We’ve
heard it sung in recent weeks, “It’s the most wonderful time of the year.” And,
indeed, it is because at this time millions will worship. The motivation for millions to worship at
this time of year is the coming of Jesus.
For some who so rarely worship, we might think they only come for the
tradition of it: that it somehow just seems the right thing to do at Christmas
time. Yet, I’d rather believe that
millions will worship now because they are seeking in Jesus some cure for their
fears; some reason to have hope. For, in
the coming of Jesus there is the meeting of all our hopes and all our fears.
Israel
of old was a people continually moved back and forth by the extremes of either
their hopes or their fears. In times of
communion with God, they reveled in great hope; yet, in times of trial, they
trembled in terrible fear.
Israel
was little different than people today; and hardly different than Christians
today. Many are constantly shifting
between the extremes of our hopes and our fears. We’re moving somewhere between having a “blessed assurance of hope in Christ”, and a “terrifying expectation of judgment.” Yet,
that really ought not to be; because in Christ our hopes and our fears
meet. And, in Christ, Hope Wins! In Christ, Hope always wins!
In
the book of Micah, let us see how hope wins.
Israel is again moving between the extremes of their hopes and their
fears. The prophecy of Micah is packed
with glorious promises of peace (5:5); peace with God and among men where the
people “walk in the name of the Lord our God
forever and ever” (4:5).
However,
Micah is also packed with terrifying warnings of impending destruction. Micah 3 tells of the horrible times coming
against the leaders who led God’s people astray; those “hating good and
loving evil” (3:2). It tells also
of God’s rejection of those who practiced such evil deeds (3:4).
Yet, the beauty of this prophecy is that there is always the promise of
redemption. By repentance; there is
the promise of redemption. There is the
promise of peace; the enduring hope of the remnant who choose to walk in the
name of the Lord.
In
Micah 5:1, and 2, these hopes and
fears meet face to face; the fear of destruction and hope of redemption meet face
to face. Concerning Israel’s bondage under Assyria,
in verse 1, Micah said, “Now muster yourselves in
troops, daughter of troops; they have laid siege against us; with a rod they
will smite the judge of Israel on the cheek.
[Even in the crisis there is reason for hope. They will be struck on the cheek, but that’s
not a fatal blow; some will survive.]
Then,
in verse 2, “But,
as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, too little to be among the clans of Judah, [meaning,
they’re too little to muster troops] from you One
will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. His goings forth are from long ago,
from the days of eternity. 3 Therefore,
God will give them up until the time when she who is in labor has borne a
child. 4 Then the [remnant]
of His brethren will return to the sons of Israel. 4 And He will arise and shepherd
His flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord
His God. And they will remain, because
at that time He will be great to the ends of the earth. 5 This One will be our peace.
And,
today, when we ponder the birth of Jesus, we may first think of where He was
born, or the miraculous conception. We
may think of the selfless love which made His coming possible. All such matters are marvelous to
consider. Yet, perhaps, the truth of
His coming is better stated in the words of a song. When we sing about Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem,
we sing, “The hopes and fears of all the years are met in [Thee] tonight.” It is the marvelous truth of Jesus; that in
Him, the Hopes and Fears of all the years come face to face. And the greater truth is this; as Micah said,
“This One will be our peace.”
Yet,
despite Micah’s assurance, it must have seemed to Israel that peace might never
come. For, certainly, they’ve done
everything they could think of to find peace.
It’s worthwhile to recall how many ways they sought peace; how many ways
they tried to overcome their fears by placing their hopes in all the wrong
places. And, perhaps, we’ll see
ourselves in them.
First, we know from 1st Samuel 8, Israel
sought peace by having an earthly king.
Even though it wasn’t in God’s will for them, He allowed it because they
had already rejected God as king over them (8:9). Samuel warned them of
all the problems to come by an earthly king; yet the people said, “No, there shall be a king over us” 1Kings 8:19. They insisted; and God delivered them over
to their desire. They got their way. As
Israel had to learn so many times; their king was not their peace.
Then we know, Israel
also sought peace by trying please many other gods. So quickly it happened, sometimes within the
span of forty days; they’d turn from God to other gods. Somehow they were certain; they had to
worship other gods to ultimately have peace.
God had said, “You shall have no other gods
before Me” Exodus 20:3. Yet, the people insisted on worshipping the “work of their own hands” (Micah 5:13). “Because they forsook the covenant of the Lord their God
and bowed down to other gods” Jeremiah
22:9, the Almighty God “set apart destroyers
against” them (22:7). They still hadn’t learned, there is no
peace apart from God’s peace. And, it’s a lesson which many Christians still
need to learn.
Third, Israel sought
peace by making forbidden alliances with other kings and nations. God has specifically told them not to do so,
but they presumed to know better. While
they would not completely trust in God’s protection, they would depend upon far
less. So many times “Judah
had offered her incense under every green tree on every high hill” (Jer. 2:20). The Lord charged Judah to acknowledge her
idolatry, for she had transgressed against the Lord, “having
scattered her favors to strangers under every green tree, and having not obeyed
His voice” (Jer. 3:13).
Israel
depended upon devious alliances with the wicked. From Daniel
11, we know that by the evil kings of the North and South, alliances were
made to “carry out some peaceful arrangement”
11:6. The problem was; it’s their “peaceful arrangement,” not God’s. Clearly, Israel was trying to meet her fears
by placing her hopes in all the wrong places.
And. clearly, Micah’s words are God’s indictment against them.
So,
let’s look closer at Micah’s prophecies; and let us see the need to seek peace
only in the One who has come to bring peace. Let us also see that some Christians today
are like Israel. It is at the heart of Micah’s message; “This One will be our peace.”
Now,
in the first three chapters of Micah’s prophecy, he relays God’s message; their
sins are so great that God’s justice demands judgment upon them. In 2:1,
Micah declares that the people lie awake at night, scheming “iniquity, [working out] evil on their beds! When morning
comes, they do it, for it is the power of their hands.”
But,
Christians do that still today. We
may not carve out statues and bow down before them, but we do worship the
things created by man’s hands – houses, cars, money and more. The people of Israel coveted the possessions
of others; scheming ways to obtain them.
Yet, even among Christians it is still a problem seeking peace
through possessions rather than through Christ. Colossians
3:5 tells us that “covetousness is idolatry.”
Many
Christians have hearty appetites for more things, but Jesus declares that is
not the means to peace. In Luke 22:15; Jesus warned that “one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the
things he possesses.” Yet, sadly,
many are seeking peace through their possessions. But, even Micah warned against our gain,
saying, “This is no place of [peace]”
(2:10).
In
chapter 3, Micah continues the Lord’s indictment against their wickedness. There’s the heart of the indictment in 3:2; declaring they “hate good and love evil.” And, now their sin is lying against the
truth; the sin of false prophets who lead the people astray. These false teachers would teach anything so
long as it profited them. Micah said in
3:11ff, “Her
leaders pronounce judgment for a bribe, her priests instruct for a price, and
her prophets divine for money.” And
despite such evil, then the leaders say, “Calamity
will not come upon us.” And,
because of their lies, Micah prophesied, “Jerusalem
will become a heap of ruins (3:12).”
So,
do we see the problem – they’re declaring peace where there is no peace. In their lying, they presume to be right with
God, but there will be no peace on that basis.
Yet, all is not without hope; for
in chapter 4 Micah moves on to preach a message of hope. He declares that one day there will be
peace. Despite the destruction
proclaimed against the cities of Israel, from one small place, Bethlehem, there
is coming the promise of hope. However,
now, the unbelieving Jews have rejected this Prince of Peace; they have
rejected the True Hope for so long. Even
now they are without “This One [who came to be
their] peace.”
However,
the glory of Micah’s prophecy is that even now we can have peace because all
the hopes and fears of our years have been met through this One named
Jesus. The promise which came in His
birth is the end of all fear, and the beginning of all hope.
We
can have peace in our hearts beginning today by trusting in this Jesus as our
Savior.
Romans 5: 1-2, 5 tell us that by our “having
been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in
which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God…. And, this hope does not disappoint.” And, this
is the theme of Micah’s final message, calling people to trust in the Lord
Jesus Christ as their Savior. And, the
call is the same today; calling people to decide to trust the Lord and obey His
Word.
Let
each one of us know this for certain; our hopes and fears are met in Jesus if
we continually trust the Him. And, according to Micah 6, the truth of
our hope has already been proven in court.
Micah 6 is like a courtroom scene.
The Lord hears and indicts the people for their unfounded
complaints. God is demanding answers;
asking them in verse 3, “My people, what have I
done to you, and how have I wearied you?
Answer me. Indeed, I brought you
up from the land of Egypt and ransomed you from the house of slavery. And I sent before you Moses, Aaron and
Miriam. My people, remember now what
Balak king of Moab counseled and what Balaam son of Beor answered…”
So,
let’s briefly remind ourselves of Balaam’s answer in Numbers 22; and from his
answer we can know where our hope rests.
To the wicked schemes of Balak, Balaam responded in Numbers 22:18, “Though Balak
were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not do anything,
either small or great, contrary to the command of the Lord my God.” That’s where our hope is found – in
obedience to the commands of God.
Thus,
we see in Micah 6, the people are
troubled by God’s indictment, and in verses
6-7 they want to make it right. Now,
in the fear of judgment, they want to make up for what they have done. They ask, “With
what shall I come before the Lord and bow myself before the God on high? Shall I come to Him with burnt offerings,
with yearling calves? Does the Lord take
delight in thousands of rams, in ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I present my firstborn for all my
religious acts, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?”
Do we see the
truth? All of our gifts
and sacrifices cannot atone for our sins. God does not desire my firstborn
because he has already given His firstborn.
God has given His best fruit for the sins of our souls. All of our religion, all of our righteous
acts cannot save us. Our “hope is built
on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and
[His] righteousness.” Our hopes and
fears are met in Him; the One of whom Micah declared, “This
One will be our peace.”
Micah 6:9 then says a
time of fear is coming. “The voice of the Lord will call to the city – and it is
sound wisdom to fear your name. Hear, O
tribe, Who has appointed its time?”
Certainly, the Lord is the One who has appointed the time of
Judgment. The message of Micah is a
call to repentance. It is the call
saying that now is the time to trust and obey the Lord. Now is the time to resolve your fears and to
begin your hope in Christ Jesus.
However,
some today would rather not hear this message.
Some will respond like the people of Israel. Let’s recall how Israel reacted to Micah’s
preaching? Micah had warned them of the
judgment to come, but they wanted no part of hearing about it. In 2:6 they said, “[Stop preaching about
these terrible things; such disgrace will not overtake us, for we are the
Lord’s people].”
Are
we any different? Are we somehow still
presuming that we know better how to find peace; that we know better how to
resolve our fears? In what have we
placed our hope? Are we placing our hopes either in the present leaders of this
country? Brethren, the nation’s leaders
are not the cure of our fears; and ultimately they are not the One who brings
peace. Are we placing our hopes in
possessions? Are we somehow, like
Israel, vainly presuming God really will not condemn us for our sins? Thus, they just weren’t willing to hear
Micah’s message.
Ah,
we see, their first and their worst mistake was to close their ears to
the Lord’s message. Brethren, if we are truly going to know
peace; knowing our fears are past and our hope has begun, it is only in Him of
whom Micah said, “This One will be our peace.” For, in Christ our fears change. We ought to no longer fear death; no longer
shall we fear the condemnation to hell.
Our fears of death rightly become a respectful fear of God. For we who are in Christ, the fear of the
Father is met in our hope in the Son. Our hopes and fears are met only by
responding in faith to the salvation which comes in Christ Jesus. Trust Micah’s words, “This One, this Jesus, will bring you peace.
The
greatest gift of God is the hope we have in Jesus. In Jesus, Hope wins; and Hope forever
wins. And, Romans 5:5 tells us, this “hope does not disappoint…” We receive the gift by placing our trust in
nothing else or no one else. The true
“hope [of every believer] is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and His
righteousness.”
Let
each one be convinced, “This Jesus will be our
peace.” The coming of Jesus is
the cure of our fears and the cause of our hopes. Won’t you make Him your peace; determine
more completely than ever before to make Him your hope. For,
in Christ Hope always wins!
2012
Very good and thoughtful blog...Peace
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