Who is Like the Lord Micahs Prophecies of

“Who is Like the Lord? ” Micah’s Prophecies of the Kingdom to Come

…no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God. (2 Pet. 1: 20 -21)

God’s Influence among the Nations (Micah 4: 1 -5)

The Background • Now hear this, heads of the house of Jacob and rulers of the house of Israel, who abhor justice and twist everything that is straight, who build Zion with bloodshed and Jerusalem with violent injustice. Her leaders pronounce judgment for a bribe, her priests instruct for a price, and her prophets divine for money. Yet they lean on the Lord saying, “Is not the Lord in our midst? Calamity will not come upon us. ”

• Therefore, on account of you, Zion will be plowed as a field, Jerusalem will become a heap of ruins, and the mountain of the temple will become high places of a forest. (Micah 3: 9 -12)

Features of Micah’s Prophecy 1. Mount Moriah (Zion) would be established as the chief of the mountains • And it will come about in the last days that the mountain of the house of the Lord will be established as the chief of the mountains. It will be raised above the hills, and the peoples will stream to it. (Micah 4: 1)

Features of Micah’s Prophecy 2. People of all nations would look to the God of Israel for instruction. • “… and the peoples will stream to it and many nations will come and say, “Come and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord and to the house of the God of Jacob, that He may teach us about His ways and that we may walk in His paths. For from Zion will go forth the law, even the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. (Micah 4: 2)

Features of Micah’s Prophecy 3. God’s word would provide the principles by which the nations would conduct themselves toward one another. • And He will judge between many peoples and render decisions for mighty, distant nations. (Micah 4: 3)

Features of Micah’s Prophecy 4. The nations would live in peace with one another. • Then they will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; nation will not lift up sword against nation, and never again will they train for war.

Features of Micah’s Prophecy 5. As a result the people of each nation would enjoy peace and security. • And each of them will sit under his vine and under his fig tree, with no one to make them afraid, for the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken. (Micah 4: 4)

Conditions Today! • Jerusalem is still despised and insignificant. • The temple of the Lord no longer exists. • The nations have little if any interest in what the God of Israel says about anything. • War and violence is rampant in our world as it has been in every century since the time of Micah.

Questions • Have the words of God failed? • Is there yet to be a reality that fulfills these sublime pictures? • Are we to expect a millennial kingdom? • Are these the pictures of an earthly paradise yet to be created? • Or is there another solution?

The Key that Opens the Scriptures • Now He said to them, “These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled. ” Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and He said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and rise again from the dead the third day; and that repentance forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. (Luke 24: 44 -47)

Couched in the language of the old reality, Micah speaks of a new reality—the kingdom or church of Jesus Christ.

The Fulfillment 1. Jesus established Himself as the Christ of OT prophecy and Jerusalem as the seat of His kingdom. From it He sent forth His apostles with the message of salvation to all the nations. • “… repentance forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. (Luke 24: 44 -47)

The Fulfillment 2. The teaching of the God of Israel became the instruction for people of all nations. • “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, (Matthew 28: 19)

• “… repentance forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. (Luke 24: 44 -47)

The Fulfillment 3. People from all the nations coexist together based on the principle of love and peace as demonstrated by Jesus Himself. • For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one, and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, that in Himself He might

• make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity. And He came and preached peace to you who were far away, and peace to those who were near; for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father. (Ephesians 2: 14 -18)

The Fulfillment 4. Within the framework of His kingdom, all the nations can enjoy the peace and prosperity of a life in submission to God. • Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ… (Eph. 1: 3)

The Wonder of Micah’s God • Who is a God like Thee, who pardons iniquity and passes over the rebellious act of the remnant of His possession? He does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in unchanging love. (Micah 7: 18)