So we turn now to the book of
Micah, as is the very typical opening of
most of the books of the prophets.
The word of the Lord that came to
Micah, the Moreshite, in the days of Jotham,
Ahaz, and Hezekiah, the kings of Judah, which
he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.
So, he introduces himself, Micah, the city from
which he hailed, Moreshite.
The time of his prophecy, it is about
the same time that Isaiah was prophesying.
He was a contemporary to Isaiah.
As we go back in the history of
second kings, and we look at Ahaz, he
was one of the bad kings of the
southern kingdom of Judah, and he did not
that which was right in the sight of
the Lord.
But he established high places for the worship
of the false gods in Jerusalem.
Hezekiah was a good king, instituted reforms when
he came to the throne.
Now, prophesying during this period of time would
mean that he was prophesying during the time
that the northern kingdom of Israel fell to
the Assyrians.
The Assyrians having conquered the northern kingdom, then
invaded the southern kingdom at the time of
Hezekiah.
And, of course, were defeated by the work
of the Lord, the intervention of God.
So, the time that Samaria and the northern
kingdom of Israel fell.
So, his prophecy is against Samaria, and also
against Jerusalem.
Hear ye, or hear all ye people, hearken
o'er, and all that is therein, and
let the Lord God be the witness against
you, the Lord from his holy temple.
So, his calling unto the people now to
hear God's indictment, what God is witnessing against
you.
For behold, the Lord has come forth out
of his place, and will come down and
tread upon the high places of the earth.
So, he begins to use figurative language in
describing the judgments of God that are going
to be coming against them.
And upon the mountains shall be molten under
him, the valleys shall be split, as wax
before the fire, and as waters that are
poured down from a steep place.
So, the mountains will be melting.
And the reason for the transgression of Jacob
has all of this happened.
And for the sins of the house of
Israel.
But what is the transgression of Jacob?
Is it not centered in Samaria, where they
had introduced the bow worship in the northern
kingdom?
Is it not the high places of worship
for false gods that were established in Jerusalem
under King Ahaz?
Therefore, the Lord declares, I will make Samaria
as a heap of the field, and as
the plantings of a vineyard.
And I will pour down the stones thereof
into the valley, and I will discover the
foundations thereof.
That is, the buildings will be destroyed right
down to the foundations.
Now, today, as you are traveling in the
middle portion of Jerusalem, leaving Shechem and heading
towards Megiddo, you come to a very beautiful
valley.
And there is a hill in the valley
that is the site of Samaria.
The hills are covered with olive trees and
fruit trees of all sorts.
But as you turn off of the main
road and you head up towards Samaria, you
first get to the gate that was once
the entrance to the city during the Roman
period.
And then you go along a column or
go along a road where there are Roman
columns on either side.
For the city of Samaria was rebuilt by
the Romans.
But as you get up to the top
of the hill, you can find the palace
of Ahab and of Omri, those palaces that
were once adorned with ivory furniture, those palaces
which were once such a glorious spectacle for
everyone.
The city of Samaria was a fabulous city,
set there on the hill.
They thought that they were impregnable.
And yet God had prophesied the destruction of
Samaria.
As you stand there, you can see where
they have rolled the stones down the hillside.
You can see the rubble.
And even as the prophecy here goes, God
uncovered the foundations and you can see what
was once the foundation of the temple or
of the palace of Ahab and of the
palace of Omri there in Samaria.
And this prophecy, of course, has been fulfilled
and you can go there today and see
the fulfillment of this prophecy.
It's like a heap in the field.
It's destroyed, lies in ruins to the present
day, the foundations of the city having been
uncovered.
And all of the graven images that are
there will be beaten to pieces.
And all of the hires thereof shall be
burned with the fire.
And all of the idols thereof will I
lay desolate.
For she has gathered it of the hire
of a harlot and they shall return to
the hire of a harlot.
Therefore, I will wail and howl.
I will go stripped and naked, the prophet
declares, and I will make wailing like the
dragons and mourning as the owls.
For her wound, that is of Samaria, her
illness is incurable.
For it is common to Judah.
It's actually also infected the southern kingdom and
they have begun the worship in the groves
and in the high places.
He has come to the gate of my
people, even to Jerusalem, referring to the Assyrian
invasion.
Declare ye it not at Gath.
Now, Gath was one of the capital cities
of the Philistines.
And when David was lamenting over the death
of Saul and Jonathan, he made the same
statement, declare it not at Gath.
They hated to have their enemies rejoicing over
their misfortunes.
And of course, that was usually the case.
The Philistines love to rejoice over the misfortunes
of God's people.
You remember when they brought Samson into the
house of their God, Dagon.
The purpose was to make sport, to rejoice
over the helplessness of Samson.
And so, the idea was always don't publish
it, don't tell it in Gath, lest they
rejoice at the calamity of God's people.
Now, here he begins to use a play
on words.
And you have to really have a smattering
of an understanding of Hebrew.
The King James doesn't really give it to
you here.
But it's sort of a play on words.
And he is saying, weep not in weep
town.
For Ephrath means weep town.
So he said, don't weep in weep town.
Or not Ephrath.
Ephrath is dust town.
And so he said, in dust town, roll
in the dust.
Weep not in weep town, in dust town,
roll in the dust.
Sapphire means beautiful.
But here is a change and that which
is beautiful shall be stripped naked.
And shall be ashamed because of her nakedness.
The inhabitant of Zanon, which means March, came
not forth or did not march forth.
So the inhabitants of March did not march
in the morning of Beth Israel.
He shall receive of you his standing.
For the inhabitant of Meroth, and Meroth is
bitterness, waited carefully for good.
But evil came down from the Lord to
the gate of Jerusalem.
The Assyrian invasion again.
O thou inhabitant of Lachish.
Now, Lachish is horse town.
Bind the chariot to the swift horses.
She is the beginning of the sin to
the daughter of Zion.
Lachish was one of the fortified cities.
It was taken in the Assyrian invasion.
But Jerusalem was not taken by the Assyrians,
for God intervened.
For the transgressions of Israel were found in
thee.
Therefore, shalt thou give presence to Moresheth Gath,
the houses of Achzib.
Now, Achzib is lies, so be a lie
to the kings of Israel.
So the house of lies will be a
lie to the kings of Israel.
So here, Micah makes quite a play on
words through these particular passages.
Yet the Lord said, will I bring an
heir unto the O inhabitant of Moresheth.
He shall come unto Abdullah, the glory of
Israel.
And then he speaks of the mourning.
That is the shaving of their heads that
they did when they mourned.
And then they would shave their heads and
for a period of time, let their hair
grow.
And then they'd shave all the hair that
grew over a 30 day period.
And they'd take an offer to the Lord.
They'd burn it as an offering unto the
Lord.
And it was a sign of mourning.
They do this to the present day.
If there's a death in the family, then
they don't shave for 30 days.
And so you see many times a person
in Israel.
Of course, a lot of them just have
beards, a lot of the rabbis.
But we've had friends.
We go over there and and they'll have
beards.
And the reason being, there's been a death
in the family.
So they shave and then they let their
hair grow for 30 days and offer it.
And it's a sign of their mourning.
So make thee bald, pull thee for the
delicate children, which, of course, the children have
been slain.
Enlarge thy baldness as an eagle, for they
are gone into the captivity from thee.
So the children are slain.
Those that are not slain have been carried
away captive.
And so a time of mourning for them.
Now, God is giving here his continued indictment
against Israel.
And he said, Woe to them that devise
iniquity and work evil upon their beds.
For when the morning is light, they practice
it because it had been in the power
of their hands.
So those who were abusing their positions of
power.
For they covet fields and take them by
violence.
And he was probably thinking here of the
vineyard of Naboth, which earlier King Ahab was
just, you know, so doleful and all.
And his wife said, What's the matter, honey?
What's wrong with you?
No, I want the field of Naboth and
he won't sell it to me.
No, I want that field.
She says, Well, don't worry, I'll take care
of it for you.
And she got some vain fellows who brought
a false charge against Naboth and the people
stoned him to death.
And she said, Hey, he's dead.
Go take his field.
And so wicked Jezebel in her taking by
violence that which belongs.
And so using their, abusing really their power
or using their power for their own enrichment
and their own gain.
They covet fields.
Ahab coveted the field of Naboth.
Then through the cunning of his wife Jezebel,
they took it by violence.
And houses, they take them away so that
they oppress a man in his house, even
a man and his heritage.
So notice, here are the sins.
One, covetousness.
Two, violence.
And three, oppression.
These things were common in Samaria and that
is why the judgment of God came against
Samaria and God allowed.
The Assyrians to carry them away captive.
Therefore, thus saith the Lord, against this family
do I devise an evil from which you
will not escape.
Neither shall you go haughtily, for the time
is evil.
In that day, one will take up a
parable against you and a lamentation with a
doleful lamentation.
A lamentation was a song of sorrow, but
this is especially sorrowful, the doleful lamentation.
And they will say, we are utterly spoiled.
He has changed the portion of my people.
How hath he removed it from me?
Turning away, he hath divided our fields.
Therefore, thou shalt have none that casts a
chord by lot in the congregation of the
Lord.
The temple worship will cease.
There will be none to take their turn,
which of course, they determined by the casting
of lots in the temple of the Lord.
Now, they were saying to the prophets of
God, don't prophesy.
But yet the false prophets continued their drivel.
And that is pretty much more literally than
what you find in your King James.
They shall not prophesy to them that they
shall not take shame.
O thou, in other words, don't prophesy in
creating the shame in the people.
O thou that are named the house of
Jacob.
Is the spirit of the Lord troubled or
angry?
Are these his doings?
Do not my words do good to them
that walk uprightly?
But even of late, my people is risen
up as an enemy.
Now, notice that even though all of this
sin exists and they've risen up against God,
God still maintains them as my people.
O love that will not let me go.
I rest myself in thee.
Even of late, God said, my people is
risen up as an enemy.
You pull off the robe with the garment
from them that pass by securely as men
adverse from war.
The women of my people have you cast
out from their pleasant houses and from their
children have you taken away my glory forever.
Arise ye and depart for this is not
your rest because it is polluted.
It shall destroy you even with the sword
destruction.
If a man walking in the spirit and
falsehood do lie saying, I will prophesy unto
thee of wine and of strong drink, then
you will make him the prophet to the
people.
They didn't want to hear God's word.
They told Micah, hey, don't prophesy to us.
And yet, if a fellow would come along
and I'll sing to you of good days
of wine and strong drink and all, then
they say, hey, you're our prophet.
We want to hear you.
Men haven't changed much.
They don't want to hear really of the
judgment of God that is to be meted
out against a sinful generation.
They want to hear all is well.
All's going to be good.
Don't worry.
It's all going to work out.
Cheer up.
Keep your head up.
Think positively because we're going to come through
on top and be like, oh, tell me
more, tell me more.
As the whole thing's going down the tube.
And so they don't want to hear the
truth.
And God is rebuking them that they will
not listen to his truth.
They would rather hear a lie than the
truth.
But the Lord is talking now of a
remnant that he's going to work with.
I will surely assemble, oh, Jacob, all of
thee.
I will surely gather the remnant of Israel
and I will put them together as the
sheep of Bozrah, as the flock in the
midst of their full.
They shall make great noise by reason of
the multitude of men.
The breaker has come up before them.
They have broken up and have passed through
the gate and are gone out by it.
And their king shall pass before them and
the Lord on the head of them.
Now the Lord speaks of the coming judgment
that is going to come against those that
have gone into captivity.
And I said here, I pray you, oh,
heads of Jacob, ye princes of the house
of Israel.
Is it not for you to know judgment
who hate the good and love the evil,
who pluck off their skin from off of
them and their flesh from off their bones,
who also eat the flesh of my people
and flay their skin from off them and
they break their bones and chop them in
pieces as for the pot and the flesh
within the cauldron.
Then shall they cry unto the Lord, but
he will not hear them.
He will even hide his face from them
at that time as they have behaved themselves
ill in their doings.
For thus saith the Lord concerning the prophets
that make my people err, that bite with
their teeth and cry, peace.
And he that put it not into their
mouths, they even prepare war against him.
So God is speaking out against the people
now because of their evil deeds, the judgments
of God that are going to come, though
they don't want to hear of it, but
it must come.
Their prophets are saying unto them peace, but
by that they are causing the people to
err.
Therefore, night shall be unto you and you
shall not have a vision and it shall
be dark unto you that you will not
divine and the sun will go down over
the prophets and the day shall be dark
over them.
Then shall the seers of the prophets be
ashamed and the diviners will be confused.
Yea, they shall all cover their lips for
there is no answer of God.
God is not going to speak to them
any longer.
The voice of God will be silent.
And of course, such became the case for
400 years until John the Baptist came in
the wilderness.
But truly the Lord said, I am full
of power by the Spirit of the Lord
and of judgment and of might to declare
unto Jacob his transgression to Israel his sin.
Hear this, I pray you, you heads of
the house of Jacob and the princes of
the house of Israel that abhor judgment and
pervert all equity.
They build up Zion with blood and Jerusalem
with iniquity.
For the heads of the people are taking
bribes and the priests are teaching for hire
and the prophets are divining for money.
Yet will they lean upon the Lord and
say, is not the Lord among us?
No evil can come upon us.
So here was a corrupted leadership, both municipal
and spiritual.
The heads of the people, the judges of
the people, the city councilmen were taking bribes,
the county supervisors.
The ministry had become a profession.
Professional ministers teaching for hire and the prophets
divining for money.
And yet saying, hey, the Lord is with
us, no evil is going to come.
Therefore shall Zion for your sake be plowed
as a field and Jerusalem shall become a
heap and the mountain of the house as
the high places of the forest.
Jerusalem became a heap.
At the present time, Professor Shiloh is digging
through the heap that was Jerusalem at the
time that Micah prophesied.
For though Jerusalem was spared from the Assyrians,
the Babylonians later came and Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Jerusalem,
ravaged the city, broke down the temple, the
walls of Jerusalem, destroyed the houses.
And even now, interesting excavations are being made
in what they call the hill of Ophel,
which is just above the pool of Siloam.
And it's that hill that goes from the
Gihon Springs and Siloam where Hezekiah tunneled underneath.
Above that, the hill that goes on up,
which is actually what they call Ophel, the
city of David, but continues on up to
the Temple Mount.
So it would be a part of the
Mount Moriah.
As they are uncovering now the rubble of
these houses where the people lived at the
time that Micah was prophesying.
These very houses in which the people were
living then are being uncovered today by the
archaeologists.
And the interesting thing that as they are
uncovering these houses, they are finding just multitudes
of little idols, false gods that the people
were worshipping.
And they've come across a collection of little
idols like you can't believe.
They've made quite a display of them.
Where these people, just as the prophets were
warning them, had turned to idolatry and because
of that idolatry, they were going to be
destroyed.
Now the prophets were saying, oh, everything's alright,
you know, it's not God with us.
But God was ready to bring His judgment.
But in the last days, or in the
later days, and so we move on out
into yet the future.
This has not yet happened.
Oh, far from it.
But it's going to happen.
And I'm convinced it's going to happen in
the near future.
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.
God is going to establish His throne upon
the earth.
And the mountain of the house of the
Lord is going to be established.
And many nations shall come and say, come,
let us go 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.
He's talking now about the kingdom age.
When Jesus comes and reigns again and God
shall give to Him the throne of David.
And He will order it and establish it
in righteousness and in judgment from henceforth even
forever.
And the nations will be going up to
Jerusalem.
For out of Zion will come the law
of the Lord.
They'll say, come, let's go to Jerusalem.
And let's sit at the feet of Jesus
and just learn for a while.
Hey, those are the days when I'm really
wanting to take the tours to Israel.
When the Lord is there sitting on the
throne reigning in Zion.
Won't that be exciting?
And thank God we won't have to go
on these old 747 jumbo jets.
God will have a whole new mode of
transportation for us.
And we'll go and when we arrive, Jesus
will be there teaching us the ways of
the Father.
And we can sit at the feet of
Jesus and just learn for the law will
go forth out of Zion.
Oh, that's glorious to me.
What an anticipation.
And He will judge among many people.
He will rebuke the strong nations afar off.
And they shall beat their swords into plowshares
and their spears into pruning hooks.
And nation shall not lift up a sword
against nation.
Neither shall they learn war anymore.
Now, I get rather upset when many times
politicians make reference to this verse and intimate
if you'll just vote for them, they will
bring in this age.
It will not be brought in by any
politician.
It is not going to come until Jesus,
the Prince of Peace, comes and reigns in
righteousness.
This is not something that man will ever
be able to affect.
In fact, we're doing just the opposite right
now.
We are beating our plowshares into swords, so
to speak.
What this says to me is that in
the kingdom age, the military budgets, which are
boy, almost bankrupting us here in the United
States today.
The military budgets will be diverted to agricultural
development.
Now, this past year, the nations of the
world spent approximately one trillion dollars for weapons,
for armament, for defense.
One trillion dollars.
Imagine if we had spent one trillion dollars
this past year to develop agriculture.
You would not have thousands of people starving
to death in Cambodia.
Other thousands more in the deserts of Odin.
Nor would you have them starving in Ethiopia.
There would be enough for everybody and you
wouldn't be paying a dollar for a loaf
of bread.
If we would put this much money in
feeding the world.
You see how twisted man's values become when
he's governed by his greed and by his
lust rather than by the Lord?
Because it is necessary for us to arm
ourselves, to defend ourselves from being subdued by
the enemies, there has been a misappropriation of
funds.
And money that could go for the betterment
of mankind is being spent to destroy mankind.
How twisted are the values of sinful man.
More money in the budget to destroy than
to aid and to help.
Now, I'm not arguing with Reagan's budget.
I feel that the defense budget is necessary
because I know what Russia has done and
is doing.
And if we're going to survive, we've got
to be strong.
But it's tragic that we live in a
world where there are those who are greedy
for more power and more control, who have
to be stopped and will only stop through
the threat of force of arms.
It's a sad world that you live in.
It's a world that is preparing for war.
A world that is coming to another gigantic
conflict like our minds cannot imagine or conceive.
As nation will rise against nation and kingdom
against kingdom.
But there's light at the end of the
tunnel.
After the next major world war, men will
realize, hey, there's no prophet and there's no
future in this.
And Jesus will come as King of Kings
and Lord of Lords.
And we will have one ruler over the
whole earth.
And he will establish his throne in Jerusalem
on Mount Zion.
And then, and only then, will they beat
their swords into plowshares and their swords into
pruning hooks.
And they will not learn war anymore.
They'll begin then to divert the resources
towards the betterment of mankind, towards agricultural development,
towards just a better overall life for everyone.
In that day, they shall sit every man
under his vine and under his fig tree.
And no one will make them afraid.
You can send your children to the store
to get a bottle of milk and not
worry about them being molested or accosted.
You can take a walk in the evening
along the beach and not worrying about someone
assaulting you.
They will live in safety.
They will live in peace.
No one will make you afraid.
You'll not have to lock your doors at
night.
You'll not have to put the chains up
and off.
You can live in safety and in peace.
Not be afraid.
For the mouth of the Lord of hosts
has spoken it.
That day is surely going to come.
God has declared it.
For all the people will walk everyone in
the name of His God.
And we will walk in the name of
Yahweh, our God, forever and ever.
Literally, all of the peoples do now walk
in the names of their God, but then
they will walk in the name of Yahweh
in that day.
In that day, saith the Lord, will I
assemble her that halted and will gather her
that is driven out and her that I
have afflicted.
In other words, here is God prophesying now
the regathering of the Jews, people of Israel.
Those that have halted, those that were driven
out, those who have been 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 Mount Zion from henceforth even
forever.
Now, of course, that's also what Isaiah said.
He shall sit upon the throne of David
to order it and to establish it in
righteousness and in justice from henceforth even forever.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts shall
perform it.
And thou, O tower of the flock, the
stronghold of the daughter of Zion, unto thee
shall it come, even the first dominion, the
kingdom shall come to the daughters of Jerusalem.
Now, why do you cry out aloud?
Is there no king in thee?
Is your counselor perished?
For pangs have taken thee as a woman
in travail.
Before this comes, Israel is yet to have
a period of great sorrow.
They are going to be in travail.
But when Zion travails, then shall she bring
forth.
Then will Christ come when the Zion or
the Jews really begin to cry out for
their Redeemer, for their Savior.
And when Zion travailed, then she brought forth,
the scripture said.
So he speaks here also of the woman
in travail.
Now, Jesus said to the Jews, Look, you're
not going to see me again until you
say, Blessed is he who comes in the
name of the Lord.
The Lord has gone on up to be
with the Father.
He's not going to come back until they
really travail and say, Oh, blessed is he
who comes in the name of the Lord.
Be in pain and labor to bring forth,
O daughter of Zion, for like a woman
in travail, for now shalt thou go forth
out of the city, and thou shalt dwell
in the field.
They're going to actually be driven out into
the wilderness, where God will nourish them for
times, time and a half time, or three
and a half years.
And thou shalt go even as far as
Babylon, which is Iraq, and there shalt thou
be delivered, and there the Lord shall redeem
thee from the hand of thine enemies.
And now the kingdom is to be set
up, now also many nations are gathered against
thee.
And they say, Let her be defiled, and
let her eye look upon Zion.
There will be many who will be looking
at Jerusalem with a covetous eye, but they
know not the thoughts of the Lord.
Now today, this is actually what is happening.
So many nations, the Arab nations especially, looking
at Israel, looking at Jerusalem, calling for a
holy war against Israel.
And these very things are happening right now.
Many nations gathered against her.
I think Israel has that unfortunate distinction of
being probably the most isolated nation on the
face of the earth.
Almost every nation is gathered against her.
Even as Zechariah prophesied, though the whole world
be gathered together against.
If she didn't have the Lord on her
side, she'd really be in big trouble.
They know not the thoughts of the Lord.
They're all looking at Jerusalem, saying, Oh, we'll
make Jerusalem the international city.
They don't know the thoughts of the Lord,
and neither do they understand his counsel.
For he shall gather them as the sheaves
on the threshing floor.
Arise and thresh, O daughter of Zion, for
I will make thine horn iron.
The horn is always a symbol of power,
and I'll make your power as iron.
And I will make thy hoofs brass.
I'll use you for judgment against these nations.
And thou shalt beat in pieces many people,
and I will consecrate their gain unto the
Lord.
You're going to spoil them.
You're going to take their spoil.
Now, we read in Ezekiel 38 that as
Israel has been regathered as a nation, in
that time when God makes them a nation
again, that he's going to put an evil
thought into the leaders of Magog, which are
identified historically as those north of the Crimea
mountains or the present day Russia.
And he will bring them out of their
north quarters with all of their bands, the
hordes, along with Iran and Iraq and Togarmah,
the Balkan states and Gomer, the east, eastern
European states, along with Libya and Ethiopia, to
invade the Middle East in order that they
might take the spoil, the vast oil resources
of the Middle East.
But when they come into the mountains of
Jerusalem, God's fury is going to, or in
the mountains of Israel, God's fury is going
to arise in his face, and he's going
to turn them back.
And the Bible says that the Israelis will
not have to worry about fuel for seven
years.
They will burn the fuel of the invading
armies for seven years.
So no worries about oil prices for them
for seven years, as they just take and
burn the fuel that has been brought in
this invasion into the land.
And it'll be a seven-year supply.
So as here he said, Thou shalt beat
in pieces many people, and I will consecrate
their gain unto the Lord.
You'll spoil them, you'll take the gain and
their substance unto the Lord of the whole
earth.
Now, in chapter 5, Micah leaves that scene
of the future, and he comes back to
an intermediate scene.
Now gather thyself in troops, O daughter of
troops.
He hath laid siege against us, and they
shall smite the judge of Israel with a
rod upon the cheek.
That, of course, is a prophecy relating to
Jesus Christ, and was fulfilled in Matthew 26,
verse 67.
He was smitten with a rod that it
might be fulfilled as the prophet declared.
And this is a prophecy here in Micah.
Going on to prophesy concerning the Messiah.
But thou Bethlehem Euphrata, though thou be little
among the thousands of Judah, yet out of
thee shall come forth unto me he that
is to be the ruler in Israel, whose
going forth has been from old, from everlasting.
And so the prophecy that Bethlehem would be
the birthplace of the Messiah.
Now, the Jews believed this for years.
In fact, when the wise men came to
Herod and inquired concerning the birth of the
king, where is he to be born who
is to be the king of the Jews?
Herod inquired of the scribes there in Jerusalem,
and they answered him in Bethlehem, because the
prophet said, and thou Bethlehem, though thou be
little among the thousands of Judah, yet out
of thee.
So they believed in that day that Bethlehem
would be the birthplace of the Messiah.
Now, of course, since Christ was born there,
it would be impossible for that prophecy to
be fulfilled again, because there is no one
from the house of David left in Bethlehem.
Bethlehem is now an Arab city.
No one from the house of David left
in Bethlehem.
So the rabbis today have made up some
other kind of an interpretation of this prophecy
in Micah, and they say, no, it doesn't
refer to the Messiah at all.
But yet, in the time of Herod, the
scribes and all definitely believed it and were
looking for Bethlehem to be the birthplace of
the Messiah.
So I go along with the scribes and
all at the time of Herod.
They were closer to the truth, and surely
Bethlehem became the birthplace of Christ.
And since the dispersion after
Titus in 70 AD, Bethlehem has not been
a Jewish city and is not to the
present day.
So it would be impossible now, because no
one could really prove his genealogy to David
anymore.
So Bethlehem was to be the place from
which the ruler of Israel would come, the
king, whose goings forth has been from old.
Now, here is the prophecy that Christ has
always existed from everlasting.
That could only be said of God.
The word everlasting in the Hebrew is a
very interesting word.
There are two words in the Hebrew that
are sort of translated everlasting.
The one means the vanishing point, literally.
So if you let your mind go back
as far as you can, they say the
universe is 10 billion years old.
Can you let your mind go back 10
billion years?
Can you conceive of 10 billion years?
I doubt it, but at least we can
accept it as a figure.
But what was before the universe came into
existence?
How far back can your mind take you?
Our minds being finite can go back, but
the further we go back, the narrower the
lines get until you get to a vanishing
point, and I just can't think beyond that.
The vanishing point, that's one of the Hebrew
words for everlasting.
It's to the vanishing point, where you just
can't conceive of anything further back.
This particular Hebrew word means beyond the vanishing
point.
In other words, your mind goes back to
the vanishing point and then beyond that, whose
goings forth has been from everlasting.
From beyond the vanishing point, he's existed.
We read in John 1.1, In the
beginning was the Word, and the Word was
with God, and the Word was God.
The same was in the beginning with God,
and all things were made by Him.
And without Him was not anything made that
was made.
In the beginning, when was that?
I don't know.
Beyond the vanishing point.
In the beginning was the Word.
The Word was with God.
The Word was God.
And then John tells us, And the Word
became flesh and dwelt among us.
And the Word became flesh in Bethlehem, that
the prophecy might be fulfilled.
And thou Bethlehem, though thou be little among
the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee
shall come He, who is to be the
ruler in Israel, whose going forth have been,
he's always existed from old, even from the
vanishing point and beyond.
Therefore, will He give them up until the
time that she which travaileth hath brought forth,
then the remnant of His brethren shall return
to the children of Israel.
So, the Messiah was cut off.
Therefore, He will just give them up.
The Israel was given up in a sense
by God.
And now we are living in an age
in which God is dealing among the Gentiles,
drawing out a body of Christ.
And such will be the case until Israel
again begins to travail, seeking their Messiah.
Until she which travails has brought forth, then
God's grace and glory will return unto the
children of Israel.
And He shall stand, and this is a
prophecy concerning Christ and His relationship to Israel
in the Kingdom Age.
And He shall stand and feed in the
strength of the Lord.
And in the majesty of the name of
the Lord His God, and He shall abide,
for now shall He be great unto the
ends of the earth.
Remember when Gabriel was talking to Mary concerning
the child that was to be born.
He said, and He shall be great and
shall be called the Son of the Highest.
And the Lord God shall give unto Him
the throne of His father David.
So, all of this word of Gabriel to
Mary tied together with the prophecies of the
Old Testament.
And this man shall be the peace.
He is the peace.
In Isaiah, he prophesied for unto us a
child is born unto us.
His son is given and the government shall
be upon his shoulders.
And his name shall be called wonderful counselor,
the mighty God, the everlasting father, the prince
of peace.
Now, the prophet Micah says, for he is
our peace.
And Paul tells us that in Romans or
in Ephesians, for he is our peace who
has broken down the barriers that used to
exist between men and has made us all
one together in Him.
And there is no real peace until the
walls of separation are broken down between men.
He is our peace who has broken down
these walls.
And so, the beautiful prophecies concerning Christ.
Now, when the Assyrians shall come into our
land, and this is, of course, a prophecy
of this last day invasion by Russia.
And when they shall tread in our palaces,
then shall we raise against Him seven shepherds
and eight principal men.
You say, who are they?
I don't know.
We'll find out when it happens.
And they shall waste the land of Assyria
with a sword and the land of Nimrod
and the entrances thereof.
And thus shall He deliver us from the
Assyrian when He comes into our land and
when He treads within our borders.
The King of the North in those last
days.
Not only Russia, but probably also a reference
to Armageddon.
And the remnant of Jacob shall be in
the midst of many people.
And this is probably the ministry of the
hundred and forty-four thousand during the great
tribulation period.
The remnant of Jacob shall be in the
midst of many people as the dew from
the Lord.
Freshness and refreshing as showers upon the grass
that tarry not for man nor wait for
the sons of men.
And the remnant of Jacob shall be among
the Gentiles in the midst of many people
as a lion among the beasts of the
forest and as a young lion among the
flocks of sheep, who, if he go through,
he both treads down and tears in pieces
and none can deliver.
For thine hand shall be lifted up upon
thine adversaries and all of thine enemies shall
be cut off.
And it shall come to pass in that
day, saith the Lord, that I will cut
off thy horses out of the midst of
thee and I will destroy thy chariots and
I will cut off the cities of the
land and throw down all thy strongholds and
I will cut off the witchcraft out of
thy hand and thou shalt have no more
the soothsayers.
Thy graven images also will I cut off
and thy standing images out of the midst
of thee and thou shalt no more worship
the work of thy hands.
And I will pluck up your groves, that
is the places of worship of the false
gods, out of the midst of thee and
so will I destroy thy cities.
And I will execute vengeance in anger and
fury upon the heathen such as they have
not heard.
This will be the great tribulation period that
we read about in Daniel and from Jesus
and from the revelation of John.
The period of great tribulation, but I want
you to notice something about this great tribulation.
God is declaring that in the great tribulation
I will execute vengeance in anger and fury
upon who?
The heathen.
It should comfort you to know that God
has not appointed us unto wrath.
The execution of God's judgment, anger and all
is coming upon the heathen such as they
have never experienced or dreamed.
Daniel said and there shall be a time
of great trouble such as never existed from
the beginning.
Jesus said and there shall be a time
of trouble such as has never been before
or will ever be again as they refer
to this great tribulation period.
Now, notice that during this time the instruments
that God is using are the Jews, not
the church.
His faithful remnant among the Jews will be
God's instruments of witness upon the earth during
the great tribulation.
The church will have been translated and will
be with the Lord in glory enjoying the
marriage supper of the Lamb.
Blessed is he who is called to the
marriage supper of the Lamb.
Jesus said pray always that you'll escape the
things that are going to come to pass
upon the earth and that you will be
standing before the Son of Man.
And we read in Revelation chapter 5 as
there is this scroll in heaven the title
deed to the earth in the right hand
of the father as he sits upon the
throne and the angel proclaims with a loud
voice who is worthy to take this scroll
and break the seals and John begins to
sob because no one is found worthy in
heaven and earth or even under the sea
to take the scroll and loose the seals
but the elder says don't weep John behold
the lion of the tribe of Judah hath
prevailed to take the scroll and loose the
seals and John said I turned and I
saw him as a lamb that had been
slaughtered and he came and he took the
scroll out of the right hand of him
who sits upon the throne and when he
did the 24 elders came forth with little
golden vials that were full of odors which
were the prayers of the saints and they
offered them up before the Lord and they
sang a new song saying worthy is the
lamb to take the scroll and loose the
seals for he was slain and he has
redeemed us by his blood out of all
of the nations and tongues and tribes and
people and he hath made us unto our
God kings and priests and we will reign
with him upon the earth standing before the
Son of God that's where I want to
be not down here as God is pouring
out his anger and vengeance upon the heathen
but standing with the children of God there
before the throne hear ye now what the
Lord says arise contend thou before the mountains
and let the hills hear thy voice hear
ye O mountains the Lord's controversy and ye
strong foundations of the earth for the Lord
has a controversy with his people and he
will plead with Israel O my people still
his people after all of this what have
I done unto you and listen to God's
pleading with the people God says what have
I done what have I done wrong what
have I done against you and wherein have
I wearied you go ahead and tell me
witness against me give a testimony against me
what have I done where have I wearied
you for I brought you up out of
the land of Egypt and I redeemed you
out of the house of servants I took
you from bondage and from slavery you were
nothing but a bunch of slaves and I
sent before thee Moses and Aaron and Miriam
and my people remember now what Balak the
king O my people remember now what Balak
the king of Moab consulted and what Balaam
the son of Beor answered him from Shittim
unto Gilgal that ye may know the righteousness
of the Lord now he says go back
and read the prophecies of Balaam when Balak
the king said and said come and curse
these people and so he said build me
an altar and he built an altar and
as he began to look over the tents
of Jacob he began to declare O how
beautiful are the tents of Jacob O how
glorious is their redeemer O that I might
die the death of Jacob and he began
to declare the glory and the king said
shut up I don't want you to bless
him I want you to curse him and
he took him to another mountain build another
altar he said now go back and read
what I had to say about you read
the blessings that I declared concerning you and
God is saying go back and read them
so you ought to go back when you
get home tonight in numbers and read the
prophecies of Balaam concerning Israel O my people
remember now the words that were spoken through
Balaam that you may know how righteous I
have been towards you wherewithal shall I come
before the Lord and bow myself before the
high God shall I come before him with
burnt offerings with calves of a year old
how can I approach God the prophet is
saying will the Lord be pleased with if
I should offer a thousand rams or ten
thousand of rivers of oil what can I
offer to God as a sacrifice for all
of God's blessings and goodness shall I give
my firstborn for my transgressions the fruit of
my body for the sin of my soul
should I offer my own son to God
what can I do what does God want
of me what does God require of me
and the prophet answers he has shown you
O man what is good and what does
the Lord require of you just to do
justly to love mercy and to walk humbly
with your God you say well that doesn't
sound so bad but look at it again
God requires that you do justly have you
always done the right thing have you always
been fair and honest have you never cheated
in a deal have you never concealed or
hid a part of the truth well scratch
that one off to love mercy do you
really love mercy do you really love to
just forgive and say oh forget it it
doesn't really matter that's alright or do you
love to get even do you go around
saying hey I'll get even with him if
it's the last thing I do you just
wait I'll get even and to walk humbly
with thy God six things God hates yea
there are seven that are an abomination I
don't really know what an abomination is but
it sounds bad unto him top of the
list of the things that God hates are
an abomination at the top of the list
is a proud look pride goes before destruction
the Lord said and a haughty spirit before
a fall God hates the pride of men
God wants you to walk humbly with him
that's what God requires that's what God insists
upon but I have failed I have not
walked humbly before the Lord I have not
loved mercy I have not done justly what
does God want a thousand rams rivers of
oil what can I give to God what
does God want from me what does God
require he doesn't require a thousand rams he
doesn't require rivers of oil to be offered
in sacrifice all he says is hey I've
shown you the good way just do justly
love mercy walk humbly well Lord I can't
even do that what now do you require
they came to Jesus and said what must
we do to do the works of God
and Jesus said this is the work of
God just believe on him whom he has
sent alright I can handle that that I
can do this is the work of God
that you believe on him whom he has
sent so God's actual requirement for us tonight
is just to believe in his son Jesus
Christ as our own Lord and Savior and
by your believing in him he will come
into your life he'll begin to indwell your
life and he will begin to give you
the power to do justly he will begin
to transform your heart to where you'll love
mercy and as you look upon his face
there's no way you could be proud but
you'll walk humbly before the Lord so God's
requirements the prophet is crying out what can
I do does God want me to give
him my firstborn son rivers of oil whatever
what does God require and the Lord answers
he has shown me oh man what is
good this is what God requires the Lord's
voice cries unto the city and the man
of wisdom shall see thy name hear ye
the rod and who hath appointed it are
there not yet the treasures of wickedness in
the house of the wicked doesn't God hate
the scant measure that is abominable I was
reading one time where a baker filed a
suit against the farmer in court in England
and in his suit he charged that the
farmer was continually giving him less butter
as he sold it to him he said
when he first started out selling me butter
he gave me a true pound of butter
but gradually he has been giving me less
and less butter for the pound until now
he's only giving me about 12 ounces of
butter and charging me for a pound the
farmer in his own defense said to the
judge sir I only have balanced scales to
measure the butter and he said I always
take the baker's pound loaf of bread and
put it on the scale to weigh the
butter God speaks here
against the scant measures that are abomination unto
him and then those who have a bag
full of deceitful weights now it was they
used the balanced scales and they had deceitful
weights they had one set of weights that
they would buy with and another set that
they would sell with deceitful weights bag full
of deceitful weights God said I hate that
dishonesty in dealing with our brothers what a
violation that is to the law of God
where Jesus said thou shalt love thy neighbor
as thyself what a violation to that law
to cheat or to defraud my brother to
use deceitfulness in dealing with him for the
rich men are full of violence he declares
the inhabitants have spoken lies their tongues are
deceitful therefore also will I make thee sick
in smiting thee and in making thee desolate
because of your sins for you will eat
but not be satisfied and how true this
is of a man who gives himself over
to unbridled lust he eats but he is
never satisfied and thy casting down shall be
in the midst of thee and thou shalt
take whole but you will not deliver and
that which you delivered you will give up
to the sword for you will sow but
you will not reap someone else will reap
the benefits of all of your efforts and
work thou shalt tread the olives but they
shall not anoint thee with oil and sweet
wine but you will not drink it for
the statutes of Omri are kept and all
of the works of the house of Ahab
Omri and Ahab the two wicked kings of
Israel that led the people into such abominable
practices and sins but you're walking in their
councils you're following after their ways that I
should make thee a desolation and the inhabitants
thereof a hissing therefore shall you bear the
reproach of my people now a sign of
great disdain was just they wanted to show
just utter disdain for people they just hiss
at them just like you do a cat
shh and so it showed sign of total
disdain and God says you will become a
hissing people see you and they'll just hiss
at you they'll just give you the old
shh you know it's sort of an irritating
thing to have a person do that to
you they still do it, I've had them
do it to me over there in Israel
they'll hiss at you if you don't buy
their merchandise you go to leave and they're
angry with you they'll hiss at you they'll
also spit and that too is a sign
of great disdain in the oriental customs if
you want to show total disdain you spit
on a person of course I guess that
would show disdain here too but we're a
little more cultured the prophet said woe is
me for I am as when they have
gathered the summer fruits as the great gleanings
of the vintage there's no cluster to eat
my soul desires the first ripe fruit I'm
desolate I really don't have anything the good
man is perished out of the earth there's
no upright men left they all lie in
wait for blood they hunt every man his
brother with a net and they that may
do evil with both hands that they may
do evil with both hands earnestly the prince
asked and the judges take bribes the princes
are asking for the judges are receiving bribes
and the great man he uttered his mischievous
desire and so they wrap it up for
him because of his prominence and all he
gets whatever he wants just whatever his mischievous
desires are wrap it up give it to
him the best of them is as a
briar and the most upright is sharper than
the thorn hedge the day of thy watchmen
and thy visitation is coming and now will
be their perplexity your day is coming you
may be flouting the law of flouting the
law of God now but your day is
coming trust not in the friends don't put
your confidence in the guides keep the doors
of your mouth from her that lies at
your bosom for the son will dishonor the
father and the daughter will rise up against
her mother and the daughter-in-law against
her mother-in-law and a man's enemies
will be those of his own house Jesus
quoted that therefore I will look unto the
Lord I will wait for the God of
my salvation my God will hear me the
whole situation is so desperate so totally void
of God's work or power or love mercy
and grace and truth my only hope I
will look for the Lord I will wait
for the God of my salvation my God
will hear me rejoice not against me oh
my enemy for when I fall I shall
arise when I sit in darkness the Lord
will be a light unto me for I
will bear the indignation of the Lord the
indignation is always a reference in the Old
Testament to the tribulation period that will come
the great period of God's indignation upon the
earth and Israel will go through it I
will endure I will bear the indignation of
the Lord because I have sinned against him
until he pleads my cause and he executes
judgment for me for he will bring me
forth to the light and I shall behold
his righteousness and all Israel shall be saved
for as the scripture declares a deliverer shall
come forth out of Zion who will turn
the hearts of the children to their fathers
and that glorious day when Zion travails and
brings forth through her prayers the return of
Jesus Christ then she that is my enemy
shall see it and shame shall cover her
which said unto me where is Yahweh your
God?
mine eyes shall behold her now shall she
be trodden down as the mire of the
streets that is my enemies and in the
day that your walls are to be built
in the day shall the decree be far
removed and in that day also he shall
come even to thee from Assyria and from
the fortified cities and from the fortress even
to the river and from sea to sea
and from mountain to mountain and notwithstanding the
land shall be desolate because of them that
dwell therein for the fruit of their doings
feed thy people with thy rod the flock
of thine heritage which dwells solitarily in the
wood and in the midst of Carmel let
them feed in Bashan and Gilead as in
the days of old according to the days
of thy coming out of the land of
Egypt will I show unto him the marvelous
things even as when God delivered them and
preserved them and part of the Red Sea
so again God is going to work among
the people with marvelous miracles the nation shall
see and be confounded at all their might
when God destroys the invading armies of Russia
he said then I will be sanctified before
the nations of the world and they will
know that I am God as he works
even as he did in delivering them from
Egypt and they shall lay their hand upon
their mouth and their ears shall be deaf
they shall lick the dust like a serpent
they shall move out of their holes like
worms of the earth during the great tribulation
period they're going to cry into the rocks
and the mountains and say fall on us
and hide us from the face of the
Lamb for the day of his wrath has
come men will come crawling out of their
holes now there are a lot of people
today who are making survival shelters and they
actually can give you instructions on how deep
you should dig your hole in the ground
and how much dirt you need overhead to
survive the fallout the radiation and the fallout
and how to make your little shelters and
so forth and of course during this time
when this great nuclear holocaust takes place if
you were here it would be wise maybe
to have that kind of a hole to
hide in but thank God we don't have
to be here and if I am here
during a nuclear holocaust I'm not going to
run and try to hide in some hole
in the ground I'm going to try and
discover where the thing is going to explode
I'm going to go stand right underneath of
it and I prefer that to
the misery and the horror of trying to
live after a whole nuclear holocaust trying to
survive on an earth that has been devastated
and with all of the slow death by
radiation and all that's not for me but
they will lick the dust like a serpent
as they move out of their holes like
worms on the earth imagine man reduced to
a worm because of greed because of his
disobedience to God because of his rebellion against
God because he won't listen to God because
he has made man humanism has placed man
at the top dethrone God, put man on
the throne look what man on the throne
is doing to the world in which you
live as they have sought to take God
from the throne as they sought to take
God from our education as they sought to
take God from our national life as they
sought to replace God with man and put
man on the throne declaring that man is
the highest order of evolution and thus is
at the top and he is the product
of accidents accidental circumstances actually and is not
the creation of God and responsible then to
God but man is on the throne and
look what that concept is bringing your world
to as we are spending money for all
of these weapons to just get rid of
this menace who is sitting on the throne
it's what it is leading the world to
and so what if we do wipe out
the world with nuclear holocaust after all we
came in by an accident maybe we'll go
out by an accident what difference does it
make, you know for who can say it
is evil who can say it is wrong
everything is relative so if it is important
to my survival that I exterminate a whole
race or segment of people who's to say
it's wrong for there is no universal base
of good you see this existential philosophy and
this humanism gave rise to Hitler and without
conscience they could sterilize people they could
exterminate the Jews and the Christians because the
Jews weren't the only ones that suffered Hitler's
paranoia Christians also by the thousands were destroyed
in the gas ovens in Germany but who's
to say it is wrong if indeed existentialism
is correct that it all, you know you
can starve ten million people to death in
China in order to set up the new
republic you can destroy millions of Russians in
the Ukraine in order to establish your society
and it's for the betterment of the society
and the state is God Caesar is Lord
man on the throne but man will bring
himself to the worm he crawls out of
his caves, his holes and they shall be
afraid of the Lord our God and shall
fear because of him who is a God,
I like this who is a God like
unto thee that pardons iniquity and passes
by the transgression overlooks our transgressions of the
remnant of his heritage he retains not his
anger forever because he delights in mercy so
God is going to take these people back
they're still his people he still says my
people and he's still going to deal with
them and restore them unto himself he will
turn again and he will have compassion upon
us referring to the nation of Israel he
will subdue our iniquities and he will cast
out their sins into the depths of the
sea thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob
and the mercies to Abraham which you have
sworn unto our fathers God you'll keep your
word which you swore to our fathers in
days of old the confidence of the prophet
in the word of God he'll surely do
it and it will surely happen what a
glorious God who is a pardoning God like
thee who will overlook the transgressions and will
again restore favor and glory upon his people
for he delights in mercy so we pray
Father we thank you for such a God
that we have that you delight in mercy
that you're not willing Lord that any should
perish but that all should come to repentance
and thus you have dealt with us with
such patience and with such long suffering and
such gentleness as you Lord with cords of
love have drawn us to yourself that we
might know fellowship with thee that beautiful sweet
communion with God oh Lord how we have
benefited from our relationship with you what blessings
and glory it has brought into our lives
to walk with you God help us through
the power of your Holy Spirit through the
indwelling presence of Christ help us Lord to
be all that you want us to be
and to do that which is pleasing in
your sight in Jesus name we pray Amen
may the Lord be with you and give
you a beautiful week may he watch over
you and protect and shield you from the
evil that is so prevalent in this world
in which we live may the grace of
our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of
God just that beautiful sweet communion of the
Holy Spirit rest and abide upon your heart
and your life all week long as you
live with him and for him