Micah 4: 1-5……A different message!

It shall come to pass in the latter days
that the mountain of the house of the LORD
shall be established as the highest of the mountains,
and it shall be lifted up above the hills;
and peoples shall flow to it,
and many nations shall come, and say:
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD,
to the house of the God of Jacob,
that he may teach us his ways
and that we may walk in his paths.”
For out of Zion shall go forth the law,
and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
He shall judge between many peoples,
and shall decide disputes for strong nations far away;
and 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;
but they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree,
and no one shall make them afraid,
for the mouth of the LORD of hosts has spoken.
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.

Comment: The last time I wrote from Micah’s oracles the nation of Judea was left with the capital as a heap of rubble in a ploughed field. The next oracle probably given at a different time is so totally different. Surely either one or the other of the oracles is wrong, unless they are talking about different times! Previously Micah was talking of God’s judgement because of the present sin, now he is looking into the distant future. There are a few very favourite passages here. Favourite in desire but not seen in reality yet. Maybe not true, unless of course they are still in the future even from where we are living. Consider the world in which we are living…..

• ‘he may teach us his ways, and that we may walk in his paths‘ – what could be further from the truth in this age when Judeo-Christian values are being trod under foot by almost every level of government and in almost every nation, including the United Nations with its huge range of powers.
• ‘they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks;‘ – surely as we look around our world we must see that almost as a joke. Sadly war is a very thriving business!
• ‘they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree, and no one shall make them afraid,‘ – and we see almost every individual freedom being stripped away and given to governments or power groups.

Consider. Is it a false-hope joke or maybe is it talking of the ‘still to come’ future? Was Micah not seeing the first coming of Jesus to be the Saviour, but His second coming to be King?

Prayer: There are some things I need Your help in understanding, O God Who promises wisdom those who ask.