Micah was as believers today are meant to be; he was a man in between worlds. He had one eye on the chaos, greed, and injustice that saturated his ancient Israelite society and another eye on the fully redeemed, ordered, beautiful, and just society that Christ would establish one day. He was in touch with the pains and deficiencies of God's people but also conscious of the glory and perfection awaiting them. He was a man of right now but also a man of the distant future, and it was that distant future that energized his hope and focus for the right now.

But, of course, the future is the future, so how could Micah know that all he'd seen in his prophetic oracles would come to pass? How could he be sure that God would one day redeem his people, establish revival conditions on earth, and draw all men up his mountain to hear his law? How could Micah be confident that his hopeful visions were not just wishful fantasies, but guaranteed realities?

To answer this question, we must revisit the frame of Micah's prophecies. The first and last words of the book of Micah show us why Micah had so much hope in the future. His oracles begin with the simple phrase, "The word of the LORD that came to Micah" (Mic. 1:1). It is the only time the prophet's name is mentioned in the whole book. The name Micah means who is like the LORD? Yahweh is incomparable. No one is like him. So that is the first word—Who is like the LORD?

And Micah's writings, we will learn today, conclude with the question, "Who is a God like you?" (7:18). Then Micah will answer that question by borrowing from the episode in Exodus when God revealed himself to Moses from the cleft of the rock (Ex. 34:1-7). He declared his forgiving, loving, compassionate, faithful, and just nature to his man that day, and Micah remembered those words. They informed his understanding of God, and it was that understanding that convinced him all God promised would come to pass. Because of who God is—and because the LORD is one of a kind—Micah could hope in what he promised.

Because this is where the book ends, I think of this passage as Yahweh's voice promising not to defy his very nature. All throughout this book, God pleads with his people to act like themselves, to live as his called, chosen, redeemed people who are meant to bless all the nations of the earth. Be who you are!

But now we hear the Shepherd-King, Yahweh himself, saying, "I will be who I am." He will be faithful. The visions Micah saw are certain. As Paul said, "He cannot deny himself" (2 Tim. 2:13). God is bound by his very nature, and this should lead all of us to a few conclusions after interacting with Micah. Micah put those conclusions in our passage today. I will put those conclusions in sentence form: The Shepherd-King says, "I will be who I am, so choose a remnant life and trust that remnant's future while delighting in the remnant's God."

1. So Choose A Remnant Life (7:1-7)

7:1 Woe is me! For I have become as when the summer fruit has been gathered, as when the grapes have been gleaned: there is no cluster to eat, no first-ripe fig that my soul desires. 2  The godly has perished from the earth, and there is no one upright among mankind; they all lie in wait for blood, and each hunts the other with a net. 3  Their hands are on what is evil, to do it well; the prince and the judge ask for a bribe, and the great man utters the evil desire of his soul; thus they weave it together. 4  The best of them is like a brier, the most upright of them a thorn hedge. The day of your watchmen, of your punishment, has come; now their confusion is at hand. 5  Put no trust in a neighbor; have no confidence in a friend; guard the doors of your mouth from her who lies in your arms; 6  for the son treats the father with contempt, the daughter rises up against her mother, the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; a man’s enemies are the men of his own house. 7  But as for me, I will look to the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me. (Micah 7:1–7)

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First, the Shepherd-King says, "I will be who I am, so choose a remnant life." To hear this exhortation, we have to begin with what Micah saw. All throughout his oracles, Micah has decried the idolatry and covetousness that ran rampant throughout God's church of that time, ancient Israel. The rich were especially predatory, and their sins from the capitol cities were luring neighboring armies to come and try their hand against God's weakened people. Because Micah lived in a valley that every invading army had to traverse to get to Jerusalem, he had serious skin in the game.

But by the time we get to the end of Micah's prophecies, it doesn't look like anyone has really softened because of his work. What Micah describes here at the end of his book is God's society completely turned upside down by sin. The decay has set root. So much so that he said it was like going out to an orchard after gathering or a vineyard after gleaning (7:1). No fruit remained. As much as Micah's soul desired to see some godly people in Israel, they had all perished from the earth (7:1-2). He looked for them just as one might look for grapes in a vineyard, but he found no fruit in God's vineyard.[^1]

And it wasn't only that no one was doing justice, loving kindness, or walking humbly with God (Mic. 6:8). It was that their selfishness and utter lack of Christlikeness turned them into monsters waiting for blood and hunting one another with their nets (7:2). Micah saw that their hands were on what is evil, and they did their evil well (7:3). Corruption reached up to those in power and influence (7:3).

Micah kept the agricultural terminology going by saying the very best of them was like a brier or a thorn hedge—a far cry from the bountiful vineyard God had made them to be (7:4). So Micah said they day their watchmen had predicted, a day of punishment by war-induced confusion, had arrived (7:4). Defeat in war was the only smelling salt that could awaken them from their mission-destroying slumber, the only bucket of ice water that could awaken them from their nation-harming drunkenness.

It was so bad, Micah said, that regular neighbor and family relationships had become dangerous. Friends, parents, children, in-laws—all of them became a threat, to the point that a man's enemies are the men of his own house (7:6).

In light of all this, Micah said, "As for me, I will look to the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me" (7:7). By saying this, Micah represented everyone in his time and ours who decides to choose the remnant life. He wanted to enter the narrow gate leading to life rather than walk the broad road leading to destruction (Matt. 7:13-14). He wanted to be part of God's remnant people, a remnant he refers to often in his oracles. Righteous remnants in Scripture are always small and marginalized, but Micah would rather stand with them than go along with the spiritual decay he saw among God's people.

When the quintessential prophet, Elijah, was on the scene, he was certainly not in the majority. One day, a national contest was held: Elijah vs. all the prophets of Baal (the false god). There were 450 of them, but only one of him, and that didn't matter because Yahweh was with Elijah. After God made his presence known and vindicated his prophet, Elijah went alone to the mountains to mourn that he alone was left. No one else was righteous, or so he thought. But God corrected him, "I reserve seven thousand in Israel—all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and whose mouths have not kissed him” (1 Ki. 19:18, NIV). This remnant concept is repeated in the New Testament when Paul used the Elijah story to say, "So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace" (Rom. 11:5).

The decision we must make throughout our lives is to be part of that remnant. If you are uncomfortable with being in the minority—even in the minority within the visible church—you won't be able to embrace this remnant life. It will be difficult for you to decide, with Micah, to look to the LORD and wait for the God of your salvation, confident that he will hear you (7:7).

2. And Trust That Remnant's Future (7:8-13)

7:8  Rejoice not over me, O my enemy; when I fall, I shall rise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD will be a light to me. 9  I will bear the indignation of the LORD because I have sinned against him, until he pleads my cause and executes judgment for me. He will bring me out to the light; I shall look upon his vindication. 10  Then my enemy will see, and shame will cover her who said to me, “Where is the LORD your God?” My eyes will look upon her; now she will be trampled down like the mire of the streets.

7:11  A day for the building of your walls! In that day the boundary shall be far extended. 12  In that day they will come to you, from Assyria and the cities of Egypt, and from Egypt to the River, from sea to sea and from mountain to mountain. 13  But the earth will be desolate because of its inhabitants, for the fruit of their deeds.

7:14  Shepherd your people with your staff, the flock of your inheritance, who dwell alone in a forest in the midst of a garden land; let them graze in Bashan and Gilead as in the days of old. 15  As in the days when you came out of the land of Egypt, I will show them marvelous things. 16  The nations shall see and be ashamed of all their might; they shall lay their hands on their mouths; their ears shall be deaf; 17  they shall lick the dust like a serpent, like the crawling things of the earth; they shall come trembling out of their strongholds; they shall turn in dread to the LORD our God, and they shall be in fear of you. (Micah 7:8–17)

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Second, the Shepherd-King says, "I will be who I am, so choose a remnant life and trust that remnant's future." To hear this exhortation, we have to enter into Micah's prayer dream for the remnant's eventual redemption and consolation. Micah is the speaker in this movement, and his words are a cry to Yahweh, but in the form of a confident assertion to the nations that raged against God. As he gazed into the future, he saw the leveling of everything that is anti-Yahweh and the exaltation of Yahweh's remnant.

What specifically did Micah see and express in this bit of Spirit-inspired trash talk?

• He saw a day coming when those in darkness are brought into the light (7:8). Even though the enemy would cause the fall of God's people, they would one day resurrect and rise up with God's kingdom (7:8).
• He saw that God's people would bear their discipline but then be cleansed and vindicated by God as he put down the very enemies who had defeated God's people (7:9-10).
• He saw a day when peace would reign supreme so that God's people could expand their boundary and become the worship center of all the nations of the world, fulfilling God's promise to Abraham and his calling on Israel (7:11-13).
• He saw the Shepherd-King figure arise to lead his people into fruitfulness (7:14-15). Right now, an invisible Jesus leads God's people in covert and subversive ways, but on that day, a visible Jesus will lead God's people in overt and obvious ways.
• And he saw a spirit of repentance and the fear of the LORD overtake the whole world—people will crawl to God's house if they have to (7:16-17).

All this is another way for Micah to express his radical vision of the latter days, where all the nations of the world flow to God as the center of all things (Mic. 4:1-5). As I've already mentioned, Isaiah saw the same thing, so this vision is recorded twice (Is. 2:2-4). This doubling of the vision was meant to attach it to our hearts—this is what God is going to do. Micah believed it. Do you?

Hebrews tells us that "faith is the assurance of things hoped for, a conviction about unseen realities" (Heb. 11:1, my paraphrase). And Micah shows us we should have faith in, believe in, or trust that the future he has declared for his remnant will come to pass. Micah had mentioned this "remnant" group all throughout his oracles, and as a card-carrying member of that remnant, Micah pleads with us to patiently trust that God is working out his purposes (Mic. 2:12, 4:7, 5:7-8, 7:18).

Micah's doctrine of the remnant, which he developed in each oracle, helped fuel his promises of hope—he saw this remnant like a small seed that would break up the earth to become a full-grown tree. Physical force would not bring this remnant the victory they desired, but a Ruler from Bethlehem would come to bring deliverance to his people. As one scholar said:

“The remnant is a force in the world, not simply a residue of people, as the word ‘remnant’ may seem to imply. It is a force that will ultimately conquer the world.”[^2]

I think this is part of Jesus' infatuation with seed imagery. He often told parables about the power of a seed. Small and slow, a seed can grow into a mighty forest in the right conditions. Micah sees this seed-like remnant, by the resurrection power and eventual presence of Christ, blossoming into a forest of righteousness. We pray, "Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven" because Jesus told us to (Matt. 6:10). In a sense, Micah is telling us to believe that Jesus' prayer will come to pass; the seed has gone into the ground and it will grow into a strong tree when the time comes.

Can you choose the remnant life while trusting God's plan for his remnant in the future? Or do you need to have it all right now?[^3] Can you do as James said?

Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. (James 5:7–8)

A farmer does not put seed in the ground and expect fruit the next day. The farmer knows there is a long process. Micah (and James) want us to trust that process. The remnant, by God's grace, will one day overcome.

3. While Delighting In The Remnant's God (7:18-20)

7:18  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. 19  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. 20  You will show faithfulness to Jacob and steadfast love to Abraham, as you have sworn to our fathers from the days of old. (Micah 7:18–20)

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Third, the Shepherd-King says, "I will be who I am, so choose a remnant life and trust that remnant's future while delighting in the remnant's God." This is where Micah ends all his oracles. Who is like Yahweh? Who is a God like ours? Micah chose the remnant life and trusted in the remnant future—but he could only do so because he delighted in the God of that remnant.

As Micah peered into Israel's sin and Yahweh's judgment, he wondered what God was like. Now he knows. How could Yahweh take a people so full for so long of spiritual adultery and community brutality, discipline them with as much severity as he could handle, and remake them into the glorious epicenter of his forever kingdom someday? What kind of God does something like that?

This is where Micah remembered God's words to Moses right after Israel broke their covenant with God by worshipping the golden calf. What is God like? He pardons iniquity. He passes over transgression for the remnant. He does not retain his anger forever. He delights in steadfast love (7:18). His compassion drives him to tread our iniquities underfoot and cast them into the depths of the sea just like he did to the Egyptian chariots so many centuries ago (7:19). And he will demonstrate faithfulness and covenant love to the physical and spiritual descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (7:20). That's who God is.

In a sense, you could say that the God who invites us to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with him is the God who did all those things before we did (Mic. 6:8).

• He does justice in that he does not merely overlook sin but consumes the judgment within himself—the Shepherd-King substituted himself for us on his cross.
• He loves kindness in that he delights in steadfast love—the Shepherd-King is loyal to all those who have turned to and trusted him.
• He walks humbly with us in that he became one of us to share in our weaknesses—the Shepherd-King is the suffering servant who emptied himself to become as we are (Phil. 2:7).

Who is a God like that? There is no god who compares. Only our God is like that. We are a most privileged people. As the psalmist says, "Blessed are the people whose God is the LORD" (Ps. 144:15).

Conclusion

But what should all this knowledge from Micah produce in us? I don't know if knowledge is the right way to say it. What should this real, tangible, experiential, incredible, undeserved grace from our Shepherd-King produce in us? That's better.

What are we to do with Micah's vision of the beautiful life led and centered upon Yahweh? What are we to do with Micah's eschatological hope of a world where God's people finally live in accord with God's righteousness—the perfect meld of worship and witness, religion and right living? What are we to do with Micah's belief in a great Shepherd who will use his staff to guide his people, blessing his flock as they graze upon the produce of his righteousness?

It should produce imitation. A relationship with that God, with Yahweh, with that Shepherd-King, is an invitation to be substantively changed into his image.

More than an invitation, an inevitability. To know him is to be transformed to become like him.

When Jesus said the greatest commandment was to love God and then your neighbor as yourself, I wonder if he thought about the cross. Pinned to that cross, Jesus was living the ultimate of love for God and neighbor. And he calls us into that same cruciform life; one Micah thought could happen if we grasped Yahweh and the future he is creating for his people.

So Micah has given us his oracles, his invitation to live congruently with the way things will one day be. The Shepherd-King has come from timelessness itself and has broken down the barrier between us and God (Mic. 2:13, 5:2). And he has spoken his invitation to us. Let's walk—humbly—in his ways.

Study Questions:

Head (Knowledge, Facts, Understanding):

1. What does the name "Micah" mean and how does this meaning enhance the message of Micah 7?

   • Explore the significance of names in the Hebrew texts and their theological implications, specifically focusing on why Micah's name enhances the messages he brings forth in this chapter.

2. How does Micah's context of living between a corrupt society and a future hope compare to our current societal challenges?

   • Discuss the parallels between the societal conditions Micah described and those we face today, considering how these contexts influence the message and reception of prophetic voices.

3. What role does the concept of a 'remnant' play in Micah's prophecies and how is this concept relevant to modern Christian communities?

   • Analyze the idea of the "remnant" throughout the Bible and its implications for faith communities today, particularly in how they perceive their spiritual identity and mission.

Heart (Feelings, Impressions, Desires):

4. What emotions might Micah have felt as he prophesied about Israel's moral decay and the eventual divine redemption?

   • Reflect on the emotional toll and the glimmers of hope that prophets like Micah experienced as they conveyed messages of both judgment and salvation.

5. How does the promise that "I will be who I am" provide comfort when facing personal or communal crises?

   • Discuss the emotional and spiritual comfort found in the consistency of God's character, especially during times of uncertainty and trouble.

6. In what ways can the assurance of God’s unchanging nature impact a believer’s trust in His promises during challenging times?

   • Consider personal or observed examples where the recognition of God's steadfast nature significantly influenced one’s ability to endure hardships.

Hands (Actions, Commitments, Decisions, Beliefs):

7. What practical steps can individuals and churches take to embody the 'remnant life' that Micah describes?

   • Suggest concrete actions that believers can undertake to live out the principles of justice, mercy, and humility that Micah emphasizes.

8. Considering Micah's emphasis on God's justice and mercy, how should this influence our behavior towards others, especially those who are marginalized?

   • Propose specific commitments or community initiatives that reflect Micah's call to act justly and love mercy in today's social context.

9. What does it mean to 'delight in the remnant’s God' and how can this delight be manifested in daily life and worship?

   • Explore ways to cultivate a deeper enjoyment and reverence for God's character and deeds, integrating these practices into personal and communal worship routines.

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[^1]: Some Old Testament passages that depict Israel as God's vineyard include Isaiah 5:1-7, Jeremiah 2:21, Psalm 80:8-16, Ezekiel 19:10-14, and Hosea 10:1.

[^2]: McComiskey, Thomas E., and Tremper III Longman. "Micah." In The Expositor's Bible Commentary: Daniel–Malachi (Revised Edition), edited by David E. Garland, Vol. 8. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2008.

[^3]: Veruca Salting it.