Our background gate today is located in a courtroom. If you look closely at the banister in the foreground you will notice two distinct breaks in the banister where a gateway opens so that witnesses may pass through to the witness stand. This courtroom and “gateway to justice” is located in a city which once used to be the capital of the nation: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
The book of Micah was written specifically to two capital cities: Samaria (capital city of the northern kingdom of Israel) and Jerusalem (capital city of the southern kingdom of Judah).
It is significant that God specifically addressed the capital cities. Why? Because the culture of a nation flows outward from its cities … in particular, the capital city. Philosophy, Education, the Arts, societal “norms,” standards of Justice. It originates in the cities and flows outward to permeate all of society.
The book of Micah presents stern warnings to the capital cities of Samaria and Jerusalem. These capital cities were not maintaining Justice. The governmental leaders, the business magnates, the “movers and shakers” of society … these all were taking advantage of the poor.
– Extortion
– Unethical practices
– Profiting off the marginalized
– Capitalizing on the misfortune of others.
These influential leaders of society had enormous power when it came to shaping the culture throughout their nation. Yet they were perverse. They were corrupt.
The book of Micah opens with God himself passing through the “gateway to justice” in the courtroom, and taking the witness stand to testify against the two capital cities: “Hear, O people, all of you, listen, O earth and all who are in it, that the Sovereign LORD may witness against you.” – Micah 1:2
As Judge seated on the high bench God pronounces the verdict: “Therefore I will make Samaria a heap of rubble … I will pour her stones into the valley and lay bare her foundations.” – Micah 1:6
Once more God takes the witness stand, this time to testify against the influential and powerful leaders of these capital cities: “Listen, you leaders of Jacob, you rulers of the house of Israel. Should you not know justice, you who hate good and love evil.” – Micah 3:1
“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. They covet fields and seize them, and houses, and take them. They defraud a man of his home, a fellowman of his inheritance.” – Micah 2:1-2
“The LORD has a case against His people; He is lodging a charge against Israel.” – Micah 6:2b
“Shall I acquit a man with dishonest scales, a bag of false weights? Her rich men are violent; her people are liars and their tongues speak deceitfully.” – Micah 6:11 12
Right in the middle of the pronouncement of the “Guilty” verdict … the Judge, seated on the high bench, offers a pronouncement of incredible hope for the future:
“The law will go out from Zion, the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. He will judge between many peoples and will settle disputes for strong nations far and wide. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore. … No one will make them afraid, for the LORD Almighty has spoken.” – Micah 4:2b-4
Wow! That is hope right there! One day in the future the law will be carried out with absolute perfect justice! There will be a judge who will settle all disputes between all nations and bring about worldwide peace! Who is this?? Who can do such a thing??
Jesus! Jesus Christ will one day rule and reign over all the earth in perfect justice! Jesus will settle all disputes between all nations for good! Jesus will bring about everlasting worldwide peace!
Jesus Christ in Micah
It was prophesied in Micah 5:2 exactly which town Jesus would be born in. (This happened! See Matthew 2:1-6)
It was prophesied in Micah 5:2 that Jesus would be eternal, from everlasting: “whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.” (see Revelation 1:8)
Jesus’s righteous reign over all the earth is described in Micah 2:12, with Jesus referenced as shepherding His people.
Jesus’s righteous reign over all the earth is described in Micah 2:13, with Jesus referenced as “their King who will pass before them, the LORD at their head.”
In Micah 4:1-8 Jesus is the Judge who will uphold absolute perfect justice throughout the earth and bring about worldwide peace.
Micah 5:4-5 gives the great hope of Jesus shepherding his people. Jesus’s greatness will reach the ends of the earth. Jesus will be the people’s Peace.
