The Call of the Shepherd-King 03—I Will Establish My Glorious Kingdom—Micah 3:1-4:5

This passage spans a massive portion of human history. Micah's oracle starts with short bursts of rebuke to the rulers, false prophets, and priests of Jerusalem almost three thousand years ago (3:1, 5, 11). It projects out past our time to the latter days when Yahweh will revive Jerusalem and bring the full blast of his kingdom and glory to earth (4:1-4). So the passage is intensely ancient and distant, forgotten and anticipated, past and future.

Because of the poles Micah addresses in this passage, some might want to tune out. If his oracle is chock full of rebukes for yesterday and promises for tomorrow, how does this help me today?

But "today" does make an appearance at the end of our text and should color everything within it. Because of what God did in the past and what he will do in the future, we have a decision to make. Micah said that while the unbelieving peoples or nations might walk in the name of their gods, those who belong to God will walk in his name forever and ever (4:5). It is a word of commitment—because of all that was and will be, we will walk with God right now.

So what was and what will be? The basics of this passage are that Micah calls out the leadership of ancient Israel.

Their rulers—politicians, judges, and kings—were supposed to pursue and love justice, but they instead hated the good and loved the evil (3:1-2). Their prophets and priests were supposed to deliver the truth of Yahweh to the people, but they instead said whatever made them popular and prosperous (3:5, 11). And this rebellion had lasted long enough, so God was ready to distance himself from Jerusalem (3:12).

Not everyone was caught up in this corruption. Micah was filled with power from the Spirit of the LORD and spent his prophetic energy fighting for justice while declaring to God's people their sins and transgressions (3:8).

And Micah was not alone—Isaiah uttered the same prophecy about the last days and God's glorious mountain in his oracles (Is. 2:2-4). Either Micah copied Isaiah, Isaiah copied Micah, they both copied someone else, or they received their prophecies independently. But the point here is that even when terrible leaders invade God's people, there are still good leaders who are filled with God's Spirit.

Despite all the corruption he saw, or perhaps because of all the corruption he saw, Micah peered into the future and saw the latter days (4:1). These days have not yet occurred. They are described as a time of unparalleled peace and prosperity with God and his teaching at the center of all things. They are described as days of revival, where all nations stream up the mountain to God's house in Jerusalem, a way to picture all of humanity longing to know God and his word and live according to his dictates. It is a revival atmosphere, a true Jesus Famous time where everyone and everything is in beautiful subservience to him. It is a glorious age, and Micah saw a glimpse of it in his oracle.

These two movements—one about ancient times and another about the future—contrast each other, and I want to spend our time thinking about the four main contrasts Micah saw.[^1] Each contrast between their inglorious past and God's glorious future is a case study of what happens when God is or is not at the center. When he is King, what happens? When he is pushed out by his people, what happens? All four contrasts should nudge us in the direction of walking with God—choosing him and his leadership—every day.

Contrast #1: Hunted vs. Safe (3:1-4, 4:3-4)

I will call the first contrast hunted vs. safe. Micah depicted the nation's leaders in Jerusalem as cannibals who tore the skin off God's people (3:2). When the Assyrians invaded the northern kingdom, they came with a reputation for skinning people alive, and Micah might have been ascribing that same evil to the leaders of God's people!

He also depicted them as hunters who preyed on the populace, cooking them at their campfire after chopping them in pieces (3:3). It was gruesome imagery that was meant to make these leaders take a look in the mirror, but once the invading armies of God's judgment arrived, it would be too late, God would not hear them (3:4).

But for as much as everyday folks would have felt like hunted animals in the scopes of Jerusalem's leaders, Micah saw a beautiful future day where God will judge between many peoples and settle disputes for strong nations far away (4:3).

These times of peace will be so extensive that it will lead to total disarmament—weapons won't be needed to keep the peace, so they will be repurposed to cultivate the earth. Swords will be turned into plowshares and spears into pruning hooks (4:3). And everyone will prosper as they enjoy the fruits of their labors. Micah saw everyone with a vineyard and fig tree, dwelling in without fear—this is his way of envisioning the personal peace Christ's rule will bring (4:4). No one will be hunted. Everyone will be safe.

It is easy to hear Micah's words against the rulers of his day as words against the political leaders of our world today. And though making that connection is tempting—and sometimes appropriate—I must remind you that Micah did not rebuke the corruption in the unbelieving nations. The Assyrians and Babylonians who eventually attacked God's people were all guilty of the crimes Micah saw, but he didn't address them, he addressed God's people. He saw God's people consuming human lives and called God's people out for their crimes. To be frank, this has much more to say to modern pastoral leadership and Christians in the economic middle class or above than it does to Congress.

We live in a time where humans are often trafficked, abused, and commoditized—and as believers we cannot go along with it. We have gotten so used to the sexualization of the female body—it has been enlisted to sell any and everything, from music to toothpaste. The pornography industry makes around ten times more than the National Football League, and it trades in human bodies to do so. And people so vulnerable they rely on the safety and nourishment of their mother's womb are treated as political footballs rather than children created in the image of God. And just as the judges and rulers of Israel had abandoned justice to go on a quest for self-indulgence, so many modern believers have turned blind eyes while consuming humans who are struggling to make it day-to-day. Jesus told us to love our neighbor, but the mantra of our time seems to be: as long as I have my needs met, I don't have time to care for another.

Fast forward to Christ's reign. I expect Micah's vision will be fully fulfilled during the future thousand-year reign of Jesus here on earth after his return. What I know is that Micah saw a day when the brutal leadership humanity so often toils under is replaced by the incredible rule of Christ. He is no tyrant. He is no abuser. People will no longer be hunted, but safe. He will rule with a rod of iron, but he will be the Good Shepherd in the process.

Contrast #2: Deceived vs. Instructed (3:5-8, 4:2)

I will call the second contrast deceived vs. instructed. Israel had a long tradition of prophets and schools of prophets that would urge them toward God's laws, to be who they were called to be as his covenant partners (3:5). But when Micah saw the prophets of his day, he saw how they led God's people astray (3:5).

The prophets were the people who should have shocked the leaders of God's nation back into obedience—they should have rebuked all the oppression and materialism stemming from God's holy city—but instead Micah saw that their messages were shaped by shekel signs. As long as people paid them well, they would say whatever the people wanted them to say. Give me a private jet, and I will make you feel really good about yourself! The unrighteous leaders in Jerusalem should have been terrified of the prophets. Turns out, all they had to do was feed them a nice dinner.

Fast forward to Christ's reign. People will come up to Yahweh's mountain to God's house so that he can teach them his ways and that they may walk in his paths (4:2). If the people in Micah's day were deceived by false prophets, the people in God's glorious kingdom will be well-instructed in the truth. And this instruction won't be merely theoretical, educational, or informational—it will be instruction that leads everyone to walk in what they've been instructed. You know how amazing this is—I can't count the times I have failed to live up to the calling of the Sunday morning sermon on Sunday afternoon! It will be glorious when everyone receives the truth and then walks in it—orthodoxy followed by orthopraxy.

As a pastor-teacher, it is this portion of Micah's eschatological hope, his vision of the messianic kingdom, that invigorates me the most. There is a cacophony of voices competing for people's hearts these days, and every technological advancement seems to drown out God's voice a little bit more. We are a culture in chaos, swimming in confusion. There are more Bibles in print than ever before, digital teaching has democratized Bible study, and anyone can get seminary-level training for free in various online spaces, but biblical illiteracy abounds.^2 A major reason for this is that the same tools that have led to the wealth of biblical resources have distracted the absolute heck out of us and drowned out the best voices with the loudest ones. So, I look forward to the day when we all run to God's hill to hear God's word and walk in it.

Micah declared these oracles in lawcourts and marketplaces and in the temple precincts because he wanted to see God's people turn and walk with God today in light of what his kingdom will be like tomorrow. These words were recorded so we could make that same decision. If God's forever kingdom is one where an insatiable hunger for God and his word will drive us to hear and follow him, let's do that in miniature today. Whether at church gatherings or in personal time before God, let's start running to his mountain right now with the desire to know and follow him.

Contrast #3: Exiled vs. Home (3:9-12, 4:1-2)

I will call the third contrast exiled vs. home. Micah depicted Jerusalem—theologically known as Zion throughout the Old Testament—as destined to become plowed as a field and as a heap of ruins (3:12). When he said that the mountain of the house would become a wooded height, he meant that the temple would be destroyed and the natural elements would take over the land (3:12). To Micah, the actions of the leaders of Jerusalem (the rulers, prophets, and priests) led to the destruction of Jerusalem. Because they detested justice and were motivated by money to perform religious services, Jerusalem would eventually pay a steep price.

At the end of Deuteronomy, when Israel was on the cusp of going into the Promised Land, Moses reiterated the covenant to that new generation that had not died off in the wilderness. He told them that if they walked with God, they would be blessed, but that if they didn't, their strength and power would evaporate, and neighboring armies would defeat them. "The LORD will bring a nation against you from far away, from the end of the earth, swooping down like the eagle," Moses said before detailing the utter destruction that would come if they persisted in disobedience (Deut. 27-28, 28:49). By the time Micah rises up from the Shephelah valley down below Jerusalem, they are on their twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth kings (1:1). God had been waiting for a long time for his people to completely return to him, but as the generations ticked by, their longstanding rebellion had made them pointless as missionaries to the nations and ripe for God's discipline. Exile.

And I should mention here that this judgment was delayed even longer because King Hezekiah heeded it. We don't learn this from Micah, but in Jeremiah's prophecies over a century later, the leaders recalled how Hezekiah heard these words about Jerusalem's destruction from Micah and repented of his sin, delaying God's judgment until their time (Jer. 26:18). Unfortunately, Jeremiah's generation didn't repeat Hezekiah's humble submission and repentance, so the judgment finally came.

Fast forward to Christ's reign. Micah saw it as a time when people flow like a reverse stream up the mountain to God's city. God is there. His house is there. He will not scatter us into exile but gather us home to himself. I don't know if Micah, from his perspective as a Jewish prophet who knew Israel as God's special nation and holy people, was surprised when he saw many nations flowing to God's house, but in this church age, we understand why this will happen (4:2). Christ has broken down the barrier and by his blood has made the way for any person of any tribe, nation, or tongue to know God. Every river we know flows down from higher elevations, but in the latter days, Micah said there will be a time when people everywhere turn into a river that goes up God's mountain.

This worldwide revival is meant to instruct us on where to find our truest home today. When Jerusalem was finally invaded by the Babylonians over a hundred years after Micah's predictions, the city was decimated, and the people went into exile. Since they would be in Babylon for a while, God encouraged them to establish themselves in that foreign land while learning ways to become a blessing to that foreign culture. But as much as they tried to make Babylon home, it never was—they were an exiled people who longed to go home. We are in a similar situation as dual citizens here on earth; we belong to earthly nations, but our new citizenship is in heaven (Phil 3:20).

But one beautiful thing about Yahweh is that we can make our home with him even while we are exiled. In a sense, because of his Spirit abides in his people, meaning he has made his home in us, we are already home. And perhaps you find yourself like the prodigal son, far from home, at the end of your resources, despairing of life itself. The Father will welcome you home to himself if you come to him. His only begotten Son went out to rescue you when he died on the cross. His Holy Spirit is searching for you and trying to break through all the noise to beckon you home. Come home to him.

Contrast #4: Dead vs. Alive (3:12, 4:1)

I will call this final contrast dead vs. alive. To Micah, the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple meant the death of God's presence among his people. He built up to this with each of his prophecies. First, he told the rulers that God was giving them a chance to turn but that he would hide his face from them once the invading armies arrived (3:4). Second, he told the false prophets that darkness and blindness would come upon them—seers would no longer be able to see because God would darken their understanding (3:6-7). They would cover their lips in shame, because there would be no answer from God (3:7). All this is God distancing himself in stages with the hope that his people will respond. But the judgment would become final when, third, God removed the temple, and therefore his presence, from Jerusalem (3:12).

These people had a terrible theology—they said, "Is not the LORD in the midst of us? No disaster shall come upon us" (3:11). They had convinced themselves that God's unconditional love meant God's unconditional blessing. Somehow, they had concluded that since Yahweh considered them his firstborn son, he would not parent them in any meaningful way. They expected him to pay the bills forever while they played video games in their man-cave basement rent-free.

As I've already pointed out, God was very clear about their partnership with him—long-term rebellion would necessitate his discipline (Deut. 27-28). It was sheer ignorance of Scripture—probably fueled by a willful rejection of the difficult parts of Scripture—that made them conclude that God was with them and they had nothing to fear.

But for as much as their rebellion led to Jerusalem becoming a wasteland without God's temple, when we fast forward to Christ's reign, we discover that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established as the highest of the mountains, lifted up above the hills (4:1). And when this day comes, since everyone will flow to God's house to hear God's voice, all the silence, darkness, distance, and death Micah envisioned will be replaced with God's voice, light, presence, and life!

In one sense, Micah 3:1-4:5 is the Bible in miniature: Human sin and brokenness impact everything; we cannot fully repair anything; Christ came to restore anyone; and one day he will restore everything, so walk with him today.

In other words, we all have a choice. This text is a tale of two cities. Will we be like the Jerusalem of Micah's day, a place where the desires of the flesh we dominant? Or will we be like the Jerusalem of Christ's return, centered on God and focused on his will? Let us be a people who walk with him. And this exhortation to walk with him today is precisely how Micah puts it on his readers:

For all the peoples walk each in the name of its god, but we will walk in the name of the LORD our God forever and ever. (Micah 4:5)

This is his way of snapping us out of events that happened thousands of years ago or might happen thousands of years from now. Micah's mediation on the past and the future is meant to change us in the present. If everyone else—all the peoples—walk in the name of their false gods, what will you do? Will you walk with God? Micah said yes—and I hope you do too.

Study Questions

Head (Knowledge, Facts, Understanding)

1. What are the main accusations Micah makes against the leaders of Israel in Micah 3:1-12, and how do they contrast with the future vision of God's kingdom in Micah 4:1-5?
2. How does Micah describe the false prophets' actions, and what consequences does he predict for them and the people who follow them?
3. In what ways does the promise of the future kingdom (Micah 4:1-5) serve as a corrective or response to the injustices and failures of the leaders in Micah's time?

Heart (Feelings, Impressions, Desires)

4. How do the images of violence and exploitation in Micah 3:1-12 make you feel about the state of leadership and justice in your own context?
5. Reflect on the vision of peace and righteousness in Micah 4:1-5. What emotions or desires does this vision stir in you?
6. Considering the stark contrast between the present corruption and the future hope in Micah's prophecy, how does this tension impact your spiritual longing for God's kingdom?

Hands (Actions, Commitments, Decisions, Beliefs)

7. What are practical steps you can take to embody the justice and righteousness Micah advocates for in your community?
8. How can you personally commit to walking "in the name of the LORD our God forever and ever" in your daily life, as encouraged in Micah 4:5?
9. In light of Micah's call for both judgment and hope, what specific decision can you make this week to contribute to a future that aligns with the vision of peace and justice described in Micah 4:1-5?

[^1]: He detailed these contrasts in chiasm form—the first thing he saw contrasts with the last. The second thing he saw contrasts with the second to last. And so on. The structure I am going to apply is ABCD/DCBA.