Episode Transcript
WEBVTT
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If you're able to remain standing,
please do and let's turn our attention to
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Micah, chapter six, verses one
through eight. Here the Lord brings his
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accusation against his people, and he
does it through the Prophet Micah, who's
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functioning as a lawyer, prosecuting the
case of Israel's breaking God's covenant. Witnesses
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are called forth, the accused are
named and God, as the plaintiff,
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his case is made known. Let's
give our attention to God's word now in
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Micah six, verses one through eight. Here what the Lord Says Arise,
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plead your case before the mountains and
let the hills hear your voice. Here,
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you mountains, the indictment of the
Lord and you enduring foundations of the
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earth, for the Lord has an
indictment against his people and he will contend
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with Israel. Oh my people,
what have I done to you? How
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have I wearied you? Answer me, for I brought you up from the
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land of Egypt and redeemed you from
the House of slavery. I sent you
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before Moses Aaron, or I sent
before you Moses Aaron and Miriam. Oh
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my people, remember Bialik, King
of mob deser devised, or what Bailik
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King of Moab, devised, and
what Balem, the son of Baor answered
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him, and what happened from Shittem
to go Gaul, that you may know
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the righteous acts of the Lord.
With what shall I come before the Lord
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and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt
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offerings, with calves a year old? Will the Lord be pleased? With
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thousands of Rams, with ten thousands
of rivers of oil? Shall I give
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my firstborn for my transgression, the
fruit of my body, for the sin
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of my soul? He has told
you, Oh man, what is good
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and what does the Lord require of
you but to do justice, to love
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kindness and to walk humbly with your
God, Amn may be seated. As
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I mentioned, is we began here
is God's indictment, his accusation against Israel.
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This is established upon a relationship that
God has made. God's not just
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coming out of the blue and accusing
them of various things. No, God
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has a relationship, a special relationship, with these people, a relationship that
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he established on Mount Sinai. He
established as he brought his people out of
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the land of Egypt and he gave
them loss, he told them what to
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do, and he said if you
follow these things, if you do these
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things, then you will live securely
in the land that I am giving you,
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but if you fail to do these
things, that all the curses that
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have come upon the Canaanites, who
are now being kicked out of the land,
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these curses will come upon you.
Well, Israel failed not just once
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but many, many times. By
the time we get to the Prophet Mica
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speaking these words, there have been
so many stories and so many accounts of
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Israel's Faithlessness, but God's faithfulness that
it's it would take all lie, all
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night and longer to to simply go
through them all and explain them all.
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In fact, much of the Old
Testament up to this point is is about
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that. God has serious cause against
against his people, and Mica is functioning
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as a prosecutor, as a covenant
lawyer. God tells him, arise and
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plead your case before the mountains.
It's not Mica's case and that Mica was
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the one who was offended first.
It was, of course, the Lord,
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but the Lord has given this case
to mica to prosecute plead the case.
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God commands him, he authorizes him
to go and to speak on his
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behalf and amazingly, he does what
only God can do. He calls the
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mountains as his witness. Right.
If any of any of the rest of
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us did this, this would be
ridiculous. But God it comes as a
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powerful statement to both the the fact
that Israel and all the world. The
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mountains themselves know of Israel's sins.
You might ask, well, how could
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the mountains speak? How could the
mountains witness? Well, later will consider
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a donkey. I'm witnessing to the
word and the works of the Lord.
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The Mountains are point pointed at.
In other places of scripture, it's the
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stars or the moon or the Sun. God looks at creation and says,
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you were there when I made these
promises, when I commanded these laws.
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Indeed, God was on a mountain, Mount Sinai, when he gave the
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law. The people were on two
hills when they took on the covenant,
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Promises Back and forth before they entered
into the land, these enduring foundations of
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the earth. They are ready to
hear, or they are they have seen
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what is gone on. The point
here is that Israel sins are not done
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in a corner. They are not
EG that we they cannot say well,
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we didn't know. They knew and
they knew very well. So this is
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this takes us into verse to kind
of continuing through the rest of this passage.
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Then, in verses three through five, God lays out the beginnings of
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his defense. He says, what
have I done to you? In other
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words, how have I broken the
Covenant? Have I done anything to deserve
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this treatment, to deserve your not
fulfilling my law even and the aunt?
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While I'll say the answer is no. We'll come back to that. But
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to continue on with just an overview
of this passage. Then comes versus six
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and seven, and versus six and
seven, we have this sort of rhetorical
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statement in which the people of God
are are saying back to him. There's
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this kind of bargaining that happens and
they say, well, okay, so
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we've sinned. What do you like, sort of like, what do you
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expect us to do? This is
the attitude. Shall we bow ourselves before
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you got on high? Will the
Lord be pleased with thousands of Rams,
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ten thousands rivers of oils, rivers
of oil? Shall I give my firstborn
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for my transgression, the fruit of
my body? It's the sort of like
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what are you? What do you
mean? Why are you prosecuting this against
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me? All of their protests,
they are this, all of this exalted
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language which God is anticipating. The
perhaps is even heard them say. He
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answers with verse eight. Has He
not told you, Oh man, what
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is good? What do you mean? Why are you asking me about rip
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thousands of thousands of Rams and ten
thousands of rivers of oil? What's all
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this? I've told you what I
want. I told you what I require
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of you. Do Justice, love, kindness, walk humbly before your God.
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They throw the people are throwing this, this our argument against him,
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like he's so unreasonable or that perhaps
they could somehow fix this relationship with these
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things and God's says. The requirement
is simple. It's been with you from
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the beginning, and this is not
the only way. That only place we
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find this kind of expression in the
Old Testament. So this is the beginning
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of God's accusation against them, the
reasons why Senecareb in the Assyrians are going
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to come down and execute God's curse
upon his people. I want to go
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back now with that overview and think
a little bit about what we what we
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learn of God and well, to
say it that way. What we learn
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of God in this passage, because
he gives this not only God doesn't need
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to defend himself right. God can
simply act and he would be just in
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doing it. So why do we
have this here? Well, it's in
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part a warning. It's in part
a way to explain to them and to
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explain to us of the Justice and
the fairness and the mercy of God,
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the faithfulness of God, and in
some of the things that he calls US
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specifically to remember, we are reminded
that he is merciful and that he is
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his promises to save us are sure, and that we should rely on them.
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Let's consider that now. So the
first thing to note here is the
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way that God proclaims his faithfulness.
As I said, he's not the one
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who's at fault here. He's not
the one why the Covenant has broken and
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we're going to spend most of our
time here. What does he say?
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First, he says, I brought
you up from the land of Egypt,
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I redeemed you from the House of
slavery. You. What he's referencing here
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is, of course, when Israel
God made his promise to Abraham and hit
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to his children. This promise passed
down, but eventually this people that were
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promised this land ended up in a
land that wasn't theirs, it wasn't the
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promised land. Instead, it was
a dark place, a terror or became
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a terrible place because they became slaves. They became slaves of Pharaoh and were
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in Egypt hundreds of years. I'm
struggling under oppression. Do you remember,
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of course, how God brought them
out of Egypt, as the scriptures say,
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with a mighty hand and an outstretched
arm. Ten plagues came down upon
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Egypt and her gods, Pharaoh,
who thought he was so strong, was
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utterly defeated, him and his country
and his chariots and armies, and eventually
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he lost even his own son and
his life. God brought them out of
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the land of e gypt. They
plundered Egypt and had these great leaders,
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Moses and Aaron and Miriam Murn,
singing that great song upon their rescue.
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God didn't stop there. He didn't
simply release them out of bondage and Sattle.
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Best of luck to you all.
He had made a promise to them
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and he loved them and he was
going to shepherd his flock to the promised
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land, and that's exactly what he
did. His care for them, his
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tender care for them, is described
in many different ways, as a shepherd
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with a sheep, as a child
caring or a sorry, as a father
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carrying his child, many different ways. Here, in Verse Five, God
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calls us to remember what Baylock,
King of Moab, devised and what Balem,
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the son of beor answered him.
So do you remember right? God
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calls us to remember this, to
pay attention to this on because this is
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one of the grounds on which he
establishes his faithfulness to the people. So
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this is perhaps a less familiar story
than God's Rescue and redemption of his people
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from Egypt, but a very important
one. It gets three chapters in the
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book of numbers and and his reference
to numerous other times since scripture. I
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will tell it to you now.
I won't read all three chapters to you,
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but I'll summarize it. As Israel
was going into the promised land,
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they would counted a number of enemies
along the way, and one of them
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was Bailick, king a Moob.
He had heard what God had done to
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the Amorites, he had seen he
sort of got a sense what for,
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what was coming. And here's this
army, a very numerous people, that
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was going through the land. I
believe he describes it as like like animals.
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I think was oxen there just eating
everything up as they move, these
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all these people moving in toward his
country. And he's he's afraid this.
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And so what does he do?
Well, he decides to go to Bale
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Them. Now, balem was this
midianite spiritual magician, prophet guy that evidently
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had some amount of power. They
are and Bailik felt like here is a
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way that we can win this.
In a similar way, Pharaoh had his
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court magicians do things to test and
show his power against God. And bailik
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goes to Baalim, the Prophet,
and says and and and hires him basically
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a little freelance work for Balim.
He says to Balim, Hey, I
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will, I'll give you some money. What do you want me to do?
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And Baalim said Bailik says to Balim, I want you to curse this
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people. Now this is not just
say a few words, but the idea
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here is that bail expected of the
Balim's curse to be effective, that God
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would the Balim would curse this people
and therefore stop the threat. All right,
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so he goes to Balim and Balim
goes, has goes in a dream,
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I believe it is, and God
speaks to him and says you won't
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be able to do this, you're
not going to be able to curse this
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people, you'll only be able to
bless them. Now that's quite an astonishing
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thing, right. Here is this
pagan diviner prophet that has now been conscripted
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into the service of the Lord when
he was supposed to be doing this freelance
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work, for mercenary work, in
this case for Bailik. So Balim goes
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to Bailik and he says it's not
going to work, but I was like,
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how about more money? And so
the then there's another dream and in
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this dream God and the way,
he kind of gives him a permission to
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go, even kind of calls him
to go, and so it leaves a
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sort of question of it. Well, what's going to happen? Well,
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so bail and goes and as he's
on his way he has yet a third
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encounter from the Lord, except he
doesn't realize it at first. He's on
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his donkey, on his way to
go out to meet BAILIC. I should
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have said at the beginning that it
was envoys that we're sent, not BAILAK
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himself. So he's going now to
go to bailk and to meet and figure
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out how they're going to do this. And he's riding his donkey and then
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his donkey just starts acting really weird. It won't move, it's not acting
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right. Bailik starts beating his donkey, I kind of an extreme way.
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Still the donkey won't move. This
happens a number of times in the reason
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we find out is is that the
donkey sees before it the angel of the
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Lord, this mighty powerful vision.
This donkey has this like I'm not going
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he sees. The donkey sees the
danger that this prophet is unable to see.
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It's very sort it's remarkable. And
and then and and bailix wailing on
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his donkey and and then God allows
the donkey to speak. Seek to Balim
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and the donkey says, why are
you hitting me like this? What have
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I ever done anything to you?
And they like, of course it's take
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it back. And what doesn't know? What you know? He starts talking
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to the donkey and he says,
what are you doing? And Anyway,
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they he sees the angel of the
Lord and and and they move on and
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the angel tells him things that make
the successfulness of this trip seem all the
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more doubtful. Very clearly, God
is on the side of Israel I.
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Meanwhile, it's good helpful note remember, just for our lives. Is the
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real doesn't know any of this at
this point. All right, all these
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plans of Bailik and Bailim in the
anvils and envoys in the donkey and the
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angel is the real isn't know any
of this at this point. But what
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is God doing? Caring for his
people, taking care of his people,
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working things out perfectly, amazingly according
to his promise to care for them and
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take them into this promised land.
Balim and Bailik are not going to stand
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in his way anymore than Pharaoh did. So what happens next? Balim goes,
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he meets Bailik, bail bailik takes
him out and and he says he
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shows him the people. He says
there they are. Go ahead and curse
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him and he's unable to do it. And steady blesses the people and they
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look turn some what am I paying
for? I called you here to curse
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these people, he says, I
can only do what God allows me to
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do and what God says. I
don't understand this part, but bailick keeps
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trying. So he blesses the people
and he takes him to another place,
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and I think it's a hill,
and he tells him, okay, curse
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the people and he blesses the people
again, and then happens again. Curse
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the people, he blesses them again, and this is keeps going and then
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at the end of it all,
the blessings just keep getting greater and greater
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and more and more wonderful. And
then at the end of it all,
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then God, or Bailic ends up, our Balem ends up cursing other peoples
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around Israel. So on top of
blessing them and sort of totally defeating the
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purposes of the King of Moab,
God goes on to curse and bring curses
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upon other people's that would do them
harm. Is a great warning to all
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do not stand in the way of
the Lord, and a reminder to Israel
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to wait on him, to trust. So here's Mica, here's Mica and
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God's people doing the exact kind of
things that they look was doing. The
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people were sacrificing their children, two
idols. They had set up poles to
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the Ashra, they were worshiping bales
on the high places. They were living
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in all kinds of injustice and cruelty. I'm serving other gods. They were
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living not as God's people. And
so God says to them. On my
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people, remember what Bailic, the
King of Moab, devised, what Balem,
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the son of Beor, answered him. What happened? It should to
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eat to Gilgall. That you may
know the righteous acts of the Lord.
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You know what happened at Guildhall.
That's where they crossed into the Promised Land,
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just as they crossed through the Red
Sea, out of Egypt and into
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the Wilderness. Then they would cross
the Jordan River again there at Gilgall and
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into the promised land. The waters
would separate, they would move through a
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justice happen, just as it happened
before. This is what God has done,
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that he remember these things, that
you may know, the righteous acts
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of the Lord. The Lord has
not only cared for them and acted justly,
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he has carried them and cared in
the deepest and most powerful and amazing
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ways, oh, over and over
again. And if God can take care
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of Pharaoh and if God can take
care of Bailik, do you think he
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can take care of SNECORB? Of
course he can. This is Syrian king
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who was coming on the war path. Israel's problem as not this danger,
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this external danger they face. Israel's
problem is their sin. Israel's problem is
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that they are turning away from the
very God who loves them and who has
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promised to save them. And that's
why these questions in verses six and seven
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are so ridiculous and sinful. Shall
I bow myself before the God on high?
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Shall I come before him with burnt
offerings and the calves of year old?
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Well, the Lord be pleased,
with thousands of Rams, with ten
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thousand rivers of oil? Shall I
give my firstborn for my transgression, the
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fruit of my soul, for the
sin of my soul? Even that would
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not cover it. And yet they
are saying these things as though it was
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a bargaining chip with God, as
though he's being so unreasonable. This is
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how stuck they are in themselves,
how blinded and prideful they are. God's
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requirements are simple. To do.
What is good. What is obviously good.
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Let's start with that. To love
and do justice, to love and
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do mercy, to walk humbly with
God, with your God. Of course
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you remember. That's not what they
were doing at all. Just to read
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one passage. We can go back
to chapter two. We're God says,
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woe to those who devise wickedness,
who work evil on their beds when the
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morning dawns, or when the morning
dawns, they perform it because it is
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in their power, of their hand. They covet fields and sees them,
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and houses and take them away.
They oppress a man in his house,
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a man and in his inheritance.
God speaks particularly, for to the rulers
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of Israel in chapter three. You
remember this here, that verse one.
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You heads of Jacob and rulers of
the House of Israel, is it not
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for you to know justice, you
who hate the good and love the evil,
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who tear the skin off from my
people and their flesh off their bones?
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But as we come to chapter six, we realize that the problem is
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not just with Israel's leadership, it's
with the whole country. As he says,
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he speaks to them in verses three, in verses five, and he
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says, Oh, my people,
not just the heads, not just the
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leaders, but all the people.
My people, what have I done to
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you? My people, remember Bailik. And then he says, in Verse
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Eight, He has told you,
Oh man, what is good. And
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here we remember that the righteous requirement
of the law that was given to Israel
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is given to all of us.
The basic moral law which grounded all the
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laws in the Old Testament is the
same law that applies to all men everywhere.
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It's why bailick was opposed, it's
why the king of Jericho was opposed,
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it's why the Assyrians and the Babylonians. They we are all Israel,
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Israelite and gentile alike, all under
the rule of God, and he requires
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of us what what is good?
What is good? He has given us
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this command, he has made it
clear, he's put it on our very
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image in such a the way that
when people offend us in this way,
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we say things like that's not fair, how could you do that? Everybody
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knows that we expect justice, we
expect kindness. God expects these things and
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us to put ourselves under him,
to walk humbly before him. We are
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called to live with God's will,
at the center of our lives, not
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our was will, not our will. God's will is like the the captain
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of a ship at the at the
wheel, turning and moving us where he
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will. So what is Israel to
do? What are we to do when
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we come under the condemnation, that
righteous condemnation, of God? What do
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we do when we realize that the
most holy, most good, most faithful
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God has a true accusation against us? We have not done what is good,
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we have not done what the Lord
requires us. One thing that's kind
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of ironic is that these impious words
and verse seven, shall I give my
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firstborn for my transgression, as exactly
a reminder of what God has done,
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but not for his transgression for ours? We cannot even give our firstborn for
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our transgression and have it cover our
sin. But what a God do?
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He gave his son, His only
begotten Son, not for God's transgression,
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of which there is none, as
we've seen and heard, but for ours.
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And when he does that, our
sins are forgiven, because he forgives
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them by doing justice, by atoning
for the sins that we have committed,
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by acting in this merciful and kind
way, in giving us this thing that
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we did not deserve and, of
course, walking in his will and according
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to his way, and all that
is good. God does not walk humbly
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before himself, but he does walk
according to his will. In all this,
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what we see in Jesus is that
God has fulfilled the requirements of the
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law and he's done it in such
a way that we can be forgiven of
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our sins. God Is Truly Gracious, then, and this is how we
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ultimately ought to remember the things that
God calls us to remember, when we
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look back on the history of the
world and remember these events, like Balec
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and Balem, like Egypt and the
Promised Land, weary these stories. They
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teach us about God's righteous requirements,
but they also teach us about his promise,
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they teach us about his salvation,
about, as it says here,
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his redemption, and they teach us
that ultimately, a king and a priest,
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a king and a prophet, would
come who is one and the same,
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Jesus, who doesn't require us to
bargain it out for good with God,
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to try and get some sort of
compromise with him, but comes to
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save us from our sin, to
redeem us from all in righteousness, so
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that we can move forward and confidence
into the Promised Land. And so,
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when you hear the righteous requirements of
the Lord, when you remember his great
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strength and promises to his people,
see them fulfilled. In Jesus, put
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your trust there, hope in him
for all things, and God will lead
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you forward over any powers and strengths
of this world, be they spiritual or
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physical. God is God and overcomes
all for his people. Let us pray
