March 9, 2014 Micah Belonging to Yahveh Friday morning I was driving for less than ten minutes ~ listening to “Christian” radio and heard, the radio preacher guy say... “There is nothing that you can do to please God.” But thats not what the bible says... God says that there are all kinds of things that you can do that will please Him – to begin with – put the faith that Hes given you in Him – that pleases Him to no end! When a person first does that, it kicks off a huge celebration in heaven! (Dozens of references to what is pleasing to God like I Peter 2: 19,20) Your faith in God, pleases Him. Humility pleases Him, Kindness pleases Him, Your love for others pleases Him, your honesty, compassion, gratefulness, mercy, efforts for justice, your charity and sharing with the poor ~ all please Him. And theres lots more. What a slander of God to say that when we do whats right, He couldnt care less. And when youve got 90% of the evangelical community believing this slander ~ no wonder our Christian lives are such weak sauce. Just look up the words “Please” and “Pleasing” and see how un-Godly the teaching is that tries to convince you, that “Theres nothing that you can do that pleases God.” So a moment later, after hearing what that guy had to say... Im on another “Christian” station, and get there just in time to hear another guy quoting Hebrews 12:6... “For whom the Lord loves, He disciplines... And he stopped the quote right there and made sure all of his students understood, “Not punishes, but disciplines for...” And I cant remember what he said, after that. The problem is, I know Hebrews 12: 6 and it says... “For whom the Lord loves, He disciplines, and He whips every son whom He receives.” The guy only quoted half the verse and then gave his opinion, in direct, 180 degree, contradiction to what God actually said. ~~~ Please, be careful what you swallow. Its almost like theres a conspiracy to convince believers that nothing you do matters and God doesnt care nor will He do much of anything. Now that Ive got that off my chest... The Old Testament book of Micah... about 40 pages in front of Matthew... right after Jonah and before Nahum. You may not know where to find Micah, but if youve been a Christian for very long, you probably know a few quotes from Micah. One of them is famously chiseled in stone on the side of the U.N. Building in New York. The reference on the side of the building credits Isaiah, but it is said in both Isaiah and Micah, and God probably had Micah write it down first. Again, its another interesting, partial ~ out of context ~ quote... On the side of the U.N. Building is written... “And they will beat their swords into plows, and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not lift up a sword against nation, nor will they learn war any longer. ” Its found in Isaiah 2 and Micah 4: 3 I suppose that chiseling verses in stone is expensive and they were probably running fairly short on money... so they left out the words on either side which give credit to Yahveh God, the God of the Jews, Who speaks from Jerusalem. Isnt it just like satan to selectively quote parts of Scripture to a satanic end. To make it sound like the Bible says that mankind can pull this off. Another quote from Micah that you might be familiar with is Chapter 6, verses 7 and 8 ~ especially verse 8... “Does Yahveh take delight in thousands of rams, In ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I present my firstborn for my rebellious acts, The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has told you ~ O man ~ what is good; And what Yahveh requires of you ~ but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” It pleases Him, when we do. And... “God is not evil, that He would disregard your works, and your love which you showed in My name...” (Hebrews 6:10) Theres one more quote from Micah that you might know – probably the most famous quote from Micah... its in chapter 5, verse 2, but Ill also read a few more verses... “And you, Bethlehem Ephratah ~ small among the thousands of Judah ~ out of you He will come forth to Me, to become the One ruling in Israel” Thats Jesus ~ Yeshua, the Master ~ the Messiah ~ God born in human flesh in Bethlehem... “And His goings forth have been from of old ~ from the days of eternity. So He (God)will give them over until the time the one giving birth (Mary) has given birth. Then the rest of His brothers will return to the sons of Israel. (That is the family of God, those who are children of God ~ by virtue of their faith in God ~ will be reunited with the Hebrew people) And He (Jesus) will stand and pastor in the strength of Yahveh ~ in the majesty of the name of Yahveh His God. And they will abide in Him, for now He is great to the ends of the earth. And this One will be Shalom. (Well-being – rightness) When Assyria comes into our land, and when he walks in our palaces...” Micah says that Jesus the Messiah will be born in Bethlehem, and Hell effect, thus and such ~ but right now ~ with the Assyrians wandering all over our land, and our palaces ~ right now ~ the Ancient of days, Jesus ,who existed from of old ~ from eternity past ~ He is (Micah said, back then. Back before Bethlehem) our Peace, our Shalom. Our well-being. So ~ as we read, and think through Micah, well find familiar ground, well find Jesus and faith, along with new things to consider. As we get started, let me give you a little back ground that may help your understanding. Micah was a preacher, preaching in Judah during the lifetime of three different kings... Jotham (an excellent man) Ahaz (a rotten, evil man) and Hezekiah (An outstanding man.) When Micah was an old man, finishing his race, Isaiah was a young man, starting his race. Their lives and ministries overlapped during the reign of Hezekiah. Jotham was a good guy, but the Jewish people were mostly apostate during his reign. Thats where the preaching starts, Mich 1:1... Preaching to apostate – post-God culture. They were getting into Asherim, mother creator goddess worship, but under king Jotham, they couldnt do it openly. Then he went to heaven, and Ahaz took over and he not only allowed Asherim worship, but encouraged it, and encouraged sacrificing to Moloch which was human sacrifice – the sacrificing of new born babies. And Ahaz took all the stuff out of the Temple and then barred the temple doors. Micah was preaching while this was going on. Ahaz couldnt do any of this while his dad was alive, but when dad died – so did restraint. Ahaz started sacrificing the sons that were born to him in the Hinnom valley... and God just took His hands off of Judah. Aram attacked them– Israel attacked em– Edom, Assyria and the Philistines all went on a feeding frenzy, attacking Judah. The bulk of Micah was addressing those realities. Then Hezekiah came to the throne. He inherited his dads disaster (Yeah!) Many kids do... inherit their parents disasters. Hezekiah was fortunate that he was born, when Jotham, his grandpa was still king, before his dad took the throne, or else he might have been sacrificed to Moloch, like some of his brothers. Second Chronicles chapter 29, tells about Hezekiah taking the reigns, and is a great – encouraging, revival, story. Im glad that Micah got to see Hezekiahs day, and see the revival that happened. The last statements in this book probably reflects this good change, when Micah speaks of “Faithfulness” and “Kindness” and I think Micah went to heaven, in peace. But this is all very ancient stuff. Why should we even bother? Well ~ I read and I believe what I read in Isaiah 45:23, and Romans 14:11 and Philippians 2: 10-11 ~ thats theres coming a day when every knee will bow (worship) and every tongue will confess that Jesus Messiah is Master, to the glory of the Father... and Ive thought for years... “Why wait?” Im going to bow and confess now. And I read ~ and I believe what I read ~ in Isaiah 44:5, that theres coming a day when people will say “I belong to Yahveh” Specifically Yahveh God ~Not just to any of the billion invented, generic gods ~ the dime a dozen gods ~ but Yahveh, the God Who invented us and everything else. And in that day, others will want to be identified by the name of Jacob. And other people will write on their hand, “Belonging to Yahveh” and again, I ask myself, “Why wait?” I want to tell people now and even write it on my hand – I belong to Almighty God. And I read ~ and I believe what I read ~ in Micah 4, that theres coming a day when people from all over the world will come to Jerusalem to see the returned King, Jesus the Master. And their specific mission there – and their attitude while there – will be that, “He (God) may teach us about HIS ways – that we might walk in HIS paths.” And I thought, “Why wait?” Im planing on studying Micah specifically for what I can learn about Gods way ~ that I might walk in His path. Ill study the history and the setting too, but that wont be my main focus. My focus will be to get to know God better, and I invite you to join me... with the Holy Spirits help; to thoughtfully read and consider what God has to reveal about Himself. So that we might walk in a manner that pleases Him – I hope youll join me.
Posted on: Sun, 09 Mar 2014 06:41:51 +0000
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