Category: Micah

Shepherd your people with your staff, 
     the flock of your inheritance, 
who dwell alone in a forest 
     in the midst of a garden land; 
let them graze in Bashan and Gilead 
     as in the days of old. 
As in the days when you came out of the land of Egypt, 
     I will show them marvelous things.

—Micah 7:14–15

The closing portion of Micah has been described as “prophetic liturgy.” Stephen Dempster applies that language to vv. 8–20, but I believe it appropriately describes the whole chapter. Micah 7 is “prophetic liturgy.” As such, this chapter is a profound gift. But with those two words, and combined even, you may not instantly recognize it as such. “Prophetic? Liturgy? No thank you.” Its like the grandparent telling the unknowing four year old that they’ve got him some puppy chow for a snack. He’s not intrigued.

“Prophetic liturgy,” what does that mean? For many evangelicals, “liturgy” is an alien word conjuring up images of stuffy, highly formalized worship services. At worst, it sounds Catholic, and at best, Presbyterian, with Anglican, falling somewhere in-between. But liturgy is not alien. Liturgy is inescapable. Liturgy is simply the shape our worship takes. Churches that say they have no liturgy only fool themselves. Their worship has a regular shape and routine. So the question isn’t whether or not to have a liturgy, but whether or not it is Biblical, thoughtful, intentional, purposeful, historical, and meaningful. The irony is how repetitive “non-liturgical” liturgies are. Human spontaneity defaults into the repetition of our finite minds. Whereas more liturgical services are more intentionally diverse—covering a wide sampling of Scripture and systematic theology. Where they are repetitive, they are repetitive by design with emphatic purpose.

As prophetic liturgy, this outline of worship is not only inspired, it is prescribed. It is a Divine “script” written for their future healing. There is a specific situation in the future in which Israel is to “take it” by mouth for their good.

Micah is made up of three cycles of judgment and salvation. This last promise of salvation is given to them as the proper response to both. The grace of God given to them here is a liturgy of proper response to both His judgment and salvation. How should they receive His judgment and believe His salvation? How should they worship? How should we respond in worship to the message of Yahweh’s salvation and judgment? Here is the gift then: Yahweh does not just speak of salvation and judgment—He gives us a liturgy to properly worship Him in them. His Word tells us how to receive and respond to His Word. This final proclamation of salvation shows us that God’s grace not only works outside of us to deliver us, it works inside us to transform us, so that our worship aligns with God’s heart.

Hear what the LORD says: 

Arise, plead your case before the mountains, 
     and let the hills hear your voice. 

Hear, you mountains, the indictment of the LORD, 
     and you enduring foundations of the earth, 
for the LORD has an indictment against his people, 
     and he will contend with Israel.

— Micah 6:1–2

The great legal drama of Micah now begins to draw to a close. Three times we have heard a summons to judgment. This final summons is in a way the grandest and most poignant. Of the three times we are called before the heavenly Judge of all the earth, this is the fullest court description.

First we have the summons of the defendant, “Hear what the LORD says…”. The “hear” here is plural. The defendant is later identified as “his people.” Yahweh is calling his own people before him to be judged. Not just just their chief cities, nor just their corrupt rulers—but simply “his people”—all of them.

The first summons in Micah was a call to all the peoples of earth for judgment. It is a summons that hangs over the entirety of this book. “Hear, you peoples, all of you; pay attention, O earth, and all that is in it, and let the Lord GOD be a witness against you, the Lord from his holy temple” (Micah 1:2). If God calls His own people to court, will He not judge all all the peoples of the earth? Will He not judge you?

Next we have the command of the Judge for His covenant prosecutor to act. Whereas the “hear” is plural, the verbs “arise” and “plead” are singular. Micah is called on to act as God’s prosecutor, showing how Israel has violated covenant. This is the major role of the Old Testament prophet. The popular idea of the prophet is that of a future-teller. But we would do well to replace that with the idea of covenant-teller. While the prophets do foretell of God’s covenant faithfulness to redeem in the future, a substantial part of their ministry is acting as a covenant-prosecutor. When they speak of  judgment to come, as much as they are foretelling, they are pronouncing the very covenant curses God promised in His law. Curses we will clearly see in this chapter.

Next we see a summons to mountains and foundations of the earth (v. 2). They are not summoned as defendants, but as witnesses. The enduring mountains and foundations have been there since the first sin. This is the creation that groans and was subjected to futility because of man’s sin (Romans 8:20–22). This is the creation that cries out for the innocent blood that stains its soil (Genesis 4:10). Such witnesses testify to the majesty of this court. Who but the Lord of heaven and earth can call such witnesses?

Finally, the Plantiff/Judge is explicitly identified. These witnesses are called on to hear “the indictment of the LORD.” It is He who “will contend with Israel.” This is Yahweh’s indictment brought by Yahweh’s prophet before Yahweh’s creation, against Yahweh’s people. Do you see how certain their condemnation is? Do you see how certain our condemnation is? There is no hope of bribing the Judge, buying the prosecutor, or manipulating the witnesses. You are known by them all and they are His servants.

Hear all peoples, if Yahweh has so faithfully judged Israel, will He not judge all the earth? We have all of us broken covenant—the covenant of creation. We owe all to our Creator, and all His creation testifies of our sin against Him. Creation speaks of His glory and testifies of His wrath against the unrighteousness of man—thorns and poison ivy, earthquakes and tornadoes, wildfires and volcanoes, floods and hurricanes, drought and disease all testify to our sinfulness. 

Abraham found solace in asking, “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?” (Genesis 18:25). But outside of Christ this is our greatest terror, for there is none righteous, no not one. We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. The Judge of all the earth will do what is right and we are not righteous.

It shall come to pass in the latter days 
that the mountain of the house of the LORD 
shall be established as the highest of the mountains, 
     and it shall be lifted up above the hills; 
and peoples shall flow to it, 
     and 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, 
that he may teach us his ways 
     and that we may walk in his paths.” 
For out of Zion shall go forth the law, 
     and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

—Micah 4:1–2

What does this mean? Should we expect Zion to literally tower over Everest and the temple to be restored? Oddly, I’ve don’t think I’ve ever heard the advocates of a “literal” interpretation argue for a Mount Zion with an elevation of 30,000 feet. Even so, when does help answer what. But when might not be when you think it is and thus we are led to a different what.

What does this mean? When is the mountain of the house of Yahweh to be established as the highest of the mountains? “In the latter days.” The LSB, NAS, CSB, and KJV all have “in the last days.” When are these last days? Acts 2:17 us that the last days have already arrived in the wake of Jesus’ resurrection. Peter explained to the crowds on Pentecost, “But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel: ‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh…’” (Acts 2:16–17). Joel goes on to speak of what we normally think of last days stuff—stuff like the sun turning to darkness and the moon to blood (Joel 2:32). But this passage in Joel ends by telling us, “And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the LORD has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the LORD calls” (Joel 2:32).

The last days have been inaugurated but not yet consummated. They are here now, but not fully here yet. The future is breaking into the present. This began with Jesus’ resurrection as the firstfruits of the harvest to come. It swells as men are born again, a new creation in Christ, strangers to this world, belonging to the world to come. This is why Hebrews opens telling us, “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son” (Hebrews 1:1). 

That’s when and it helps you understand what. What does it mean that the mountain of the house of Yahweh lifted up above all the hills? It is lifted up in Christ, who is Himself the temple of the LORD. In Him we most fully and may truly exclaim, “Yahweh is in the midst of us! No disaster shall come upon us.” John records that He told the Jews “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (John 2:18). And John also tells us, “I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb” (Revelation 21:22). The temple was a shadow. Jesus is the substance. How is the mountain of the house lifted above all hills? It happens as that stone not cut by human hands strikes the kingdoms of this world as fine as dust so that they are carried away. It happens, Daniel tells us, as “the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth” (Daniel 2:35). It happens as God highly exalts Christ and bestows on him the name that is above every name (Philippians 2:9). It happens in He who is is called Emmanuel, “God with us.”

This happens supremely in Christ, but because it happens in Christ, it happens in His people—the true Israel of God, His church. Peter tells us that we are “being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 2:5). Paul asks us, “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?” (1 Corinthians 3:16). This is true of each member of the church and it is true of the church corporately. The world cannot see it, but the church has been raised up with Christ and seated with him in the heavenly places (Ephesians 2:6). The kingdoms of this world will pass away, but the kingdom of God will endure forever and thus the gates of hell do not prevail against the church. She, as the temple of Yahweh, is exalted above all other mountains and hills—all the kingdoms of this world.

How does this happen? Don’t look for a restored temple in Jerusalem. Listen to how Hebrews says it has happened in these last days inaugurated by our Lord Jesus Christ. “But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel” (Hebrews 12:22–24).

Can you see why then John Trapp would say, “These last days are Gospel-days”?

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.

²  Hear, you peoples, all of you;
pay attention, O earth, and all that is in it,
and let the Lord GOD be a witness against you,
the Lord from his holy temple.
³  For behold, the LORD is coming out of his place,
and will come down and tread upon the high places of the earth.
⁴  And the mountains will melt under him,
and the valleys will split open,
like wax before the fire,
like waters poured down a steep place.

—Micah 1:1–4

Micah, “Who is like Yahweh?”—that is what Micah means. 

“Who is like Yahweh?” He has no rival. He is without peer. He alone is God. He is transcendent and incomprehensible—infinite in all His attributes. He is holy.

You cannot have a great God without great judgment. If there is no great judgment, then He really isn’t a great God. If sins against Him are negligible, then He is inconsequential. If you want a God who is perfect in goodness, truth, and beauty and thus the fullness of our every longing and the fountain of all delight, you cannot have Him without great judgment. To rebel against such a God is the highest of crimes worthy of eternal torment. The magnitude of hell is a testimony to the glory of God. If you want a God of whom you may exclaim, “Who is like you!” then you must be able to make that very exclamation of His judgment as well as of everything else that He is in perfection and unity.

Micah is a book of judgment. Three times we are summoned to “hear.” Three times a word of judgment follows that summons.

“Hear, you peoples, all of you; pay attention, O earth, and all that is in it, and let the Lord GOD be a witness against you, the Lord from his holy temple” (Micah 1:2).

“And I said: Hear, you heads of Jacob and rulers of the house of Israel! Is it not for you to know justice?— you who hate the good and love the evil, who tear the skin from off my people and their flesh from off their bones,…” (Micah 3:1–2).

“Hear what the LORD says: Arise, plead your case before the mountains, and let the hills hear your voice. Hear, you mountains, the indictment of the LORD, and you enduring foundations of the earth, for the LORD has an indictment against his people, and he will contend with Israel” (Micah 6:1–2).

With each summons, we move from judgment on their capital cities, to the judgment of their leaders, to the judgment of the people. And yet, at the end of each cycle of judgment, there is the hope of salvation. But always in Micah, before the promise of salvation is pronounced, we are summoned to hear of judgment. To properly receive the good news of grace, we must stop railing against God’s word of judgment. We must own our guilt if we are to receive God’s grace. We must learn to exclaim, “Who is like Yahweh?” and then we may rejoice, “Christ Jesus—my Lord, my God, my Savior!”

Once upon a time there was an enchanted kingdom, full of the deepest and purest of magic because loved by the highest of gods (Psalm 86:8). A great king was given to this people, and the magic was upon him heavily. Giants fell; enemies ran. But the end of his reign was marked by precursors of doom. The magic that once worked for him, now worked at times to reprove him. This was not a wieldable, tamable magic beneath him, but over him. The kingdom began to age and deteriorate with their king, for he was their shepherd. He carried them as a lamb on his shoulders. His fall would mean theirs. Yet the king was given a promise of a Son. A Son who not only would never go against the great magic, but who is Lord over it, for the great magic was simply His power, His desire. A Son would come, more ancient than His fathers.

Hopes were high in the king’s firstborn. The kingdom seemed to flourish as never before. Palaces were built, and an unequalled temple erected to God Most High. Yet the son’s kingdom was like a stack of Jenga blocks waiting to fall down. There was no spiritual cement to hold together the material prosperity. Walls were erected, but no longer enchanted. The son’s latter reign was more dismal than his father’s. To many wives with too many idols led his heart astray.

Sons were born and sons reigned, but never did any match the reign of the first king, most certainly none excelled it. Good kings would rise and rebuild, but a bad king would always follow who would tear down more than His predecessors could build up. This kingdom was destined to shine like the sun, but entropy and the law of thermodynamics seemed to set hard in just as this star was birthed. Walls cracked, gates splintered, the temple was burned, the line of kings was humiliated, hope was banished.

Then, as a shoot coming forth miraculously our of dry ground, came a Son of the sons. He too would be struck and humiliated by pagan rulers. Far deeper and harder would be His fall, for He would fall not for His own personal sins, for He had none, but for all the sins of His subjects, for He carried them as a lamb upon His shoulders.

The first king’s fall meant the ruination of the kingdom. The second king’s fall meant their salvation.The first king fell into sin precisely when he failed to war for his people (2 Samuel 11:1ff). The second king fell in battle for His people. He was the promised Warrior Prince born of Eve and Israel, born to kill the dragon and get the girl. He would rescue the prostitute and maker her His pure bride.

Wicked kings fell never to rise. This King rose never to fall, and He stands with His own as a lamb upon His shoulders. Darkness had fallen on the land, but it fell dead when the Dragon tried to consume the Morning Star. The bleak darkness only made the Son’s rising more brilliant.  This Star will never dim, of His rule there will be no end. His eternal rule is His people’s everlasting peace. This is the only true “happily ever after.”