SPIRITUAL DIAYR FOR 12/27/2015
10:21 PM
My Worship Time
Focus:
A Promised Kingdom
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Micah 4:1-8
Message of
the verses: “1 And it will come about in the last days That the
mountain of the house of the LORD Will be established as the chief of the mountains.
It will be raised above the hills, And the peoples will stream to it. 2 Many
nations will come and say, "Come and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD And to the house of
the God of Jacob, That He may teach us about His ways And that we may walk in
His paths." For from Zion will go forth the law, Even the word of
the LORD from Jerusalem. 3 And He will judge between many peoples And render
decisions for mighty, distant nations. Then they will hammer their swords into
plowshares And their spears into pruning hooks; Nation will not lift up sword
against nation, And never
again will they train for war. 4 Each of them will sit under his vine
And under his fig tree, With no one to make them afraid, For the mouth of the
LORD of hosts has spoken. 5 Though all the peoples walk Each in the name of his
god, As for us, we will
walk In the name of the LORD our God forever and ever. 6 “In that day," declares the LORD, "I will
assemble the lame And gather the outcasts, Even those whom I have afflicted. 7
“I will make the lame a remnant And the outcasts a strong nation, And the LORD
will reign over them in Mount Zion From now on and forever. 8 "As for you, tower of the flock, Hill of the daughter of
Zion, To you it will come-Even the former dominion will come, The kingdom of
the daughter of Jerusalem.”
Let us begin with and endnote from Dr. Wiersbe on
the subject of “A Promised Kingdom.” Isaiah
painted the same picture (2:1-4). Some
interpret these passages in a spiritual sense as describing the church today,
but I prefer to see them as specific prophecies for the Jewish nation. The conditions on earth described by Isaiah
and Micah haven’t appeared, especially the elimination of war, anti-Semitism,
and religious rivalry among nations.” To
this quote I say AMEN! I have written
about some in the church wanting to take the promises of Israel which are made
in the OT and say that these are for the church today, and I have said before
that I truly believe that Satan has influenced these people who say this so
that they can disregard Israel as having any future. Paul writes to the Romans that the age of the
church is like a wild olive tree that is grafted into the “tame” olive tree
which is Israel: “17 But if some of the
branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive, were grafted in among
them and became partaker with them of the rich root of the olive tree, 18 do not be arrogant toward the branches; but
if you are arrogant, remember that it is not you who supports the root, but the
root supports you. 19 You will say then, "Branches were broken off so that
I might be grafted in." 20 Quite right, they were broken off for their
unbelief, but you stand by your faith. Do not be conceited, but fear; 21 for if
God did not spare the natural branches, He will not spare you, either. 22
Behold then the kindness and severity of God; to those who fell, severity, but
to you, God’s kindness, if you continue in His kindness; otherwise you also
will be cut off. 23 And they also, if they do not continue in their unbelief,
will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. 24 For if you were
cut off from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and were grafted contrary to
nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these who are the
natural branches be grafted into their own olive tree? 25 For I do not want you, brethren, to be
uninformed of this mystery-so that you will not be wise in your own estimation-that
a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles
has come in (Romans 11:17-24).” I ask
how can anyone read this and not understand that God has a future for the
nation of Israel.
The timing of this message, and also the message
that Isaiah gave gives hope to the children of Israel since at the time of this
writing the Assyrians were about to destroy the Northern Kingdom of Israel and
then take a part of the Southern Kingdom of Israel before God will first hand
destroy the Assyrian army that is camped outside of Jerusalem. Israel needed hope and Micah gives them hope
with these words as they speak of a future time for Israel when their Messiah
will rule and reign from Jerusalem. Dr.
Wiersbe writes “When the outlook is grim, try the uplook. Thus the prophet encouraged the people to
look ahead to what God had promised for His chosen people.”
I have written as to what is described in these
verses from looking at other OT prophets and also from the later chapters of
the book of Revelation as God has promised a future for Israel and before that
promise will be fulfilled they will go through seven years of horror described
in Revelation chapters 6-19, and then the Lord Jesus Christ returns to set up
the kingdom that is partly described in these verses that we are looking at as
these verses help us better understand what will happen during what the Bible
calls the Millennial kingdom.
Dr. Wiersbe helps us understand what verses four and
five is about: “Every Jewish family
wanted to achieve what Micah described in 4:4: a pleasant home with a
productive garden in a peaceful land (see 1 Kings 4:25; Isa. 36:16). But even more than peace and economic
stability was the blessing of knowing the Lord and obeying Him Micah 4:5). This verse doesn’t refer to the future,
because during the Kingdom Age all the nations will worship Jehovah. It was an affirmation of faith on the part of
the true believers, the remnant in the land: ‘The other nations may now be serving
their own gods, which are false gods; but we will walk in the name of Jehovah,
the true God, and obey Him alone.’”
If any
read the blog post that I put onto my blog on Christmas Day of this year they
will understand what the words in verse 8 of this section means when we read “As
for you, tower of the flock,” as these words in the Hebrew are “Migdal Eder,”
Migdal means tower and Eder means of the flock.” I explained that this is where the Passover
lambs were raised in Bethlehem and it is my understanding that this would have
been where our Lord Jesus Christ was born, and this would have been in a cave,
not a stable. Jesus Christ is the
Passover Lamb as Paul describes Him and also John the Baptist described Him as “the
Lamb of God who will take away the sin of the world.”
12/27/2015 11:00 PM
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