether it be in the church or in the home or in your workplace,

Whether it be in the community, wherever your authority may be, make sure that you walk uprightly and represent God well. Because God will hold you accountable to that role of authority that he's given to you. When you speak for God, only speak what he has said. Make sure that you don't misrepresent him as these guys did. In verses 8 through 12, he says, Zion shall be plowed like a field because of you. He points to the leaders, he says, it's your fault.

the mountain where Jerusalem is, it's going to be plowed like a field. It's going to be completely destroyed because of you. If you guys would have led my people correctly, then they wouldn't be experiencing judgment. He's placing this responsibility upon the leaders. There's a great, great responsibility for those who have authority.

It's something that God takes seriously. Now the people are still responsible individually for their relationship with God, but the nation as a whole, the responsibility falls upon those in authority, the leaders of the nation.

He says in verse 8, now this is Micah talking, he says, I am full of power by the Spirit of the Lord and of justice and might to declare to Jacob his transgression and to Israel his sin. These leaders have rejected God. They don't have the Spirit of God. They're not speaking for God. In contrast, I am full of power by the Spirit of God. God is speaking forth this word through me. He's not speaking through the false prophets, but he is speaking through Micah.

He says in verse 11, I think it's interesting, "...her heads judge for a bribe, her priests teach for pay, and her prophets divine for money." But then notice, "...yet they lean on the Lord and say, is not the Lord among us? No harm can come to us." So they're doing what they know to be wrong with the thinking, with the logic that God's with us. We have the temple here in Jerusalem.

So no harm can come to us. They're looking out for themselves and looking out for their own gain. So they're, you know, hey, we'll all fulfill my role, my responsibility. If you bribe me, if you give me enough money, the priest says, I'll teach you something. You know, if you pay me, then I'll teach you.

The prophets say, I'll bring the word of God to you if you give me a salary, if you pay me, then I'll do what I'm supposed to do. And God says, this is completely wrong. You're looking out for yourselves, you're oppressing my people, but they're still thinking, even though we're doing wrong, hey, no harm's going to come to us because, hey, God's among us. They were a little bit delusional and it's a good reminder for us that we would not follow their example.

we can similarly become convinced that we will not experience any kind of repercussions or consequences for those things that we know are wrong, but we do them because we think, well, I went to church, I read my Bible, I served in this way, I did this thing, you know, the Lord's among us, I'm a Christian, so no harm will come. But again, what's the law of God? You reap what you sow.

And so they will sow destruction because they have, I'm sorry, they will reap destruction because they have sown to the flesh just like you and I will as well.

Micah chapter 4 verse 2 is the key verse. 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. He will teach us his ways, and we shall walk in his paths. For out of Zion Allah shall go forth, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. Now Micah kind of shifts his attention a little bit, and he begins to talk about what we refer to as the millennium, the time when the Messiah, Jesus Christ, will rule and reign upon the earth.

In verses 1 through 5, he says, the Lord's house shall be established in the latter days. And so he's referring to something that is still yet future for us, the time when Jesus Christ will rule upon the earth. And during that time, the world will go to Jerusalem to learn of the Lord. It's going to be quite different than what we see today and what Micah saw in his day.

The world will go to Jerusalem to learn God's ways. It will be a time of peace and Israel will finally be in right relationship with God. Then in verses 6 through 8, he says, I will assemble the lame and gather the outcasts. He's referring to the nation of Israel. They were lame. They were outcasts because of their rebellion against God. He says, I will bring them back. I will assemble them and they will become a great nation.

In verses 9 through 13 he says, many nations have gathered against you but I'm going to restore you and I'm going to do this work. He says in verse 12, they don't know the thoughts of the Lord. Even to this day there's nations gathering against Israel but they don't know the thoughts of the Lord.

God says, I'm going to do this work. Even though nations desire to destroy you. Which is still going on today. He's still carrying on the blessing that he gave to Abraham. I'll bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you. And there are those who curse Israel and turn against Israel. And God says, they don't know my thoughts. They're not with me. They're not fulfilling my purposes or plans. But I will fulfill my plans.

God still has a plan for the nation of Israel. Chapter 5 now, verse 2. He says,

Here we see an awesome reference to the Messiah fulfilled by Jesus Christ. In verses 1 through 4 he says, The ruler shall come out of Bethlehem. So this is quoted actually in Matthew chapter 2 when the wise men show up in Jerusalem and say, Hey, where's the king? We saw his star. We know he's born. Where's he at?

So they inquire and the religious leaders know. They know the scriptures. They say, oh yeah, he's supposed to be born in Bethlehem. But they don't go check it out. They don't believe it. The wise men do and they go and they get to see the baby Jesus. Jesus, the Messiah born in Bethlehem. And he says, his goings forth are from of old, from everlasting. Because of course, Jesus Christ is God. Verses five through six, he says, God shall deliver us from Assyria.

Remember Assyria comes down, conquers Israel, the northern kingdom, then goes into Judah, conquers many of the cities, but he's saying Assyria will not be fully successful and Jerusalem will be spared. Jerusalem will not be conquered by Assyria. In fact, God defends Assyria.

The nation of Judah against Assyria. And remember, this is the time when the nation of Assyria experiences great defeat as the angel of the Lord goes through the army and cuts down 186,000 in one night. Then in verses 7-9 he says, The remnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles. So Assyria is not going to conquer Judah. But Judah is going to be conquered. They're going to be dispersed. And so they're going to be scattered amongst the Gentile nations.

Through this, God says in verses 10 through 15, you shall no more worship the work of your hands. What God is doing is he is dealing with their idolatry. They're worshiping the things that they make. They're worshiping themselves. They're worshiping their idols. And so God says, I'm dealing with that, bringing this destruction, dispersing you throughout the nations so that you no more worship the work of your hands.

Here's a quick look at the map. He says a ruler will come out of Bethlehem. This is the city of Bethlehem. It's a very, very small city that's just south of Jerusalem, a couple miles. And this is where Jesus was born because remember Joseph, you know, was of the line of David and so he had to go back there for the census. And so Jesus is born there and he is the ruler that comes out of Bethlehem whose goings forth are from everlasting.

Chapter 6, now verse 8. He has shown you, O man, what is good, and what does the Lord require of you, but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God. In verses 1 through 5, the Lord provides his complaint against his people.

He says in verse 1, hear now what the Lord says. Listen up. This is God's complaint. He says, what have I done to you that you've treated me so poorly? Why have you forsaken me? What have I done that has caused you to turn against me? And of course, the obvious point is God has done everything for them.

There's no reason, there's no justifiable reason for them to turn against God, but they have. And that's what makes it so terrible. In verses 6-8 he explains, he has shown them what the Lord requires. And what is that? To do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with God. Now the people respond to God's complaint saying, what have I done? And they say, well you've required too much.

What sacrifice can we bring? They're looking at this as religion and God is seeking relationship. Still the case today. We often fall into this. God is seeking relationship, not religion. We think, well, what kind of sacrifice can I bring? What can I do to make things right with God? And God says, here's what I really want. Do what is right. Do justly. Have mercy on people. Be compassionate and care for people. Love one another.

And walk humbly with me. That's what God desires. He doesn't demand. He's not requiring some great sacrifice. He's saying, come and walk with me. Do what's right and have mercy on the people around you. He says in verses 9 through 12, Shall I count pure those with wicked scales?

Again, he's explaining why he is just in bringing this judgment. He says, look, you guys have wicked scales. Now, this is not talking about their skin. He's talking about their business practices, how they were ripping people off with their scales as they would weigh things out. You cannot expect to be blessed as a righteous person when you live wickedly.

You reap what you sow. And so if you're living wickedly, if you're ripping off your employer, if you're doing things that are not right, if you're walking in things that you know are not of God, you cannot expect to be blessed as a righteous person. God says, shall I count pure those with wicked scales? You can't continue to live in sin and expect to be blessed like a righteous person. That's not the way that it works.

So God says in verses 13 through 16, I will make you sick by striking you. I'm bringing this judgment because you do wickedly. I'm not going to count you as pure. I'm not going to treat you as a righteous people because you are wicked in your practices. Well, chapter 7 now, verse 18 is the key verse. It says,

He does not retain his anger forever because he delights in mercy. In verses 1 through 7, it says that the faithful man has perished from the earth. Micah is proclaiming the judgment of God. He's saying there's nobody righteous left. They're perished. There's slim pickings when it comes to righteous men in the nation. Those who are there, he talks about in verse 3, they do evil with both hands. They're fully committed.

They're not just dabbling a little bit, but they've committed themselves with both hands. They're involved in evil. And so the result is, he goes on to say, you can't trust anybody. Not your friend, not your brother, not your spouse. You can't trust anybody because they're all fully involved in wickedness. But then he goes on in verses 8 through 13, speaking on behalf or speaking as the nation of Israel, he says, when I fall, I will arise. So here's the deal.

Israel will fall under judgment, but God will raise her up again. I cannot understand how some people teach that God's done with the nation of Israel and now the church is Israel and there's all kinds of nonsense that is taught and it just does not line up with what God's word says. God is making it incredibly clear. This isn't the first time we've seen this.

Although Israel has fallen, God says, I will raise her up again. In verse 9, he says...

Again, speaking on behalf of the nation. I will bear the indignation of the Lord because I've sinned against Him until He pleads my case and executes justice for me. He will bring me forth to the light. I will see His righteousness. God still has a work. We're looking forward to that work when Jesus returns and Israel is restored in its rightful place as God's people and the nation that He desired.

In verses 14 through 20, he says, who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity? If you're familiar with the teachings of Pastor John Corson, you know that he loves puns. He's always doing the plays on words. I think Micah is very similar. He was using that in the first chapter. Here he also is using that because his name means who is a God or who is like God. And so here he's concluding the thought saying, who's a God like you?

Verse 18, pardoning iniquity. What kind of God is this? Who is a God like this? What does He do? He pardons iniquity. He passes over the transgression of the remnant of His heritage. He does not retain His anger forever because He delights in mercy. Verse 19, He will again have compassion on us and will subdue our iniquities. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.

And so he ends with the promise of restoration and hope and forgiveness that God will bring to the nation of Israel, to the people of Israel, to the descendants of Abraham. And so those are the prophecies of Obadiah, Jonah, and Micah. And again, we see those spiritual laws. You reap what you sow. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled. Whoever humbles himself will be exalted. And so it's up to us.

God could bring the same question to us. What has he done that has justified our disregard for him? He's compassionate and loving and gracious. He's provided Jesus Christ. So like the Apostle Paul said in Romans chapter 12, we need to stop being conformed to this world and be transformed by the renewing of our mind. He says this is our reasonable service. The right thing to do is to let God change you.

Let God change you. We cannot change ourselves. Listen, if you live wickedly, you need to expect to be treated as a wicked person. Well, but I pray to prayer or I go to church. If you live wickedly, you should expect to be treated as a wicked person. You reap what you sow. You cannot live wickedly and expect to be blessed as a righteous person. But then, as we wrestle and struggle with sin, we realize we can't change ourselves. Like Paul said...

The things that I want to do, I can't do them. I try and I try and I try and I can't do them. And the things that I don't want to do, I find myself doing them. So what do we do then? If we reap what we sow and we try real hard but we can't change ourselves, what do we do? Here's what we need to do. Draw near to God. Draw near to God. Be like Nineveh. Hear His word and turn towards Him. Experience His forgiveness and grace and mercy. Stay close to God.

Sometimes we focus really hard on trying to fix our lives, fix our practices. And what God really says is, here's what I want. Walk with me. Walk with me. I don't want some big sacrifice or some, you know, major declaration. Sometimes we feel like that, don't we? We're like, I promise I will never, ever, ever, ever do this ever again. But then we find ourselves doing that again. But we make those big declarations because we feel like that's what God wants.

Listen, God knows you're going to blow it again. He's not looking for you to make some promise that you can't keep. He's looking for you to receive the grace that He extends through Jesus Christ and walk with Him, draw near to Him. And so if you want to reap the blessings that comes from righteousness, then draw near to God. Walk with God. Get to know God. Pursue that relationship with God. And He'll do the changing.

He'll do the changing in you. It won't happen overnight, but He'll do the changing as you walk with Him and stay close to Him. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, I pray this for each of us, God, that You would help us to seek You, to pursue You, to draw near to You.

Lord, that you might do the work in us that you desire to do. Help us to learn the lessons from these words that you brought through these prophets. Lord, that we would not try to do things on our own, that we wouldn't try to live wickedly, but want blessings of a righteous person. Instead, Lord, that we would look to you, Lord, to bless us as we walk with you.

knowing that you're gracious, Lord, knowing that you are incredibly merciful and forgiving. I pray that you would help us to not run away as you speak to us, as you give us your word, but that we would draw near and be obedient and walk with you as you've called us to. In Jesus' name I pray.

Amen.