Sermon Notes, First Advent

INTRODUCTION

Isaiah is the great prophet of the incarnation, but Isaiah is a bit too large to cover during the four weeks of Advent. Micah, though, prophesied at the same time as Isaiah (Micah 1:1; Isaiah 1:1), and the prophecies overlap (Micah 4:1-3; Isaiah 2:1-4) and Micah includes a major Messianic prophecy (Micah 5:2-5; cf. Matthew 2:6). We’ll spend the next several weeks meditating on this mini-Isaiah.

THE TEXT

“The word of the LORD that came to Micah of Moresheth in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem. Hear, all you peoples! Listen, O earth, and all that is in it! . . . ” (Micah 1:1-2:13).

YAHWEH COMES

Micah begins with a theophany. Yahweh arises form His palace-temple (v. 2) to tread on the heights of the earth (v. 3). The world dissolves before Him. Mountains here probably represent highly-placed people, and valleys symbolize the lowly. At His coming, the solid world turns watery, formless and void (v. 4). Yahweh is coming from His throne in the North to thrown down Samaria (v. 6), and then moves on to Jerusalem (vv. 5, 9, 12). But Yahweh comes closer to Micah’s home, the villages of Southern Judah. He lists a series of towns, punning on each name to describe the devastation that Yahweh is going to bring to Judah (vv. 10-15). Micah takes up a funeral lament for the dead nation of Judah (vv. 8, 16). Yahweh’s advent puts Judah in danger.

JUDAH’S SINS

Samaria is guilty of idolatry, her temples filled with the wages of spiritual prostitution (1:6-7). When Micah turns to Judah’s sins, however, he focuses on social injustices. Like Ahab, they scheme on their beds to take away a man’s inheritance (2:1-2). They treat their neighbors like enemies, plundering them as if they were at war (2:8). They evict widows from their houses and abuse the children of widows (2:9). Judah was supposed to be a place of Sabbath, rest for the oppressed, but Judah has defiled the land so that it will expel them into exile (2:10). The final verses of chapter 2 refer to Yahweh’s gathering of Jacob to lead them out of the land.

DESPISING THE PROPHET

Judah adds to her sins by resisting Micah’s prophetic indictment. 2:6-7 record an exchange between the prophet and the people. The people of Judah want Micah’s words to stop “flowing” (v. 6). The people of Judah believe they are above condemnation: Yahweh the patient and longsuffering would never judge His people as Micah describes (v. 7). They have misconstrued Yahweh’s character, and forgotten much of their own history, which is a history of Yahweh’s jealous wrath against His people.

ADVENT

Advent celebrates the coming of Yahweh in flesh, and that is good news. But it is also bad news for idolaters, tyrants, and petty oppressors. When Jesus comes, the mountains melt like wax and flow like water; the valleys are split; for He comes to judge the earth.