let us turn again to God's word
we read in Isaiah 2 but I want us now to turn to the prophecy
of Micah further on in the Old Testament
one of the minor prophets as we call them not that he was
any lesser prophet than Isaiah each of them were ministering
it seems at much the same period the history of God's ancient
people as we see from the opening verses here in Micah it's the
word of the Lord that came to Micah the Morestite in the days
of Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah kings of Judah and it's the same
kings of course who were reigning during the ministry of the prophet
Isaiah they were contemporaries He's a minor prophet, Micah,
because his writings are not so extensive. The book of Micah,
of course, is just seven chapters. There are 66 chapters in Isaiah's
book. But turning to Micah, and the
opening verses in chapter 4, and you'll see that his message
is much the same as that that we read in Isaiah 2. I read in
Micah chapter 4 and verses 1 through 7. But in the last days it shall
come to pass that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall
be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be
exalted above the hills, and people shall flow unto it. Many
nations shall come and say, Come and let us go up to the mountain
of the Lord and to the house of the God of Jacob, And He will
teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths. For the
law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
And He shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations
afar off. And they shall beat their swords
into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. Nations shall
not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war
any more. But they shall sit every man
under his vine and under his fig tree, and none shall make
them afraid. For the mouth of the Lord of
hosts hath spoken it. For all people will walk every
one in the name of his God, and we will walk in the name of the
Lord our God for ever and ever. In that day, saith the Lord,
will I assemble her that halteth, and I will gather her that is
driven out, and her that I have afflicted. and I will make her
that halteth a remnant and her that was cast off a strong nation
and the Lord shall reign over them in Manzion from henceforth
even for ever. This is a passage that I want
us to consider with the Lord's help and what we have described
here of course is something of the gospel church and the glory
of the church under the dispensation of the gospel. But looking at
the words as we have them here in this context, it's interesting
that the chapter begins with that conjunction, but clearly
there is some contrast being drawn in what follows, contrasted
with what has gone before And there at the end of chapter 3,
do we not see something of the great boldness of the prophet
as he's exercising his ministry. And he speaks in verse 8, Truly
I am full of power, he says, by the Spirit of the Lord, and
of judgment, and of might. to declare unto Jacob his transgression,
and to Israel his sin." He is the faithful servant of the Lord
then in challenging the nation with regards to their departure
from the Lord and the commandments of the Lord. They were corrupt
leaders in the nation at that time. Verse 9 in that chapter
he says, I pray you ye heads of the house of Jacob and princes
of the house of Israel that abhor judgment and pervert all equity. They build up Zion with blood
and Jerusalem with iniquity. How he will declare unto them
what their sin and their folly is and how he exposes in a sense
the pretence of their lives. They were so hypocritical. In verse 11, the heads thereof
judge for reward, and the priests thereof teach for hire, and the
prophets thereof divine for money. Yet will they lean upon the Lord
and say, Is not the Lord among us? None evil can come upon us. These men who were to be the
leaders, the threefold office of the judges, the priests, the
prophets, and imagining that all is well, because the Lord,
they imagine, is amongst them, but their lives are nothing more
than a dreadful lie. And in that parallel passage
that we read in the opening verses of Isaiah chapter 2, we see that
they were also idolaters, these men. In Isaiah 2 and verse 8,
their land also is full of idols. They worship the work of their
own hands, that which their own fingers have made, and yet they
pretend that the Lord is still among them. But God isn't winking
at their sin, and God will visit His judgments upon the nation
because of the iniquities that are found even amongst those
in high places. And so at the end of chapter
3, Therefore shall Zion for your sake, for the sake of these judges
and priests and prophets, Zion for your sake shall be ploughed
as a field, Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the
house as the high places of the forest. And so it would come
to pass About a hundred years after these men were exercising
their ministry as the Lord's mouthpieces, the judgment came,
of course, with the captivity when Jerusalem fell and the people
were taken into exile into Babylon. And it's interesting that We have this twofold prophecy,
not just the words of one prophet, but words that are so parallel
in another prophet. And we know that there's no vain
repetition in the Word of God. There's a certain emphasis being
made. And yet, in all of this, we're
to remember that there's spiritual lessons that we have to learn.
Yes, when we come into the opening words of this fourth chapter,
it's a promise that there will be a restoration after that period
of Babylonian captivity, those 70 years in exile. Jerusalem will not lie in heaps
forever, but it will be rebuilt, and in due time the temple itself
will also be rebuilt. And this is what is being prophesied
when we come into the opening verses of this chapter, this
fourth chapter. In the last days it shall come
to pass that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be
established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted
above the hills, and people shall flow unto it. It's a promise
of restoration. and that was fulfilled. We know
it was fulfilled because we have the historic book of Ezra as
well as the book of Nehemiah that tells us of what happened. As Ezra goes and there's the
rebuilding of the temple of the Lord and then subsequently Nehemiah
goes and there's the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem. All
these things did come to pass but When we read such an expression
as the last days, in the last days, we're to recognize here
that there's something more than just an historic fulfillment
with regards to God's ancient covenant people. They were a
typical people. And here, really, there is spiritual
significance. The reference is to the day in
which we're living. The reference here is to the
Gospel Day, and what would come to pass after Christ had accomplished
His great work of redemption. There's this deeper significance
in. And what I said just now with
regards to the true subject matter of these verses, he's opening
seven verses, it's really a description of the Gospel Church, the Church
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so that's the theme that
I really want to try to take up for a short while this evening
and to observe some three things with regards to the glory of
this church. First of all, to observe the size of the church,
and then secondly the security, the safety of it, and then finally
to say something with regards to those who are the subjects
in this church or this gospel kingdom, the kingdom of the Lord
Jesus Christ, the kingdom which is not of this world. First of
all, its size. It's interesting what is actually
said here in the opening verse. It speaks of the mountain of
the house of the Lord being established upon the top of the mountains. Mountains there in plural. And then again, it shall be exalted
above the hills and people shall flow to it. And of course, the city of Jerusalem
itself is built upon two mounts. It's built upon Mount Moriah
and Mount Zion. And we have reference to this
fact back in the 2nd book of Chronicles. In 2nd Chronicles
chapter 3, for example, we have mention of Moriah as the place
where Solomon builds the temple of the Lord, the first temple,
that temple that was destroyed at the time of the Babylonian
captivity, that temple that was to be rebuilt by Ezra the scribe in chapter 3 and verse 1 of the second Book of Chronicles, then Solomon
began to build the house of the Lord at Jerusalem in Mount Moriah
where the Lord appeared unto David his father in the place
that David had prepared in the threshing floor of Onan the Jebusites. So we are told quite specifically
it was upon Mount Moriah. But then later in chapter 5 that
same book, 2 Chronicles, and verse 2, 5-2, Then Solomon
assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes,
the chief of the fathers of the children of Israel, unto Jerusalem,
to bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord out of the city of
David, which is Zion. David which is Zion. And of course
here in this fourth chapter and verse 7 we have this promise,
I will make her that halted a remnant and her that was cast off for
a strung nation and the Lord shall reign over them in man's
Zion from henceforth even for evermore. And so here in the
promise that we have in the opening two verses of the chapter. We
read of the house of the Lord being established in the top
of the mountains and exalted above the hills. It's in the
plural. And the language, of course,
is to be understood in a figurative sense. It's speaking really of
the great blessings that will come under the gospel. that multitudes are to be saved
the people shall flow on to it it says and many nations shall
come and say come and let us go up to the mountain of the
Lord and to the house of the God of Jacob and he will teach
us of his ways and we will walk in his paths for the law shall
go forth of Zion and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem and
surely here there's a contrast between that law that was given
at Mount Sinai the Lord of Moses, but here we have a law that goes
forth of Zion and God's Word coming from Jerusalem. It's not
to be understood in terms of the Lord of Moses, this is another
law, this is the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Man's Zion
is a figure really, a type of the Gospel Church and we We know
that because we have the authority of what the Apostle writes in
the New Testament Scriptures. Remember Hebrews 12 where we
see Paul drawing a contrast between the two mounts, Mount Sinai and
Mount Zion. And we have the latter there
in verse 22 of that twelfth chapter. ye are come unto Manzion, and
unto the City of the Living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to
an innumerable company of angels, to the General Assembly and Church
of the Firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge
of all, and to the Spirit of just men made perfect, and to
Jesus, the Mediator of the New Covenant." And the contrast there
is between that that comes from Mount Zion and that that God
had promulgated from Mount Sinai in the previous verses in that
chapter. We read of all that happened
when the Lord God descended upon Sinai. The mount that was not
to be touched, that burned with fire, the darkness, the blackness,
the tempest, the sound of a trumpet, the voice of words, and they
could not endure, it says. And so terrible was the sight
that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake. And then those
words, but ye are come unto man's eyes. And this is what is being
spoken of then back in the prophecy of Micah. All the references
to the gospel day. and that law that comes from
Zion, that word of the Lord that proceeds from Jerusalem and that
centers in Him who is the mediator of the New Covenant. And it embraces
not just the people of Israel, not just ethnic Israel, it embraces
the multitude of sinners from the Gentiles. Many nations shall
come and say, Come and let us go up to the mountain of the
Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, and He will teach us
of His ways. And so when we come to the end
of Scripture, of course, in the words of Revelation 5, 9, Thou
hast redeemed us to God by Thy blood out of every kindred and
tongue and people and nation. Oh, it is a the most glorious
fulfillment that was to come to pass and the restoration from
the Babylonian captivity was but a type of a far greater deliverance
that God would bring to sinners and sinners of the Gentiles. And so as we are to understand
and interpret the opening two verses in that figurative and
that spiritual sense, so also with regards to what follows.
What do we read at verses 3 and 4? He shall judge among many
people, and rebuke strong nations afar off, and they shall beat
their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning
hooks. Nations shall not lift up sword
against nation, neither shall they learn war any more, But
they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree,
and none shall make them afraid, for the mouth of the Lord of
hosts hath spoken it." What does it speak of then? It speaks of
two things at least. There's peace and there is safety
and security. We see here that this Gospel
Church is very much identified with Jerusalem. And what is Jerusalem? Well,
of course, the very name Jerusalem, Salem, speaks of peace. And where is it that the Lord
God has set His King? Think of the language that we
have in the Psalms, the 2nd Psalm. I have set my King upon my holy
hill of Zion, says God. I will declare the decree, responds
the Saviour. The Lord has said unto me, Thou
art my Son, this day have I begotten thee. God has set his King now
upon Mount Zion. That's the city of David. And
David himself, of course, a wonderful, remarkable type of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And now the prophet does clearly
speak of Christ in the words that we find in the following
fifth chapter. Verse 5, This man shall be the
peace when the Assyrians shall come into our land. Who is the
man that is being spoken of here? The man who is the peace. It's
not the king of Israel. We're not to think in terms of
King Hezekiah. He was the king there in Jerusalem
when the Assyrians first came because previous to the Babylonians,
remember, the Assyrians had come and and the northern kingdom
of Israel had fallen to the Assyrians under Sennacherib. But though
the Lord God in that time had spared little Judah in the south,
and we have the records of the reign of that good man, that
gracious king Hezekiah, and though his prayers prevailed with the
Lord and the Assyrians were frustrated, even though they had laid siege
to Jerusalem and expected Jerusalem to fall. But there, in chapter
5, there's a greater than King Hezekiah. Oh, it's the Lord Jesus
Christ, this man. Isaiah speaks of him, doesn't
he, as the Prince of Peace. Unto us a child is born, unto
us a son is given. The government shall be upon
his shoulder. His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor
of the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. This man. And what does the Lord
Jesus Christ come to establish? A true peace between sinners
and the Holy God. He has made peace through the
blood of His cross, reconciling all things. unto himself. He has made that great propitiatory
sacrifice. The very word propitiation, of
course, it speaks of peace between the holy gods and sinful men
and women. He is the propitiation for our
sins, says John. Here in his love, not that we
love God, but that God loved us and sent his Son to be our
propitiation. for our sins, to bear in his
own person that wrath of God that must be visited upon those
who are the transgressors. For there is peace. And that's
the picture that we have in the language, the figurative language
that is being employed by the Prophet here in verses 3 and
4. Men beating their swords into
plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation not lifting
up sword against nation. Not learning war anymore. But
every man sitting comfortably at peace under his vine and under
his fig tree. Oh there's peace, there's peace
with God. Now It's true, of course, that even under the Gospel there's
a sense in which there is a spiritual warfare. Also, there's a conflict.
There's the good fight of faith to be fought. There's that conflict
that takes place in the souls of those who are the true people
of God. What will you see in the Shulamites? is the question
that's put there in the Song of Solomon what will you see
in the Shulamite as it were the company of two armies because
people feel that conflict that inward conflict with the old
nature Paul cries out I know that in me that is in my flesh
there dwelleth no good thing so will his present with me but
how to perform that which is good I find not and then he cries
out all wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the
body of this death And what is the solution? I thank God through
Jesus Christ. All God's people have to learn
continually their dependence upon Christ in that spiritual
conflict as the flesh is lusting against the spirit and the spirit
against the flesh. And these are so contrary one
to the other that you cannot do what you would. We learn a complete impotence
and inability and our dependence And yet, all the time there's
that blessed peace with God. And as there is that blessed
peace with God, so there is to be peace one with the other.
The Apostle exhorts the Thessalonians, be at peace among yourselves. O God's people then, or not to be at war, not to be
at conflict one with the other those conflicts come from loss,
that's what James says there in the fourth chapter of his
epistle there's to be peace amongst the
people of God, they are to love one another that's part of the
testament behold how these Christians love one another, there's really
peace and as there is peace, so there is a blessed safety
they walk with God verse 5 all people will walk everyone in
the name of his God and we will walk in the name of the Lord
our God forever and ever oh what a contrast between idols and
idolaters and their vanities and him who is the the true God
We go back to the opening chapter. What does the prophet say as
God's mouthpiece? Verse 6, I will make Samaria
as an heap of the field and as plantings of a vineyard, and
I will pour down the stones thereof into the valley, and I will discover
the foundation thereof, and all the graven images thereof shall
be beaten to pieces. nor the highers thereof shall
be burned with the fire, nor the idols thereof will I lay
desolate. For she gathered it of the higher
of Inharad, and they shall return to the higher of Inharad." Previous
to the captivity, one of the great sins in Israel and in Judah
was idolatry. They wanted to be like the nations
round about them, they wanted to make their idols. and it was
by that awful judgment that God delivered them from those idolatrous
ways it wasn't just the case with Samaria as we see it here
in the opening chapter it was also true with regards to Judah
and we see that surely in the portion that we read in Isaiah
2 verse 8 The Prophet says there, Landoz who is full of idols,
they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own
fingers have made. And then at verse 18, the idols
he shall utterly abolish. Verse 20, in that day a man shall
cast his idols of silver, his idols of gold, which they made
each one for himself to worship, to the moles and to the bats.
There's a deliverance. from all idols and so here in
verse 5 all that who walk in the name of the Lord their God
and isn't that true with regards to the Lord's people even in
our day we know that the men and women of the world they have
their idols they may not be idols of silver and gold but they have
their idols nonetheless We read of some who's got his
head bellowed. What they want is to satisfy their base desires. But there's safety for those
who are the Lord's. God has declared that he will
see his church established. Christ himself stated, I will
build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against
it. So here then we have great promises
concerning the state of God's spiritual Zion, the gospel church,
the size of it, gracious in gathering from amongst all the nations
of the earth and the people who are at peace with God and at
peace with one another and engaged in a spiritual conflict, yes,
with their old natures and engage in a warfare with Satan himself
and the people so separated from the world and the ways of the
world and then finally to say something with regards to those
who are the subjects in verses 6 and 7 In that day, saith the Lord,
will I assemble her that halteth, and I will gather her that is
driven out, and her that I have afflicted, and I will make her
that halted a remnant, and her that was cast far off a strong
nation, and the Lord shall reign over them in Manzion from henceforth
even for ever. Here then we see something of
the marks of these who are the Lords, the Lords' people. They
halt, they're afflicted, they're driven out, they're far off. These are some of the marks that
we have, but two things in particular. Their afflictions and their supplications. In verse 6, what do we read? Her that is driven out, and her
that I have afflicted, or their poor dependence upon God's grace. Lord, pity outcasts, poor and
base, the poor dependence on thy grace. who men disturb us
call by sinner and by saint we stood for these too bad for those
too good condemned and shunned by all they are the outcasts
these people what afflictions we read in another of the prophets
Zephaniah 3.12 I will also leave in the midst an afflicted and
poor people and they shall trust in the name of the Lord what
remarkable marks we see in these people, and who is the one who
afflicts them? Well, God is sovereign, and the Lord deals with His people. The Lord afflicts His people.
The prophet goes on to say in chapter 7, in verse 9, I will
bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against
Him, until He plead my cause and execute judgment for me.
He will bring me forth to the light, and I shall behold his
righteousness." Oh, the Lord deals with them. He chastens
them. Whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth,
and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening,
God dealeth with you as with sons. What son is he whom the
Father chasteneth not? Paul echoes, doesn't he, those
words of the Proverbs, writing in Hebrews chapter 12. Well,
the Lord afflicts His people. They have to bear the indignation
then of the Lord Himself when He corrects them. Again in chapter
6 and verse 9 we have those words, "...the Lord's voice crieth unto
the city, the man of wisdom shall see thy name, he the rod, and
who hath appointed it." It's not just God dealing with His
people in terms of His Word. He comes to us by His Spirit
in His Word. It's here in Scripture, of course,
that He instructs His people and teaches His people. But the
Lord's dealings also have to do with His ways. His voice is heard even when
he comes with the rod of correction, when he comes with his chastenings.
They are very much an afflicted people, these who are the subjects. But besides afflictions, we're
also directed in some way to their supplications. The interesting
thing is this word that we have twice. Once in verse 6 and again
in verse 7. In that day, saith the Lord,
will I assemble her that halteth. And then again in verse 7, I
will make her that halteth a remnant. It's an interesting word. It's
an interesting word. because it's only used in two
other parts of all of the Old Testament Scripture. This word
is used also again in that book of the prophet Zephaniah, chapter
3 and verse 19. It's a similar promise to what
we have in these verses 6 and 7 here. There in Zephaniah 3.19,
I will save her that halteth. I will save her that halteth and here what do we read in verse
6 then again in verse 7 the Lord says that he will assemble
her that halteth and her that halteth he will make a remnant
it's very much a mark of those who are his people So it's here
in Micah, it's there in Zephaniah, and the only other place where
we have this word is back in Genesis, the opening book of
Scripture. And it's a word that's used in
reference to Jacob and his experience at Peniel, where Jacob wrestles with the
angel, and Jacob recognizes who the angel is of course he called
the name of that place Peniel because I have seen God face
to face and as he wrestled with the angel remember how he touched
his thigh the inside of his thigh and how that Jacob is crippled And we're told, as he passed
over Penuel, the sun rose upon him and he halted, he halted
upon his thigh. It's the mark of his having done
business with the angel, having wrestled with his gods. And it's
there, of course, that Jacob the supplanter becomes Israel,
a prince with gods. He had power. it prevails but
how it affected him how it affected him subsequently all his days
but does it not teach us something about one of the striking marks
of the people of God they are a halting people and is it not
true that often our best prayers our best prayers are those in
which we stumble along as it were we halt Our sentences are
broken sentences and our words fail us and we have to come with
our sighs and our groanings. Though to speak they'll be not
able, always pray and never rest. Prayers are a weapon for the
feeble. Weakest souls can wield it best. These are the ones you see that
the Lord God takes account of, takes notice of. This is the
Lord's true remnant. I will make her that halteth
a remnant. This is those that the Lord God
gathers to Himself. He assembles her that halteth.
And in the language of Zephaniah 3.19 these are the ones that
the Lord is pleased to hear in all their stumblings and all
their halting words, this is the one whom the Lord is pleased
to save. They are the Lords, they are
that remnant according to the election of grace. They are those
who know what it is to sigh and to cry. because of the abominations
that are done in the land. They see these things, they feel
these things, they know something of the abominations in the depths
of their own souls. But will not the Lord hear the
cry of His elect who cry to Him day and night? But what a glorious promise the Lord God has given
to this very people in the words that we've tried to say something
about tonight. In the last days, this is the
gospel day, it shall come to pass that the mountain of the
house of the Lord shall be established in the top of the mountains,
and it shall be exalted above the hills, and people shall flow
unto it. And many nations shall come and
say, Come and let us go up to the mountain of the house of
the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob. And he will
teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths. For the
law shall go forth of Zion, and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem. Can we not then as we come to
pray, plead these words, these promises that God has given to
us, not just here in Micah, but also there in Isaiah too. God
has said it. Will He not do it? He has spoken
it. Will He not make it good? Do
we believe it? Can we pray over it? We feel
our fewness, our smallness so often. The Lord God surely yet
has a gracious purpose to fulfill, or that the Spirit himself then
might come and embolden us in all our prayers, though we feel
they are such weak things really, halting words, nothing more than
groanings. And yet, in all this we have
the ear of Him who is the Lord of Sabaoth, the Lord of Hosts.
Will the Lord help us thus to draw encouragement from his word
as he blesses the word to us well let us now sing our second
praise to him is 397 the tune Weber 519 in themselves as weak
as worms how can poor believers stand when temptations, foes, and storms
press them close on every hand. Weak indeed they feel they are,
but they know the throne of grace, and the God who answers prayers
helps them when they seek His face. 397, June 519.