Word of Salvation - June 2011

 

Two ways in which prophecies of judgment can do people good, and two ways in which they can be fulfilled”

By Rev. John de Hoog

(Sermon 3 in a series on Micah)

 

Text – Micah 2

 

In September 1981 the Rev Jerry Falwell was speaking somewhere in America, and he suggested that God could judge America, perhaps with Soviet military might, unless the nation repented of its sin and turned to him.

 

Now remember the context. The Soviet Union was still intact and was the great enemy. Jerry Falwell, who died in May this year, was at the time a leading Baptist minister in the US. His comments about God possibly using the Soviet Union to judge America caused uproar. One editorial said: “The implication that God would use the Soviet Union as an instrument of punishing America is rather difficult to imagine, since Russia is the great Godless Society.” Of America, they wrote, “Great churches and many good works abound throughout this land.” The editorial concluded that Falwell should retract his statement.¹

 

We can’t imagine such an editorial today. But the editors of that newspaper were in a way simply echoing Micah 2:6 “‘Do not prophesy,’ their prophets say. ‘Do not prophesy about these things; disgrace will not overtake us.’” Do not say that God will judge us? How could God possibly bring judgment against us when we are his people and we are so good?

 

In Micah 2 there is a distinction to be made between false prophets and true prophets. False prophets declare that God will not judge – that would be against his character, they say. But their message is dangerous and misleading. True prophets declare that God will judge, but then they also proclaim the solution, the solution of God’s mercy and the response God is looking for – repentance and faith.

 

I’ve given this sermon a rather long title today. It’s called “Two ways in which prophecies of judgment can do people good, and two ways in which they can be fulfilled”. This rather long title summarises what I think we should learn from Micah Chapter 2 today.

 

Micah Chapter 2 is divided into three sections, and the NIV gives us a good idea of what those sections are. The first section is vss 1-5, and here God, through the prophet Micah, lays out his charge against his people. You might remember that in Chapter 1 God has threatened judgment and destruction in vss 1-7, and in vss 8-16 Micah has lamented and wept over the coming judgment of God. Chapter 1 presents the fact of judgment coming, but it doesn’t outline the reason for judgment. Why is God coming to punish his people? In Chapter 2, we begin to find out.

 

First, note that Micah is speaking out against the powerful in his society. Vs 1 “Woe to those who plan iniquity, to those who plot evil on their beds! At morning’s light they carry it out because it is in their power to do it.” It is in their power to do it – they do it because they can! And they do it in the light of the morning – they are so brazen and self-confident that they commit these crimes in broad daylight. The very first word of vs 1 is a word that Hebrew and Australian English share – it’s the word “Hoy!” Hoy you plotters of evil, listen up! God has a word for you.

 

See what these powerful people are doing. Vs 2 “They covet fields and seize them, and houses, and take them. They defraud a man of his home, a fellow-man of his inheritance.” Vss 8-9 give us more detail. “You strip off the rich robe from those who pass by without a care, like men returning from battle. You drive the women of my people from their pleasant homes. You take away my blessing from their children forever.”

 

The background here can be understood from the word “inheritance” in vs 2. God had granted to each family in Israel some land as a sacred trust. The land belongs to God, but God had divided it up between the families of Israel as a trust. Families were not supposed to lose their land. This is the background behind the story of Ahab and Naboth that we read earlier from 1 Kings 21. [Have read 1 Kings 21.] It is also the background behind the story of Ruth. The widow Naomi is about to lose everything because she is being forced to sell her land, and Boaz takes up the option as kinsman-redeemer to save Naomi and Ruth from losing their position in Israel.

 

Now in Micah’s day, the story of Ruth is being forgotten, and the evil example of Ahab is being taken up. In fact, the Lord is quite explicit about that – in Micah 6:16 he says, “You have observed the statutes of Omri and all the practices of Ahab’s house, and you have followed their traditions.” Ahab had come to a terrible end at the hands of the Lord 120 years earlier, but now the powerful in the land are just following his example. But will God allow it? These people, who are taking away the inheritance of fellow-Israelites, who are driving the widows of Israel off their land. These people, who are taking what they want, just because they can. What will God do to them?

 

The Lord is going to give them exactly what they deserve. Here we need to see four words that are repeated exactly between vss 1-2 and vss 3-5. In vs 1 Micah refers to people who plan iniquity. But now in vs 3 the Lord says, “I am planning disaster against this people.” They plan iniquity, but the Lord plans disaster. And who is the more powerful planner, God or men?

 

The second repeated word is the word “evil”. Vs 1 refers to the powerful plotting evil on their beds. But the Lord says in vs 3 that he is planning disaster against these powerful ones, and it is the same word – evil, disaster. They have disaster in mind for others, but the Lord has disaster in mind for them! And who is the more powerful disaster-bringer, God or men?

 

The third repeated word is “fields”. Vs 2 refers to the powerful as coveting fields and taking them. But in vs 4, people take up a taunt against these powerful ones and mock them with words they put in their mouths, “He takes it from me! He assigns our fields to traitors.” And who is the more powerful taker, God or men?

 

The fourth repeated word is the word “lift” which is a bit harder to see. In vs 2, it says literally, “They covet fields and lift them.” It’s like shop-lifting, only it’s field-lifting. Then in vs 4 it says, “In that day men will ridicule you”, but literally it says that he will lift up ridicule against you, referring to the Lord. They might lift fields, but the Lord will lift ridicule against them. And who is the more powerful “lifter”, God or men?

 

Can you see the point of these repeated words? The powerful plan disaster and lift fields. But God is planning disaster against them and will lift ridicule against them and take their fields. His punishment exactly matches the crime, “word for word” we might say. Who is more powerful, God or men?

 

We today might not face having our land taken away. But there are many other things people can take away: People can take away your good reputation by slandering you. People can take away your job by making it impossible to continue to work in a particular workplace. In some countries people can take away your life and your freedom just because you profess Christ! In Australia, people might even be able to take away your children by misleading them with false counsel. In such circumstances, do we want a God who cares about evil and justice, or would we prefer that God just did nothing and didn’t care really? We want a God who will repay evil, not ignore it!

 

Pause.

 

In Micah’s day, the people hate his message. Vs 6 “‘Do not prophesy,’ their prophets say. ‘Do not prophesy about such things; disgrace will not overtake us.’” Micah responds with biting irony in vs 11. “If a liar and deceiver comes and says, ‘I will prophesy for you plenty of wine and beer,’ he would be just the prophet for this people!”

 

Wine and beer preaching. Actually, that kind of preaching is all around us these days. It sounds like this: Seven tips from God on boosting your marriage. Twelve steps from God to being more confident and assertive in the workplace. The three keys to permanent happiness.

 

In this kind of preaching, God becomes the ultimate therapist, the one who will boost our lives and help us to reach up to the greatness he has in mind for each one of us.

 

But God’s hatred of sin, and God’s anger and judgment expressed day after day after day against all who reject him and who die outside of Christ; well, that’s all too hard to take and all too negative. Indeed, we begin to find it hard to attribute anything negative to God at all. And as we misunderstand God in this way, so we naturally conclude that God will never bring disaster on people, for, after all, he is a God of love who always works out everything in the end. That’s right, isn’t it?

 

Paul warned us that preaching would come to that. 2 Timothy 4:3 “For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.”

 

That time had come in Judah in Micah’s day, and Micah is trying to counter the false preachers with his true prophecy. And he knows that his words, because they are true, are the only words that will do any good. Vs 7 “Do not my words do good to him whose ways are upright?”

 

Pause

 

But how can a word of judgment do any good? Micah has been going on and on for nearly two full chapters, warning and threatening judgment, and Chapter 3 is going to be more of the same, and Chapter 6 is going to be more of the same, and after Chapter 6 Micah concludes, “What misery is mine!” All this judgment, surely it just serves to depress people and to send them away from God. How can it do any good?

 

So we come back to our two questions: “Two ways in which prophecies of judgment can do people good, and two ways in which they can be fulfilled”

 

First then, how can prophecies of judgment do people good?

 

Well, think back to the poor and oppressed people who are being ripped off by the rich and powerful, who are having their land and their houses taken away, who seem to be losing their place in Israel because of the treacherous fraudulent activities of the rich and powerful. Think of Christians around the world being persecuted for their faith, losing jobs, losing their children, their parents, etc. Do they not need to hear that this evil they are suffering under will not continue on forever? Surely they need to know that God is not impotent. They need to know that the God who does not tolerate sin will not tolerate this sin, and he will come and judge the wicked and vindicate his faithful people. Suffering people need to know that there will be an end to suffering. But only a God who takes sin and justice seriously can guarantee that.

 

That’s one way in which preaching judgment does good; it gives hope that those who are suffering will not suffer forever. But of course, the other way preaching judgment does good is that it calls upon people to turn to God, to repent and be saved. And this is always God’s intention in declaring his coming judgment, it is that people avoid that judgment by turning back to him.

 

This call to turn back to the Lord is found everywhere in the prophets, indeed, extending this call is the chief function of the prophets. Here is Micah’s purpose! And that leads us directly to our second question: Two ways in which prophecies of judgment can be fulfilled.

 

There are two ways in which a prophecy of judgment can fulfilled. The first way is through a fulfilment of the prophecy itself, so that the judgment comes just as the prophet predicted it would. We saw in Chapter 1 how Micah saw this happen in his lifetime regarding the northern kingdom of Israel.

 

The second way a prophecy of judgment is fulfilled is through a fulfilment of the main purpose of the prophecy: that people turn to God and be saved.

 

Just think of the case of Jonah. He preached in Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian Empire, and he said, “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned.” Well, we know that the Ninevites repented and the city was saved. Jonah’s prophecy did not come true. So is this a case of failed prophecy? Not at all, for the purpose of the prophecy was fulfilled; Nineveh repented and was saved, much to Jonah’s chagrin.

 

Just the same applies to Micah. History tells us that Hezekiah and the people of Judah repented in response to Micah’s message and changed the course of Judah’s history.

 

The words of Micah did indeed do great good to him whose ways are upright – they did great good to Hezekiah, who sought the Lord’s favour and the Lord relented and did not send the promised punishment. Did Micah’s prophecy fail because it was not fulfilled? No, of course not, because the purpose, the intention of his prophetic ministry was fully realised, as Judah repented and turned to the Lord and were saved from all the punishment the Lord had threatened them with.

 

When we read the judgment passages in Micah, realise that the Lord genuinely threatened punishment, and then relented because the people heard Micah’s ministry and repented and turned to the Lord.

 

But realise too that this is not a change of mind for the Lord. The Lord was not caught by surprise when Judah as a nation repented. For in the midst of his terrible threatening of judgment through Micah’s ministry come magnificent statements of his saving purposes for his people. Chapter 4 and much of Chapter 5 are such wonderful statements of salvation, and here in the last two verses of Chapter 2 we find the first of these salvation passages.

 

Vs 12 “I will surely gather all of you, O Jacob; I will surely bring together the remnant of Israel. I will bring them together like sheep in a pen, like a flock in its pasture; the place will throng with people. One who breaks open the way will go before them; they will break through the gate and go out. Their king will pass through before them, the Lord at their head.”

 

Some commentators dismiss this passage as being impossible. These words could not possibly have come from Micah’s lips, for he is a prophet of doom. They must have been added much later by a later editor of the Book of Micah. But such a view misunderstands the purpose of preaching judgment. The purpose is always that people might repent and turn to the Lord and experience great hope as a result. Here the Lord expresses that purpose.

 

In these verses the Lord describes what he will do in first person language. He is going to act like a shepherd of his people. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. A shepherding task is the job description of the ideal Hebrew king, but God himself is going to take on this role. He will not abuse his people like the evil powerful leaders that Micah is condemning are doing. God will bring them together into a sheep pen, into that place of great safety. And God will himself be the one who opens the gate and leads his people out. We are looking here at a Good Shepherd, we are looking here at one who is the Gate for the sheep. We are looking here at the work of Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour as the great shepherd of the sheep who calls all his people by name and who gave up his life for the sheep.

 

Judgment and salvation always come together in Scripture, they are always two sides of the same coin. There cannot be salvation without judgment, and there cannot be judgment without salvation. If there is no judgment, then what is there to be saved from? God is both just and merciful at the same time, and so judgment and salvation must come at the same time.

 

We have seen them come at the same time supremely in the cross of Christ. What else is the cross of Christ but the eternal vindication of the justice of God and the eternal proclamation of his mercy? And all who believe in the power of this supreme act of mercy and judgment will be saved. All who believe in Christ and give their lives over to him will be saved.

 

 

There are two ways in which prophecies of judgment do people good. First, they assure those who suffer that God cares about suffering and sin and will vindicate his people. Second, such prophecies urge people to turn, turn to the Lord and be saved.

 

There are two ways in which prophecies of judgment are fulfilled. First, they may simply be fulfilled – the judgment will come to all who do not heed. Or second, their purpose may be fulfilled as people do in fact heed and turn to the Lord to be saved.

 

I can tell you about God’s judgment with a completely clear conscience, because I know from Micah and from the rest of Scripture that God’s purpose for such preaching is always gracious. Here is his purpose: “Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die?” Rather, turn to the Lord and live!

 

Amen