THE MOUNTAIN OF THE HOUSE OF THE LORD

The Mountain of the House of the Lord

Micah

Preached by:  Pastor Carolyn Sissom

Tuesday Morning Bible Study

January 11, 2011

(1-11-11)

Mic. 4:1 “And it will come about in the last days that the mountain of the house of the Lord will be established as the chief of the mountains.  It will be raised above the hills, and the peoples will stream to it.”

Isa. 2:2:  Now it will come about that in the last days, the mountain of the House of the Lord will be established as the chief of the mountains, and will be raised above the hills; and all the nations will stream to it.”

These verses describe the supernatural flow (uphill) of the river of God bringing the nations into the Kingdom!  The worship of the Lord will triumph over all other religions.  This is a reversal of the dispersion of Babel (Gen. 11).  These verses are for the Church, God’s Sion.

Mountains in the bible are symbolic of  Kingdoms.  These verses are es-cha-tol-o-gical of the Kingdom of God because both verses speak of the last days. Isaiah 2:2 and Micah 4:2 are identical.  I don’t know that we can read any more into that than the sentiments expressed were part of the common property of eighth-century prophetic vision, and are incorporated into their oracles by both prophets.

Heb. 12: 22-23: “But you have come to Mount Sion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to the myriads of angels, to the general assembly and church of the first-born who are enrolled in heaven and to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood wish speaks better than the blood of Abel.”

The Lord is building the church of the first-born.  His law flows from Sion to the peoples of the earth, and the issue is peace.  The prevalent conditions are seen in the light of that latter day.  The prophets assure the people that in the last days, God, according to His grace and His promises, will establish His people in peace.  There would come a day when all nations would flow into the Heavenly Jerusalem, the Glorious church of the Overcomers.   He contrasted the future glory with the present gloom of sin and idolatry, and the pride and haughtiness of man which must be brought down.

Micah’s career covered several decades, and there is no reason why his early visions of judgment could not be followed by mature insight of restoration and hope.  Indeed there is good reason to suppose that they would be.  A prophet who could utter the uncompromising threat of Micah 3:12 could not avoid asking himself how God could fulfill such a threat and still remain true to promises like those of Gen. 17:8 and especially 2 Sam. 7: 8-16.  Such a comprehensive hope could only be fulfilled in the advent of Messiah.

Isaiah predicts a theocratic form of government which will be restored under Christ and His Kingdom.  In the light of 2: 5-22, the chastisement of the Israel of God and the judgment of the nations will precede the fulfillment of the glory of Zion. 2: 1-4.

The Lord is bringing together living stones, put together, fused together without the sound of a hammer, without the organization of man-made religious systems.  We, who are hungering and thirsting after righteousness are being brought together by the Spirit of God into a relationship and unity which only God can do.

This latter day Sion is described by all the prophets.  It is the temple that Ezekiel saw.  John on the isle of Patmos saw it as a City.  Micah saw it as the Mountain of Enduring Peace.  He also saw the future of the restoration into the Kingdom of God and great events of the latter days.  Paul saw it when he said, “WE HAVE COME TO MT SION, THE CITY OF OUR GOD.”

Mal. 4:2: “And many nations will come and say, Come and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord and to the house of the God of Jacob, That He may teach us about his ways And that we may walk in His paths, for From Zion will go forth the law, even the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.”

The Lord will gather and assemble His people.  Though they may seem like sheep lame and driven away, they will constitute a remnant.  They will again form a strong nation, by having the Lord rule over them in Mt. Sion.

 (Vs. 9) “Now why do you cry out loudly?  Is there no king among you?”

The rulers and leaders have become corrupt.  However, in Chapter 5: 1-5, a future King is prophesied as the one who will rule Mt. Sion:

“Now muster yourselves in troops, daughter of troops; they have laid siege against us; with a rod they will smite the judge of Israel on the cheek.  But as for you, Bethlehem, Eph-ra-thah, too little to be among the clans of Judah, From you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel.  His goings forth are from long ago. From the days of eternity.  Therefore, He will give them up until the time when she who is in labor has borne a child.  Then the remainder of His brethren will return to the sons of Israel, and he will arise and shepherd His flock in the strength of the Lord.  In the majesty of the name of the Lord His God.  And they will remain, Because at that time He will be great to the ends of the earth and this One will be our peace.”

Micah 1: 3-5:  “For behold, the Lord is coming forth from His place.  He will come down and tread on the high places of the earth.  The mountains will melt under Him, and the valleys will be split like wax before the fire, Like water poured down a steep place.  All this is for the rebellion of Jacob and for the sins of the house of Israel.  What is the rebellion of Jacob?  Is it not Samaria?  What is the high places of Judah? Is it not Jerusalem?”

The Lord is sovereign.  The Lord’s dwelling place is utterly holy.  Thus all the peoples of the earth are summoned to give attention to his accusation.  Even the earth itself is pictured as trembling under His tread.  In vivid figurative language the mountains are depicted as melting beneath him…like wax before the fire.  The language of earthquake and thunderstorm is typically associated with the presence of the Lord.

The reason for the Lord’s coming to exercise His sovereign judgment is that His holiness has been outraged.  Jacob here stands for the northern Kingdom and Israel for the southern kingdom.

It is now January 10, 2011, and there have been two murders this year of high-level government officials plus the mass murder and wounding of innocent people in Arizona.

Micah 3: 4-8:  These verses are symbols of corrupt religion.  However, these speak strongly of the present corruption in our government and it is all being presented to us as legal.

1. They plan evil in their beds.
2. They covet fields (homes of the elderly) and seize them.
3. Their power is exploited.
4. Authorities are self-seeking.
5. The prophets prophesy of wine and beer.
6. They hate good and love evil.
7. Prophets become parasites of the rich.  Those who claim to speak in the name of the Lord God tailor their standards to suit the current fancy of wealthy patrons.

The ultimate exposure and humiliation of such prophets is assured.  When true spiritual revelation is needed most, they will have nothing to say; because they will receive no answer from God.  

Micah 3:7:  “The seers will be ashamed and the diviners will be embarrassed.  Indeed, they will all cover their mouths, because there is no answer from God.”

The true prophet does not dilute his message to the hearer’s taste.  When the Spirit of the Lord fills a man, he receives power and might.  His concern is not with lining his pocket, but with justice.

The administration and reception of such reproof remains a test of the presence of the Spirit of the Lord, for without His aid it can neither be given in love nor received in humility.

The priests give instruction to those who can afford it rather than those who need it.  The prophets speak for material reward rather than moral compulsion.  Yet all deceive themselves that their reliance is upon the Lord and that He is among them.

Their fatal mistake was to make or remake God in their own sin.  God will not be manipulated.  He will even reject Zion rather than betray His own Holy nature.

Micah with a boldness unsurpassed even by Isaiah made clear the final destination of the path Judah’s leaders were treading.

Micah’s preaching was still remembered a century later in Jeremiah’s day.  (read Jeremiah 26: 17-19).  That Judah still existed a century later is a mute testimony to the effectiveness of his preaching.

Micah 4: 8-9:  “And as for you tower of the flock, Hill of the daughter of Zion, to you it will come---even the former dominion will come.  The kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem.  Now why do you cry out loudly?  Is there no king among you, Or has your counselor perished.  That agony has gripped you like a woman in childbirth”  Writhe and labor to give birth Daughter of Zion, Like a woman in childbirth, for now you will go out of the city, Dwell in the field, and go to Babylon.  There you will be rescued.  There the Lord will redeem you, From the hand of your enemies.”

The Lord will gather and assemble His people.  Though they may seem like sheep, lame and driven away, they will constitute a remnant.  No longer a grim reminder of past failure and punishment, but now a spark of hope for a strong nation., not by virtue of military power, but by having the Lord to rule over them in Mount Zion.

In Verse 8, again the nation returns, gathered like a flock.  Jerusalem will again be like a watchtower where God like a shepherd watches over his people.  Its former dominion will be restored that is, its territory will be as extensive as it was in the days of the united monarch under David and Solomon.

The nation is in pains of labor.  The leadership was as impotent as though it no longer existed, as though there were no king or counselor.  The scene continues to be that of Jerusalem under attack, but attention is now focused on the contrast between the vindictive aims of the enemy and the inscrutable purpose of God.  The many nations seem to be the provincial contingent of the Assyrian army.  The language is one of rape.  “Let her be defiled, let our eyes gloat over Zion (11) but the thoughts of the Lord and his plan are hidden from them.  It is their own downfall that He intends, for he gathers them like sheaves to the threshing floor (Vs. 12).  Rather than the heathen nations it will be the Lord’s people (the Daughter of Zion) who triumphs.  He will make them invincible with horns of iron and hoofs of bronze; their victory, however, will not be an occasion for self-congratulation, but for giving thanks to the Lord of all the earth (13) to whom they will devote their spoils.  This word implies total destruction as in the days of the conquest under Joshua (Jos. 6).

Micah 4: 12-13:  “But they do not know the thoughts of the Lord, and they do not understand His purpose; For He has gathered them like sheaves to the threshing floor.  Arise and thresh, daughter of Zion, for your horn I will make iron and your hoofs I will make bronze.  That you may pulverize many peoples.  That you may devote to the Lord their unjust gain and their wealth to the Lord of all the earth.”

This confidence of ultimate triumph of mercy over judgment leads Micah into his final outburst of praise.  This assurance given to Israel and the Church (Sion), to sustain her through her darkest days retains all its potency for the Church today as we face the labor pains of the end of the age.

Promise and Covenant God surely keeps.  He who watches over us slumbers not, nor sleeps.

Micah 6:8:  He has told you O man what is good; and what does the Lord require of you, but to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God?”

Carolyn Sissom, Pastor

Eastgate Ministries, Inc.

www.eastgateministries.com

Scripture from New American Standard and quotes from F. F. Bruce Bible Commentary, Micah, David J. Clark.  Also quotes from sermon delivered by: Carolyn Sissom in 2002.