INTRODUCTION: In the movie “Invasion of the Body Snatchers,” Kevin McCarthy's character yells to passersby: “They’re coming! They’re here already! You’re next!” The effect is unsettling and disturbing, yet the other characters in the film go on about their business more or less as if nothing had happened. But this strange character was telling the truth, trying to warn them, and it was a warning they needed to heed and act on before it became too late for them.
I imagine this was how many people reacted to God’s prophets back in the days of Israel and Judah. A prophet would proclaim a warning of God’s judgment, and many people would shrug and think “what a strange character,” and go back to doing business as usual. But for those who had ears to hear, who would listen and respond in faith, they would find hope and deliverance.
One such prophet was Micah, who like his contemporaries Isaiah and Amos, prophesied during the eighth century BC, a time when Israel and Judah had risen to heights of economic affluence but fallen to depths of spiritual decadence. It was a time of great economic prosperity, fostered for a time by the absence of international crises and by the mutual cooperation of both kingdoms. But while Israel and Judah appeared to be strong externally, an internal decay was sapping their strength and threatening to destroy the social fabric of these two kingdoms. Call it the “Invasion of the Spirit Snatchers”:
• A burgeoning wealthy class was becoming richer at the expense of the poorer classes. The prophets saw this as a violation of God’s covenants with His people, and thus a hindrance to God’s blessing and a factor in the dissolution of the nation.
• But the internal sickness of Israel involved more than social wrongs. Canaanite religion—Baal worship—had also extended its influence among some of the people.
At the same time Israel was being torn by internal strife & dissension, and polluted by Baal worship, the nation of Assyria was rising to occupy a threatening posture on the national scene. Let’s listen to the message Micah had for God’s people during this time of deceptive prosperity: [READ MICAH 1:1-7]
After a superscription that identifies the source, time period, and topic of the book (1), Micah focuses on the sins of Jerusalem, which will lead to its destruction. These messages come from the early ministry of Micah before the time of Hezekiah. The common theme uniting the section is that Judah’s sin will cause God to destroy Jerusalem. Why? Because …
GOD'S JUSTICE REQUIRES GOD'S JUDGMENT (1-7)
Micah’s introduction deals with God’s coming to earth to establish justice through His judgment. The opening statement of his prophecy consists of a summons to the nations to attend to the cosmic judgment scene so vividly described by the prophet in the subsequent verses. In this anthropomorphic representation, Micah pictured God as coming from His dwelling place to witness against the nations. This witness was brought about in the cataclysmic destruction of the capital cities of Samaria (6) and Jerusalem (5). While Micah’s message was applicable to all the inhabitants of these kingdoms, he singled Samaria and Jerusalem because the leaders of these centers of influence were largely responsible for the social ills of that time (5-7). He singled out Jerusalem in particular, not only because of the corruption of its leaders, but also because of its future glory—a central motif in the prophetic theology of hope. Micah predicts the total destruction of the northern nation of Israel. The stones of her city walls and houses will be removed down to their foundations (6), and her idols will be destroyed (7). The land will then revert back to its original use of being a vineyard, a fate that began to be fulfilled when the city was destroyed a few years later (721BC). And in fact Samaria remains a ruin to this day. God’s justice requires judgment.
God’s judgment of His own people was to be a witness against the nations. It is a guarantee that they will ultimately be judged for their sin; for if God does not fail to judge His own, He will certainly judge those who do not belong to Him (2). The burning timbers and ruined houses of Samaria and Jerusalem would be an eloquent sermon to the people of the world. From this destruction they were to learn that God does not allow sin to go unpunished—even in the case of His own people. Just as the Lord waited for the iniquity of the Amorites to become full before handing them over to Joshua’s sword and driving them off the land, so also the Lord waited for Israel’s sin to ripen and rot before handing the nation over to the Assyrian army that stormed through the land during the second half of the eighth century, casting one city after another into exile.
Blinded by their own self-interest, the false prophets saw no connection between Israel’s sin and the rampaging Assyrian army, but Micah saw the Lord marching above it all, fulfilling the curses He had threatened when He gave Israel her moral covenant. The power of God can motivate us to deal seriously with sin. Micah focuses on God’s overwhelming and irresistible power, pictured as an unstoppable force that melts even the permanent fixtures of nature (4). No military power, presidential decree, court order, or personal desire can stand in the presence of a holy God when judgment is determined. If mountains melt like wax before His power, who can oppose Him or defend themselves against His hand?
ILLUSTRATION: President Mobutu reigned as the dictator and President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 1965 to 1997. But after global political changes, Mobutu was forced out of power and the country collapsed and descended into conflict and chaos. British pastor Mark Meynell tells the story of his good friend Emma, who witnessed many atrocities committed against his friends and family members. Emma and his wife and three daughters fled east on foot. Weeks later they arrived in Uganda as refugees, with nothing. After a few months of a miserable existence, Emma walked past a local seminary and sensed that the Lord was calling him to ministry. The family had been living in one room, without water or electricity, and enough to pay for one meal every two days.
Mark Meynell said that one evening they met in the seminary's tiny library and started talking. As Emma opened his heart and shared the story of the violence and injustice he had witnessed, he started to openly weep, despite the fact that African men rarely cry in public. Then Emma said this: “You know Mark, I could never believe the gospel if it were not for the judgment of God. Because I will never get justice in this world. But I couldn't cope if I was NEVER going to see justice done.”
Meynell commented, "We in the West often recoil from God's justice for a very simple reason: We've hardly had to suffer injustice. But most people around the globe recognize that God's justice is praiseworthy and great. Of course His mercy and redemption are even greater, but we need His perfect justice as well."
God deals with sinful people in two ways: either with undeserved mercy, or deserved justice. In His mercy, God sends His prophets and preachers to convict people of their sin and warn them of His ways. This is what Micah is doing in his sermon. In His mercy, God is patient and long-suffering with the wicked so they may have opportunity to repent (in fact, King Hezekiah would later repent because of Micah’s preaching). God did not destroy Israel immediately after King Jeroboam I built golden calves, but sent prophets to warn them until their final end two hundred years later. God did not immediately destroy Nineveh but was gracious and extended the life of that nation about 150 years. There is no requirement on God to be gracious, no necessity for Him to show compassion. Yet if God immediately executed just judgment for every sin, who of us would still be alive? So God gives undeserved mercy and grace.
The second way God deals with people is in deserved justice. This is the main emphasis of Micah’s opening chapter, and it is an integral part of God’s plan that the church needs to hear. Both God’s mercy and justice are based on the premise that He rules over all nations and individuals (2), is a holy God who witnesses what we do (2), and has the unlimited power to execute His will over human beings and nature (3-5). So then it is not difficult to believe that God will eventually bring deserving punishment on people when His undeserved patience, compassion and mercy are ignored. God's justice should be expected for sinful rebellion against His revealed will, and especially for putting any person or thing in God’s place (6-7). This will surely lead to divine justice and destruction. The problem is, I always want justice for the other fella, and mercy for me!
In this context, Micah is warning the people of God’s just judgment so they may understand what He will do. This knowledge will give them and us an opportunity to respond and avoid His judgment. Micah encourages his readers to examine what they believe about God’s justice. Micah is telling his audience in Judah about the nature of God, and he helps his listeners understand what God is going to do.
So having heard and understood God’s just judgment, how are His people to respond? [READ MICAH 1:8-16]
GOD'S JUDGMENT CALLS FOR HIS PEOPLE'S LAMENT (8-16)
ILLUSTRATION: The 1986 Houston Rockets were an incredibly talented , young and hungry team that upset the mighty Los Angeles Lakers in the playoffs and were considered a team on the rise, but by the very next season their team had come undone by the sin of drug abuse. Point guard John Lucas and shooting guards Mitchell Wiggins and Lewis Lloyd were all suspended by the NBA after testing positive for cocaine. Everyone involved--owners, coaches, players, fans--all agreed that cocaine abuse was intolerable and had to be judged. In 1987 they were ousted from the playoffs in the first round. Despite their talent, they have been lamented as the "Greatest Team That Never Was"
Micah’s lament begins with his decision to “weep and wail” and go “barefoot and naked” (8). This sounds strange to us, but Micah is following the ancient Near Eastern cultural practice of expressing profound grief and sorrow over the approaching death and destruction of a nation. His symbolic action was also meant as a sign of things to come in the future; that is, Micah is behaving as the people will behave when this terrible disaster finally reaches Judah. His bitter cries have the weird and eerie sounds of the howling jackal and the loud screech of the owl (8). Micah’s ravings are a sign of his deep anguish over what is about to happen. Unlike some Bible-thumping preachers of fire and damnation, Micah preaches judgment out of such love that he weeps for his audience.
Micah’s actual lament begins in v.10 with a series of puns on the names of towns near Moresheth Gath, Micah’s hometown. He makes a pun on each town name. The puns are like saying: "Washington will be washed away, Cleveland will be cleaved in two, and San Diego turned to sand." In each case a disaster will happen and the town will suffer a devastating end related to the meaning of its name.
Where will this disaster come from? Why will someone destroy Judah and Jerusalem? The answer is clear. The God of Judah is sending it on them. Since this problem will reach the gates of Jerusalem, one is left with the impression that the central government will be unable to protect any of the cities in Judah and that the enemy will attempt to wipe the whole nation off the map—including Micah and his listeners.
His lament ends (16) with two imperative exhortations to Jerusalem. The people should join Micah in shaving their hair and mourning for many dear people who will be killed or exiled in the near future. People should cry out to God because of the devastation it will cause to others but also because it will reach the very gates of Jerusalem (12). The unnamed conqueror will come (Assyria is never mentioned by name), and Judah’s army will not be able to stop it.
What is the purpose of lament in the Bible? Should Christians lament today, and if so, under what conditions?
In the Hebrew culture of the Old Testament, people lamented for several reasons, such as the death of a friend or ruler or troubles with an enemy. But the better parallels to this passage in Micah are those examples where someone weeps because people have not responded to the ministry of a prophet and will be judged. Although Jesus wept when Lazarus died, more significant was his weeping over Jerusalem when he wanted to gather these people together into his kingdom as a hen gathers her chicks (Lk. 19:41). Paul seems to be in mourning and anguish over the stubborn resistance of the many Jews who refused to respond positively to the messianic claims about Jesus (Rom. 9:1-3).
In each of these cases, a messenger of God declares God’s message, an audience does not accept that revelation, and the messenger expresses deep sorrow over the coming judgment. The first two elements are common to many forms of prophecy, but the third is unique to the lament. In the process of persuasion, the lament is a powerful alternative to accusation and condemnation. It expresses an attitude of identification and sympathy rather than opposition and conflict. The lament builds a bridge of commonality with the ones who will suffer, yet it does not deny the truth that God will bring judgment. And the people can see the emotional depth of the speaker’s concern for them.
ILLUSTRATION: In his bestselling book, Just Mercy, Bryan Stevenson, founder of Equal Justice Initiative, tells the story of Jimmy Dill, a convicted murderer who had been scheduled for execution in the state of Alabama. Stevenson's staff took on the case in the last 30 days of Dill's life because Dill not only suffered from an intellectual disability, but his conviction had been based on suspect evidence that Stevenson's team believed to be erroneous. Had Dill been able to afford a lawyer the first time, he wouldn't be on death row. As it happened, though, nothing could be done. In the last hour, Dill called Stevenson to say thank you for trying.
In his chapter entitled "Broken," Stevenson writes:
“When I hung up the phone that night I had a wet face and a broken heart. … I thought myself a fool for having tried to fix situations that were so fatally broken … I worked in a broken system of justice. My clients were broken by mental illness, poverty, and racism. They were torn apart by disease, drugs and alcohol, pride, fear, and anger … In their broken state, they were judged and condemned by people whose commitment to fairness had been broken by cynicism, hopelessness, and prejudice …
After working for more than twenty-five years, I understood that I … do what I do because I'm broken, too. My years of struggling against … injustice had finally revealed something to me about myself. Being close to suffering, death, executions, and cruel punishments didn't just illuminate the brokenness of others … it also exposed my own brokenness … We all share the condition of brokenness … I desperately wanted mercy for Jimmy Dill and would have done anything to create justice for him, but I couldn't pretend that his struggle was disconnected from my own. The ways in which I have been hurt—and have hurt others—are different from the ways Jimmy Dill suffered and caused suffering. But our shared brokenness connected us.
Sometime in the future, a great and horrendous darkness will befall millions of people in this world. Some will die without any knowledge of the true God of Scripture, and others will die having rejected the saving grace of God. Unfortunately, there is little talk in the church today about lamenting the lost of this world, who will suffer the just punishment of eternal death. As pastor Andy Stanley observes, “Sin should break our hearts, because sin breaks people.”
Now Micah’s lament focused on what would happen to specific towns in Judah in the 8th century BC, so his warnings do not apply to us directly. But we should pay attention to what Micah is doing: When he saw people headed for sure destruction, he was moved to outwardly express his sorrow and encourage others to respond appropriately to God.
Do our hearts break for the lost? Is your heart broken for someone far from God? What are you going to do about it? What should we do about it?
BIG IDEA: JUSTICE REQUIRES JUDGMENT, AND JUDGMENT CALLS FOR LAMENT.
ILLUSTRATION: Science Daily reported on the ability of certain birds to sense storms coming and to protect themselves:
In East Tennessee there's a bird known as the Golden Winged Warbler. These birds started doing something unusual after giving birth to their chicks—they started fleeing their nests. The discovery was made by accident while researchers were testing whether the warblers, which weigh "less than two nickels," could carry geolocators on their backs. It turns out they can, and much more. With a big storm brewing, the birds took off from their breeding ground in the Cumberland Mountains of eastern Tennessee, where they had only just arrived, for an unplanned migratory event. All told, the warblers travelled 900 miles in five days to avoid the tornado-producing storms. Golden-winged warblers apparently knew in advance that a storm was coming. The birds left the scene well before devastating supercell storms blew in. Scientists believe that there's some kind of infrasound frequency that alerts them that the storms are coming. They had something that we don't have many times—a warning. We could learn a lesson from these birds: if we know that the storms of judgment are coming, we should find a refuge.
Here it is:
We find our refuge in the Cross of Christ. At the Cross, God made him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf. He took the punishment we deserved and we received mercy & grace we did not deserve (and never could deserve). The Cross is a place of deserved justice from God AND undeserved mercy from God. The Cross is the place where justice and mercy meet.
