Israel and the kingdom of heaven
Warm-up: With the Middle East being in the news every day, what will be necessary to ever bring a lasting peace to this region? Do you expect that tolerance between different religions will be sufficient? Why or why not?
Read Mi 4.
Introduction: Mi 3 announced the destruction of Jerusalem of 587 BC. Chapter 4 promises that its ultimate restoration in ‘latter days’ will include multiple nations. In vv1-4, Micah seems to quote his contemporary Isaiah (Isa 2:2-4). Also much of the following is related to the message that Isaiah talked about in many more chapters. Micah is a bit like a summary of Isaiah highlighting what were the most important points of God’s message to that generation. THE most important point is God’s plan of salvation for all His people in the ‘latter days’.
- Is a prophecy about the distant future possible? [In the Bible, God does nothing without telling his prophets in advance, Isa 42:9; Am 3:7, and fulfillment of prophecy is the ultimate biblical test of truthfulness of a prophet, and of his authority, Jer 28:8, Deut 18:22]
2) v1: What is the “mountain of the house of the Lord”? [a metaphor for the kingdom of heaven]
- Does the context (Mi 3:12) demand a metaphorical interpretation? Or is the mountain literally referring to the temple mount in Jerusalem? [cf Mi 7:12, ‘mountains’ mean kingdoms. The tabernacle/temple everywhere symbolizes God’s people in whom he dwells, cf Eph 2:22, Heb 8:5 => Also Mi 4:1 may use these terms metaphorically]
- If he spoke of a literal mountain, how will many nations ‘go up’ on it, v2? A cue of gentiles attending sermons in a future temple? How effective would that be?
- Read Heb 10:9-10 => Since God’s temple is Christ and his people, is there place for a literal temple with its sacrifices and Levitical priesthood, or what that be a distraction?
- For what purpose will nations go up that ‘mountain’? [v2: …that he may teach us his ways, and that we may walk in his paths]
- Does that mean a degree in OT rules and regulations? Why or why not? [cf Ro 4:12; 8:4; 13:13]
- Does this purpose (v2) require literal pilgrimages to a literal Jerusalem? Why not?
- Read Lk 24:47 How did Jesus see the promise fulfilled that the word will go to all nations from Jerusalem? [=> The “law and the word of the Lord” went forth to the nations long before an Israeli state was reborn]
- Since the ‘word of the Lord’ is the gospel of Jesus, why would one have to go to Jerusalem to hear it when it is already proclaimed throughout the earth?
- If the mountain ascent here is metaphorical, can the mountain itself be a literal temple mount?
3) v3 suggests that “He” (the Lord) will judge and decide between nations, i.e. act as their ruler. When will this promised ruler ascend the throne, according to Micah?
- Should we expect this to be fulfilled only in a distant future? Does Micah give a date?
- Read 1Cor 15:23-26 => Accordingly, when does Jesus rule? At the end of time, when He returns visibly? Or rather before that day?
- What will be the effect of His rule, vv3-5? cf Isa 2:4 [swords beaten into plowshares; every man sitting under his fig tree in peace without fear; a people walking in the name (or in the light, Isa 2:4) of the Lord forever] =>
- Does this mean all nations will become peaceful? [Micah mentions “strong nations far away”, and according to v5, “all the peoples” still cling to false gods, except some individuals among them => the “we” thus seem to be a nation of believers, 1Pet 2:9-12, amongst unbelieving nations ruled by Christ’s iron rod: Ps 2:8-9]
4) vv6-13: vv1-5 predicted that the restored kingdom will include gentiles. By contrast, who/what is the focus of vv6-13?
- Expositors thought for centuries that these verses all refer to the church (preterist view). Could it be a Jewish nation?
- ‘Those driven away’, ‘afflicted by the Lord’, who ‘were cast off’: Were gentiles driven away from anywhere, or afflicted, or cast off? [Since only Jews experienced this, God’s promise that a remnant will one day be ruled again by him as a strong nation can hardly apply to anyone but Jews, cf Isa 10:20-24; Jer 31:7].
- v8: Can a “former dominion” be restored to gentiles? [One cannot ‘restore’ to gentiles something they never had]
- Which of the promises to the group in vv6-13 remain(s) to be fulfilled?
- v13: ‘threshing’, ‘iron horn’, ‘beat in pieces many people’ describes a forceful dominion: Has military dominance ever been promised to the NT church, Jn 18:36?
- Was Micah’s prediction of a military dominance ever fulfilled in ancient Israel?
- vv12-13: Some day, God’s just judgment here (and in Mi 5) is promised to no longer only befall the Jews, but who else? [Their invaders]
5) In v8, Micah describes Israel (Zion) as a ‘woman in labor’, a picture that is used again in ch 5:3. Why?
- What had the predicted experience of the Jews in common with labor pains? [Waves of persecution and pogroms, growing ever more painful, but with the promise of joy at the end]
- vv11-12: Do the enemies mentioned here have a just cause ? Who are they really up against in arms, and why? cf Ps 2:1-2
- What could Micah give the Jews to hold on to for their comfort, v10?
- Who is she giving birth to, Mi 5:3? Who is this child? [If needed: Rev 12:1-5 identifies a ‘woman’ as Israel in images of Joseph’s dream (sun, moon, stars, cf Gen 37:9). This woman is in labor, until her male child is taken up to heaven to rule the nations with a ‘rod of iron’ (cf Ps 2:8-9, a way to identify him as Messiah), while the woman (Jewish people) is not in Israel, but in a ‘desert’ for ‘1260 days’, a metaphor for a second diaspora, cf Ez 20:35; Dan 7:25; 9:27].
6) Read Jn 16:16-24, where Jesus described the time between his ascension and his return as a time of sorrows for his disciples, akin to pains of labor: How can this give hope, strength and guidance to his disciples, especially in times of persecution?
- How does such hope influence whether and how you engage (or not) in prayer?
- Should we pray for the state of Israel, and if so, how?
- Should believers defend Israeli policies, or support claims of Arabs on Jerusalem or on any other Biblical Israeli territory? [The problem is that nobody can be neutral: We can only be either friends or foes of the God of the Bible, who calls himself the God of Israel. The media tend to ignore that vengeance on Israel’s enemies will not be without just cause vv11-12]
- To learn more about how the Koran’s antisemitism affects Middle East politics, an interesting Israeli documentary can be found at https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Nc8EjQEpZ3s. As long as people issue and follow a rallying call to annihilate Jews, there can be no peace. But Micah leaves no doubt that God in His time will come to the aid of a Jewish remnant.
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