Do Justice, Love Mercy, Walk Humbly - Part 6

But today we conclude, as I say, the prophecy of Micah. And one of the things we have noticed, a feature of Micah’s prophecy, is the way that he holds two things together. He sort of alternates back and forth between them. On the one hand there is a remarkable honest and realistic view in Micah of the problems of his own immediate context. The elites in Micah’s society are abusing their power. There is oppression and there is injustice. The people have fallen into spiritual and moral decline before God and the Lord is going to send the Assyrians to bring judgment on the northern tribes of Israel, the northern kingdom, and even on the southern kingdom of Judah as well. He’s very realistic about his immediate circumstances and time. There’s present suffering, things are difficult, but he’s also full of hope. He alternates back and forth. It’s as though from time to time the clouds part overhead and there are bright rays of sunshine that show a future then long in the future, from Micah’s vantage point, he really is speaking about the era in which we now live of Gospel advance where the good news about Jesus will reach the ends of the earth and the nations shall come streaming to Zion to worship the living God. They will come to the church of Jesus Christ.

But today we conclude, as I say, the prophecy of Micah. And one of the things we have noticed, a feature of Micah’s prophecy, is the way that he holds two things together. He sort of alternates back and forth between them. On the one hand there is a remarkable honest and realistic view in Micah of the problems of his own immediate context. The elites in Micah’s society are abusing their power. There is oppression and there is injustice. The people have fallen into spiritual and moral decline before God and the Lord is going to send the Assyrians to bring judgment on the northern tribes of Israel, the northern kingdom, and even on the southern kingdom of Judah as well. He’s very realistic about his immediate circumstances and time. There’s present suffering, things are difficult, but he’s also full of hope. He alternates back and forth. It’s as though from time to time the clouds part overhead and there are bright rays of sunshine that show a future then long in the future, from Micah’s vantage point, he really is speaking about the era in which we now live of Gospel advance where the good news about Jesus will reach the ends of the earth and the nations shall come streaming to Zion to worship the living God. They will come to the church of Jesus Christ.