Join us as we journey through the poetic and potent book of Micah, unearthing treasures of wisdom and warnings for today. Dr. J. Vernon McGee takes an articulate approach to explain how, despite divine judgment, God remains a compassionate and tender-hearted operative, longing for repentance rather than destruction. This episode unfolds the sins condemned by Micah, including violence, robbery, and spiritual bankruptcy, while also reflecting on personal stories like that of Deborah in South Sudan – a testament to the transformative power of God’s word.
The foundation, ye saints of the Lord, is laid for your faith.
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Even though God must judge sin, he takes no delight in it. And that’s why he sent the hardest messages through very tender-hearted people. One of them was the prophet Micah. Welcome to Through the Bible. In this study, our teacher Dr. J. Vernon McGee takes us through Micah’s message of judgment and his deep mourning for what was about to happen because of Israel’s sin. But first, here’s the second part of Dr. McGee’s introduction on Micah.
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And we’re thrilled today that we’re taking that message. That message of when God became a man and he brought salvation to this world by paying the penalty for man’s sin so man would have an entrance into heaven through a living, resurrected Christ. And this is a privilege beyond compare to get that message out today. When we began the Through the Bible radio program, we took as our motto, our message, key verse in Revelation 3.8, God’s message to the church in Philadelphia. He says, I know thy work. I’ve set before you an open door and no man can close it. You do have a little strength. And believe me, we thought, well, he must be talking to us because we had very little strength. And this message, by the way, was also one of judgment. And judgment was on Jerusalem and Samaria. And this message has a meaning for us today, in our day. For you will recall that that was the very thing that Paul emphasized about the Old Testament. In Romans 15, 4, he says, “…for whatsoever things were written aforetime, they were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.” That’s the reason that God gave us the Old Testament today. For us in the church, that might be a lesson for us. And that doesn’t mean that you spiritualize it. Scripture has to be interpreted literally, if you please, and then an application can be made from that. And then again in 1 Corinthians, the 10th chapter, he says, “…now all these things happened unto them for in samples, and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.” And therefore, you and I today are to get the great message that is here. And it means simply this. Will God judge our nation today, the United States, for these gross sins that he mentions here? And what are these specific sins? Well, God spells them out. I once asked Homer Rodeheaver, who had been the song leader, music director for Billy Sunday, I said, what was the secret of Billy Sunday’s ministry? And he said that he always spelled out the sins. He mentioned them specifically. And believe me, Micah spelled out the sins. Micah condemned violence, corruption, robbery, covetousness, gross materialism, spiritual bankruptcy, and illicit sex. He could well be labeled the prophet of the city. And I can add three more to that, by the way, now. The sin of pride and the sin of bribery. and the sin of idolatry. And these are the things that are mentioned specifically in this little book here, by the way. And we don’t want to miss them. And we are not going to miss them. But the question is, are we as a nation today guilty of these sins? Will God judge us today? Well, God judged his people actually more severely than he judged the nations round about. And why? Well, their penalty and their punishment was greater because light creates responsibility. And believe me, we are the ones that have the word of God today, and these other nations do not. And therefore, God will judge us today. It’s better not to hear the gospel than to hear it and reject it. Now, there are quite a few of these sins that are mentioned specifically. And I only wish that I could take time today to mention them. But some time along in our study in this book, well, I’m going to be taking some of these sins at least. and deal with them specifically as they relate to our nation today. And it’s almost frightening when you begin to think about it, because actually, friends, God must judge America. We can’t get by with what we’re doing today.
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Even in discipline and in judgment of nations, God remains tenderhearted toward those who turn to him in faith. His desire is for not anyone to perish, but for all to come to repentance. Through the Bible, we see his generosity and how he provides countless opportunities for his word to reach listeners like Deborah in South Sudan. She wrote this, Two years ago, I was depressed. I faced many hardships, especially financial struggles within my family. Life felt overwhelming. and I even considered leaving my marriage and children because I lacked support from my husband. One evening as I sat at home, my son turned on the radio, and a pastor was preaching about overcoming depression. His words encouraged me, but I assumed it was a one-time message. The next day I tuned in again, and once more I found strength in the teaching. His preaching empowered me and transformed my thinking. I was so grateful that I called the pastor to share my testimony, hoping he might visit my home someday.” But more than that, every evening I take notes on God’s word. Now, whenever I have the opportunity, I preach to my community. May the Lord bless this program. Well, if you want to join us as we pray for God’s entire word to reach more people like Deborah all over the world, why don’t you join our world prayer team by signing up at ttb.org. And let’s take a moment to thank him for his mercy and goodness in our lives. Heavenly Father, thank you that even in times of hardship, you draw near to those who call on you. And thank you for the power of your word, which transforms hearts and renews minds. We pray for those who are struggling. May they find comfort and encouragement in your truth. In Jesus’ name, amen. Here’s Dr. J. Vernon McGee with our study of Micah 2 on Through the Bible.
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Now as we return today to the very first chapter of the little prophecy of Micah, we come to the eighth verse. Now, we are in this rather remarkable section. In fact, as I have suggested, there are some striking statements that we have in this little book. And in the seven chapters, in each chapter, we’ll find a striking statement. And the longest one is in this chapter. It began at verse 6, and it goes through the entire chapter. And we see here actually the destruction of Samaria by Assyria. and it’s a miniature of the destruction of the last days. And not only does it speak of Samaria, but the judgment that is coming to Jerusalem and the southern kingdom of Judah. It came later, of course, under the Babylonians, but the picture is given to us here, and it is also a little adumbration of what is coming in the future, the judgment that is coming in the future. Now, he gives here the judgment, and we’ll find in chapter 2 largely the reasons for it, but you find an explanation as we go along here. He makes it very clear of why judgment is coming upon them. And he asks the question, you remember back in verse 5, he says, what is the transgression of Jacob? Or actually, it is who? Who’s responsible? Well, he now identifies it. And is it not Samaria? And what are the high places of Judah? Are they not Jerusalem? In other words, who is responsible for what has happened to this land? They’ve turned from God. They’ve sinned. They’ve transgressed. Who’s responsible? Well, the prophet here puts the blame upon the two capital cities, Samaria in Israel in the northern kingdom and Jerusalem in Judah in the southern kingdom. And now he says that the cities are the ones that had this tremendous influence. And I drop down now and pick up again at verse 7 of this first chapter of Micah. And all the carved images of it shall be beaten to pieces. Now, actually, this is idolatry that he’s talking about. Those high places. that he mentions are places where idols were placed. The basest kind of worship took place there. The worship of Moloch. Children were actually offered on a red-hot oven, which was really the idol. And the idol heated, and the child What an awful thing that was. And the grossest form of immorality took place. In other words, religion and sex were very much the same thing. And you find that in the Satan worship that is abroad today, and many of these different outgrowths of the occult. You will find out that sex is at the very heart of it, and that was at the heart of this idolatry. And it says, all its hires shall be burned with fire. Now, these were costly and apparently very precious vessels that had been given to the idol. And he says, and all idols will I lay desolate, for she gathered it of the hire of a harlot, and they shall return to the hire of a harlot. Now, the religion had become, as we said, sex. In Corinth, for instance, they know today that the worship there of Aphrodite upon the Acropolis, there were a thousand vestal virgins as they were called, so-called, by the way. And they were nothing in the world but prostitutes. And when you went up there to worship, this was part of the worship, you see. And that was true in this land. It was true among the Phoenicians. And it was true among the Philistines. And Israel picked this thing up. And they were guilty of it. In other words, a man had to pay when he went into one of these places. Actually, the temples, and when it was just outdoors, was nothing in the world but a brothel. And all of it was done in the name of religion. It’s quite interesting today that we are returning to that viewpoint. so-called new morality. It’s as old as the worship of Moloch or of Baal or of any heathen religion of the world. And that’s one of the reasons that we say religion has not been a blessing to the world. It has wrecked mankind. And if you want to see what religion has done, go to India. Religion has absolutely kept a wonderful people there down. and kept them in a low state, bound down by the fetters of a religion. Now, Christianity is not a religion. The Lord Jesus made it clear, if the Son make you free, you shall be free indeed. And you can be delivered from these things that are sinful, the things that God condemns. Now, this is the condemnation of these people. Now, it so affected the prophet. Micah is very much like Jeremiah. And actually, Hosea, man with tender hearts. God used prophets. We think of them all being like Elijah. Now, I think Elijah was a hard-nosed prophet. And Ezekiel was. You remember, God said. He said, they are hard-headed people. But God says to Ezekiel, I’m going to make your heads hard as theirs. In fact, harder than their head. And these men would speak right out. But many of God’s prophets were very tender-hearted, and Micah’s one of them. Now, listen to him in verse 8. He says, “…therefore I will lament and wail, I will go stripped and naked.” Now, that was a sign. You remember Isaiah mentions it. Micah mentions it here, that to go naked meant that a man was in deep mourning and that he was in deep trouble, too, by the way. And he goes on to say, I will make a wailing like the jackals. Have you ever heard a hyena at night howling? It’s a mournful sound or a wolf. Fact of the matter is, it’s a terrible sound. And the mourning like the, not owls, but ostriches. And you have that, by the way, over in the prophecy of Job. There in the 30th chapter, verse 29, Job says, I’m a brother to dragons and a companion, not to owls, but to ostriches. Now, I never knew that ostriches mourn, but several years ago, I was down at the zoo in San Diego, and my wife and I were walking around, and we heard a mournful sound. It was a very plaintive and pitiful sound. Sort of a sound. I thought at first some animal had been trapped or caught or hurt in some way. And we just continued. I walked down. I met a man and I asked him, I said, do you know what was making that sound? And he said, the ostriches. And I thought the man was pulling my leg. I didn’t even answer him back. I didn’t even thank him because I thought he’s pulling my leg. Kept walking down. First thing you know, we came around the bend. There were the ostriches. But they were all standing there just looking around. I couldn’t see any reason for them doing it. But that’s what the man had said. And I do know that I heard the most mournful sound that I think I’d ever heard. And apparently, it was the ostriches that were making it. Well, that’s what he’s saying here, that he mourned like they did. He wailed like they did. And in other words, the message that this man is giving is affecting him as Jeremiah’s message affected him. In other words, we have again an example of the type of man God wants to deliver a harsh message. It must be a man with a tender heart if it’s to be a harsh message. Why? Because God wants even the sinner, and he wanted his people, before he judged them, to know how he felt. So he sent this weeping prophet, Jeremiah, and this weeping prophet, Micah, and they could listen to him and then hear his mourning and his wailing, and they would know how God felt about it all, that God was not vindictive. God was not taking any delight in the judgment. In other words, God did not want to judge them, but God does judge sin. And although he takes no delight in it, he must judge it. He has to judge it. And all you have to do is just turn that over in your mind just a little. If God will compromise with evil, friends, and permit evil and wrong done to one of his creatures, he’s not God. You see, he couldn’t be God. God has to be one who is going to give justice to his creatures. And when evil is done and sin is committed and wrong is done, God’s going to do something about it. And it takes him a little while to get around to it, but he moves. And when he moves… I tell you this, nothing can stop him from moving. Now, will you notice as we move on, we are told here in verse 9, for her wound is incurable. Now, they had passed over a line, and I do not know where that line is. But I believe that it is possible for an individual and it’s possible for a nation to pass over a line where it can’t come back. And it’s not because God is not merciful and gracious, but it’s because that the individual or the nation is so bent in sin and has turned such a deaf ear to God that there’s nothing left but judgment, you see. It’s incurable. They no longer will hear God. And that disturbs me because I wonder today if perhaps my country, my nation, the United States may now have passed over that line. All I know is they are not hearing the voice of God today, and they don’t want to hear the voice of God. Now, in spite of the fact that there is a tremendous reception today for the Word of God, but I sometimes wonder how deep it is. And I wonder whether hearing the Word of God and obedience to the Word of God are synonymous today. I find that there are people today actually that are living in sin or have lived in sin and have never repented of it at all. And yet they talk about how they love the Word of God. My friend, may I say to you, it’s possible for an individual and it’s possible for a nation to take a step over where it’s incurable. He says, for her wound is incurable, for it has come unto Judah. It’s gone that far. He’s come unto the gate of my people, even to Jerusalem. And that was Samaria. That was the Assyrian under Sennacherib that came down, and he just mowed down the northern kingdom. But he got as far as the walls of Jerusalem. And you remember, Hezekiah was afraid that they were going to take the city. And Isaiah went in and told him, no, that was a warning to the southern kingdom. But they didn’t heed the warning. Oh, for a while they did, but it wore off and they returned back to their idolatry and sin. And the day came when God judged them. Now we have a series of names given here of other communities, other towns that were affected by Samaria and Jerusalem. And these towns, if you follow them on the map, and they’re not all on the map, by the way, they begin with Samaria and you move toward Jerusalem. In fact, you go beyond Jerusalem. And the meaning of these towns, I think, are very important for us that we have here. And I’m going to begin reading at verse 10. It says, Declare it not at Gath, weep not at all. And Gath actually means weep town. It was weep town. And God says now, weep not in weep town. Now, Gath belonged to the Philistines. Don’t let them know down there how you really feel about this. Don’t let them know that judgment is coming upon you. And then he moves on down and says, in the house of Aphra, roll thyself in the dust. Now, Aphra means dust town. And he says, now throw dust on your head when you get to dust town. And these places, some of them are known, others are not known. And then we come in verse 11, the one that’s not known, pass away thou inhabitant of Schaefer. And believe me, the inhabitants passed away because the town is no more. The site of it’s absolutely unknown. And Schaefer means beauty town. And Beautytown now is no longer beautiful, having thy shame naked. And the inhabitant of Zeanan came not forth. And Zeanan mean Marchtown. And Marchtown didn’t march. And it also, the sight of it is not really known today. And in the morning of Beth Ezel, he shall receive of you his standing. And now let me move on down to verse 12. waited anxiously for good. Now, Meroth means bitterness, and they waited for a good report, a good word, a good news, but they didn’t receive it. Bitterness. Now, but evil came down from the Lord unto the gate of Jerusalem. They waited for a good word. No good word came. The Assyrians marching to the very walls of Jerusalem. But God is giving the southern kingdom another chance. And then he says, O thou inhabitant of Lachish. Bind the chariot to the swift beast. She is the beginning of sin to the daughter of Zion, for the transgressions of Israel were found in thee. Now, it is well known today that his scholars have determined that Lachish, which by the way now is south of Jerusalem, it’s southwest of Jerusalem, and it’s over near the Philistine country. And Lachish was the place where idolatry was first introduced in the southern kingdom. And there apparently was a relationship there between Lachish and Judah and Jeroboam, the one who made Israel to sin in the north. At least this is where the idolatry began. And you notice the reference here to the beasts, which are horses. This is a place where horses were kept that were used in the worship of the sun. You remember even the Greeks had Apollo driving a chariot across the sky. This is the worship of the sun. And this is a form of idolatry. And God is condemning all of this because Lachish introduced idolatry to Judah, to the southern kingdom. Now, we’re going to have to leave off right there today, but we’ll pick up next time with verse 15 of chapter 1 of Micah. Until then, may God richly bless you, my beloved.
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In our next study, we continue our journey through the poetic and prophetic book of Micah. Until then, if we can help you find a resource to deepen your study of God’s Word, visit ttb.org or call 1-800-65-BIBLE. Or send us a note using the feedback tool in our app. That’s super easy. And you can always email your thoughts to BibleBus at ttb.org or send it to Box 7100. Pasadena, California, 91109. And if you’re a Canadian listener, well, write to Box 25325, London, Ontario, N6C 6B1. And when you’re in touch, be sure to let us know how you listen, whether it’s by radio, online, or with our app. We want to know that. So thanks for remembering to include that little bit of info. Until next time, God bless you as you walk in His Word.
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