Micah confesses Israel’s sin – “Woe is me” is usually a good place to start (v1-4). Reminds me of Isaiah 6 when Isaiah saw The LORD in all His splendour and said, “Woe is me”. Micah mourns the sin of his land and the state of the people, “The faithful man has perished from the earth, there is no one upright amongst them.” They were bloodthirsty even against their own, doing evil with both hands, not just one. Those in authority seeking bribes, scheming and plotting evil together; but punishment will surely come and even the watchmen, who should be on guard protecting them will be filled with perplexity.
Micah tells them that they can’t trust a friend and should have no confidence in even a companion (v5-7). Relationships will be at an all time low. Sin does this and we should remember it. Family relationships will disintegrate to the point that “a man’s enemies will be those of his own household.” Then comes the turning point. Looking away from the sin and failure – Micah states that he will look to The LORD; where else could he look? I’m sure many of us have felt that there was no-one else they could trust. The LORD would not let him down and He will not let us down. “Therefore I will look to The LORD. I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me.”
David experienced this with Ahithophel (2 Samuel 15) who betrayed him to Absalom who had set about treason. In Psalm 55:12-14 David states, “For it is not an enemy who reproaches me; then I could bear it. Nor is it one who hates me who has exalted himself against me; then I could hide from him. But it was you, a man my equal, my companion and my acquaintance. We took sweet counsel together, and walked to the house of God in the throng.” We’re not told specifically that this referred to Ahithophel but I think we can safely say that it was.
Jesus, Himself was betrayed by one of His own, Judas Iscariot.
Micah warns his enemies. “Do not rejoice over me, my enemy; When I fall, I will arise; When I sit in darkness, The LORD will be a light to me. I will bear the indignation of the LORD, because I have 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.
Then she who is my enemy will see, and shame will cover her who said to me, “Where is the LORD your God?” My eyes will see her; now she will be trampled down like mud in the streets (v8-10). There is hope and Micah states that The LORD change the situation. God was going to lift him up. Their enemies might cry out, “Where is The LORD You’re your God?” Maybe in derision, but they would soon find out and he warns them that The LORD would put them to shame – “Trampled down like mud in the streets.” Though attacked and destroyed, Jerusalem would be rebuilt just as it was not the end for Jesus when He was betrayed and put to death, He arose and lives forever.
Micah was confident that The LORD would plead his case and deal justly. Micah took responsibility for Israel’s sin and as if it were his own sin, he knew that in God’s time He would restore him. God would set him free from the punishment and presence of his sin. Just as Jonah said, “Salvation is of The LORD” (Jonah 2v9 from the belly of the fish), so Micah said, “He will bring me forth to the light; I will see His righteousness.”
In v 11-13 we read, “In the day when your walls are to be built, in that day the decree shall go far and wide.
In that day they shall come to you from Assyria and the fortified cities, from the fortress to the River, from sea to sea, and mountain to mountain. Yet the land shall be desolate because of those who dwell in it, and for the fruit of their deeds.” The walls shall be rebuilt when the decree goes out far and wide, blessings were awaiting them, far more than they had before. They would occupy more than they had before of the land which The LORD had originally promised them. However, they would come to it and find it desolate because of their previous sin.
The LORD will lovingly care for them like a shepherd just as He had when He brought them out of Egypt, “As in days of old” (v14,15) “Shepherd Your people with Your staff, the flock of Your heritage, who dwell solitarily in a woodland, in the midst of Carmel; Let them feed in Bashan and Gilead, as in days of old.” “As in the days when you came out of the land of Egypt, I will show them wonders.”
God showed wonders to them which they had sadly forgotten. Even when they entered Jericho, they were told that the people of Jericho feared them because of how The LORD had fought for them and was with them.
Micah goes on to tell them (v16,17), “The nations shall see and be ashamed of all their might; They shall put their hand over their mouth; Their ears shall be deaf. They shall lick the dust like a serpent; They shall crawl from their holes like snakes of the earth. They shall be afraid of the LORD our God, and shall fear because of You.” What assurance! They will see the power of God in His dealings with Israel. What more could they need if only they would obey Him and put their trust in Him. He has absolute power and for Him nothing is too hard.
Then follows what are probably the most beautiful words in this book (v18-20)! It starts in the form of a question –“Who is a pardoning God like You, pardoning iniquity and passing over the transgression of the remnant of His inheritance?”
This is an amazing verse and one of my favourites. Let’s look at this verse in a little detail – firstly, who is this God?
Jeremiah said of Him in his prayer(32v17) “Sovereign LORD, You have made the heavens and earth by your great power and outstretched arm, and there is nothing too hard for You.”
What a testimony this is of God, What powerful words these are — The creator — The one who was before all things, The I AM, the alpha and omega, the 1st and last, beginning & end.
What does I AM mean? Eternally existent — always was, never had a beginning, always will be, never has an end.
One writer said, “The imagination boggles at this. We don’t have the wisdom to unravel it, man cannot understand it intellectually, that’s why the bible says that by wisdom man cannot know God. It is not easy to understand that He never has an end, but, it is far more difficult to understand that He never had a beginning”.
He IS for ever. The one who revealed Himself to Moses as “IAM” is this same God today, the one who says that He wants to be our God. He doesn’t come and go like earthly superstars. He’s the same yesterday, today, tomorrow and for ever, He is utterly dependable, infinitely powerful, and this God for whom nothing is too hard, is our God. Thus, our need is His ‘I am’.
To Moses — He was the word of highest authority — “I AM has sent me”. He does not, will not, cannot change for He is God.
ISAIAH’s testimony is the same (59v1) “The LORD’s hand is not shortened that it cannot save, neither his ear too dull that it cannot hear”. He is still the same.
LUKE (1 v 37) “With God nothing is impossible”
‘Like you’- who can compare with this God? We used to sing a chorus many years ago – ‘Wonderful, wonderful Jesus, who can compare with Thee? Wonderful, wonderful Jesus, fairer than all art Thou to me. Wonderful, wonderful Jesus, oh how my soul loves Thee, Fairer than all the Fairest, Jesus art thou to me.’
DAVID says in that wonderful Psalm48:1. “Great is our God and greatly to be praised. God is known as a refuge” (v3) (He has a great reputation)
v 14 “This God is our God, for ever and ever, He will be our guide even unto death.”
This God of whom we speak, is OUR GOD, and can be your God
Hear too, ISAIAH’s recommendation as in 46:5 he quotes the words of God himself: “To whom will you liken me and make me equal and compare me that we may be like”?
v 9 “Remember that I am God and there is none else”.
God wants us to remember this because it is the second time that He has asked this question Ch 40:18 God says, “To whom will ye liken God, or what likeness will ye compare unto Him”
Read on v 21 – 26 “Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood since the earth was founded? He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a canopy, and spreads them out like a tent to live in. He brings princes to naught and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing. No sooner are they planted, no sooner are they sown, no sooner do they take root in the ground, than he blows on them and they wither, and a whirlwind sweeps them away like chaff. “To whom will you compare me? Or who is my equal?” says the Holy One. Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one and calls forth each of them by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.”
Is God an equal? if he is, then He isn’t who He claims to be. If HE IS EQUAL. HE CANNOT BE GOD – This great preacher ISAIAH repeats this message over and over again. 42v8; 44v6,8; 45v5.
This message is very necessary for us today — We have made God an equal and thus robbed him ( as if we could) of His Godhead; we have brought God down to our level, or tried to. Our God cannot be lowered to man’s level. Because man tried to bring God down and couldn’t, God came down – God sent His son to be a man — “….. tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin.” “ He was God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but lowered Himself, made Himself of no reputation, and became obedient unto death even the death of the Cross. (Philippians 2:6-8) We cannot compare anyone with The LORD Jesus. If we try and put someone alongside we don’t compare rather we contrast, they pale into insignificance.
“That pardons iniquity.”
Isaiah 59:2 “But your iniquities have separated you and your God.” Our sins have come between us and God. It is not God’s fault it is ours, but God in His great mercy pardons our iniquity.
Isaiah again echoes this message (44:22) “I have blotted out as a thick cloud your transgressions …. I have redeemed you (bought back)”
Pardon equals unconditional forgiveness. A free pardon from H.M the Queen/King means completely wiped out, forgiven. A Royal Pardon is only issued when a person as been wrongly convicted, but God gives us a pardon for we who are rightly guilty. That’s amazing.
Isaiah 43:25 “I will not remember your sins.” v22 “Blotted out” — obliterated so that cannot be read again and thus not remembered.
Jeremiah 31:34 “They shall know me, for I will forgive their iniquity and I will remember their sins no more,”
The writer to Hebrews 10:17 quotes these very words, This is God’s covenant — He promises to forgive and to cast our sins in the depths of the sea, never to be remembered against us anymore. In Hebrews, the writer is expounding the fact that Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, is the final sacrifice for sin for ever. The one final, perfect sacrifice for sin.
v 12 he did it — He sat down, signifying completeness.
Micah 7:19 says, He cast sins in the depths of the sea, and someone said, and put a ‘No fishing’ sign.
“Because He delights in mercy”. God is a God of justice – justice is getting what I deserve. The wages of sin is death. He is also a God of mercy – Mercy is not getting what I deserve. In court our advocate would plead, ‘throw us on the mercy of the court’, pleading for a lesser sentence. God is also a God of grace – grace is getting what I don’t deserve, “The gift of God is eternal life“. I don’t deserve God’s grace, I cannot earn it, it is given freely by God on hell-deserving sinners, like me. God delights in mercy – what a statement! It is nothing to do with me, it is solely His prerogative.
Micah concludes his prophecy by reminding them that God had promised all this to their forefathers, and He always keeps His word. The same love, compassion and mercy was still available to them and to us today, they (we) simply have to believe, receive and obey Him.
