So as Pastor Steve mentioned, we are starting a new series in the book of Micah. So if you can turn to Micah, and don't be embarrassed if you have to look at your table of contents to find exactly where Micah is. And it is interesting also, as we finished the study of Genesis, we were going through two or three chapters at a time as we were finishing. And tonight, we're gonna look at one verse. One verse of scripture will be our study tonight. And as we begin this study, there was a question in the bulletin that asked, when one considers the office of prophet, what comes to mind? One considers the office of prophet, what comes to mind? Yes, Dawn. OK, someone who has received direct revelation from God. Yes, Terry? Spokesman for him. OK, a spokesman for God. Yes, Enoch? Prophesying the future. OK, telling of future things, things to come. Anyone else? Yes, Dan. Somebody who's going to Israel and telling about the coming judgment. OK, all right, someone who speaks about coming judgment. Anyone else? Yes, Caleb. Someone who will be reviled for their prophecies. OK. Someone who will not be popular, but will instead be reviled and will be challenged for what they have to say on God's behalf. Anyone else? Yes, promise. If they are true prophets, they bring message from God and have their own message. OK. Yes. Correct. Anyone else? all good and correct answers. They are messengers of God and those who speak for God. In Numbers 12, 6 through 8, we read, and he said, hear my words. If there is a prophet among you, I, the Lord, make myself known to him in a vision. I speak with him in a dream. And this is when God was confronting Miriam for their speaking against Moses. And in verse 7, It says, not so with my servant Moses. He is faithful in all my house. With him I speak mouth to mouth clearly and not in riddles. And he beholds the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses? They speak what is true and what actually comes to pass. Deuteronomy 18. Verses 20 through 22, we are told this, but the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die. And if you say in your heart, how may we know the word that the Lord has not spoken, when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the Lord has not spoken. Prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him. And so if that tells us who a false prophet is, the true prophet is one who speaks what actually comes to pass. Perhaps we think of specific people throughout scripture. Abraham, in Genesis 27, was called a prophet. Moses, in Deuteronomy 18, 15 through 18, said, the Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers, as he was speaking of Christ. Think of Samuel. We think of Nathan, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel. You can go through all of the various prophets, even John the Baptist. Then, in the New Testament, we have these verses. Hebrews one one says long ago at many times and in many ways God spoke to our fathers by the prophets God spoke to his people by the prophets. And finally, in Ephesians 2, verses 19 through 21, we read this. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone in whom the whole structure being joined together grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him, you are also being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. So we see there that the prophets are part of the very foundation of the church. So it is important for us to study the prophets. Jesus referred to the writings of the prophets in his teachings, as did the apostles in their preaching and writing. And if we are to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, We must study all of the word of Christ, which includes the prophets, and not just the major ones. And they are called major prophets. When you think of Isaiah and Jeremiah and Daniel and Ezekiel, they're called major because the books are longer. Doesn't mean that they're more important than the other category, which our study, the book that we'll be studying falls in, which are called the Minor Prophets. And the only reason they're called minor is because they are shorter. Doesn't mean that they are less significant. Their word is the word of God. And so if we are to study the full counsel of God, that must include the Minor Prophets, which brings us to the series that we begin tonight, as we begin to study the book of Micah. So with that as the introduction, let us stand together to read Micah chapter 1, verse 1. 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. You may be seated. And as we begin to consider the book, this verse provides the building blocks for our introduction to the book. Because in this verse, we can answer the important questions of who, what, where, and when. And in considering these questions, we'll work through the verse, and we'll see the divine content of the Book of Micah, the human author of the Book of Micah, and the historical context of the book. of Micah. And so first in 1a we see the divine content of the book of Micah. From the opening words of the book we are told of this divine context. In the first part of verse 1 we read, the word of the Lord that came. The opening of the book in this way makes certain that the reader knows the word that came and the words found in this book are not words from mere men. This is the word of the Lord. Notice that the letters are capitalized, which means that it is pointing to and telling us that these are the words of Yahweh, the personal name of God, indicating his personal covenant-keeping nature. And because these are the words of Yahweh, they are eternal words. They are true words. They are inerrant words. They are authoritative words. And as Hebrews 4.12 tells us, the words are living and active words. Note the indication in this first part of the verse that the word of the Lord came. Yahweh took the initiative to bring the word to the human author of the book and to bring the word into the historical context of the book. Man was not looking for it. Man did not conjure it up. There was no human initiative. There was no human seeking. But God's word came. And later in verse 1, we're told that the word of the Lord was made to be seen. Yahweh's message was revealed to man. And the coming of God's word and the message being revealed to man is not without a purpose. As we read in Isaiah 55 verses 10 through 11, as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth. It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which it was sent. So we see here that these words that we are to read in this book are the word of the Lord. And it is the word of the Lord that came to an actual person at an actual point in time. And in the next section of verse 1, we learn about the one to whom the word of God came, the human author of the book of Micah. 1b. The word of the Lord came to Micah of Moresheth. Micah is the author of the book. His name Micah is the shortened version of Micah Yehu and means who is like Jehovah or who is like God. There were several Micahs in the Old Testament, and surely several and many Micahs that lived during that time. But we're told that this Micah was of Moresheph, or Moresheph Gath, as you would see in verse four, which was a small village. On the last page of your outline is a map of Israel during the time of Micah. And on that map, And I will say you'll see the reference as to where it came from. I cannot vouch for the teaching on this, but I found that they had a very good map, and so I'm using it. On this map, you will see the indication of number eight on the map being Moresheth Gath. You'll see that where the word temple is indicated, there's a star, which means that's Jerusalem. You'll see a star in Samaria, and then you'll see the golden calves of Dan and Bethel, and we will get into all of that later on in our study. But the map indicates that Moresheth Gath was located on the border of Judah and Philistia, and was approximately 25 miles southwest of Jerusalem. And so this town, this village, was actually a satellite of Gath. which was occasionally under Israel's control. Moresheth lay within a six-mile radius area containing several towns that had been fortified by Rehoboam, who was the king of Judah. And these cities made up a network of towns that protected Jerusalem and Judah from invaders who might attack from the coastal highway, whether it was Egypt or Philistia. This area of Judah was largely agricultural and sat outside of the centers of political and religious power. This was not a place of influence. But the word of the Lord still came to Micah and at the point in history that God chose. Not seen on the map, but to the north of Dan was the mighty Assyrian Empire. And the continued expansion of this world empire, the Assyrians at this time and its impact on Israel and Judah will also be further highlighted later in our study. But on a personal level, note in verse one that Micah's background isn't shared, his genealogy isn't shared, his profession isn't shared, the only detail shared about the man to whom the word of the Lord came is his name and where he lives. Which highlights that what we are to be focusing on is the word of the Lord. The word of the Lord is the most important part of what we are to know about Micah and the ministry he received from God in verse one. So in the last section of verse one, we learn the historical context of the book of Micah. And this is where we are going to spend the bulk of our time this evening, because it's important, any book of prophecy, to understand the historical context. So often we have heard, or at least I can say in my own experience, you hear books of prophecy treated well outside of the historical context. There's no dealing with the historical context of the book. It's studied outside of time. And that is not a correct way to study it. We have to understand that these words were to a specific group of people at a specific group of as specific point in time but that these are eternal words from god that have bearing not only on those first years but have bearing on our lives as well in the bearing of on many uh... or all people's lives throughout history so in this last section of verse one reread that the word of the lord came to my cat in the days of jocelyn Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem. And that brings us to the second question that was in the bulletin. What is significant about the kings and the cities mentioned in Micah 1.1? What is significant about them? Promise? Okay. All right. Anyone else? Say that again? I can think of Hezekiah, who is mentioned also in Isaiah. And he's gonna die and pray to live, God, one more time. And with that blessed time, Okay, all right. Anyone else? What's significant? Anyone else? See people, oh, I'm sorry, Tyce. Right, they're in succession or right after one another, which is how they reigned, and we'll look at that in the scripture in a minute. All right, well, let's work backwards and go from there. So first, the mention of Samaria and Jerusalem tells us that Micah was written during the time that the kingdom was divided. The kingdom was divided, as it shows on the map. Israel was part of the northern kingdom. Jerusalem was the capital of the southern kingdom. And so as the capital of each part of the kingdom, they were the representatives of those kingdoms. How did that come to be? We're going to do a history lesson tonight on how we ended up in this place. After Solomon's death in around 930 BC, we read in 1 Kings chapter 12 of the folly of Rehoboam, Solomon's son. So I want us to turn to 1 Kings chapter 12. First Kings chapter 12. I'll start reading at verse 1. Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had come to Shechem to make him king. And as soon as Jeroboam, the son of Nabot, heard of it, for he was still in Egypt, where he had fled from King Solomon, Jeroboam returned from Egypt. They sent and called him and Jeroboam and all the assembly of Israel came and said to Rehoboam, your father made our yoke heavy. Now therefore lighten the hard service of your father and his heavy yoke on us and we will serve you. He said to them, go away for three days and come again to me. So the people went away. Then King Rehoboam took counsel with the old men. who had stood before Solomon his father while he was yet alive, saying, How do you advise me to answer this people? And they said to him, If you will be a servant to this people today and serve them and speak good words to them when you answer them, then they will be your servants forever. But he abandoned the counsel that the old men gave him and took counsel with the young men who had grown up with him and stood before him. And he said to them, what do you advise that we answer this people who have said to me, lighten the yoke that your father put on us? And the young men who had grown up with him said to him, thus shall you speak to this people who said to you, your father made our yoke heavy, but you lighten it for us. Thus you shall say to them, my little finger is thicker than my father's thighs. And now, whereas my father laid on you a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke. My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions. So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam the third day, as the king said, come to me again the third day. And the king answered the people harshly in forsaking the counsel that the old men had given him. He spoke to them according to the counsel of the young men saying, my father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke. My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions. So the king did not listen to the people. For it was a turn of affairs brought about by the Lord that he might fulfill his word, which the Lord spoke by Ahaiah, the Shilonite, to Jeroboam, the son of Naboth." So here, just as Solomon dies, the people come asking Rehoboam to lighten the burden on them. Instead of listening to the old men who stood before his father, he listens to the young men instead. He makes life, in essence, he's saying, I'm going to make life tougher for you. And what was that? That was, as he said, my father, discipline you with whips. I will discipline you with scorpions. I'm going to make life worse. I'm going to be an even stronger hand than my father. But we see that this turn of events was brought about by the Lord. This was something that the Lord had actually spoken to this man, Jeroboam, who was mentioned earlier. And who was Jeroboam? He was a man who was a servant of Solomon who rebelled against Solomon, then fled into Egypt. And we're told here that he returns to Israel, returns as a leader of the people, And in this instance, because of the response of Rehoboam, we then read in 1 Kings 12, verse 26, it says, and Jeroboam said in his heart, Now the kingdom will turn back to the house of David after he had brought with him many of the tribes of Israel. If this people go up to offer sacrifices in the temple of the Lord of Jerusalem, in the heart of this people will turn again to the Lord, to Rehoboam, king of Judah, and they will kill me and return to Rehoboam, king of Judah. So the king took counsel and made two calves of gold. He said to the people, you have gone up to Jerusalem long enough. Behold your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. And he set one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan. And this thing became a sin for the people, went as far as Dan to be before one. He also made temples on the high places and appointed priests from among all the people who were not of the Levites. And Jeroboam appointed a feast on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, like the feast that was in Judah, and he offered sacrifices on the altar. So he did in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves that he made. And he placed in Bethel the priests of the high places that he had made. He went up to the altar that he had made in Bethel on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, the month that he had devised from his own heart, and he instituted a feast for the people of Israel, and went up to the altar to make offerings." And so in order to establish this northern kingdom, he replaced the true worship of God that was to happen in Jerusalem by setting up these two calves, one in Dan at the northern part and one at Bethel, the southern part of Israel. So 10 of the tribes go with Jeroboam. And instead of going to Jerusalem for the feasts, instead of doing what God had commanded in the law, They went to these two places. And don't think that it is not very strategic that he put one in the north and one in the south to make it easier for people to get to than having to travel all the way to Jerusalem. So over 100 years after the kingdom split, Israel and Judah under Jeroboam II, around 793 to 753 BC, and Uzziah, who reigned from 792 to 740, experienced great material and economic prosperity. But they also experienced political, social, moral, and religious corruption. And so the kings mentioned in verse 1 are all kings of Judah, who reigned in the southern kingdom. And they came after Uzziah, who is also called Azariah in 2 Kings 15. And we learn more about them in 2 Chronicles 26, 16 through 32, verse 33, and in 2 Kings 15 through 20. And so I want us to look at these three kings who are mentioned here. First, let's go to Jotham. So go to 2 Kings chapter 15. 2 Kings 15, starting at verse 1. It says, in the 27th year of Jeroboam, king of Israel. And so remember, he is the one who has established the northern kingdom. It says, Azariah, the son of Amaziah, and Azariah, his alternate name is Uzziah, king of Judah, began to reign. He was 16 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned 52 years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jechaliah of Jerusalem. And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord according to all that his father Amaziah had done. Nevertheless, the high places were not taken away. The people still sacrificed and made offerings on the high places. And the Lord touched the king so that he was a leper the day of his death. And he lived in a separate house. And Jotham, the king's son, was over the household governing the people of the land. Now the rest of the acts of Azariah and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? Azariah slept with his fathers, and they buried him with his fathers in the city of David. And Jotham, his son, reigned in his place. And so we see just a very abbreviated version of what happened to King Uzziah. who was someone who was a follower of God at the beginning of his reign. But when he became strong, pride entered his heart. And he actually tried to take on the role of the priest, to go into the temple and make sacrifices. And God struck him, as we read here, and gave him leprosy. So his son, Jotham, began to govern the land, even though he was not the king. And then when King Uzziah died, he became the king. Let's go to 2 Chronicles 27 to read what it says here about Jopham. 2 Chronicles 27. And we are going to be going back and forth between 2 Chronicles and 2 Kings as we look at these kings mentioned here. 2 Chronicles 27. It says Jotham was 25 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned 16 years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jerusha, the daughter of Zadok. He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord according to all that his father Uzziah had done, except he did not enter the temple of the Lord. But the people still followed corrupt practices. He built the upper gate of the house of the Lord and did much building on the wall of Ophel. Moreover, he built cities in the hill country of Judah and forts and towers on the wooded hills. He fought with the king of the Ammonites and prevailed against them. And the Ammonites gave him that year 100 talents of silver and 10,000 cores of wheat and 10,000 of barley. The Ammonites paid him the same amount in the second and third years. So Jotham became mighty because he ordered his ways before the Lord his God. Now the rest of the acts of Jotham and all his wars and his ways, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah. He was 25 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned 16 years in Jerusalem. And Jotham slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David, and Ahaz his son reigned in his place. So you see here that just by reading of his fighting against the Ammonites and his prevailing against them, one would say he had a pretty good kingship. But what did we read in verse 2? He did not enter the temple of the Lord. But the people still followed corrupt practices. The king was to be the one to lead the people, not only in terms of military, not only in terms of governing, but also in the worship of God. And so, his not entering the temple of the Lord, while, yes, he seemed to be blessed by the Lord, how would one know what God required? How would one know what was corrupt and what was not? be the law of God. And where was the law of God kept? In the temple of the Lord. Yet he did not enter. And so he dies. And his son, as we're told, Ahaz, ascends the throne. Let's look at chapter 28 of 2 Chronicles. Verse 1. Ahaz was 20 years old when he began to reign. And he reigned 16 years in Jerusalem. And he did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord as his father David had done, but he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel. He even made metal images for the bales, and he made offerings in the valley of the son of Hinnom, and burned his sons as an offering according to the abominations of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel. And he sacrificed and made offerings on the high places and on the hills and under every green tree. So Jotham didn't enter the temple of God. He didn't look to learn from the law of God. He didn't pass any kind of godly heritage down to his son. And what do we see in his son's generation? Total rejection of God. And not only a total rejection of God and His law, it says that He walked in the ways of the kings of Israel. And if you know the history of the kings of Israel, they were pretty much all evil. They did not go about destroying the false worship that had been set up by Jeroboam, the first king of Israel. And we're told that he went even further to make metal images for the Baals, and that he made offerings in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom and burned his sons as an offering. He offered his children as a sacrifice in a practice that God cursed, a practice that God spoke directly through the law, saying that you are not to participate in this kind of act, burning the children, of putting them into the fire. Let's go to 2 Kings 16. Second King 16, and this is also, this is the other rendering of who Ahaz was, according to the scriptures. In the seventeenth year of Pekah, the son of Remaliah, Ahaz the son of Jotham, king of Judah, began to reign. Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. And he did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord his God, as his father David had done, but he walked in the way of the kings of Israel. He even burned his son as an offering according to the despicable practices of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel. He sacrificed and made offerings on the high places and on the hills and under every green tree. Then Rezan, king of Syria, and Pekah, the son of Romali, a king of Israel, came up to wage war on Jerusalem, and they besieged Ahaz, but could not conquer him. That time, Rezan the king of Syria recovered Elath from Syria and drove the men of Judah from Elath. And the Edomites came to Elath, where they dwell to this day. So Ahaz sent messengers to take Elath, Pelasar king of Assyria, saying, I am your servant and your son. come up and rescue me from the hand of the king of Syria, from the hand of the king of Israel who are attacking me. Ahaz also took the silver and gold that was found in the house of the Lord, and in the treasures of the king's house, and sent a present to the king of Assyria. The king of Assyria listened to him. The king of Assyria marched up against Damascus and took it, carrying its people captive to Kerr, and he killed Rezin." And so we see Not only was he participating in these abominable practices, but he's involved in war. There is no peace during his reign. And instead of looking to the Lord, who did he look to? He looked to Assyria for help. He called upon Assyria for help. And how many times throughout the Old Testament are kings rebuked for their not looking to God for help? but instead looking to man. And then finally, related to Ahaz, let's go back to 2 Chronicles 28 and see how he is described in verse 22. In the time of his distress, he became yet more faithless to the Lord. This same king Ahaz, for he sacrificed to the gods of Damascus that had defeated him, and said, Because the gods of the kings of Syria helped them, I will sacrifice to them that they may help me. They were the ruin of him and of all Israel. And Ahaz gathered together the vessels of the house of God and cut in pieces the vessels of the house of God. And he shut up the doors of the house of the Lord and he made himself altars in every corner of Jerusalem. In every city of Judah he made high places to make offerings to other gods, provoking to anger the Lord, the God of his fathers. Now the rest of his acts all his ways from first to last. Behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel. And Ahaz slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city, in Jerusalem. For they did not bring him into the tombs of the kings of Israel. And Hezekiah his son reigned in his place." And so instead, of the difficulties and the war and the increasing hostility that he faced, instead of that driving him to seek the Lord's help, it says in verse 22 that he became yet more faithless to the Lord. He is setting the example for Israel. He is the one who is supposed to be leading Israel into the worship of God. And yet, what do we find him doing? Stripping the house of the Lord of its silver and gold and other things. We see him shutting up the doors of the house of the Lord. We see him making altars in every corner of Jerusalem. This is what's going on during the time of Micah. Imagine that in the southern kingdom where the temple of God has been set up for the worship of God, the king is reacting to all of the war and all of the battles that he is facing. And instead of turning to God, instead of going to the house of the Lord, he's shutting it up And he's using the house of the Lord to try to gain favor with foreign kings and seeking their help. And in verse 27, we're told that Hezekiah, his son, reigned in his place. Let us go back to 2 Kings to read of Hezekiah. Hezekiah, or 2 Kings 18, verse 1. where we read of Hezekiah. The third year of Hosea, son of Elah, king of Israel. Hezekiah, the son of Ahaz, king of Judah, began to reign. He was 25 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned 29 years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Abi, the daughter of Zechariah, and he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord according to all that David, his father, had done. He removed the high places and broke the pillars and cut down the Asherah. He broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the people of Israel had made offerings to it. It was called Nehushtan. He trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel, so that there was none like him among all the kings of Judah after him, nor among those who were before him. For he held fast to the Lord. He did not depart from following him, but kept the commandments that the Lord commanded Moses. And the Lord was with him. Wherever he went out, he prospered. He rebelled against the king of Assyria and would not serve him. He struck down the Philistines as far as Gaza and its territory from watchtower to fortified city." So here we see Hezekiah, son of Ahaz, who did not have a godly example set before him. We see him doing what is right in the Lord's eyes. We see the testimony of him who removed the high places, who broke down the pillars. It says that he broke in pieces the bronze serpent that the Lord had crafted so that the people could look to it and be saved back in the wilderness. And what had happened to it? It became an idol. Even to rid the nation of this idolatry, he destroyed it. He trusted in the Lord his God. He held fast to the Lord. He did not depart from following him. So we see here the very grace of God. He did not have a godly example to follow. His father had shown the total opposite of what it would mean to be one who follows God. And so as we look at these kingships, The maximum time period for the Book of Micah, say if we went from the time of Jotham all the way through Hezekiah, it would go from 750 BC to 686 BC, covering approximately 64 years. And the minimum time period for the book would have been 735 BC to 715, covering 20 years. Many place Micah's ministry somewhere in between, covering approximately 35 years, between 735 and 700 BC. And during this period, listen to the significant historical events that occurred. In 734 to 732 BC, Tiglath-Pileser III of Assyria led a military campaign against Syria, Philistia, and parts of Israel and Judah. Ashkelon and Gaza were defeated. Judah, Ammon, Edom, and Moab paid tribute. All of these are nations that surrounded Israel, paid tribute to the Assyrian king, but Israel did not fare as well. According to 2 Kings 15.29, the northern kingdom lost most of its territory, including all of Gilead and much of Galilee. Damascus fell in 732 and was annexed to the Assyrian Empire. And what the Assyrians would do is when they conquered a region, they didn't just simply go in and take over. What they would do is they would go in, remove the people of that land, and bring people from another part of their empire to totally wipe out the culture of that land. In 722 to 721, Samaria fell. The northern kingdom of Israel was conquered by Assyria. And so Assyria came in, removed all of the folks that lived there, for the most part, and brought in people from other parts of the empire. In 712, King Sargon The second of Assyria captured Ashdod. And in 701, Judah joined a revolt against Assyria and was overrun by King Sennacherib and his army, though Jerusalem was spared. Note that during this time period as well, there are other prophets who are ministering. In 750 to 715, Hosea is ministering in the northern kingdom. In 740 to 700 BC, Isaiah is ministering in the southern kingdom. And Amos was an older contemporary in whose ministry had probably ended around the time that Hosea's had begun. And so think of it. Think of the book of Isaiah, and think of Micah's. Isaiah and Micah were ministering in the southern kingdom at the same time. But while Isaiah ministered in the capital city, and even ministered to King Hezekiah himself, Micah ministered in relative obscurity. And yet, they were preaching much of the same word of God. Both carried the word of the Lord to their generation. And this word came in the context of constant threats by foreign occupiers, in constant shifting of the religious devotion of kings, leaders of the people, and truly in the context of Assyria, who moved from the north and captured Israel during this period of time. And what was the word that God had Micah deliver to his generation? And that brings us to our next question. If you read through Micah, what are some of the major themes that you saw in the book? What are some of the major themes? Yes, Enoch. OK? So it's to both Israel and Judah. It's not necessarily to one specific kingdom. So both of them are being spoken to. Terry? God's judgment on them. God's judgment on them. Promise of judgment. And judgment for what? Their sin. We see much of the sin of Israel and Judah shown in Micah. We will see idolatry. We will see prostitution. We will see the plotting and doing of evil. We will see covetousness. We will see the defrauding of people, robbery, oppression, bribery. All of these sins will be part of what we will see in the book. And because of this sin, there is the promise of judgment. Anything else that we see? Yes, promise. A call to repentance. OK, call to repentance. Yes? That there will be peace between Israel and their enemies, because it says that Israel will turn their swords into plowshares. Yes. So there are also promises of restoration. Yes, Caleb. The promised Messiah. The Messiah we will see. Yes, Andre. Yeah, we will see promises of judgment and promises of salvation. And in your outline, you will see what I found was a useful outline from the New American Commentary. And it basically indicates that there are three cycles in the book of Micah. First cycle is from chapter 1, verse 2 through 2.13. And in that, we see judgment and salvation. The second cycle is chapters 3 through 5. Again, judgment in three, and salvation in four through five. And in the third cycle, six, one through seven, 20, judgment and salvation. And in this outline, each of the three cycles begins with the word hear. H-E-A-R, listen. There's a call for people to obey what will be said. In two, one, we read, hear you peoples, all of you. In 3-1 we read, and I said, hear you heads of Jacob and rulers of the house of Israel. And then in 6-1, hear what the Lord says. From there, the Lord, through Micah, bears witness against the sins of the people and issues his indictment against their sins. He promises judgment, but also promises salvation and restoration, the culmination of which is found in Micah 7, verses 18 through 20. Who is a God like you? Notice that phrase. What does Micah's name mean? Who is like God? This is a form of his name, who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression from the remnants of his inheritance. He does not retain his anger forever because he delights in steadfast love. He will again have compassion on us. He will tread our iniquities underfoot. He will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea. You will show faithfulness to Jacob and steadfast love to Abraham as you have sworn to our fathers from the days of old. This is a great promise, the forgiveness of sin, forgiveness of transgression, of restoration. What is interesting is that because these themes of judgment, are then connected so quickly or followed so quickly by the themes of salvation there have been many scholars who have contended that while chapters 1 through 3 were authored by Micah that perhaps chapters 4 through 7 were not But these scholars that seek to remove Micah as the author of chapters 4 through 7 have sought to do so by seeking, as Barker said in his commentary, to undermine the validity of supernatural revelation, divine inspiration, miracles, and predictive prophecy, including long-range predictions. But scripture itself speaks to the validity of what Micah spoke. In Micah 3.12, The destruction of Jerusalem is predicted, and he is the first prophet to do so. Over 100 years later, Jeremiah would predict the same thing, and Micah's prophecy would be the basis for Jeremiah's defense when his execution was sought. Let us quickly turn to Jeremiah 26. Jeremiah 26. To get the context, we'll start at verse 1. In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came from the Lord. Thus says the Lord, stand in the court of the Lord's house and speak to all the cities of Judah that come to worship in the house of the Lord. All the words that I command you to speak to them, do not hold back a word. It may be they will listen and everyone turn from his evil way, that I may relent of the disaster that I intend to do to them because of their evil deeds. You shall say to them, thus says the Lord, if you will not listen to me, to walk in my law that I have set before you, and to listen to the words of my servants, the prophets whom I send to you urgently, though you have not listened, then I will make this house like Shiloh. I will make this city a curse for all the nations of the earth. the priests, and the prophets, and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the Lord. And when Jeremiah had finished speaking all that the Lord had commanded him to speak to all the people, then the priests, and the prophets, and all the people laid hold of him, saying, You shall die. Why have you prophesied in the name of the Lord, saying, This house shall be like Shiloh, and this city shall be desolate, without inhabitant? And all the people gathered around Jeremiah in the house of the Lord. When the officials of Judah heard these things, they came up from the king's house to the house of the Lord and took their seat in the entry of the new gate of the house of the Lord. And the priests and the prophets said to the officials and to all the people, this man deserves the sentence of death because he has prophesied against the city as you have heard with your own ears. And so you see Jeremiah standing and declaring that Jerusalem would be destroyed. And what is the response of the people? Kill him. They grab a hold of him. They seek to put him to death. Verse 16. Then the officials and all the people said to the priests and the prophets, this man does not deserve the sentence of death, for he has spoken to us in the name of the Lord our God. And certain of the elders of the land arose and spoke to all the assembled people, saying, Micah of Moresheth prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah, and said to all the people of Judah, thus says the Lord of hosts, Zion shall be plowed as a field, Jerusalem shall become a heap of ruins, and the mountain of the house a wooded height. Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah put him to death? Did he not fear the Lord and entreat the favor of the Lord? And did not the Lord relent of the disaster that he had pronounced against them? But we are about to bring great disaster upon ourselves. There was another man who prophesied in the name of the Lord, Uriah, the son of Shemaiah, from Kiriath-Jerim. He prophesied against this city and against this land in words like those of Jeremiah. When the king Jehoiakim with all his warriors and all the officials heard his words, the king sought to put him to death. But when Uriah heard of it, he was afraid and fled and escaped to Egypt. And King Jehoiakim sent to Egypt certain men, El Nathan, the son of Achbor, and others with him. And they took Uriah from Egypt and brought him to the King Jehoiakim, who struck him down with the sword and dumped his dead body into the burial place of the common people. But the hand of Ahicham, the son of Shaphan, was with Jeremiah so that he was not given over to the people to be put to death." Jeremiah preached the same message. Micah's words were his defense. And the response of King Hezekiah was pointed to as the right response to what Micah had prophesied. In Micah 5.2, he prophesies of the Messiah, not only of his birthplace, Bethlehem, but also who he is, the ruler of Israel and from ancient of days, speaking of both Christ's human lineage, but also his deity. We read in Matthew 2, verses 1 through 6, the words of the scribes and the chief priests who report to Herod that it is in Bethlehem, as Micah had prophesied, that Messiah, King of the Jews, would be born. In John 7, 42, the people as well, as they were speaking of Christ, talked about the place of Bethlehem being his birthplace. And in Micah 7, 6, Micah 7, 5, and 6, Micah speaks of the breakdown and upheaval of human relationships. And Christ speaks of his coming in Matthew 10, 35 and 36 of his coming as having the same effect. So we see Micah's words coming to pass, as is the requirement of any prophet. We see Micah's words standing the test of time. being repeated and brought to bear upon the case of Jeremiah, and then being spoken of in the New Testament with the birth of the Messiah. All of this from Micah 1.1. God's word is eternal. And God's word spoke to the people of Israel and Judah at this point of time. This verse is simply not an introductory verse. But this verse also shows us something of the grace of God. We don't have time to ask the question, so I'll answer it. In what ways are God's grace shown? In this opening verse of Micah, God sent his word. Was God required to send his word? No. Were the people of Micah's time deserving to hear the warnings of the promise of judgment? No. And yet, God sent his word. Also, see that God works in ways that we would not work. If we wanted a nation to listen, if we wanted people to repent, who would we likely bring our word to? The king, some great leader or some great religious leader. But God brings his word to an ordinary man and uses this ordinary man to preach about sin, to preach about the need for repentance, to preach of who God is. He is a holy God, promises judgment, but also a God who promises salvation. So often, God uses ordinary people to accomplish his eternal good. So for application, we should heed the words of God. These are additional. I added some after the outline was created, so you won't see this one. But we should heed the words of God that we will study in Micah. We live in a very similar time. We live in a time of uncertainty where there are wars and rumors of wars. where there is corruption in both our political and religious institutions. In 1 Corinthians 10 verses 6 through 11, while it's speaking specifically about the effects of idolatry upon Israel during their wilderness wanderings, carries an underlying principle for us. Listen to this. It says, now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did. Do not be idolaters as some of them were, as it is written. The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry. We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did. And in one day, 23,000 of them died. We should not test Christ, as some of them did, and were killed by snakes. And do not grumble, as some of them did, and were killed by the destroying angel. Verse 11, these things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us on whom the culmination of the ages has come. The words that we will study in Micah are just as much for us. The warnings that we will read in Micah are just as much for us. And also the promises of salvation and restoration are just as much for us. Secondly, we should boldly declare God's promise of coming judgment and his salvation Both are seen in the gospel. 2 Corinthians 5, 11-21, it says, Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others, but what we are is known to God, and I hope it is known also to your conscience. Paul goes on to say, verse 14, for the love of Christ controls us because we have concluded this, that one has died for all, therefore all have died. And he died for all that those who might live might no longer live for themselves, but for him who for their sake died and was raised. And the final point of application, we should see God's revelation of himself in his word as sufficient. Some people wrongly say that we need new revelation from God. We do not. Additionally, there are some of our age that have titled themselves as a prophet or prophetess. They are not. Prophets are no longer needed. God has provided a full revelation of who he is to us through his word. For those who make this claim of needing new revelation or additional revelation from God, should come this question, what have we done with the revelation that God has already provided for us? Have we taken it to heart? Have we fully embraced it? Have we fully obeyed? Same question is asked of the people of Micah's day, and that is the confrontation seen in the book of Micah as he brings the word of the Lord to bear on the lives of the first hearers of this word. So as we embark on this study, may God grant us the grace to take to heart and apply what we will study through the book of Micah, particularly what we will read later on in Micah 6, 8, where we read, he has told you, oh man, what is good. What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? We are over our time, so I will pray. But you can feel free afterwards to discuss any questions or any comments. But let us go to the Lord in prayer. Our God and Father, we thank you for your word, and we thank you for book of Micah, this man that you empowered to preach your word in his generation. Lord, as we go about studying this book, we pray that you would do a mighty work in our hearts and in our lives, that we would take to heart all that we read, and that we would live out your word. And that just as Micah was, and the other prophets that we have studied and who are in the Bible, help us to be bold in the proclamation of your Gospel to the glory of your name. We thank you once again for this time and we ask that you would bear fruit in our lives. Fruit that would remain and that would be to your glory. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.