Milo

GOD’S KINGDOM
Micah 6–7

“He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8).

One day God’s kingdom will fill the earth. Until then we who know the Lord can live as citizens of that kingdom, our lives demonstrating our allegiance to King Jesus.

Background
God’s kingdom. The biblical concept of a kingdom differs from the modern view. We tend to think of a kingdom as a location: a land with borders, within which a common language is spoken. In the Old Testament, a “kingdom” is a sphere within which the will of a king is supreme.
In one sense the entire universe is God’s kingdom, for He is its Maker and ultimate authority. Yet ever since Satan’s fall the universe has been a kingdom in rebellion against its rightful Ruler, just as ever since Adam’s fall earth has been a rebellious planet.
Yet the Bible reveals the God who gently and lovingly seeks to win back earth’s rebels. God spoke to Abraham, and gave Abraham promises broad enough to cover all his seed. God exercised His power to free Abraham’s children, the Jewish people, from servitude in Egypt, and bring them to the land He had promised their forefathers. And God gave them a Law, to teach Israel the way of love—to show them how to live with Him as their King, by voluntarily submitting to His will.
Micah portrayed a people who had abandoned covenant life and refused to live with God as their King. Yet in this third sermon Micah reminded Israel and us of three great truths. God is still King, and God’s people can still choose that simple lifestyle that is His will for His own. God is still King, and even in a rebellious society, an individual can maintain his citizenship in God’s kingdom. And God will be King over the whole earth. Ultimately His sovereignty will be acknowledged by all, and the whole world will be the kingdom of our God.

Overview
Micah stated God’s case against Israel (6:1–8) and announced God’s sentence (vv. 9–16). He lamented the breakdown of covenant life (7:1–6), yet lived in hope (vv. 7–10) of God’s ultimate victory (vv. 11–20).

Understanding the Text
“The LORD has a case against His people” Micah 6:1–5. Micah pictured the mountains of
Israel, those eternal witnesses to the historic story of redemption, as judges, who hear God state His case against Israel.
The question God asked Israel, “How have I burdened you?” (v. 3) might be paraphrased, “What have I done to make you fed up with obeying Me?” What had God done? Oh, all God had done was to be faithful to His covenant obligations as Israel’s Ruler to protect His people. God redeemed Israel from the land of their slavery, provided a great leader in Moses, protected them from their enemies, and brought them safely through the wilderness to the Promised Land (vv. 4–5).
Whenever Israel, or you and I, stray from the Lord, we can’t blame Him. God is utterly faithful to His people, fully committed to His covenant promises. If we become estranged from God, we can be sure of one thing. It wasn’t God who moved away from us. It was we who moved away from Him!

“With what shall I come before the LORD?” Micah 6:6–7 What did this faithful God want from His people? Micah, taking the part of Israel, used irony to sum up what they had been willing to give Him: burnt offerings. Thousands of rams. Even, as the pagans, their own children. What a travesty. Israel had responded to God’s love by practicing a religion of externals, a religion of ritual. It had even corrupted that religion by violating God’s express will and offering child sacrifices.
God our King is no more satisfied today with mere religion than He was in Old Testament times. God has been faithful to us. He wants us to respond to Him from the heart, and to be faithful to what He as king has told us He desires.

“He has showed you, O man, what is good” Micah 6:8. When my father died, I chose this text for his funeral service. My dad had no special claim to fame. He was a rural mail carrier for over 30 years, a Justice of the Peace for another 10, and an enthusiastic fisherman. He had a dry sense of humor, twinkling eyes, a fine memory and speaking voice, and a quiet faith he seldom spoke about but never hid. Everyone who knew Dad respected him, but I suspect few thought of him as someone special.
That’s why I chose this Micah text for his funeral. I’ve had the chance to meet and know some of the “greats” of our faith. And I appreciate them. But Dad represents to me the loyal citizen of God’s kingdom, who, untainted by fame, responds to the Lord in the simplest and yet most beautiful of ways. What does God require? Religious rituals? Thousands of sacrifices? No, He’s shown us what is good. What God our King asks is simply that in honor of Him we act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God.
You and I may never make the list of Christian greats here on earth. But far more important than that is to be found on the role of those citizens of God’s kingdom who respond wholeheartedly to the will of our King, and show it in a simple lifestyle of justice, mercy, and humility.

“I have begun to destroy you” Micah 6:9–16. The verdict was rendered in God’s favor. He had been faithful as Israel’s King. Israel has rebelled against His will. Justice and mercy are mocked in Israel, and humility was a joke (vv. 10–12). God is King, and such violations of His will will surely be punished.
The graphic description of Israel’s punishment in these verses reminds us that God is a great King. Rebellion against Him must, and surely will be, put down.

“What misery is mine!” Micah 7:1–2 Micah now expressed, not the misery of Israel, but the misery of a godly individual in a corrupt society. His first cry was one of loneliness. He looked desperately for “the godly” with whom he might have fellowship. But the land was as barren of godly persons as a field that has been thoroughly harvested is barren of fruit to satisfy one’s hunger.
Each of us has a basic need for fellowship with other believers. We need the mutual support. We need to know that we are not alone in our commitment to the Lord. If you want to grow in your relationship to God and as a Christian, perhaps your first priority should be to bond with Christian friends who share your commitment and desires.

“Do not trust a neighbor” Micah 7:3–6. A society in rebellion against God, as the soci-
ety Micah described here, corrupts relationships. Bonding can take place between the godly, because those who deal in justice, mercy, and humility can be trusted to care about others. But in a society where these qualities are lacking, the individual experiences isolation and alienation. The members of a corrupt society know they cannot trust themselves, and thus can trust no one else.
What an awful way to live: to “put no confidence in a friend” and “even with her who lies in your embrace be careful of your words.” It is not only right to live as loyal citizens of God’s kingdom.
It is the only way to live happily.

“Though I sit in darkness, the LORD will be my light” Micah 7:7–13. Micah had looked for godly people with whom to bond, and found none. He found only enemies, who gloated over the apparent failure of his predictions of doom to come true. And so Micah asked a question millions have asked through the ages. How does the godly person, who seeks to live as a citizen of God’s kingdom while traveling through Satan’s world, survive?
Micah said simply, “As for me, I watch in hope for the LORD, I wait for God my Saviour; my God will hear me” (v. 7). Though we sit in darkness now, we can see the light that is beginning to appear on history’s far horizon. God is coming, and when He appears all the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdom of our God and of His Christ. What gives us hope despite present darkness is the certainty that God’s day will dawn. As Micah said, looking forward to a restored Israel, “The day for building your walls will come” (v. 11).

“Shepherd your people with your staff” Micah 7:14–15. When God the King does come He will display His power. This is the significance of shepherding “with your staff.” The staff was a sturdy stick carried by the shepherd. It not only aided him in walking over rough ground, but also served as a weapon to beat off wild animals that would attack his sheep. When God the King comes, He will protect His own. He will use His staff, parallel with “wonders” (miracles; acts of power like the plagues that struck ancient Egypt) in verse 15, to crush every enemy of His people.
It’s good to remember that God is King. He merits our allegiance. But as sovereign Lord He has ultimate power. One day He will use it for His own, against all our enemies. How good it will be then to be good citizens of His kingdom, not rebels against His rule.

“They will turn in fear to the LORD our God” Micah 7:16–17. The display of God’s power will convince even a hostile world that He is King. Deprived of their power, the nations will at last turn to Him.

DEVOTIONAL
God Will Be God
(Micah 7)
It’s not easy to say, when we feel as alone and helpless as Micah obviously did, “I watch in hope for the LORD” (v. 7).
Micah—like experiences aren’t as unusual as they may seem. More than one Christian in our cities feels the same anguish Micah expressed. More than one feels alone (vv. 1–2). More than one feels surrounded by a violence and corruption with which he or she simply can’t cope (vv. 3–6). The promise of our King’s coming exists, but to many that day seems so far off. So unreal.
What keeps our hope alive in hopeless situations? Micah closed his book with a simple explanation. Our hope is kept alive by the simple fact that God is God. His nature, His character, is the firm ground on which our hope is built. It is because God is who He is that we know all will be well.
Who is He? Listen to Micah’s words. “Who is a God like You, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of His inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy. You will again have compassion on us; You will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea. You will be true to Jacob, and show mercy to Abraham, as You pledged on oath to our fathers in days long ago” (vv. 18–20).
So when you’re feeling down or defeated, read these words of Micah again and again. And remember, God will be God. And because He will be who He is, you and I can watch in hope for Him to act.

Personal Application
God’s character is our guarantee of good things ahead.

Quotable
“If the Lord be with us, we have no cause of fear. His eye is upon us, His arm over us, His ear open to our prayer—His grace sufficient, His promise unchangeable.”—John Newton

THE COMING KING
Micah 3–5

“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for Me One who will be Ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times” (Micah 5:2).

Human leaders failed to lead Israel to righteousness. God would remedy man’s failures by providing a Ruler of His own; One who will shepherd God’s flock in the strength of the Lord.

Overview
Micah indicted Israel’s rulers (3:1–4) and religious leaders (vv. 5–8), who had brought the nation to the edge of disaster (vv. 9–12). Yet ultimately Zion will be exalted (4:1–13) under a King (5:1–4) who will bring peace (vv. 5–6) and purity (vv. 7–13).

Understanding the Text
“Should you not know justice?” Micah 3:1–4 Micah began his second sermon by addressing the leaders of Israel. The challenge was appropriate. Surely those in government who have the responsibility of administering justice should be able to recognize what is fair and right.
But Micah pictured a group of leaders who “hate good and love evil.” In vivid terms Micah pictured a nation whose citizens are cattle, to be treated like animals that are butchered and prepared for eating. The leaders exploited the people, and cared only about the personal profit they could wrest from the suffering masses.
Micah’s charge may seem extreme, but it reflects a basic stance taken throughout Scripture. Leaders are called to serve others, never to exploit them. A youthful Solomon pleased God greatly when, rather than ask for personal wealth or glory, he requested “wisdom and knowledge, that I may lead this people” (2 Chron. 1:10). This is the attitude appropriate to any position of leadership, whether secular or spiritual.
Any opportunity we have to lead demands that we carefully examine our hearts. Are we motivated by a deep concern for the welfare of others? Or are we motivated by selfish concerns, by pride of position or a passion for power?
Exploitative leaders surrender their greatest resource. Micah said that when trouble comes “they will cry out to the LORD, but He will not answer them” (Micah 3:4). The leader whose motives and actions are pure can call on God, and expect Him to answer!

“If one feeds them, they proclaim ‘peace’ ” Micah 3:5–7. Again Micah fixes our attention on motives. The prophets in Israel, charged with the responsibility of communicating God’s message, were motivated by potential gain. If someone paid them, they were quick to say what their employer wanted to hear!
The consequences of approaching ministry in this way are the same as those of misusing secular leadership. “They will all cover their faces because there is no answer from God” (v. 7).
The most important thing that you or I can do is live in fellowship with the Lord. This keeps the channel open that permits us to speak to God, and God to speak to us.

“Hear this, you . . . who despise justice and distort all that is right” Micah 3:8–12. The spiritual consequences of flaws in leaders and prophets are great. But so are the material consequences. The aristocracy of Israel had created an unjust society. “Her leaders judge for a bribe, her priests teach for a price, and her prophets tell fortunes for money.” As a result the nation itself could not count on God’s help in time of need. An unjust society will be destroyed. As Micah said, “Zion will be plowed like a field, Jerusalem will become a heap of rubble, the temple hill a mound overgrown with thickets” (v. 12).
Don’t count on God to help you if you’re committed to a sinful lifestyle. Instead, count on God to bring disaster.

“In the last days” Micah 4:1–5. The sins of the nation’s leaders had brought Israel to the verge of destruction. Even so, God’s ultimate plan for Israel will be carried out. That plan is for all the peoples of the world to seek the God of Jacob. In the end, in God’s time, the word of the Lord will flow from Jerusalem and become the living principle by which disputes are settled. War will be no more, and individuals will enjoy the produce of their fields and vines in lasting peace. Then Israel will “walk in the name of the LORD our God forever and ever” (v. 5).
Terrible things do happen in this world, caused by selfish and greedy men and women. But it was not meant to be like this. And it will not be like this. In God’s time, life on this earth will become all that God originally intended it to be.

“I will assemble the exiles” Micah 4:6–13. The people of God will be scattered. But when God’s time comes, they will be reassembled. The God who expels will restore. He who punishes will bless.
We need to remember this. However dark a present experience, bright daylight lies just ahead.

“But you, Bethlehem” Micah 5:1–5. Micah now uttered one of the Old Testament’s most significant and clear messianic predictions. A Ruler is to appear who will bring the promised blessings to Israel. The Ruler will be born in Bethlehem, yet have “origins . . . from of old, from ancient times” (v. 2). This Ruler will shepherd His flock (Israel) in the strength of the Lord (v. 4). He will guarantee their security and peace, as His greatness reaches “the ends of the earth” (v. 4).
Like other messianic prophecies, this prediction makes no distinction between the first and second comings of Christ. He has been born, in Bethlehem, just as Micah predicted. He has not yet established that rule which will bring earth peace.
While Old Testament prophecy frequently fails to specify times, biblical prophecies have been fulfilled in a literal way. Jesus, as the Son of God, had origins “from ancient times.” And Jesus was born in Bethlehem, just as Micah specified some 700 years earlier.
We seldom are able to grasp the full implications of biblical visions of the future. But we can be confident that what God states will happen does lie ahead. And we can look forward with excitement to seeing God’s plan for our earth unfold.
His greatness will “reach to the ends of the earth” (v. 4). And we will see it!

“The remnant of Jacob will be in the midst of many peoples, like dew from the LORD” Micah 5:6–15. It may seem strange, but the exile of Israel and Judah served the best interests of God’s people. It was a punishment. But it was a blessing too.
In tiny Palestine, the multiplication of the Jewish people would have been curtailed by the limited size of the land, and the powerful enemies that made the Holy Land a battlefield for so many millennia. But scattered throughout the world, the Jewish people grew to a vast number. How vast? Recent studies suggest that 1 of every 10 persons in the Roman Empire in New Testament times was a Jew! And that in the Parthian kingdom, which included much of the old Babylonian and Persian territories, that proportion may have been as great as 1 in every 5!
Life was not easy for the exiles. There was frequent conflict with the Gentiles who lived in the cities of the Roman and Eastern worlds. But God did preserve His people. There was always a remnant. And, in fact, there was a much greater “remnant” than had ever lived in the Holy Land even during its glory years!
What a thought for us to ponder. Even God’s punishments are intended to bless. We are not to give up, but to remember that even through suffering God intends to do us good.

DEVOTIONAL
King Jesus
(Micah 5)
“But what does it really mean, this promise of a coming King?”
The old Jewish man smiled, and unrolled a particular scroll till he came to what we identify as Micah 5.
“What does it mean? Well, first of all see, here, that the King we’re talking about is God, the Ancient of Days. He’ll come to us as our Messiah, born in Bethlehem of David’s line (v. 2). It’s because of who He is that He means what He does.”
“So, sir, what does He mean?”
“First, He means that we are empty and unfulfilled without Him. See here. Till He comes and Bethlehem gives birth, we are an abandoned people. We need Him in order to find our very selves (v. 3).
“Second, He means security. Without Him we’re at the mercy of circumstances and our enemies. But when He comes in the strength of the Lord, He will care for us as a shepherd cares for his flock. As God’s sheep, we will be secure (v. 4).
“And third, son, He means peace. His greatness will reach to the ends of the earth, and His power will guarantee our safety. When He is present with us at last, His presence will itself bring us perfect peace.”
The boy nodded slowly. Looking up toward the sky, he said, “I hope He comes soon.”
Another young boy asked his father, “Dad, what does it mean to know Christ?” And his father opened his NIV to Micah 5.
“Look here,” he said. “Remember that the Baby born in Bethlehem wasn’t just any child. He was God, the Ancient of Days, come into our world. Only because Jesus is God can knowing mean what it does.”
“So, Dad,” the boy asked, “what does it mean?”
“First, it means that without Him we’re all alone, with no one to help us, just like an abandoned baby.
“Second, it means that when we do know Him, we’re not alone anymore. He’s like a shepherd who loves and takes care of his sheep. And we’re like sheep. We’re helpless by ourselves. But safe when Jesus is taking care of us.
“And third, Son, it means that we never need to be afraid of things that are too big for us. Because Jesus’ power reaches to every place on earth, we can have peace inside. Knowing Jesus means that we’re God’s own, safe forever from everything that might do us harm.”
Nodding slowly, the boy looked up toward the sky. “I’m sure glad we know Him now, Dad. Aren’t you?”

Personal Application
All that the coming Jesus would mean to God’s Old Testament people, Jesus’ presence means for us today.

Quotable
Beyond the war-clouds and the reddened ways,
I see the Promise of the Coming Days!
I see His Sun arise, new charged with grace
Earth’s tears to dry and all her woes efface!
Christ lives! Christ loves! Christ rules!
No more shall Might,
Though leagued with all the Forces of the Night,
Ride over Right. No more shall Wrong
The world’s gross agonies prolong.
Who waits His Time shall surely see
The triumph of His Constancy;—
When without let, or bar, or stay,
The coming of His Perfect Day
Shall sweep the Powers of Night away;—
And Faith, replumed for nobler flight,
And Hope, aglow with radiance bright,
And Love, in loveliness bedight,
Shall greet the morning light!
—John Oxenham

Micah

INTRODUCTION
Micah was a contemporary of Isaiah and Amos. He joined them in warning Israel and Judah of impending judgment just before the great Assyrian invasion of 722 B.C. which resulted in captivity for the Northern Hebrew Kingdom. Micah showed the necessity of that judgment by picturing the injustice rife in each society, and a religion corrupted by idolatry.
While grim warnings of doom dominate this book, Micah foresaw a future restoration of God’s people to their land. This will be accomplished by a Descendant of David, who was to be born in Bethlehem. The coming King will establish God’s kingdom on earth, and will rule it in the strength and majesty of the Lord.

TWO CORRUPT KINGDOMS
Micah 1–2

“They covet fields and seize them, and houses, and take them. They defraud a man of his home, a fellowman of his inheritance” (Micah 2:2).

Corruption in any society is a prelude to disaster. The people of Micah’s day did not want to hear that message. But it is vital for any people to hear, and heed.

Background
Micah, a contemporary of Isaiah and Amos, ministered near the end of the critical eighth centuryB.C Both Israel and Judah then experienced a resurgence of power and great material prosperity. For a few brief decades the great powers, Assyria to the north and Egypt to the south, were weak and indecisive. Under the aggressive leadership of Jeroboam II in Israel, and Hezekiah in Judah, the Hebrews extended their territory to include most of the land area held in the golden age of David and Solomon.
But prosperity was not universal. The newly rich in both kingdoms used their wealth to exploit the poor, and a time of great social dislocation resulted. Many families lost the land given their forefathers by God, and intended to be a family holding forever. The wealthy also controlled the courts, and fraud as well as bribery were tools used to perpetrate injustice. Many of the poor were forced to sell themselves and their families into slavery, and the rich disregarded the ancient Mosaic Law that required the release of a Hebrew slave after just seven years of service.
This aristocracy of wealth, which included the royal house and the leading priests, corrupted even the prophets, who proclaimed what their benefactors wanted to hear, rather than any uncomfortable words from God.
Religion too had suffered corruption. In Israel a non-Aaronic priesthood ministered at worship centers where bull-idols were supposed to represent God’s throne. In both countries pagan rites and practices had become elements in what was thought to be worship of God. In neither nation was moral purity or social justice viewed as essential to religion, which for most people was simply a matter of ritual observance.
Each of the great eighth-century-B.C prophets strongly condemned the sins of their society. Together they warned of impending doom, and urged God’s people to repent. Yet each was aware that Israel and Judah were too caught up in materialism and selfishness to give a serious thought to God. Each spoke of a judgment day about to dawn.
The warnings of the great prophets went unheeded, and the catastrophe they predicted did come. During the lifetime of Micah and Isaiah a resurgent Assyria invaded the Holy Land. The kingdom of Israel was crushed, and its population dragged away into captivity, along with some 200,000 of the people of Judah. Judah, saved temporarily through the revival stimulated by godly King Hezekiah, survived for another 136 years. But there was no real change of heart in the Southern Kingdom, and Judah suffered the fate of Israel when crushed by the Babylonians in 586B.C
Despite constant grim reminders of the sins that caused the destruction of the two corrupt kingdoms, each of the eighth-century prophets gave God’s people reason to hope. A remnant would survive exile, and would return to the ancient Jewish homeland. Isaiah draws our attention to a Servant of the Lord who, by His suffering, would redeem God’s people. Micah envisioned a coming King, a Descendant of David. Born in Bethlehem, this royal Person would rule a United Kingdom, and extend God’s glory to the ends of the earth.
The tale of the two corrupt kingdoms is not a total tragedy. It is a tale that affirms the sovereignty of the God who will judge sin, but who then will establish His own kingdom on earth. A kingdom of justice, peace, and joy. A kingdom incorruptible, that will endure forever.

Overview
God would soon judge Samaria and Jerusalem for their sins (1:1–7). Micah wept and mourned at the prospect (vv. 8–9a), but only the day of judgment would humble God’s people (vv. 9b-16). The oppressing classes would know ruin (2:1–5) despite the empty promises of false prophets (vv. 6–11). Yet one day God will regather His people (vv. 12–13).

Understanding the Text
“Samaria and Jerusalem” Micah 1:1. Capital cities named in the Bible often represent nations. Thus Nineveh represents Assyria, Damascus represents Syria, and here Samaria represents all of Israel, and Jerusalem the whole land of Judah.
There is, however, more implied in this simple literary device. The capital city was the residence of the royal family and the aristocracy: the ruling class that established policy and set the moral as well as political tone of the nation. In a real sense the capital city sums up the character of the nation it heads. This is why in biblical prophecy so many of the prophet’s condemning words are directed against capital cities and their inhabitants.
Today we often hear doubts about whether the “private life” of a candidate for political office should be examined in his or her campaign. What a foolish question. Of course it should! The personal and social morality of the individuals who lead any government will have a dramatic impact, not only by the examples they set, but also on the legislation passed.
Micah’s focus of his prophecy on Samaria and Jerusalem reminds us that we must examine the private lives and personal convictions of candidates for office. And must vote accordingly.

“The Lord from His Holy temple” Micah 1:2–7. Whenever the Old Testament pictures God speaking in or from His “holy temple,” the image implies divine judgment.
Holiness is one of the most important of all biblical concepts. In the Old Testament the holy is that which is set apart to God, separated from everything that is common or profane. Holy objects such as the golden vessels used in the temple, holy ground, and especially holy people, were considered God’s own and were to be for His use and service only.
God Himself is intrinsically holy. That holiness is displayed in two primary ways: in His own faithful commitment to what is good, and in His judgment of those who desert the way of holiness and turn away from their “set apart” condition.
Micah began his prophecy by showing Israel and Judah the God who is holy, and who stands in His holy temple. This God was about to exhibit His holiness by judging His wicked people. In the punishment for sin that Israel and Judah would experience, the holiness of God would be again displayed.
And so God said through Micah, “I will make Samaria a heap of rubble, a place for planting vineyards. I will pour her stones into the valley and lay bare her foundations. All her idols will be broken to pieces” (vv. 6–7).
What a reminder to you and me. We have been set apart to God too. We are to serve Him and to reveal His goodness through lives marked by this very quality. But if we turn away, and follow the path taken by Judah and Israel, God will still display His holiness in us. God will judge us, and in that judgment reveal His own holiness to all.

“Because of this I will weep and wail” Micah 1:8–9a. In biblical times individuals showed their humility before God, their grief over and confession of sins, by loud weeping, wailing, howling, and moaning. They also stripped off their finer clothing, and wore only the oldest and most threadbare of garments.
Here Micah expressed his own reaction to his vision of coming judgment. He realized how wicked his nation was, and responded immediately by actions which showed his own sense of guilt and grief.
What a lesson. This man who uttered God’s message of judgment identified with his sinning people.
It’s all too easy for us to be judgmental in our relationship with those who fall short of God’s standards of right and wrong. Yet Micah, rather than adopting a holier-than-thou attitude, was crushed by the enormity of the sins prevalent in his society. He was a member of that society, and therefore not guiltless himself. And so Micah, crushed by the realization that he in some way participated in the sins of his age, wept and moaned in grief and sorrow.
As godly persons, you and I are also to weep over the sins in our society. We are not guiltless, but bear some responsibility for all that happens in our nation and community. If we are to have an impact on our world, we must recognize that fact, humble ourselves as Micah humbled himself, and then set out to do all we can to effect change.

“Pass on in nakedness and shame” Micah 1:9b-16. Micah humbled himself at the vision of impending judgment. The people of Judah and Israel ignored the vision and rejected Micah’s preaching. Yet soon they would be humbled—by events. Israel would be humbled as her survivors, their heads bowed in shame, stumbled in chains along the road to Assyria (v. 11). Judah would be humbled as the last fortress city protecting the route to Jerusalem, Lachish, fell to Sennacherib (v. 12).
People always have a choice. It is not a choice between arrogance and humility, between proud independence and submission to God. Oh, no. The choice is to submit to God when He speaks to us through His Word, or to submit bent over in shame as circumstances crush our pride. How wise to submit to God willingly, and let Him lift us up. How foolish to arrogantly resist God, and make Him crush us.

“Woe to those who plan iniquity” Micah 2:1–5. Micah here gave a clear picture of the exploitation of the poor by the rich. Good businessmen, the wealthy lay out their projects carefully. They were able to get the fields they coveted because they were willing to defraud, and “it is in their power to do it.”
What the oppressors of the poor did not know was that even as they planned, God was making plans to overthrow them! And He most surely had the “power to do it”!
It’s a healthy reminder. Those who seem to have power to oppress and work injustice in our society are blind to the plans God is even now laying against them. We may suffer injury now. But we know that God’s day is coming, when the exploiters will say, “We are utterly ruined!”

“I will bring them together” Micah 2:12–13. Micah ended this first oracle on a positive note. The immediate future was dark with the gathering clouds of divine judgment. Yet those clouds would clear away, and God’s scattered people would be brought back together again, to live in a kingdom that was no longer corrupt. Then their king, the Lord, will be “at their head.”

DEVOTIONAL
Do Not My Words Do Good?
(Micah 2)
I suspect that many a preacher has lost his pulpit because the congregation didn’t like what he said to them.
It was something like this with Micah. And I can understand why. After all, Micah publicly lit into the well-to-do, who paid the bills then as now (vv. 1–5). You can’t say “God is going to get you!” to the community elite and expect to be urged to keep preaching.
Even Micah’s fellow prophets tried to rein him in. “Do not prophesy about these things,” they told him (vv. 6–7). Let’s have sermons that comfort, not confront. Let’s have positive preaching, not negative.
Micah was incensed. You could hear him mutter, “If a liar and deceiver comes and says, ‘I will prophesy for you plenty of wine and beer,’ he would be just the prophet for this people!” They wanted someone who would just tell them what they wanted to hear, not what God wanted to say.
I’ve been impressed as I’ve worked with the prophets in preparing this book, that often God doesn’t have comforting words to say. Often He confronts. Often He demands. Often He forces us to look at our lives, and to look at our society, with unclouded eyes. We don’t want to hear that sinful societies cry out for judgment, and we don’t want to face the injustice, the crime, the moral corruption, that mark our own nation today. And yet, God says to us through Micah, “Do not My words do good to him whose ways are upright?”
If we are committed to God and to His ways, won’t His words do us good?
They did not do good to the people of the kingdoms to which Micah preached so long ago. They did no good, beause the people of Israel and Judah were unwilling to walk uprightly. They were unwilling to take God’s words to heart, and to act on them. But if you and I do take God’s uncomfortable words to heart, and act on them, those words will surely do us good. And do good to our nation.

Personal Application
Let God’s uncomfortable words do you good. Listen to them carefully, and obey.

Quotable
I sought Him in the still, far place where flowers blow
In sun-bathed soil;
I found Him where the thousand life-streams flow
Through sin and toil.
I listened for His step within the still, deep-cloistered shrine
Of secret thought;
I heard it o’er the world’s heart tumult, still divine,
The Voice I sought.
I thought, far off, alone, to feel His presence by my side,
His joy to gain;
I felt His touch upon life’s weary pulse beside
A bed of pain.
So those who seek the Master following their own way—
Or gain, or loss—
Will find Him where their dreams of self are laid away,
And there—a cross.—Dorothy Clark Wilson

GOD OF COMPASSION
Jonah 3–4

“Nineveh has more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well. Should I not be concerned about that great city?” (Jonah 4:11)

God has compassion for all. We need to develop an attitude that mirrors His—not Jonah’s!

Overview
When Jonah preached in Nineveh, the Assyrians repented (3:1–10). Jonah, upset and angry, asked God to let him die (4:1–4). Instead, God used a vine to teach Jonah a lesson in values (vv. 5–11).

Understanding the Text
“Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time” Jonah 3:1. Jonah had willfully disobeyed God’s call to preach in Nineveh. Now God gave him another chance.
We need to remember three things about second chances. God’s will is going to be accomplished. God intended to warn Nineveh, and Nineveh would be warned, whether Jonah or some other person was God’s agent. Jonah’s disobedience merited discipline, not rejection! God gave His prophet a second chance. Usually He gives you and me many opportunities to respond to His guidance. It is much better to respond to God when His word first comes to us. Jonah would have avoided the terror of being thrown into the sea and being swallowed by the great fish if only he had been willing to do God’s will when he first learned it.
Let’s not count on second chances. But if we do fall into disobedience, Jonah’s experience reminds us that we can still turn back to God and be used by Him.

“Now Nineveh was a very large city” Jonah 3:3–4. The size of Nineveh at this period has been established by archeologists as a maximum of 175,000. This compares to 30,000 in Samaria, the capital of Jonah’s nation. The figures match well with the mention in Jonah 4:11 of 120,000. The reference to three days to go through Nineveh may mean it took Jonah three days to go through the fields and suburbs that surrounded Nineveh, rather than through the walled part of the city.
The point made in the text, however, is a simple one. Jonah’s mission was to a metropolis: a city teaming with human beings. This emphasis helps us see why Jonah’s mission was so important. Thousands of lives were at stake.

“The Ninevites believed God” Jonah 3:5–9. Amazingly, Jonah’s warning of imminent destruction was taken to heart by all in Nineveh. The king abandoned his throne to publicly sit “in the dust” in the rough clothing which in that culture indicated sorrow and grief or repentance. He issued a decree that summoned all to fast, to call on God, and to “give up their evil ways and their violence.”
Given the dating of Jonah to the time of Jeroboam II in Israel, the Assyrian Empire, of which Nineveh was the capital, was then seriously threatened by warlike northern tribes known as the Urartu, Mannai, and Madai. The enemy had pushed its borders to within a hundred miles of Nineveh, and the very existence of the ancient empire was threatened. A sense of weakness and of impending doom may have helped create openness to Jonah’s message. Yet the spontaneous response of the whole population to a foreign prophet who wandered unannounced into the city with an unpopular message, underlines the fact that response to any word of God has supernatural roots.
God was working in the hearts of the pagans of Nineveh. When they heard, they believed.
We need to count on a similar work of God when we preach, teach, or share the Gospel conversationally. God may well have been at work preparing others to hear His Good News. His Spirit can bring that Good News home to their hearts in a compelling way, whatever the inadequacies of the messenger.

“He had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction He had threatened” Jonah 3:10. One of the most clearly established principles in Old Testament prophecy is that most prophetic warnings of doom are contingent. They invariably come true—unless the people to whom they are addressed repent. We see this principle in earlier incidents, such as those recorded in 2 Samuel 12:14–23; 1 Kings 21:27–29; and 2 Kings 20:1–6. Repentance can cause God to relent.
This should not be misunderstood as a change of the divine mind. It’s more like the red flashing lights and ringing bells that warn of a train’s approach. Anyone on the tracks will be crushed. But a person who gets off the tracks will be safe.
When Jonah preached, he said in effect, “You people of Nineveh are about to be run over!” When the people of Nineveh repented, they in effect got off the tracks! The juggernaut of divine judgment rushed on—and passed them by!
What an object lesson for Israel. The prophets of God, not strangers but fellow countrymen, had shouted out warnings of impending doom for decades. Here, in the experience of Nineveh, a pagan nation, was an object lesson for God’s own people. If only Israel would listen to the prophets and repent, God would relent in their case too.
The tragedy is that the people of Israel did not repent. The object lesson was wasted on them. The irony is that the very people that Jonah’s preaching saved, the Assyrians, were the agents God used to bring judgment on an Israel too hardened to heed.

“Now, O LORD, take away my life” Jonah 4:1–4. When the city was not destroyed, Jonah was upset and angry. Like many of us, Jonah thought God should behave as he wanted Him to. More was involved in Jonah’s case (see DEVOTIONAL), but isn’t such a reaction all too typical?
We have it all figured out, and are sure that God should solve one problem this way, and another that. When He doesn’t do it our way, we sulk or become angry. What we should do in such a case is thank God that He didn’t do it our way!
Our notion of how things should be is limited by our lack of knowledge—and often by our lack of caring. God not only knows what is best, He loves always. Thanking God even when His decisions do not reflect our first choice is a sign of spiritual maturity. And common sense.

“Jonah was very happy about the vine” Jonah 4:5–6. Sullen and angry about Nineveh’s repentance, Jonah settled down on a distant hill overlooking Nineveh, to wallow in self-pity and see what would happen to the city. As he sat under a typical desert lean-to shelter, a vine sprang from the ground, and grew large enough to provide shade. Jonah was happy for more than the shade. Such a little thing, and yet here was something green and living, and Jonah was comforted by its presence.
Often God provides some similar little thing to comfort us when the big things in life seem to have gone wrong. Jonah was right to be happy about the vine. And we are right to be happy about the little things that remind us of God’s love. If we’re wise, whenever suffering comes we will look actively for some such little thing, let it remind us of God’s love, and let it bring us some happiness despite our sorrow.

“God provided a worm” Jonah 4:7–11. The end of the Book of Jonah at first appears strange. God took away the vine that gave Jonah that little bit of happiness, and when Jonah became even more despondent, God asked, “Do you have a right to be angry about the vine?” We can understand why Jonah answered, “Yes!”
But God had a reason. Jonah had “been concerned about this vine” that sprang up one night and died the next. Jonah had been happy that it was there beside him. But Jonah had cared nothing at all for the lives of the thousands upon thousands of people of Nineveh, to say nothing of the cattle there.
What a contrast with God, who is concerned about all His creation, and cared for the thousands of Nineveh. Even though they were idolaters, and the enemies of His own people, they were important to the Lord.
The challenge to Jonah was clear. Jonah, you cared about the vine. Why don’t you care about other human beings? You were happy for the vine’s existence, even though it was fleeting. Why aren’t you happy about the life given to the thousands in Nineveh, rather than eager to see all those lives taken away?
There is a challenge here for us. What do we care about? What makes us happy? Is it the insignificant things of life? Or do we share God’s values, and care about what is important to Him?

DEVOTIONAL
Right, but Wrong
(Jonah 4)
Christians correctly tend to place emphasis on right doctrine. After all, we are to hold fast to what the Bible teaches. But the story of Jonah reminds us that we can be totally right, and very, very wrong.
Jonah 4 begins with a statement by Jonah of some of the rightest doctrine there is. “I knew,” Jonah said, “that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity” (v. 2). That statement by Jonah is one of the Old Testament’s central affirmations of faith; a characterization of God found first in Exodus 34:6–7, but repeated in Numbers 14:18; Nehemiah 9:17; Psalms 86:15; 103:8; 145:8; and Joel 2:13! And the phrase “gracious and compassionate” is found many, many more times in Old Testament descriptions of the Lord.
So Jonah’s doctrine was about as pure as can be.
There was only one problem. Jonah said, “I knew . . . that is why I was so quick to flee to Tarshish” (Jonah 4:2). And that’s why Jonah was angry now. Those rotten people of Nineveh went and repented! It would be just like God not to destroy them after all.
And again, Jonah was right. His doctrine was as pure as can be. It was just like God not to destroy Nineveh, and He did not.
In fact, it is because Jonah was right that he was so wrong. You see, the believer is not simply called to know about God. The believer is called to be like Him. We are not simply to know God is compassionate. Because God is compassionate, we are to be compassionate too. It’s not enough for us to know that God cares for the pagan or the poor. We are to care for them too.
The doctrinally correct Jonah was about as far from harmony with God’s heart as a believer can be!
What a reminder for you and for me. A person who is totally right about God intellectually can be totally wrong. Knowing about God is no substitute for being like Him in character, values, and concern for others.

Personal Application
Ask God for heart as well as head knowledge as you study His Word.

Quotable
“A man’s heart is right when he wills what God wills.”—Thomas Aquinas

Jonah

INTRODUCTION
Jonah is the narrative report of a prophet from Israel and his mission to Nineveh, capital of Assyria. Fearing that his nation’s enemy might repent if warned of impending judgment, Jonah tried to flee. God dealt with His reluctant prophet, and Nineveh humbled itself and was saved, teaching Jonah and us a lesson about the compassion of God.

THE PATRIOTIC PROPHET
Jonah 1–2

“But Jonah ran away from the LORD and headed for Tarshish” (Jonah 1:3).

Jonah had what he thought were good reasons to run from the Lord and from the mission God had given him. His story reminds us never to substitute “good reasons” for God’s will!

Background
The patriotic prophet. Second Kings 14:25 identifies “Jonah son of Amittai” as a prophet who lived in the days of Jeroboam II of Israel, and who predicted that king’s many victories. In the days of Jeroboam II the boundaries of the Northern Kingdom were extended almost to the borders achieved during the golden age of David and Solomon. As the prophet called to preannounce the king’s victories, Jonah must have enjoyed great popularity, especially as life in Israel had been bleak before Jeroboam’s vigorous rule. No doubt the prophet felt a great deal of personal satisfaction as well, as he watched his fellow countrymen begin to prosper in accord with the word of the Lord which he had been privileged to deliver.
God’s command that Jonah go to preach against Nineveh, however, was something else again! Assyria had been, and still was, a threat to Israel’s very existence! Jonah wanted no part of a ministry to that particular bunch of foreigners! All Jonah wanted to do was to keep on preaching his positive message of prosperity in his homeland.
Jonah’s patriotic motivation, which is further explained in chapter 4, was so great that he determined to flee God’s presence. It is at this point that Jonah’s story begins.

Overview
Jonah was told to preach against Nineveh (1:1–2), but tried to flee to Tarshish (v. 3). Identified as the cause of a great storm that threatened his ship, Jonah was cast overboard (vv. 4–16), where he was swallowed by a great fish (v. 17). From inside the fish Jonah prayed, and was delivered (2:1–10).

Understanding the Text
“Go to the great city of Nineveh” Jonah 1:2. There is no indication that God explained the purpose of Jonah’s mission to him. But chapter 4 indicates Jonah suspected. There Jonah said, “I knew that You are . . . a God who repents from sending calamity” (v. 2). Jonah suspected that if he went to Nineveh the city might repent of “its wickedness,” and God would withhold the threatened destruction.
Jonah’s explanation helps us understand the exact nature of the prophet’s flight. He did not run from God because he failed to understand the Lord’s purposes, but because he did understand them! Jonah simply didn’t like those purposes.
God doesn’t ask us to agree with what He plans. All He asks is that we acknowledge that He knows best—and obey.

“A ship bound for that port” Jonah 1:3. Most commentators believe that the port in question was Tartessus, in Spain. Looking at a map reveals its significance. Nineveh lay to the north. Tarshish was as far south on the Mediterranean as a vessel could go.
It’s typical of young people who decide to abandon the faith and lifestyle of their parents to go as far in the opposite direction as they feel they can. If one of your children has taken the route to Tarshish, the story of Jonah is comforting. There was no way Jonah could get away from God. God will pursue our young people, even as He pursued His prophet.

“The LORD sent a great wind” Jonah 1:4–6. In the eighth centuryB.C vessels that plied the Mediterranean stayed close to the coast, ready to run for shelter in case of a storm.
The storm that struck the ship terrified the sailors, and apparently made the landsman Jonah groggy. Jonah was aroused and urged to pray by the desperate seamen.
It’s possible Jonah was unaware of how desperate the situation was, while the experienced sailors knew full well the extent of the danger.

“Who is responsible for making all this trouble for us?” Jonah 1:7–9 As the storm worsened, the sailors cast lots to find out who was responsible for the calamity. This was more than superstition. It reflected the sailors’ awareness that such storms never struck during that particular season. It seemed clear to them that some supernatural cause was involved. The problem was, the sailors felt themselves innocent bystanders, caught in the conflict between some deity and someone on board the ship.
Jonah’s disobedience had brought a shipload of innocents into grave danger. This illustrates a basic principle of all human life. Our lives and the lives of others are woven together. We cannot disobey God without in some way affecting others for ill. Nor can we obey God without affecting them for good.

“I know that it is my fault” Jonah 1:11–16. Jonah knew that he was responsible for the danger they were all in, and showed he was willing to accept that responsibility. He told the sailors to throw him overboard, and promised that then the storm would stop.
We can admire this in Jonah. So many who make mistakes are unwilling to accept responsibility, and try desperately to avoid the consequences of their choices. Jonah was ready to accept those consequences, which he realized was necessary to save his shipmates.
But we can also admire the sailors. Despite Jonah’s confession, they were unwilling to throw him overboard until every other hope was exhausted. Finally, begging God not to punish them for taking Jonah’s life, they did as the prophet demanded and threw him over the side.
This too is an important reminder. It’s easy to develop a “we/they” view of others, as though there were no moral or good persons in the world beyond the church. The sailors, all worshipers of other gods, and in terror for their own lives, still did all they could to save Jonah. We should appreciate such qualities in others. In fact, such qualities should make us all the more eager to share the good news of the salvation available to all in Jesus. (See DEVOTIONAL.)

Archeologists have established the kind of fragile ship that sailed the Mediterranean in Jonah’s time. The single-sailed cargo vessel might carry a few passengers, but most of the crew worked and slept on deck. Most ships in this era refused to put to sea during the Mediterranean’s storm season, and the unexpected storm that struck Jonah’s vessel was viewed as a divinely caused calamity (Jonah 1:7).

“The LORD provided a great fish” Jonah 1:17. The Hebrew does not indicate a whale, despite the familiar King James rendering (Matt. 12:39–40). This makes all those stories of whaling men swallowed and later found alive (or dead) in a whale’s stomach irrelevant. It’s understandable that those determined to prove the reliability of the Bible would appeal to such evidence. But it is entirely unnecessary. Why? Because the text says that the Lord “provided” the great fish. This was no ordinary fish, but a Goliath among fish, prepared especially for the task of swallowing Jonah. Just as the appearance of the fish on the scene in time to swallow Jonah, and Jonah’s survival in the stomach of the fish, were miraculous, so was the giant fish itself.

“I will look again toward Your holy temple” Jonah 2:4. Jonah 2 is a poem recapitulating Jonah’s experience. He pictures for us the currents that swirled around him, and the clammy seaweed, some of which grows to a height of 50 feet or more, that wrapped around his head as he sank.
Near death, “I remembered You, LORD, and my praise rose to You, to Your holy temple.”
These references to the temple recall Solomon’s prayer at its dedication. In that prayer he asked God to restore any of his sinning people, “aware of his afflictions and pains, and spreading out his hands toward this temple” (2 Chron. 6:29, cf. vv. 26–27). Jonah’s prayer was a tacit confession of his sin of disobedience, and a tacit commitment to be obedient. Then, rescued and rejoicing, Jonah openly affirmed, “What I have vowed I will make good.”
How often we see it in the Old Testament. Whatever the sin, however great the disobedience, God is willing to accept the sinner who returns to Him. Upon confession the sinner is restored not only to fellowship, but in the case of Jonah, still entrusted with his original mission.
Your past failures, or mine, do not disqualify us from participation in the great purposes God is working out even now in our world. What a motive to surrender to Him, and once again be fully committed to doing His will.

DEVOTIONAL
Make Me a BIG Blessing
(Jonah 1)
Every once in a while I run across the notion that unless a Christian is really in close fellowship with the Lord, God can’t use him or her to bless others.
Actually, that’s not true, as the story of Jonah illustrates. Jonah was just about as far out of fellowship as a believer can get—running away from God—when that terrific storm hit his ship and frightened all aboard. And then look what happened. Jonah admitted he was responsible for the storm, got the sailors to throw him overboard, the storm stopped—and the sailors, convinced by all this of the power of Jonah’s God, “greatly feared the LORD, and they offered a sacrifice to the LORD and made vows to Him” (v. 16). God used a disobedient Jonah to introduce Himself to a shipload of pagan sailors! And the pagan sailors believed.
Of course, Jonah wasn’t around to enjoy his “success.” He was drowning: sinking into the sea, his lungs bursting, sensing the clammy touch of the seaweed entwined around his head.
I think this is the message preachers should get across to Christians. Can God use a carnal or disobedient believer to accomplish His purposes? Of course! But— will such a believer experience the blessing that usually comes with serving God? No. Like Jonah, the believer out of touch with God misses the blessing, for he’s drowning in the sea of his own troubles and sorrows.
Oh, yes. There’s one more thing to note. When Jonah was out of fellowship with the Lord, God used him to save a shipload. But when Jonah was back in fellowship, and went on to Nineveh, God used him to save a whole city.
Conclusions? I think I want to ask the Lord to make me a BIG blessing. He can use me more if I stay in fellowship with Him. And I’ll sure enjoy it a lot more too.

Personal Application
Serve God wholeheartedly, and enjoy!

Quotable
“There is more joy in Jesus in 24 hours than there is in the world in 365 days. I have tried them both.”—R.A. Torrey