b-9 The peace and vindication of Zion
Micah 5:5b-9 · Miles Driedger · Jan 19, 2025
Micah, No. 13
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://www.hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/4926193813188

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

We'll probably talk more than a little about Israel this morning, I guess. That is our intention here. Have you shared your screen yet? Oh yeah, it did not come up for you. It could be hidden behind. Are you seeing it on Zoom? Yeah, on Zoom I've got it. It's the same problem we had a couple of weeks ago where it shows up. Yeah, so it just needs to be shared to your screen. It's hidden behind their door.

So while you're getting that going, I'll just mention that I really enjoyed listening in on the MICA class. Because I bounce back and forth between the classes, I don't always get to be in the class live, but I do try to listen back as often as I can, and I've enjoyed everything that I've heard recently in this class, and both Bob and Andrew in the last two classes. Bob Wolfert, I really appreciated your class last week. I listened back to that audio, and I thought you did an awesome job of exegeting those verses. So I think that was your first time joining in the rotation here, so that was great. And Bobby, did we get the video going there yet or no? No. No? Okay. It's okay. I'll just kind of get going and we'll see how it goes. So Bob had made the comment last week about Chapter 4. So Bob was covering the first part of Chapter 5. 2 through 5, but he commented back on chapter 4, he said that God promises Israel a fantastic kingdom, but it will not come easy.

And he said it's like giving birth to a wonderful baby, it won't come without pain and suffering. And Bob pointed out that in verse 3, of chapter 5, it talks about one who is in labor having born a child. And he mentioned that that's not talking about the birth of Jesus. And you can find different opinions on 5.3, but I tend to agree with Bob, especially after having carried out a little more study myself here. And of course, because this Chapter 5 passage does talk about the fact that Jesus comes from Bethlehem, and we know that's related to his birth in Bethlehem, and that's literal, and it was literally fulfilled. But then we tend to associate verse 3 with us talking about Jesus' physical birth of a woman.

But Bob pointed out that when we look back in chapter 4, We see that Micah has already referred to the nation Israel as one who is in agony like a woman in labor. Bob, did I represent what you said correctly there? Yes. Okay, I hope so, because that's what I thought I heard and I agree. The woman in labor in Micah 4 and 5 is the nation of Israel.

And the theme of Israel being like a woman in labor is actually a common theme in the prophets, especially in Isaiah, who was Micah's contemporary. We can look at a few passages in Isaiah quickly that kind of parallel and help give us a bit more of this picture. Isaiah 13, verses 6 through 8.

It says, Wail for the day of the Lord is near. It will come as destruction from the Almighty. Therefore all hands will fall limp and every man's heart will melt. They will be terrified. Pains and anguish will take hold of them. They will rise like a woman in labor.

And so here we see the labor pains are describing Israel's distress in the day of the Lord. It's not just Israel's distress, it's a global distress that falls on all mankind, but we do see sometimes that Israel is specifically in focus with this. And then we see Isaiah 26, 17-19. It says, As the pregnant woman approaches the time to give birth, she writhes and cries out in her labor pains. Thus were we before you, O Lord. We were pregnant. We writhed in labor. We gave birth, as it seems, only to win. We could not accomplish deliverance for the earth. nor were inhabitants of the world born.

Your dead will live, their corpses will rise. You who lie in the dust awake and shout for joy, for your due is as the dew of the dawn, and the earth will give birth to the departed saints." So here we see that resurrection is in view as the result or the outcome of this leader.

So, kind of painting the picture of what does Israel's labor pain have to do with. And then the final one from Isaiah that we'll look at is Isaiah 66, 7 through 9. Before she travailed, she brought forth. Before her pain came, she gave birth to a boy. There's a lot we could say there. Israel brought forth a boy before her birth pains. Interesting, right? That day of tribulation hasn't come and yet the Messiah has already been born. Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Can a land be born in a day? Can a nation be brought forth all at once?

As soon as Zion prevailed, she also brought forth her sons. Shall I bring to the point of delivery and not give delivery, says the Lord? Or shall I who gives delivery shut the womb, says the Lord? And then this passage, if you were to read it, goes on to describe Jerusalem comforting the Jewish people like a nursing mother comforting her child. And you know, those of you who have had children, you know those moments after birth. An amazing time of bonding between mother and child. And so we see that the birth pains of Israel result in the time of blessing and comfort. Very key. Is the video up in the classroom yet? Yeah, it's good. Good, great. So we see that Israel is pictured as a woman in labor pain before the coming of the kingdom. That's a common prophetic theme.

And something else that leads us to think that Jesus is the Something else that kind of would lead us to think that Jesus' birth is what's being talked about in 5.3 is that it uses the word child in a lot of our translations. But what I found interesting is that the word child isn't in the Hebrew text. It could literally be translated, until she who brings forth has brought forth.

And I think that that also fits better with this being Israel's labor pains referred to in chapter 4. So if we put All these pieces together here, we can see that this image of a woman giving birth refers to the labor pains of the nation Israel that must precede Israel's regathering and the beginning of the Kingdom Age. And I think that's exactly what we see in the last part of 5 verse 3.

Then the remainder of his brethren will return to the sons of Israel. So, there's this national regathering of the nation of Israel is what we have in view. And that's something that Israel is still waiting for, right? I mean, a lot of Jews are returning to the land in this time, but not the regathering that will be seen in the day of the Lord. That's what happens when Jesus returns to establish the kingdom.

Now, any questions on that? That's all review. That's just, I wanted to have that kind of in focus. Any other thoughts on that? No, that's good. Okay, cool. So, Jesus' reign on the earth is an awesome thing to look forward to, but as Bob said, God promises that Israel is a fantastic kingdom, but it will not come easy. So, there is some very severe distress on the horizon for Israel, but like the birth of a child, once those labor pains are passed, like a mother giving birth, it was all worth it. That's what she'll say.

So let's look at today's verses, Micah 5, verses 5b through 9, and we'll just read from the beginning of 5, but down through the end of verse 9. This one will be our piece. When the Assyrian invades our land, when he tramples on our citadels, then we will raise against them seven shepherds and eight leaders of men. They will shepherd the land of Assyria with the sword, the land of Nimrod at its entrances, and he will deliver us from the Assyrian when he attacks our land and when he tramples our territory. Then the remnant of Jacob will be among many peoples, like dew from the Lord, like showers on vegetation, which do not wait for man or delay for the sons of men. The remnant of Jacob will be among the nations, among many peoples, like a lion among the beasts of a forest, like a young lion among flocks of sheep, which if he passes through tramples down and tears, and there is none to rescue. your hand will be lifted up against your adversaries and all your enemies will be cut off.

So, what's going on here? We want to see the way that Micah's thoughts flow through from chapter 4 into the middle of chapter 5 here. And two weeks ago, Andrew taught the last part of chapter 4. And that's where these labor pains of Zion are pictured.

And we'll notice in chapter 4, verse 11, the situation of their distress is as many nations have assembled against Zion. And I understand that this is probably describing Armageddon, what we typically call Armageddon, and I agree. What Micah has done is he has painted a dramatic picture and an accurate picture of the situation immediately preceding the second coming of Christ. And that matches up with numerous other prophecies that describe Israel being surrounded by enemy nations right before Christ's return. The nations of the earth have come up against Jerusalem and 5.1 says they have laid siege against Zion. And I believe that this is picturing Israel's darkest hour. Just like in childbirth, the most intense suffering is right at the end.

It's at that point that a woman thinks she can't possibly go on any longer, but then deliverance. That is what is described in the verses that Bob covered last week. We have this sudden appearance of a glorious deliverer. Jesus shows up to deliver Zion in her darkest hour.

And by the way, if we think about that, when a woman has a baby, who's delivered? The woman or the baby? We tend to use the word deliver like delivering a pizza. But the English word delivered used to mean to be freed or rescued. And if you are a King James reader, you'll find that it is the women who are delivered in childbirth. In other words, they are rescued or freed from their distress.

And the only way for a woman to be delivered from the agony of childbirth is for that baby to arrive. And I think it's just fantastically interesting what God was doing in Genesis chapter 3 when he introduced pain in childbirth. For 6,000 years it's been a vivid illustration, every time a woman experiences labor pain, that the only deliverance from that is for the baby to arrive. The woman is delivered by the deliverer, you could say.

And we can think of Romans 8, 22 in this context, where we know the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. So, if the end of chapter 4 describes Israel surrounded by enemy nations, and the beginning of chapter 5 describes the arrival of Jesus as the Deliverer, then what we have in these continuing verses is a description of that deliverance. Verses 5 and 6. My slides are repeating here. Let me just... There we go. I think I duplicated that one. says, this one will be our peace when the Assyrian invades their land, when he tramples on our citadels, and so forth.

So who is the Assyrian? We read in verse 6, and he will deliver us from the Assyrian. Is it the nation of Assyria, or is it an individual under the title, the Assyrian? At first, it might seem like Micah is talking about the Assyrian siege against Jerusalem that was soon to occur, actually, under the reign of Hezekiah.

And we can read about that in 2 Kings 18, as well as 2 Chronicles 32. And there are some similarities. But although there are some similarities between that event and this passage, there are also, I think, some distinct differences. We notice that in this passage, Israel is going to raise up seven shepherds and eight leaders to shepherd the land of Assyria with the sword. So what does that describe? Shepherding with the sword. When this prophecy is fulfilled, what we will see is that Israel will have a governmental military power of the sword authority over the land of Assyria.

But you notice here it also says the land of Nimrod. So, what is the land of Nimrod? Now, Genesis 10, 10 and 11 gives us some interesting information about Nimrod's land. It says, the beginning of his kingdom was Babel and Erech and Achad and Kalneh, I have no idea if I'm pronouncing those right, and the land of Shinar. From that land he went forth into Assyria and built Nineveh and Rehoboth-ir and Kalah.

So the phrase, the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, an interesting phrase. The beginning means first or chief, which indicates that Babel was his capital city. And of course Babel, or Babylon as it came to be known, remains the capital of Satan's earthly kingdom right up until the end. We see that in the book of Revelation.

So in Micah's day, Assyria was the current or contemporary form of Satan's earthly kingdom. It began here with Nimrod in the Mesopotamian Valley but it has continued on and in fact expanded into the Assyrian Empire which you'll see includes all that same area only more. And And so what we come to discover, especially in Nebuchadnezzar's vision of the five metal statue, is that in fact every successive kingdom of man down through history has simply been all part and parcel of one satanic kingdom. that spans from the beginning of Satan's earthly dominion until that kingdom of man is crushed by the stone cut out without hands. And so, in Micah's day, Assyria was the kingdom, the satanic kingdom as it existed in his time. And so I believe that by mentioning Nimrod, what Micah is reminding his readers of is that Assyria is the current form of that ancient satanic kingdom. And of course, in time, Assyria would be replaced by Babylon, and Babylon by Persia, and then Greece, and then Rome, and then we'll have that Roman Empire revived towards the end of time here.

And so, if we remember that in this context Zion is surrounded by many nations, not just Assyria, one nation. It fits very well with the time in history when Satan's kingdom has reached a global scale under the Antichrist. So my understanding is that this reference to Assyria and the Assyrians is really a reference to the satanic kingdom and its future leader, the Antichrist.

So is that clear or are we tracking on that? Miles, I think the Assyrian probably gives claim to what you're suggesting. I mean, remember, Micah was threatened by Assyria at that time, which was due north, right? So Micah clearly didn't have the big view. Of course, these are the words of the Lord expressed through Micah. But nevertheless, I think your dissection of that going back to Genesis is really very interesting. Thank you. Sure. Okay. Thank you, Pat. Yeah, no, I can't be 100% dogmatic on this. I'm not.

But as I studied out, in the context of this being Israel's future labor pains in the day of the Lord, preceding that glorious arrival of Jesus Christ, it matches with Israel being surrounded by the nations of the earth, And so here this reference to Assyria and the Assyrian seems to be. And there is some agreement out there that this is referring to that. So if we take it that way, then Israel shepherding the land of Assyria by the sword we could understand as the military subjugation of the nations of the earth under the headship of Jesus Christ reigning in Jerusalem.

Now, there is some support for interpreting the Assyrian as the Antichrist. We could look at Isaiah 31, verse 8. And the Assyrian will fall by a sword not of man, and a sword not of man will devour him. So he will not escape the sword, and his young men will become forced laborers." Now, I haven't given you enough of the context to really show that that could also be a reference to the Antichrist, but there are a number of other verses where this term, the Assyrian, is referred to. We do know that that the Antichrist will be slain by the sword that proceeds from the mouth of Christ.

And so that reference to being slain by a sword and not of man kind of connects there. And of course we have plenty of other passages that describe the Antichrist's campaign against Jerusalem. as well as his sudden defeat at the hands of Jesus Christ. And so we have Daniel 11, 41-45, Zechariah 14, 1-4, Daniel 7, 25-27, and then of course Revelation 19, 17-21, and others, but these are four of the clear ones. And for the sake of time, I was going to read here the Revelation passage, but I think I will bypass that for time here today, but certainly read it if you have the time after service today.

So, but this is where we see the sword which came from the mouth of him, and at the feet of the beast here, as he's referred to in Revelation 19. So what we're seeing is that in Israel's darkest hour when all seems lost and the Antichrist and the nations of the world have entered the Holy Land and they're ready to destroy Jerusalem and in their minds once and for all exterminate the Jewish people. At the last moment Jesus bursts onto the scene and in all his glory he absolutely crushes these enemies. Jesus is the He in verse 5 who delivers Israel from the Assyrian.

So... Okay. So that's verses 5 and 6, yes. Yeah, so that's the... He will deliver us, basically. He will deliver us. That's the... Yeah, that He. That He is Jesus Christ. Right. Okay. What verse is that? That's verse 6, right? Oh, that's the verse 6. Yeah, what is it? It says 5. Yeah, it's 6. He will deliver us. Sorry, verse 6. Yeah. In verse 6, He will deliver us. That is Jesus Christ. Who is the One at the beginning of verse 5.

And my opinion, you can go a little bit, if you want to, you can go to about 10 of, if you want, or later. Okay, we'll see how it goes here. We'll find a good, if we can't make it to the end, we'll just find a good spot to break and pick it up next time. Because I'm on next week as well, so. That's right. Yeah, okay, so let's look a bit at verse 7 here.

With the beginning of verse 7 we move into talking about the result of this monumental victory. So the return of Christ marks the end of the tribulation period and the beginning of his kingdom reign. And in these next verses we get a description of what that will look like. So, like the 5-7, then the remnant of Jacob will be among many peoples, like dew from the Lord, like showers on vegetation, which do not wait for man or delay for the sons of men. So what we see here is that the Jewish people will be a blessing to all the nations of the earth.

And, of course, this is a simile. Like, we use like or as, right? Just like plants and trees depend on rain in order to grow and produce fruit, the nations of the earth will depend on Israel, the Jewish people, for their well-being in the kingdom. And this goes all the way back to Genesis 12, verse 3. It says, In you, Abraham, all the families of the earth will be blessed. And that's where this is fulfilled in Jesus' earthly kingdom.

So, this verse says that this blessing will be like showers that don't wait or delay. And I think that is a great description of grace. God's blessing that doesn't delay or wait. It just comes. When it comes to describing the blessings of the kingdom, we could be here for days. But Alva McLean, who wrote an excellent book called The Greatness of the Kingdom, spends 35 pages describing the blessings of the kingdom, the whole chapter. And also, what I'm going to do is I'm just going to read his introduction to that chapter. I thought it was really good.

He says, the establishment of the mediatorial kingdom on earth will bring about sweeping and radical changes in every department of human activity so far reaching that Isaiah speaks of its arena as a new earth. Every need of humanity will be anticipated and provided for. Before they call, God says, I will answer. The king and his kingdom will come down upon the world like rain upon the mown grass. healing the arid and devastated areas of human life. Under his divine government there will be made a feast of fat things, and the beneficiaries will be all people. Working, I underline this here, working through the chosen nation, God will fill the face of the world with fruit.

Isaiah 27 verse 6, there will be an abundance of salvation so that no legitimate aspect of human life will be left without the regal saving activity. And then it goes on for 35 pages to describe the blessing as biblically prophesied that will come in the kingdom. So Israel will be a blessing to all the nations of the earth in the kingdom.

But we have to remember that the first thousand years of Christ's eternal kingdom is an interesting time that has a mixture of saved and unsaved, resurrected and unresurrected. Of course, all of the resurrected that will be on the earth will be believers, resurrected unto life. But those who enter into the kingdom in what we could call mortal bodies, pre-resurrected bodies, Of course, they will multiply and fill the earth again, and many of them will not believe.

We understand that from Scripture. And so, we turn to verses 8 and 9, and we see here that the remnant of Jacob will be among the nations, among many peoples, like a lion among the beasts of the forest, like a young lion among flocks of sheep. which if he passes through tramples down and tears and there is none to rescue, your hand will be lifted up against your adversaries and all your enemies will be cut off. And so in verse 7 we have is a description of Israel as the dew of heaven bringing blessings to the nation of earth. And then here we have Israel as a young lion bringing justice to the nations of the earth.

And we could ask, is there a contradiction between these verses? How can it be both? Could Israel be both God's channel of blessing as well as judgment? And like I said, we have to remember that this is a strange time where there are believers and unbelievers in the world. Sometimes we kind of conceive of the kingdom as all believers, or all resurrected saints, and it's not.

And we have to remember that Jesus will be the head of a global government that will be both a channel of blessing as well as a vehicle of discipline and judgment for rebellion against his authority. And the nation of Israel will be involved in Jesus' administration of justice.

So, quoting again from Alma McLean, in another place in his book, It says, when God's own glorious King takes over the kingdoms of the earth, it will be safe at last to concentrate all the functions of the state in one person. This does not mean that He will do everything. but rather that he will be the directing head and final authority, thus providing a unifying center, both infinitely wise and good for all the activities of government, something which no state on earth has ever enjoyed, not even America." Oh, I added that. We wouldn't want to concentrate, that's why America was very wise to divide the division of powers, right?

That was why, because it's not safe to concentrate all the powers of government in one person until that person is Jesus Christ. If the description of Israel as a lion tearing flocks to pieces sounds a little violent, well, it is. For that matter, Jesus ruling with a rod of iron doesn't sound too gentle either.

You know, having farmed sheep, we were looking back, yes, two days ago, actually the night before our little episode, we were looking back at a website that we ran while we were sheep farming and some of our blog posts. So just kind of, you know, reviewing some of the interesting events and stories. I can share that link with you sometime if you're interested.

But sheep are incredibly vulnerable creatures and a sheep in the face of a predator is basically helpless. totally helpless. They have no power to defend themselves. And so, the idea here is not some kind of wanton brutality, but the idea of unchallengeable authority. So what we see is that hostile nations will be helpless to, I shouldn't say defend, that's the wrong word there, but to fight back, I suppose, against the just government of Jesus Christ. They have no defense, they have no leg to stand on, but if they could, they would defend themselves against Jesus and his earthly kingdom, but they won't be able to. His reign will be supreme unchallenged and unchallengeable authority.

I hadn't thought of this until now, but if you've read C.S. Lewis' children's series, The Chronicles of Narnia, where, of course, God is pictured as a lion, and we could question things about Lewis' theology, but he inserts a very cute, not cute, it's profound, but it's, anyway, the children find out that Aslan is a lion, and that's the god figure in the stories anyway, and they say, well, is he safe? And they're told, well, no, of course he's not safe. He's a lion, but he is good. And that was the key that Lewis wanted to get across. You know, he is all-powerful. There's nothing safe about that, in a sense, but he is perfectly good. And so his enemies here are not safe from his authority.

And so that's what we want to see in verses 8 and 9, that the propensity to evil that will exist in the first thousand years of the kingdom is the same propensity to evil that is in the world today. The same sin nature will still be present in those pre-resurrected individuals.

And contrary to what the UN might say, peace on earth doesn't come through sitting down to talk about it. Okay, the sword has been ordained by God to restrain evil ever since Genesis 9. And it will remain that way until the end of the Millennial Kingdom, the first thousand years. So that's a big part of the reason that the Millennium can be a time of peace is because evil will be struck down immediately.

So, putting that together, Verses 7 through 9, what we see is that on the one hand, Israel will be the channel of God's blessing to the nations, and on the other hand, they will also be the channel of His judgment. And that should remind us that the Millennial Kingdom will be a period of law.

The New Covenant promises that in the millennium God will write the law on the heart of Israel so that they will be careful to observe it. We see that in Jeremiah 31 as well as Ezekiel 36. And while Israel will have a new heart under the New Covenant to obey the law and be blessed, the Gentile nations are not promised that new heart. Some will be blessed for obedience and some will be cursed for disobedience.

That's the basic concept of law, right? Blessing for obedience and cursing for disobedience. And that will describe the kingdom period. It will be the rule of law. Christ will be the lawgiver on the throne of his father David. And he will be the final authority and that law will be enforced globally. And it will be a time of unparalleled peace and prosperity on the earth. It will require that the enemies of the Lord are dealt with.

So, conclusion. I think we can do this. We're five minutes past. Let's do this. We got some concluding thoughts. And this is important. How does the Church factor in, or does it? Do we fit in? Does this passage, does this matter to us? Okay. Of course, the Church isn't mentioned here. The Church wasn't revealed until Acts chapter 2. The Church didn't exist here. Now, here's an important question. Will the Church be present during the Millennial Kingdom? Yes. Yes. Who answered it? Was that Carolyn or was that Vani? I didn't catch the voice. Okay. Whoever said that. Yes. Marla. Oh, it was Marla. Okay. I didn't show up on Zoom here. Okay. Yes.

The church will be present. Revelation 19 describes the church coming down from heaven when he returns to the earth dressed in fine linen. returning with Jesus Christ. The church will be present in the millennium. Of course, we're removed from the earth before that day of distress and tribulation, but we return to the earth with Jesus Christ. Now, will we, the church, be under the new covenant with the law written on our hearts, like Israel? I'm waiting for that answer right now. No. No. Thank you. Thank you, Bob.

The New Covenant is exclusively given to the House of Israel and the House of Judah. Jeremiah 31, 31. So that applies to the unresurrected or, like I said, mortal Jews who will pass through the Tribulation and enter into the Kingdom. Miles, we lost you there temporarily, so you might want to backtrack a minute. Okay, let me repeat that phrase. I said the New Covenant is given exclusively with the House of Israel and the House of Judah. Amen. Yeah, okay. So what I said is that applies to the mortal or the unresurrected Jewish people who pass through the Tribulation and enter into the Kingdom. Okay?

We also know that we will, as the Church, not be operating under law because the Church has the unique place of having died to the law. And that means that we have died to the principle of law altogether, Romans 7 verse 4. So, yes, we're going to be there during the millennial reign of Christ, but we're not going to be under the law the way that the nation Israel will be. So what will this time look like for us? What will it look like for the church?

Yes. My official make a quick point that we're as much in Christ then as we are now. Amen. Amen. That is the point. Let me just put my few bullet points up here really quickly. And Bob, you hit it. John 14 verse 3, Jesus said, that where I am, there you may also be. And that applies for all eternity.

So if Christ is on the earth during the kingdom, I am confident that we will be with him on the earth. We will be where he is. Colossians 3 verse 4 tells us that we will be revealed with him in glory. And we also read in 2 Timothy chapter 2 verse 12 that we will reign with him. So we have a very close and intimate connection with Jesus in his eternal reign. So how does that apply to us today?

Understanding this, and I didn't know what was going to happen to us this week when I wrote this, but understanding this allows us to see everything that the Lord allows in our lives as a part of his preparatory work for that eternal purpose. Everything that he allows is preparatory. And let me put one last verse up here. For momentary light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison. And isn't that true? Yep. Well, we look not at the things that are seen, but the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are temporal, but the things that are not seen are eternal. Amen.

And how the Lord has made this truth real to me in the last day and a half. Let's close in prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for your amazing, unmeasurable grace. And we thank you for the way that you do make it real to us individually and personally. Lord, we thank you that you are carrying out this amazing work of caring us for all that you have in store for all of eternity that we will spend with you and reigning in glory with Jesus Christ. We just, we can't put words to it. We can hardly fathom it, but we thank you for it. We thank you for revealing it to us in your word and we just give you thanks and praise the name of Jesus Christ. And it's in his name we pray. Amen. Amen.