PROPHET MICAH – WHAT THE LORD WANTS AND HIDES

 

 

Ultimately, God wants us to love Him, and He wants to love us in the most profound way (Hosea 2:18-19). However, Israel had rebelled against their God and were in denial. They wouldn’t face the truth. Their sins had separated God from them and were surprised when God would not answer their prayers:

 

·       And I said: Hear, you heads of Jacob and rulers of the house of Israel! Is it not for you to know justice?—you who hate the good and love the evil, who tear the skin from off my people and their flesh from off their bones, who eat the flesh of my people, and flay their skin from off them, and break their bones in pieces and chop them up like meat in a pot, like flesh in a cauldron. Then they will cry to the LORD, but he will not answer them; he will hide his face from them at that time, because they have made their deeds evil. (Micah 3:1–4)

 

What did the Lord want from them? Does He primarily want justice and obedience? Certainly, ritualistic offerings do not please the Lord. However, what He had been asking for seemed like salvation-by-obedience:

 

·       “With what shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?” He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6:6–8)

 

Israel continued to make animal sacrifices, thinking that this would make them right before their God. However, the Lord wanted to see more than their empty sacrifices and words, but evidence of repentance – justice and faithfulness. It had been too easy for His people to lie to themselves that everything was okay:

 

·       Hear this, you heads of the house of Jacob and rulers of the house of Israel, who detest justice and make crooked all that is straight, who build Zion with blood and Jerusalem with iniquity. Its heads give judgment for a bribe; its priests teach for a price; its prophets practice divination for money; yet they lean on the LORD and say, “Is not the LORD in the midst of us? No disaster shall come upon us.” (Micah 3:9–11)

 

Self-deception has always accompanied self-righteousness. The Israelite leaders had been amazed that God had been angry at them. Despite their numerous grievous sins, they were confident that the Lord was delighted with them. No wonder God had demanded tangible proof that they were truly repentant.

Clearly, God had wanted His people to love Him more than simply performing good works. However, the leaders had been so self-deluded that if asked, “Do you love God?” they would probably have answered affirmatively. Nevertheless, God, through Micah, had revealed that, more than anything else, He delights in the love of His children:

·       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. 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. (Micah 7:18–19)

 

He would have to win their love in a way that He had kept secret for centuries:

·       Now muster your troops, O daughter of troops; siege is laid against us; with a rod they strike the judge of Israel on the cheek [humiliation; Lam 3:30]. But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days [‘Everlasting’]. Therefore he shall give them up until the time when she who is in labor has given birth; then the rest of his brothers shall return to the people of Israel. And he shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God. And they shall dwell secure, for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth. And he shall be their peace…(Micah 5:1–5; Isaiah 9:6; Eph 2:14)

 

Israel would never be able to achieve their own peace with God. Instead, it would be given as a gift by the ancient of days, the eternal Messiah, who would be made our peace and righteousness:

·       “Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: ‘The LORD is our righteousness.’” (Jeremiah 23:5–6; 1 Corinthians 1:30)

 

The promised Branch from the lineage of David (“Yahweh”) would be our righteousness.

However, Micah doesn’t tell us how that the Savior will achieve this. It was so unacceptable to the Israelite that when Jesus disclosed his death to Peter, he was appalled at the idea. He even reprimanded Jesus!

 

Our Lord had another reason for keeping secret the knowledge of the extent of the His love (Romans 5:8-10):

·       But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. (1 Corinthians 2:7–8)