Wednesday Bible Study: The end of all things- Micah

 

Micah 7 has been an interesting study for me- which means I've gleaned a lot of off- the- point stuff (or is it?) in looking at its context and what has gone before... but as I write, I'm still not sure what the application will be.  Follow along with me, and we'll learn together!

First, I need to mention that Micah was preaching near, but before, the fall of Israel.  This will be an important note in a moment.  Second, I need to refresh for those who don't know, that we believe in a Rapture of the Church, described in 1 Thessalonians 4, where the believing Church is snatched away from the earth before the Antichrist and the final fall.

On to the story now, and I'm going to parcel this out in chunks where I was moved by them.  First, the lead in is the last few verses of chapter 6, in which God explains to the prophet how evil those days will be.  I saw one verse that made me wonder about the state of the 'church' that will remain after the Rapture:

Mic 6:14  You shall eat, but not be satisfied, and there shall be hunger within you; you shall put away, but not preserve, and what you preserve I will give to the sword.
Mic 6:15  You shall sow, but not reap; you shall tread olives, but not anoint yourselves with oil; you shall tread grapes, but not drink wine.

Without the true faithful, it will be a church going through the motions;  they'll continue doing what they do now- but it won't mean anything, because it means nothing to them.  How, you might wonder, would even a fake church survive after an obvious sign (the Rapture) that they are NOT faithful?  Well, one of the early verses of Chapter 7...

Mic 7:2  The godly has perished from the earth, and there is no one upright among mankind; they all lie in wait for blood, and each hunts the other with a net.

...led me to 2 things.  First, the word "perished" there doesn't exactly mean 'died'...

A primitive root; properly to wander away, that is lose oneself; by implication to perish (causatively, destroy): - break, destroy (-uction), + not escape, fail, lose, (cause to, make) perish, spend, X and surely, take, be undone, X utterly, be void of, have no way to flee.

The good people did not die... they 'wandered away'.  They are not there anymore.  They have been Raptured.  My physical Bible then had a note to Isaiah 57 that answered my question above in that same language...

Isa 57:1  The righteous man perishes, and no one lays it to heart; devout men are taken away, while no one understands. For the righteous man is taken away from calamity;
Isa 57:2  he enters into peace; they rest in their beds who walk in their uprightness.
Isa 57:3  But you, draw near, sons of the sorceress, offspring of the adulterer and the loose woman.
Isa 57:4  Whom are you mocking? Against whom do you open your mouth wide and stick out your tongue? Are you not children of transgression, the offspring of deceit,
Isa 57:5  you who burn with lust among the oaks, under every green tree, who slaughter your children in the valleys, under the clefts of the rocks?

They pay the Rapture no mind; they don't look at the implications; and those that notice at all will make a joke of it.

Right after Micah's look at the 'church' of the day, he gives a tremendous definition of the people...

Mic 6:16  For you have kept the statutes of Omri, and all the works of the house of Ahab; and you have walked in their counsels, that I may make you a desolation, and your inhabitants a hissing; so you shall bear the scorn of my people." 

 

Why these 2 kings of Israel in particular?  Here's a lesson in a way to our recent election:  Baasha had been an evil king, and the Lord made it so that an evil usurper named Zimri would murder Baasha and wipe out his entire line.  But Zimri wasn't allowed to enjoy it; because God caused a military leader named Omri to murder him and consolidate his rule.  Not only does that make him a usurper's usurper (not to mention that God isn't adverse to manipulate one evil to punish another), but he passes the king on to his son, whom we all know- Ahab.  Now note what the Bible says about these two kings:

1Ki 16:25  Omri did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, and did more evil than all who were before him.
1Ki 16:26  For he walked in all the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and in the sins that he made Israel to sin, provoking the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger by their idols.

1Ki 16:30  And Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the LORD, more than all who were before him.
1Ki 16:31  And as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, he took for his wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and went and served Baal and worshiped him.

Each one was worse than the one before!  And this was the example all Israel was following.  Finally, God explains to Micah that along with the 'church' and the people, the rulers are just as bad:

Mic 7:3  Their hands are on what is evil, to do it well; the prince and the judge ask for a bribe, and the great man utters the evil desire of his soul; thus they weave it together.
Mic 7:4  The best of them is like a brier, the most upright of them a thorn hedge. The day of your watchmen, of your punishment, has come; now their confusion is at hand.

Isn't that a good word picture for OUR politicians?  Micah's tale then shifts to how, in those days, even your closest intimate, if you are a believer (for such will come even in that day and age), will betray you.  But, Micah sees, there is hope...

Mic 7:7  But as for me, I will look to the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me.
Mic 7:8  Rejoice not over me, O my enemy; when I fall, I shall rise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD will be a light to me.
Mic 7:9  I will bear the indignation of the LORD because I have sinned against him, until he pleads my cause and executes judgment for me. He will bring me out to the light; I shall look upon his vindication.
Mic 7:10  Then my enemy will see, and shame will cover her who said to me, "Where is the LORD your God?" My eyes will look upon her; now she will be trampled down like the mire of the streets.

I want to pull three things from this passage: First, those that wait upon the Lord will be preserved in the end.  Second, let's step-by-step verse 9...

I, me, I am liable to that same indignation from the Lord that the evil are; I am not without sin.  UNTIL... Jesus dies to take MY judgment and goes to the Father to plead MY case!

Third takeaway here- the part where she that betrays me will be trampled into the mire.  How like the fate we saw for the unrepentant in the last of Malachi:

Mal 4:3  And you shall tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet, on the day when I act, says the LORD of hosts.

Finally, while it is a terrible wrath that falls on the unbeliever and the 'pretend' believer, it is a wonderful salvation for the true believer:

Mic 7:18  Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in steadfast love.
Mic 7:19  He will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities underfoot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.

I imagine that the best takeaway from all this boils down to how God sees us.  Either we allow Jesus to plead our case before Him and He sees none of our sin; or we don't, and all He sees is our sin.  Either we choose to delight in His love, or we're asphalt.