[PEACEFUL MUSIC PLAYING] The Bible from 30,000 Feet-- Soaring Through the Scripture
from Genesis to Revelation. Would you please turn in your
Bibles to the Book of Micah. And we have before us
three books tonight-- Micah, Nahum, and Habakkuk. And I will get to the
proper pronunciation of that in a little bit. But if you were tomorrow to
announce to your co-workers and say, last night
I went to church to study Micah,
Nahum, and Habakkuk, they might think
you're on drugs. Or they might think
you're referring to drugs. Like, I took a little
Micah and Habakkuk for my Nahum-itis or something. These are not normal words. They're not normal names. And unfortunately,
many of us believers are not familiar
with their message. If I were to give a theme
to these three books, and since I'm covering them all
in one fell swoop in our Bible from 30,000 Feet survey,
I'm going to do that. I'm going to give
it a theme, a title. If there were a song
that encapsulated the theme of this section,
these three books, it would be "Hey, Judah." (SINGING) Hey, Judah. Don't make it bad. Because principally, all
of these three prophets had something to do with Judah. Even though Micah does mention
Samaria, the northern kingdom as well as the southern
kingdom, he only mentions the northern
kingdom, more as an example to the southern
kingdom that they, the South, not be like the North. So the theme is
Judah, "Hey, Judah." These three were
God's representatives to that southern kingdom. Micah speaks to the commoners
of Judah, the average folk, the common folk, the man
or woman on the street. Nahum speaks to the collective
audience of some nobles, as well as the commoners. And then Habakkuk
is God's message to a clergyman of Judah, a
spiritual representative. The theme of Micah
is God is moving. God is moving. The theme of Nahum is
the Ninevites are going. And the theme of Habakkuk is
the Babylonians are coming. All to Judah, principally,
God is moving. The Ninevites are going. The Babylonians are coming. God is moving. God is moving in judgment, first
of all, in the Book of Micah. He promises to act on the earth,
intervene in human history, judge because of
sin that is going on in the camp of
the Jewish people. But eventually, like so many of
the other prophets predicted, afterwards there will be
a glorious restoration. That's the theme of
the Book of Micah. The Book of Nahum is
the Ninevites are going. Now, you remember there
was another book where a prophet was sent to Nineveh. His name was Jonah. Some time has passed. We'll notice what is going
on when we get to that. But this book is essentially
to comfort Judah that her long-standing arch enemy, who
is now at a place of strength and power-- they've turned against God. They're hassling
those in Judah-- that they're on their way out. It would comfort them. And then finally, the
Babylonians are coming. It's a strange message that
has an undergirding of faith as the key component. And that's the Book of Habakkuk. We'll get to that
as our third study. In the Book of Micah, as we
begin, let me pose a question. Do you ever wonder if your
trials are worth all the pain? Or do you ever wonder, is
this hardship, this trial, leading to something? Is there a purpose behind it? And of course, the answer
is yes, God has a plan. So you get a theme as you
go through this first Book of Micah. "Meek-eye-yow-ooh" is his
Hebrew pronunciation, "Mika" or "Meek-eye-yow-ooh"
means "who is like God." But there are some
things going on. They have enemies that
are oppressing them. They have rulers that
are hassling them. And they have wealthy people
who are exploiting them. Those are the themes. That's sort of the
background that's going on. Verse 1 of the Book
of Micah begins, "The word of the Lord that
came to Micah of Moresheth." Now, "Moresheth" is not
a town where a pop singer named Alanis came from. This is not "Morissette." It's "Moresheth," which
was a town about 20 miles from Jerusalem, 20 miles to
the southwest in what is called today the Philistine country. One of our tour
days, we like to go through the area of where the
Philistines occupied the land. And he is from that
fertile area of Moresheth, 20 miles to the
southwest of Jerusalem. So "The word of the Lord
came to Micah of Moresheth in the days of Jotham, Ahaz,
and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning
Samaria and Jerusalem. Hear, all you peoples. Listen, O earth, and
all that is in it, let the Lord God be witness
against you, the Lord from his holy temple." "For behold, the Lord is
coming out of this place. He will come down and tread on
the high places of the earth." Like a warrior swooping
down, or maybe better yet, an eagle swooping down on its
prey, God will come to judge. "The mountains will
melt under him. And the valleys will split
like wax before the fire, like waters poured
down to a steep place." It sort of sounds like Psalm
97, "In your presence, Lord, the mountains melt like wax." A song we used to sing
around here many years ago-- with that theme, he takes it up. Verse 5-- "All this is for
the transgression of Jacob and for the sins of
the house of Israel. What is the
transgression of Jacob? Is it not Samaria?" Samaria, the chief
city, the capital city, the main city of the
northern kingdom? "And what are the
high places of Judah? Are they not Jerusalem?" The main city, the chief
city, the headquarter city, the principal city, of
the southern kingdom? So Samaria and Jerusalem. Because of the
idolatry of Samaria, the Assyrians will
swoop down 722 BC and take captive the
northern kingdom. We've covered this so
many times it's now ingrained into your
collective memory. So because that
happened in 722 BC, we can figure that
this prophet probably gave his message around
740 BC, maybe 20 years, maybe 15 years before
it actually happened. Judah will be spared for
another century and a half. Eventually they'll go
into Babylonian captivity. But the northern kingdom
will serve as a warning to the southern kingdom. But he's pointing now to the
very centers of the kingdoms, Samaria and Jerusalem. They're companions in sin. They are destined to be
companions in judgment, although removed
by about 150 years. The cities are named
for this reason. They are the
centers of influence for the rest of the land. Whatever happens in
Jerusalem is significant. Whatever happens in Moresheth
isn't as significant. It's a little
podunk town compared to a large, influential city. The heartbeat of the southern
kingdom is Jerusalem. The heartbeat of
the northern kingdom is Samaria, very
similar to today. The centers of influence
in the United States are East Coast and West Coast. Business owners of
large corporations will often use the
middle of the country to test the product because
they say if it fails in Middle America, it won't
be as big of a deal as if it fails in Los
Angeles or New York. Because as those cities
are LA and New York, so go the rest of the country. These are major
influential areas. And they influence the
rest of the country. So the idea is my people,
the nation, North and South, are rotten to the core. In the very center
of the nation itself, the center, the
head, the heartbeat, goes to all the
rest of the country. I remember a few years back-- I love apples. And I eat a few a day. I took a bite of an apple. And as I looked down,
I noticed a wormhole. I didn't see any penetration
on the outside of the skin. So I noticed a wormhole,
which only meant one thing. I had eaten-- I had swallowed the worm. Because you probably
know this, worms don't come from the
outside through the skin. They begin in the core. Actually, they begin
in the blossom. The eggs are laid and
hatched in the core. The worm grows
and works its away from the center toward
the periphery, finally penetrating the edge. The fact that there was
no penetration, the fact that the wormhole was
there, but no worm, could only mean one thing. It was lodged in me somewhere. I was the worm carrier now. It's not the first time
I've eaten worms before, which probably explains
a lot of my weirdness. But Israel is rotten to
the core is the idea. Now, the book is laid
out in a legal fashion, like a legal summons. Chapters 1 and 2 form the
first summons, 3, 4, and 5, the second legal
summons, and chapter 6 and 7, the third legal summons. And you can tell the beginning
of this legal summons by the same words. And that is "hear,"
the word "hear." So look at verse 2 of chapter 1. "Hear, all you peoples,"
like hear ye, hear ye, as the town is
getting an announcement. If you go over to chapter
three, "And I said, hear now, O heads of Jacob, and you
rulers of the house of Israel." If you go to chapter
6 where it begins, "Hear now what the
Lord says, arise, plead your case before
the mountains," et cetera. So with that in mind,
that's the layout. Let's go back to
chapter 2 now, verse 2. Speaking of the
oppression of the people, "They covet fields and
take them by violence, also houses, and seize them. So they oppress a man
and his house, a man and his inheritance." This is the upper class
oppressing the lower class. This is the wealthy
oppressing the poor, the haves versus the have-nots. "Therefore, thus says the Lord,
behold, against this family, I am devising disaster,
from which you cannot remove your necks. Nor shall you walk haughtily,
for this is an evil time." Now, do you remember, back
in the Law, the first five Books of Moses, the
Pentateuch, the Torah, God made a provision in the
Law to protect the people who were landowners, or
if they lost their land, or if they became slaves? God knew that you could
fall on tough times. You'd have to sell your land. And you wouldn't own it anymore. It would go to another
family, even of another tribe. But how do you
keep the land that was given to a certain tribe
within the tribal allotment, if you have to sell it? Or you could become
so poor that you would have to indenture
yourself as a servant. That was biblical slavery. You were employed by a master. The master would
take care of you. It was a way out
of extreme poverty. Well, the way to get out
of poverty and the way to get your land
back was something called a Jubilee year. So you would plant, and you
would harvest, for six years. The seventh year you
would do nothing. The land would grow by itself. You would just, by faith, for
one year, live off the land. Every seven cycles
of the Sabbatic year was a year called
the year of Yovel. Yovel is a ram's horn. You blow the ram's horn-- the year of Yovel or Jubilee. On the Jubilee year,
which was the seventh of the Sabbatic years
in a row-- you follow? It was the seventh cycle. Something happened on that year. All debts were canceled, man. All of the debts were canceled. You don't owe anything more. If you lost land,
you get it back into your family and tribe. If you're a slave, you
go free automatically. That's how God
protected the land. But by now, the wealthy were
taking advantage and exploiting those in poverty. A classic example of
that is in 1 Kings 21, one of the kings of Israel,
by the name of Ahab, saw a vineyard that
was next to his palace up in the Valley of Jezreel that
belonged to a guy named Naboth. And the King thought,
oh, man, what a good looking vineyard that is. I really want it. So King Ahab goes to Naboth,
the vineyard owner, and goes, hey, give me your vineyard. I'll give you good money for it. You name your price. I'll buy it. Or I'll trade you for a better
vineyard, a bigger vineyard, a more glorious, verdant
vineyard than yours. And Naboth, correctly
said, hey, man. I don't know if
he said, hey, man. But he said, your majesty,
I don't want to sell it. I don't want to get rid of it. It's part of my
family allotment. God forbid that
I should lose it. So King Ahab goes back home. His wife comes to
see him, Jezebel. And she sees the King with
his head down, sulking. And she said, what up, King? And he goes, man, I really want
that vineyard that Naboth has. But he won't sell it to me. And she says, basically, man up. You're the King. You can have whatever you want. And so she says,
I'll take care of it. So she proclaims a
fast and then a feast, and gets two scoundrels
to sit next to Naboth. When the fast is broken,
they would accuse him of blaspheming the
King, which they did. And they then took him out
and stoned him to death. The King then
stole his vineyard. That's how King Ahab
got the vineyard. And everything was
hunky-dory until Elijah the Prophet came
along and busted him. But that is a classic example
of what this prophet is saying is going on in the land. The rich are
oppressing the poor. Chapter 3, verse 5,
"Thus says the Lord concerning the prophets
who make my people stray, who chant peace while they
chew with their teeth, but who prepare
war against him who puts nothing in their mouths." They're eating well. But they're devouring the
people who have nothing. So there's two dangers going on. There's wolves on the outside. There are false
shepherds on the inside. "Therefore," verse 6, "you
shall have night without vision. You shall have darkness
without divination. The sun shall go
down on the prophets, and the day shall
be dark for them." "So the seers shall be ashamed,
the diviners abashed based. Indeed they shall
all cover their lips, for there is no
answer from God." The seers wouldn't see. The prophets wouldn't be
able to portend, or predict, or foretell the future. God wouldn't speak
to them any longer. That day was over. And it would come--
it was coming-- from among their own ranks. There were false shepherds. This reminds me of
Paul the Apostle when he had that last meeting. Remember, in Acts chapter
20, with the Ephesian elders, he called them to
the shores of Melita? And he got them together. And he said, look, I'm leaving. I'm not going to ever
see your face again. I'm going to Jerusalem. But I know that
after my departure, savage wolves will come in
and destroy this flock, not sparing the flock. Even some from among your own
ranks will devour the flock. That was happening
in ancient Israel. Go down to verse 12. "Therefore, because of you, Zion
shall be plowed like a field. Jerusalem shall become
a heap of ruins." That's the Babylonian
captivity, 586 BC, "and the mountain
of the temple like the bare hills of the forest." Israel began as one
nation under God. That's how they started. It was a true theocracy. The center of their
community was the Tabernacle, later on the temple. That was where
everything took place. Everything revolved around
their worship of God. They were one nation under God. The United States began
as one nation under God. And I'm not trying to equate
the theocratic Kingdom of Israel with something similar
in the United States. I know some do that. I don't. But nonetheless, we started
as one nation under God. That's what we declared. That's part of what we
say, one nation under God. The back of our bills,
the back of our money, says, "In God We Trust." But do we? Are we operating the same
way that our Founding Fathers operated when this
nation was developed? Hardly. I want you to listen to
a document from 1643. This is part of the
Constitution of the New England Confederation, before it
became these United States. And I quote,
"Whereas we all come into these parts of America with
one and the same end and aim, namely to advance the Kingdom
of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to enjoy the
liberties of the gospel in purity and with peace." That was then. It ain't now. In God we trust? I don't think so. Maybe in gold we trust,
or for some, in government we trust-- but not
in God we trust. What's great about this book
is that's not all she wrote. That's not all He wrote. The prophet Micah continues
after God is moving. And he's moving in judgment. It doesn't end there. There's some messianic
promises that follow. Chapter 4, verse 1-- this will be familiar to you. "Now it shall come to
pass in the latter days." That's a technical
phrase, by the way, that term "latter days." It appears 21 times
in the scriptures. "It will come to pass
in the latter days that the mountain
of the Lord's house shall be established on
the top of the mountains and shall be exalted
above the hills. And peoples shall flow to it." "Mountain" in scripture
is sometimes literal, sometimes figurative. I think in this case it is both. There is a Mount
Zion in Jerusalem. But this mountain, this peak
of God's work on the earth, is seen figuratively in
Mount Zion to Jewish people. "Many nations shall
come and say--" and that word "nations"
is goy, gentile nations, nations other than
the nation of Israel. Many Gentile nations
shall come and say, "'Come let us go to the
mountain of the Lord, to the house of
the God of Jacob. He will teach us His ways. And we will walk in His paths.'" "For out of Zion, the
law shall go forth, and the word of the
Lord from Jerusalem. He shall judge
between many peoples and rebuke strong
nations of far off." "They shall beat their
swords into plowshares and their spears
into pruning hooks. Nation shall not lift
up sword against nation, neither shall they
learn war anymore." Don't look down. Don't look down at your
margin of your Bibles. Look up at me. Does that sound familiar
of what we just read? Yes. Does that sound
like something else? It does. It sounds a lot like
Isaiah chapter 2. In fact, it's like word
for word of the opening verses of Isaiah chapter 2. So because of that, some will
say, well, who copied who? Is this a case of plagiarism? Now, it is true that Micah was
a contemporary with Isaiah. He was younger than Isaiah. And he perhaps did borrow
the language from Isaiah. Does it mean it's plagiarism? Here's a principal. Paul the Apostle told Timothy-- he said, Tim, the
things that you have heard from me
among many witnesses, commit these also
to faithful men who will be able
to instruct others. In other words,
Timothy, you don't have to come up with
a whole new message. Timothy, as a young
preacher, probably thought, I need to say things that
nobody's heard before. If nobody's heard
it before, it's probably because it
doesn't need to be said. Because what you really
need is God's truths. You need to be established
in the old truths, not to hear something
other than that. So Timothy, don't be afraid
of copying what I say. In fact, copy what I say. And find men who will teach
those things to others, the old truths, the
established, solid word of God. So it could be simply
that their source was the same, the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit gave
the message to Isaiah and gave the message to Micah. Or Micah was a disciple. He's quoting this portion of it. But sometimes things are
repeated in the Bible because we need to hear
them, because they're important messages. Verily, verily I say to you. By the mouth of two witnesses,
every word will be established. Peter said, I know you
already know these things and are established
in the present truth. But there are certain
things I need to repeat. And so I'm going to
bring it up to you again. And perhaps that
is happening here. So it's important enough
for God to say twice. Now, it says the nations
will flow into it. You'll notice the terminology. And this word flow speaks of
a joyful assembling together, that is, people wanting to
go to the house of the Lord, not I have to go to
the house of the Lord. It's the millennial kingdom. It's the kingdom age. I have to go to Jerusalem. You'll want to go to Jerusalem. Now, some of you are going, I
want to go to Jerusalem now. It's interesting. You're probably a minority. I know most every Christian
that I know, evangelical, at some point in his
or her life would love to take a tour of Israel. But when you tell your friends,
I'm going on a tour of Israel. They're going to say, many
of them, are you nuts? It's dangerous over there. And then you'll
say to them, well, where are you going on vacation? And they'll go, Los Angeles. The security is way
better in Israel than it is in the
streets of Los Angeles. You're safer in Israel. I would let my wife, kids,
and grandkids walk the streets in Jerusalem, not Los Angeles. But there's going to come
a day when everybody's going to want to go to the
house of the Lord, to Jerusalem. God's plan not only
includes Jerusalem, but a little town mentioned
in chapter 5, verse 2. "But you, Bethlehem
Ephrathah--" if you've ever wondered what that
means, that is sort of like the county name. So there were two
Bethlehem's, one in the South and one in the North. The one in the South
is Bethlehem of Judah, or Bethlehem Ephrathah. The one in the
North was only, get this, about four miles
north of Nazareth in the area of Zebulun. So you have
Bethlehem of Zebulun. You have Bethlehem of Judah,
or Bethlehem Ephrathat. That is still a city, or a
township, that is used today. That name is used
in that area today. "Ephrathah" means "fruitful." So "Bethlehem" means
"the house of bread." Just listen to the
language-- the house of bread in fruitful county. O you house of bread
in fruitful county, "You, Bethlehem
Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands
of Judah, yet out of you will come forth
to me, the one who is to be the ruler in
Israel, whose going forth are from of old,
from everlasting." So the future ruler
of Israel will be born in the house of
bread in fruitful county. This prophecy was written 700
years before Jesus Christ. How do you get two
people living in Nazareth to have a baby born down south,
90 miles away in Bethlehem? Well, you manage to have them
both from the lineage of King David, who is from Bethlehem. And you have a king in
Rome come up with an idea. Let's take a census of the world
and make populations move back to their towns of origin, of
biological origin, their family tree. So that would force Joseph and
Mary to leave Nazareth and go to Bethlehem because they're
from the town of David, where David was from. So you get Augustus
to make the census. Joseph and Mary move down
out of Nazareth to Bethlehem. And they're going
there on a donkey. And I sometimes think,
man, she's almost like, full term, riding
this crazy donkey. I know the terrain. It's rough. It's tough. One slip of the donkey,
and this prediction ain't never gonna happen. But God preserved that family. And Jesus was born in that town. Now, notice what it says. "Whose goings forth are from
of old, from everlasting." This language is picturesque. This speaks of pre-existence,
that Jesus came in time but existed before time. He came in the incarnation. I mentioned Isaiah was
a contemporary of Micah. Remember what Isaiah
the prophet predicted? "Unto us a child is born. Unto us a son is given. The government will be
upon His shoulders." His" name will be called
Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting
Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of
His kingdom, there will be no end, upon
the throne of David to order it and establish it. From this time forth,
even forevermore, the zeal of the Lord of
hosts will perform this." So a child is going to be given. A baby is going to be born-- same person. He's going to be called
Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Prince of Peace,
Everlasting Father. All of that language
and this language speaks of pre-existence
and incarnation. Micah, chapter 5, verse 2
was mentioned in a series of writings called the Targums. You've heard me
mention Targums before. You go, yeah, I
remember that word. But I forget what it is. So a Targum was an
Aramaic translation, or Aramaic explanation,
of the Hebrew text. Why Aramaic? Because Aramaic was the language
of the captivity, Babylonian captivity, Chaldean language. So Aramaic was that language
that they spoke in captivity. It got brought back to Israel. And so they had all
of these translations, or transliterations, of the
Hebrew text into Aramaic. I want you to listen
to the Targum of Micah, chapter 5, verse 2, to show you
that all of the ancient rabbis believed that Micah,
chapter 5, verse 2, was a prediction of the
coming Jewish messiah. For it says this. And here's the translation. "And you, O Bethlehem
Ephrathah, you who are too small to be numbered
among the thousands of Judah, from you shall come forth
before Me, the Messiah, to exercise dominion
over Israel, he whose name was
mentioned before, from the days of creation." So way back when, the
Jewish sages believed that Micah, chapter 5, verse
2, was a prediction of where messiah would come from. By the time the New
Testament rolls around, there's no doubt, because the
Wise Men show up in Jerusalem. And Herod's there. And the Wise Men create
a stir when they come. The Magi create a
stir because they say, "Where is he who is to
be born, King of the--" Jews. "Jews." That was Herod's title
that he took upon himself. He called himself
the King of the Jews. What? There's another, a
rival King of the Jews? So he goes to his scholars. And he says, where is
the King of the Jews? The Messiah, where
is he to be born? And they immediately quote to
him Micah, chapter 5, verse 2. "But you, Bethlehem,
in the land of Judah, though you're small, out of Me
will come forth this ruler." So what's amazing about that
is these scholars of Herod knew the Bible,
knew the scripture, knew the Messiah was going
to be born in Bethlehem. It's five miles
away from Jerusalem. People walked it all the time. Some still do. They knew the Messiah was
going to be born in Bethlehem. These magi show up
from the east, saying, we're here to worship
the King of the Jews. We're following a star. And they go, well, that
would be Bethlehem. But none of them got
off their religious duff to walk five miles and check
it out, to see if it were true or not-- not motivated at all. Just ah, yeah,
somewhere in the Bible. That could be
happening right now, like at your neighbor town. And it was. But they just let it go by. Now look at verse 4. We go to his Second Coming,
mentioned immediately after the First. "And He shall stand
and feed His flock in the strength of
Yahweh, the Lord, in the majesty of the
name of the Lord His God. And they shall abide,
for now He shall be great to the
ends of the earth." "And this One shall be peace." Remember, He is called
the Prince of Peace. His name will be called
the Prince of Peace. "And this One shall be peace." "When the Assyrian
comes into our land--" the Assyrians are the
one who came down in 722. Here the word "Assyrian"
is used emblematically. It is used representatively
of the future enemies that will come. "When the Assyrian
comes into our land, and when he treads
our palaces, then we will raise against
him seven shepherds and eight princely men." So at His second coming,
unlike the powerless shepherds or the rulers, the
Messiah will bring peace. He will feed his flock. I love that scripture. And I think it's Isaiah 40. Again, a song we used
to sing around here-- he shall feed his
flock like a shepherd, and gather them in his arms,
and carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those
who are with the young. One of the great
titles of Jesus Christ is that he was
the good shepherd. And he said, "I lay down
my life for my sheep." So between then, the First
Coming of Christ to Bethlehem and the Second Coming
of Christ to Jerusalem, the Mount of Olives
outside Jerusalem, between those two
Coming lay a cross where he would come to atone
for the sins of the world, and then come again
the second time to rule and reign over those
who have been cleansed by it. I love the picture though of
Jesus shepherding his people. The quality of a
sheep's life is totally dependent on the quality of
character of their shepherd. If you have a lazy shepherd,
the sheep will suffer. If you have a good
shepherd, the sheep will be blessed and nourished. And so David
bragged in Psalm 23. And he said, "The
Lord is my shepherd." It's like saying, look
at who my owner is. I have two dogs at home. And I have become one of those
people that just sort of loves, probably, a dog too much. These dogs are spoiled. / don't go to the extent to
have like a little monogrammed sweaters that I put on them
and carry them everywhere that I go, but close. And yet, honestly, if you were--
and don't tell my neighbors this-- but if you
were to interview our dogs, either my dogs
and my neighbor's dogs, and ask which owner
they would prefer, they would say this guy. My dogs are not complaining
that I am their shepherd. I take good care of them. In fact, I think the
other dogs in the yards next door bark and moan,
just because they wish they were part of our clan. So like a kid bragging
about his dad, David bragged about
his dad in heaven. "The Lord is my shepherd. And one day he will stand
and feed his flock." Chapter 6, they begin
to plead their case. And they start bragging
about their rituals, and the fine oil that they
use in their sacrifices, and the bird offerings
that they bring. But look at chapter 6, verse 8. God boils it down
and says, "He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require
of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk
humbly with your God?" One of the great verses of
scriptures in the Bible-- three elements that
deal with daily life, sums up the whole law. Basically, you love God with
all your heart, mind, soul, and strength. And you love your
neighbor as yourself. That can be summed
up by these three-- to do justly, to love mercy, and
to walk humbly with your God. Now go to chapter 7. And let's begin in verse
14, as Micah closes this out with a prayer, his petition. He says, "Shepherd Your
people with Your staff, the flock of Your heritage, who
dwell solitarily," or alone, "in a woodland, in
the midst of Carmel. Let them feed in Bashan and
Gilead," two very productive places, "as in days of old." Now look at verse 18, chapter 7. "Who is a God like you,
pardoning iniquity, passing over the transgression
of the remnant of His heritage? He does not retain
His anger forever, because He delights in mercy." As Micah closes the book,
he closes with a play on words using his own name. Micah, or Mika-- actually the
Hebrew pronunciation is not "Micah" but "Meek-eye-yow-ooh,"
"Meek-eye-yow-ooh." And "Meek-eye-yow-ooh."
means "who is like God." That's what his name means. So using a plan words, he
says, who is a God like you? Again, verse 19, "He will
again have compassion on us. He will subdue our iniquities. You will cast all our sins
into the depths of the sea. You will give truth
to Jacob and mercy to Abraham, which You
have sworn to our fathers from days of old." Every year on the eve of the
Jewish new year, Rosh Hashanah, Orthodox Jews go
to a body of water, either an ocean, river, or
lake, something preferably with fish in it, symbolically
empty out their pockets as if to cast all
their sins out. And they call this
service the Tashlikh. The Tashlikh means in
Hebrew, "you will cast." And they recite
verse 18, 19, and 20. And it's called the Tashlikh
because, notice verse 19, "You will cast all our sins
into the depths of the sea." So can you see them
emptying out their pockets? "You will cast all of our sins
into the depths of the sea." I love what Corrie
ten Boom said. She said, God cast all of our
sins into the deepest sea. Then he puts up a sign that
says, no fishing allowed. So remind your friends
that or your spouse of that when they want to say,
I remember when you did this, and you did that. Or remind yourself
of that when you want to drudge up those
things of your past that make you feel
like a failure. No fishing allowed. There in God's deepest sea,
let them sink to the bottom and put lead on them. And let them sink. Let them go. Truth is, God has a big eraser. Jesus said, "God did not
send his son into the world to condemn the world. But that the world through
him might be saved." So to answer the question, is
there life beyond your trials? Oh, yes. Beyond God moving
in judgment would come a glorious
restoration in the future-- same with us. Peter said, "If for
a while, if need be, you've been grieved
through various trials." But those trials are
producing something. The book of Nahum is a message-- that's our second book-- "Na-hum," if you want
the Hebrew pronunciation. So we have
"Meek-eye-yow-ooh," "Na-hum." And Nahum is a
prophecy that Jonah would love to have preached. It is a message of total
wipeout destruction on the city of Nineveh. Jonah did preach to Nineveh,
but 150 years before. And he did preach a
message of judgment. "40 days and Nineveh
will be overthrown." But Jonah knew that
God was merciful, knew that if they would repent,
God would relent and not punish them. And that's exactly
what happened. En masse, the city
of Nineveh turned. We saw the greatest
revival in history when we went through the
Book of Jonah last time. But 150 years have come,
and they have gone. And at one time, they repented. But now they have repeated the
same sins of their fathers. They're back to
where they began. In fact, they're
at a worse stage morally than they were
before the time of Jonah. So Nahum, chapter 1,
verse 1, and by the way, there's three chapters. If you want to name
the three chapters, you could say chapter 1 is the
destruction of Nineveh decreed, chapter 2, the
destruction of Nineveh described, and chapter
3, the fall of Nineveh, or destruction of
Nineveh, deserved, why God is judging them. Chapter one, verse 1, Nahum-- "The burden against
Nineveh," I can just see Jonah salivating
to say this. But he's dead. "The book of the vision
of Na-hum," or we'll just say Nahum because
we're Americans. "Nahum the Elkoshite--"
what is an Elkoshite? It's a dude who lives in Elkosh. That doesn't help anybody. Where is Elkosh? Well, there's a few guesses. And you can't be certain. There is a town just
north of present day Nineveh called of Alqosh. And Alqosh is-- they still have
a tomb to the prophet Nahum. They have an old cave where they
say, that's where he's buried. That's one guess. There is also an Elkosh in
Judah, in ancient Judah, though it's uncertain where. That's another guess. That's in some writings. Or a third possibility--
and I couldn't tell you which is which. And frankly, I don't care. But it's just interesting. Some believe that he is
from the town of Capernaum. Ever heard of Capernaum? It was Jesus' headquarters
for 3 and 1/2 years. He moved from Nazareth
to the town of Capernaum. When you go to Israel,
you'll hang out in Capernaum. The name "Capernaum" comes from
the Hebrew word Kafar, which means the town or the village. Kafar Nahum, the
village of Nahum. So because of the name
Capernaum, Kafar Nahum, some believe that
is where he is from, Galilee, rather than Nineveh,
which would make sense as an Israelite prophet. But I couldn't be certain, just
thought I'd FYI that for you. The book begins by describing
God's character, which becomes foundational to the
rest of the book, the reason he destroys Nineveh. Look at verse 2. "God is jealous." "God is jealous. And the Lord of avenges." Think of jealousy and
vengeance in the purest form, in the burnings,
perfect standard of God, not tolerating other gods
being worshipped, et cetera. "The Lord avengers
and is furious. The Lord will take vengeance
on His adversaries. And he reserves wrath
for His enemies. The Lord is slow to anger
and great in power." Notice both of those
things together. He's furious. But he's slow to anger. In other words, it takes gone
a long time before he acts. "And he's great in power. He will not at all
acquit the wicked. The Lord has His way in the
whirlwind, and in the storm, and the clouds are
the dust of his feet. He rebukes the sea
and makes it dry, and dries up all the rivers. Bashan and Carmel," those
very verdant places up north, "wither. The flower of Lebanon wilts." The great cedars of
Lebanon we're also a very, very verdant place. So here's the deal. If God can punish Israel,
and he did, then certainly he can and will punish Asseria. And the capital city
of Asseria was Nineveh. A lot of times people
think that God is passive, that God is weak. And yet, do you know the
Bible calls God jealous eight different times? Why would you use that
term referring to God? Simply this-- God
wants no rivals. If the Lord went to the
extent of making sure that you could be purchased by
the blood of His perfect son, Jesus, so that you could
be in heaven with him forever, then for you
to worship any other God is like the biggest
affront possible to him. He wants absolutely no rivals. That's the First Commandment. "I am the Lord, your God. You will have no other gods
before Me or besides Me." Verse 7 balances out
the characteristics. "The Lord is good, a stronghold
in the day of trouble. And he knows those
who trust in him." Now, it's interesting. Martin Luther, during the
Great Protestant Reformation, the seeds of the
Reformation found this verse, what he called
a great consolation, or overflowing with
consolation to him. Verse 8, "But with
an overflowing flood, He will make an utter
end of its place, and darkness will
pursue His enemies." And speaking of the
sacking of Nineveh by the Babylonians and the
Medes, chapter 2, verse 3, I want to point something out. "The shields of his
mighty men are made red, and valiant men are in scarlet. The chariot comes
with flaming torches in the day of preparation,
and spears are brandished." Did you know that the Medes
and the Babylonians both used the blood of bulls
mixed with red dye to stain their shields
red, bright shiny red? Why? For two reasons-- number
one, it looks cool. That's to intimidate, just
this big, red, flashing thing coming at you, number one. Number two, to conceal
their own blood-- so their enemies, if they were
bleeding while holding it, it wouldn't get on the shield. Because when an enemy combatant
sees blood on his enemy, it invigorates him. It incentivizes him
to finish him off. So to hide one's own blood
is one of the reasons that the shields
were often painted. Both the Babylonians
and the Medes did this. Verse 9, "Take spoil of silver! Take spoil of gold! There is no end of
treasure, or wealth of every desirable prize." Verse 10, "She is empty,
desolate, and waste! The heart melts. The knees shake. Much pain is in every side. All their faces are
drained of color." Very descriptive of the
fall of the city of Nineveh. But there's three words-- did
you notice them in verse 10? Empty, desolate,
waste-- in Hebrew, those three words
sound very similar because the words are
a onomatopoetic words. Remember that
word, onomatopoeia? Remember your English
class, onomatopoetic? That is the word sounds like
the description of the activity. So the Hebrew
words are [HEBREW].. Once again, [HEBREW],,
onomatopoetic words. The words sound like
the breaking of pottery. It was meant to be a
very descriptive form of communicating. Chapter 3, verse 1,
"Woe to the bloody city. It's all full of
lies and robbery. Its victim never departs. The noise of a whip and the
noise of rattling wheels, of galloping horses, of
clattering chariots." "Horsemen charge with bright
sword and glittering spear. There's a multitude of
slain, a great number of bodies, countless corpses. They stumble over the corpses." The Ninevites were known
for their brutality. Even back during the time
of Jonah, 150 years earlier, God said, "Go to Nineveh and
cry out because it's wickedness has come up before Me." It's reached a point
where I must act. There is an inscription
that is written by one of the Assyrian kings
named Ashurbanipal II that describes how brutal
their practices were. I'll just read it to you. "Great is the number of them in
the land of Kirhee that I slew. 260 of their fighting men,
I cut down with the sword. I cut off their heads. I formed them into pillars. I flayed," that is
roasted, "all the chief men of the city who revolted,
and I covered the pillar with their skin." "From some, I cut off their
hands and their fingers. From others, I cut
off their noses, ears. Of many, I put out their eyes. I bound their heads to posts,"
that is, tree trunks, "round about the city," end quote. That's the kind of stuff
they were known for. The Ninevites even became
adept at skinning the victims and covering their furniture
with the skin, the human skin, of their victims. So God just said,
their wickedness has come up before me. There's corpses everywhere. And he pronounces
their judgment. Verse 12, "All your
strongholds are fig trees with ripened figs. If they are shaken, they fall
into the mouth of the eater." Very descriptive of the walls
of this city that were there for strength, would become so
weak they would topple just like ripe figs. It would fall off of a tree,
and you just open your mouth, and you get to pick the
fruit, eat the fruit. Verse 13 is another
kind of a chop. No, it is a chop, indeed, a cut. "Surely, your people in
your midst are women." Now, soldiers would not
like to hear those words. You're all a bunch of
women, when it comes to being able to fight off-- no offense to any women
who are in the military, because I know you can be
rough, tough, and tumble. But you get the point. "Your people in your
midst are women." Sarcasm would go a long way. "The gates of your land are
wide open for your enemies. Fire shall devour the
bars of your gates." We have four minutes to
cover the last book-- no problem. Habakkuk-- actually, the Hebrew
pronunciation Hav-ah-cook, Hav-ah-cook. Every family have a
cook, if that helps. Sometimes those things help. He is the puzzled prophet. Habakkuk struggles with what
everyone struggles with. How can a good God
allow evil to exist? A Gallup poll asked
Americans a few years ago if you could have a meeting with
God and ask Him one question and were confident that
he would answer you, what would that question be? The most frequently
asked question people would ask God is why do
you allow evil to exist? That's a big one. If only villains got
broken limbs, hooray. If only rapists got
cancer, hallelujah. There'd be some sort
of celestial justice. But when good people, when
children, when God's own people suffer, that's tough. And that's an issue he faces. Chapter 1, verse 1, the burden,
or the Oracle, or judgment, or prophecy. The burden, which the
prophet Habakkuk saw-- "Oh, Lord, how long shall I
cry, and You will not hear, even cry to You, violence,
and You will not save?" In other words, God, why
don't You answer my prayer? "Why do You show me
iniquity," verse 3, "and cause me to see trouble,
for plundering and violence are before me? There is strife, and
contention arises. Therefore, the law is
powerless, justice never goes forth, for the wicked
surround the righteous. Therefore, perverse
judgment precedes." What he is referring to is
sin among his own people, the people of Judah,
and principally the city of Jerusalem. The people around me,
God's people, are sinning. And God, You're not acting. It was a time of spiritual
degradation, backsliding. There had been a king, a good
king by the name of Josiah. You remember him. He became a king when
he was eight years old. At age 16, he enacted
spiritual reform. But he's dead, followed by
several bad kings, Jehoahaz, Eliakim, who became Jehoiakim,
followed by Jehoiachin, followed by Zedekiah,
all bad dudes. The nation went downhill. Godly people suffered,
while bad people prospered. So here's a profit sort of like
tapping his fingers, going, OK, God. I'm waiting. I'm praying. When are you going to act? When are you going
to do something? So God says, verse 5, "Look
among the nations and watch. Be utterly astounded, for I will
work a work in your days, which you would not believe,
though it were told you. For I am, indeed, raising up the
Chaldeans, a bitter and hasty nation which marches through
the breadth of the earth to possess dwelling places
that are not theirs." Oh, Habakkuk, I am moving. I am acting. I am going to do something
about the ungodliness in Jacob, in Judah, in Jerusalem. I am going to bring an enemy
army to take them captive, destroy their city, and
give them one big celestial spanking. Well, that is not what
have Habakkuk expected. He thought, I am praying. God will be intervening. And he will be sending
revival, like in Josiah's time. Says no, I'm gonna actually send
not revival, but retribution. I'm going to punish you guys
by 70 years of captivity. Verse 12, the prophet
says, "Are You not from everlasting, O
Lord my God, my Holy One? We shall not die. O Lord, You have appointed
them for judgment. O Rock, You have marked
them for correction." You get the drift. Hey, we're your covenant people. We're bad. Granted, I know I complain. But those guys, the
Babylonians, way worse. You're using them to punish us? Verse 13, "You are of purer
eyes than to behold evil. You cannot look on wickedness. Why do you look on those
who deal treacherously and hold your tongue when the
wicked devours a person more righteous than he?" Here's an equivalent, perhaps. The United States of America,
the churches in America, carnal, obsessed
with worldliness-- we could pray. We could complain. And what if God says, OK,
I'm going to answer you. I'm sending ISIS to wake you up. No, whoa, wait. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Surely You wouldn't
do that, God. You get the prophet's dilemma. Chapter 2, verse 1, "I
will stand my watch, set myself at the rampart. Watch to see what He will say. I will answer when
I am corrected." It's good to do when you
don't understand, just hold that thought. Just stop and think about it. Do it in the presence of God. Remind yourself of what you know
about God, like the prophet did in verse 12. And commit the problem in faith. "Then the Lord answered and
said, 'Write the vision. Make it plain on the tablets
that he may run who reads it.'" In other
words, take notes. Take large notes. Write big letters. Make a large print edition. "For the vision is yet
for an appointed time. But at the end, it will speak. It will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it,
because it will surely come. It will not tarry. Behold the proud. His soul is not upright in him. But the just shall
live by his faith." This is one of the
most important verses in all of the Bible, so much
so that Paul the Apostle refers to it three times
in his writings. Here's the context. God is saying, I'm going to
judge evil eventually, versus 5 through 19, by sending Babylon. But then I'm going
to punish Babylon. Verse 14, "The future
is going to be glorious. The earth will be filled
with the knowledge of God, like waters cover the sea." In the meantime,
while you're waiting for that ultimate glory-- in the meantime, when
it gets really bad, as the pain gets ratcheted
up, live by faith. The just shall
live by his faith. Deliverance will come. But it won't come immediately. It will come eventually. Chapter 3, verse 2, "O
Lord, I've heard Your speech and I was afraid. O Lord, revive Your work
in the midst of the years. In the midst of the
years, make it known. In wrath, remember mercy." I'm surrendered to it. It's inevitable. The Babylonians are coming. But in your wrath,
remember mercy. Verse 16, "When I
heard," that is, I heard God's revelation, what
he told me, "My body trembled. My lips quivered at the voice. Rottenness entered my bones. I trembled in
myself that I might rest in the day of trouble. When he comes to the
people, he will invade them with his troops." When I found out
what God was up to, using the Babylonians against
us, I lost all my strength. I freaked out--
loosely paraphrased. But look at verse 17 and 18. "Though the fig tree may
not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, though the
labor of the olive may fail, and the fields yield no
food, though the flock may be cut off from
the fold, and there be no herd in the stalls, yet
I will rejoice in the Lord." The word means "exalt." I will spin around and
dance for joy in the Lord. "I will joy in the
God of my salvation." He looks ahead to the
Babylonian invasions, the destruction of the orchards,
the crops, the vineyards. The people are carried away. The flocks are carried away. And he says, OK, I don't
know what you're up to. But I resign to live by faith. And I rejoice not
in the invasion, but I rejoice in the Lord. Listen, faith doesn't always
understand God's means. But it always trusts
God's motives. So when you suffer, instead
of saying, like we always do, how can I get out of this? Say, what, Lord, can
I get out of this? What are you trying to show me? What are you trying
to build within me? That's faith. And by faith, I went 4 minutes
and 50 seconds overtime. Let's pray. Father, thank you for
our gathering in faith. Thank you father that
those who are just, those who are righteous, though
they don't understand what's going on around them, that may
there be peace inside of them because you are ultimately
super intending all things that are going on around them. May we have confidence
in your character, even though we don't
understand your ways. In Jesus' name. Amen. Let's all stand. We hope you enjoyed this
message from Skip Heitzig sick of Calvary Church. For more resources,
visit calvarynm.church. Thank you for joining us for
this teaching from the Bible from 30,000 Feet. [MUSIC PLAYING]
