The Punster & His Probing
Text: Micah 1:10-16
Introduction: The prophet Micah was a contemporary of Isaiah. No doubt he and Isaiah from time to time fellowshipped with each other and discussed the future of Jerusalem & Judah. No doubt these heart-to-heart lead brought these men to shared conclusions about what God as doing in the land and where the people were going wrong, so though Micah is much shorter than Isaiah the two books share a similar style. Sometimes, in fact, this book is called "Isaiah in miniature" because it is a much briefer presentation of essentially the same message as the prophecy of Isaiah.
The name Micah means, "Who is like God?" The theme of this book is God-likeness or, as we would say, godliness.
The book is divided into three parts. The first three chapters describe the failure of the nation. We get this theme in many of the prophets, but here in this book we have the picture of the lack of godliness. Then in chapters four and five that is a vision of the future which includes a prophecy predicting the birthplace of Christ as well as His millennial reign. The key thought is “Present judgment, but future blessing”. How many times have we stated in this series that almost every time God speaks through the prophets to His people of coming judgment he always tempers the message with the hope of salvation and restoration? Micah is no different in that regard. The last three chapters give us the pleading of God to the nation.
In the first chapter we see God striding forth in judgment against this nation of Judah, because of their utter failure to be godly. You know if the pulpits of our churches today would lay more stock in godliness than in personal success and happiness, we would be in a much healthier state spiritually today that we are at present. Where is the godliness? That was Micah’s cry.
Now, this book doesn’t give away too much about Micah’s background, but it does reveal to us something of his character. You see Micah is the punster of the Old Testament. He likes to play on words.
We all know that a pun is a play on words that relies on a word having more than one meaning or sounding like another word. For example:
A pessimist’s blood type is always b-negative.
I used to work in a blanket factory, but it folded.
Corduroy pillows are making headlines.
When you dream in colour, it’s a pigment of your imagination.
The Bible, particularly the prophets, is filled with puns but unfortunately for us we often miss them, because naturally these puns work best in Hebrew and are lost in translation, but if you could read the Hebrew, you would find that there is pun upon pun. Our opening text is laden with puns from the pen of Micah
For example, we come to verse 10 and it reads, “Declare ye it not at Gath, weep ye not at all.”
Gath means "weep" and the prophet plays on that name. And in this manner, all the way through, he plays on the names of cities and then ties the judgment of God in with them. Here is how it would read:
"In Weep Town, weep not; in Dust Town, roll yourself in the dust." "In Beauty Town, beauty will be shamed." [That is the meaning of Saphir -- beauty.] "In Zaanan [which means march] they’ll march not forth. In Neighbour Town they will end up with a useless neighbour. In Bitter Town they will grieve bitterly. In Lachish, the “one horse town” bind the chariot to that horse. In Achzib (meaning a lie) the houses shall lie to the king of Israel”
Right throughout, it’s a play on words. Of course the humour of the language is lost on us, but by means of these sarcastic jibes Micah was proclaiming the undoing of Judah.
So what is Micah about ith all these puns? Well perhaps by looking at the best pun of all, his name, we find that Micah wanted to convey to us what God is like. But not only that, this is a book that probes the consciences of its readers with many searching questions, and by these questions Micah wants us to realise just what it is that God wants from us. And this he does in two very simple verses.
I. What God Is Like – Micah 7:18-19
A. Verse 18 is both a pun and a probe.
1. It’s a play on Micah’s name.
2. Remember his name means, “Who is like God”, and some have suggested that this is a nickname.
3. That it was an abbreviation of the name Micaiah, and that because Micah was ever asking everyone he met “Who is like God”, he became known as Micah, a shortened version of his name which playfully mocked his mission.
4. We can just see the people of Jerusalem seeing him coming and saying something like, “Oh look who it is, it’s old ‘Who is like God?’, Micah.”
5. Well, I suppose that as nicknames go, this isn’t a bad one.
a. Illus: When I was a lad the guys I hung around with had various nicknames, sometimes these were drawn from their personality, one fellow, for example was called “Strange”. Sometimes they were drawn from appearances, “Froggy, Jimmy Hill (guy had a longer than average chin). Perhaps the two worst were given by a schoolteacher, (in the days before political correctness and child protection). One boy with a B.O. issue was called “Stink” and another, who cried every time he was yelled at was called “Leaky … Leaky Nolan.”
b. So Micah is OK.
c. I didn’t have a particularly nickname when I was a lad, mostly my name was abbreviated to Dave, DD, Davey, Davo etc., and it used to drive my mother wild when boys would call to our door and ask for me by one of those names. She would say, “we don’t have anyone living herer by that name, and would wait until they called me David before calling me… it was one of those embarrassing things that parents do.
d. Well Micah, was to Micaiah what Dave is to David, a shortened version of the same name, except in his case it typified his message and his mission, and so having searched the land looking for a godly man, Micah played on his name with one last pun, and a probing question.
B. He asks, “Who is a God like unto thee…”
1. This is in the first place a confession, its rhetorical; the suggestion being that there is no God like our God.
2. But secondly, it is a challenge to his readers, for having substituted the true God with other forms of worship and idols, Micah wants to know how they compare.
3. And in so doing he reveals something of the character and nature of God.
C. God is FORGIVING.
1. “Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage?”
2. Is there any God like this God, like our God?
3. The gods of paganism are often angry creatures – gods which breath threatenings and mayhem upon their people without any notion of forgiveness or grace.
4. They are gods that must be constantly appeased with offerings and services.
5. That is not our God, neither the God the O.T. nor the God of the New.
6. What Micah reveals is that God is the same throughout.
7. He pardons sin.
a. Not a day goes by that we do not sin in word, thought or deed.
b. In fact we are as ignorant of our sins sometimes as we are of God’s daily provision of grace.
c. And yet in spite of ourselves He blesses us, He allows us to walk with Him - isn’t it a good thing that God is forgiving & of course those sin we knowingly commit, those He will forgive, but even the sins that we take no stock of, in earnest confession he forgives also.
8. Look up 1 John 1:9
a. The word “confess” means to agree with God. That we admit to our sin, that we do not try to cover up our wrongdoing or sinful attitudes or thoughts before Him.
b. “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.” (Proverbs 28:13).
c. Now here is a question that I am asked from time to time - and this verse answers it: “What if in my confession I am unaware of a sin, or I forget to mention it?” - We commit so much sin in a day it is perhaps hard to keep inventory of them all.
(i) Watch verse 9: “If we confess our sins, . . .” Specific, individual sins. Sins that we recall and know of, “He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, . . .” Those specific sins we have mentioned. But not only that but also,
(ii). “To cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9). He forgives us of those sins we unconsciously forget or are unaware of.
(iii) In other words honest confession = absolute forgiveness.
d. In fact I love what Micah says God does with our sins – vs 19c – “Thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.”
(i) In other words he puts them in a place that is inaccessible, out of man’s reach, beyond us so that they camn never be brought up again.
(ii) Illus: Ad on TV which shows all the junk in the sea being taken out, until the water is pure, (Old spitfires, warships and wrecks etc.” Unfortunately it is an alcohol ad that portrays the product as “pure water”? Isn’t that just like man, to make what is good evil and what is evil good? Alcohol is anything but pure. Nevertheless, the ad always catches my attention, as what lies beneath the ocean is a fascination for me, but you know if that ad were really accurate, propelling from the ocean would be things like murder, rape, drunkenness, abuse, deceit, envy greed, malice, violence, hatred etc.
(iii) The sea doesn’t just hold the wrecks of man’s engineering or maritime failures, but the wrecks of people’s lives, because that is where God has cast our sins, and thankfully, just as the ad presents the fictitious retrieval of all the junk in the oceans, so too any notion that our sins may be retrieved is totally impossible. God is forgiving.
D. God is MERCIFUL
1. “He retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy.” (Micah 7:18b)
2. Psalm 103 says, “The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. . . the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children’s children.”
3. Jeremiah the prophet wrote: “This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. It is of the LORD’S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.” (Lam 3:21-23).
4. What does it mean for God to merciful? Well it is just as Jeremiah describes… he does not gives us what we deserve.
a. The men of Micah’s day were so wicked they had deserved God’s judgment, but God in mercy, had held off.
b. Men in our day are equally wicked – people sya, why doesn’t God do something? But God is doing something, He is extending toward man his mercy, but just like Judah that mercy will some day come to an end, and judgment will follow.
c. But God’s nature is such that in His mercy he is longsuffering with the sinfulness of man, ever willing that none should perish and that al should come to repentance.
E. God is COMPASSIONATE
1. “He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us” (vs 19a) What does that mean?
2. It means He is loving, it means He cares, it means He is gracious.
3. “The LORD is gracious and full of compassion.” (Psalms 111:4)
a. Illus: One of Denmark’s leading sculptors had a burning ambition to create the greatest statue of Jesus ever made. He began by shaping a clay model of a triumphant, regal figure. The head was thrown back and the arms were upraised in a gesture of great majesty. It was his conception of Christ the King: Strong, Dominant. "This will be my masterpiece," he said, on the day the model was completed. But, during the night a heavy fog rolled into the area and sea-spray seeped through a partially opened window of the artist’s ocean-side studio. The moisture affected the shape of the model so that when the artist returned to the studio in the morning, he was shocked to find a wounded figure. The droplets of moisture that had formed on the statue created the illusion of bleeding. The head had drooped. The facial expression had been transformed from severity to compassion. And the arms had dropped into an attitude of welcome. The artist stared at the figure, agonizing over the time wasted and the need to begin all over again. But something came over him to change his mood. He began to see that this image of Christ was the truer one. Then he wrote at the base of the newly shaped figure: "Come unto Me"
(Dave McFadden, SermonCentral)
4. That’s compassion! – Not the desire of God to over power us, but the desire to embrace us, to love us and forgive us.
a. God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but he rejoices at their repentance.
F. God is REDEMPTIVE
1. “He will subdue our iniquities.”
2. In other words there is coming a day when God will make everything right. – See Micah 4:1-2.
3. God has a restorative purpose… He is planning a return to Eden as it where; to bring us to the place He intended us to be, completely in tune with Him, and completely in harmony with our environment.
4. There is day dawning, a new world awaiting in which sin plays no part, and where wrong will be a part of history and no more- it is the day when God’s redemptive purposes are consummated, and we are saved and sanctified eternally.
5. You see, it is in the nature of God, to bring men unto glory.
6. And when you think of what we were when the Lord found us no wonder Micah asks, “Who is a God like unto thee?”
Conclusion: Well, surely this is not a one-way street? Surely God expects some kind of reciprocation, some response to his willingness to forgive, His mercy and daily compassion upon our lives? Indeed He does. Micah says so – see Micah 6:8. “What doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?”
What does God demand of us? That we do the right thing. That we do it for the right reasons, and that we walk with Him.
That’s all. It’s not much to ask from a God like that!
