Micah 7:1-20
Woe is me! for I am as when they have gathered the summer fruits, as the grapegleanings of the vintage: there is no cluster to eat: my soul desired the firstripe fruit. 2 The good man is perished out of the earth: and there is none upright among men: they all lie in wait for blood; they hunt every man his brother with a net. 3 That they may do evil with both hands earnestly, the prince asketh, and the judge asketh for a reward; and the great man, he uttereth his mischievous desire: so they wrap it up. 4 The best of them is as a brier: the most upright is sharper than a thorn hedge: the day of thy watchmen and thy visitation cometh; now shall be their perplexity. 5 Trust ye not in a friend, put ye not confidence in a guide: keep the doors of thy mouth from her that lieth in thy bosom. 6 For the son dishonoureth the father, the daughter riseth up against her mother, the daughter in law against her mother in law; a man’s enemies are the men of his own house. 7 Therefore I will look unto the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation: my God will hear me. 8 Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me. 9 I will bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against him, until he plead my cause, and execute judgment for me: he will bring me forth to the light, and I shall behold his righteousness. 10 Then she that is mine enemy shall see it, and shame shall cover her which said unto me, Where is the Lord thy God? mine eyes shall behold her: now shall she be trodden down as the mire of the streets. 11 In the day that thy walls are to be built, in that day shall the decree be far removed. 12 In that day also he shall come even to thee from Assyria, and from the fortified cities, and from the fortress even to the river, and from sea to sea, and from mountain to mountain. 13 Notwithstanding the land shall be desolate because of them that dwell therein, for the fruit of their doings. 14 Feed thy people with thy rod, the flock of thine heritage, which dwell solitarily in the wood, in the midst of Carmel: let them feed in Bashan and Gilead, as in the days of old. 15 According to the days of thy coming out of the land of Egypt will I shew unto him marvellous things. 16 The nations shall see and be confounded at all their might: they shall lay their hand upon their mouth, their ears shall be deaf. 17 They shall lick the dust like a serpent, they shall move out of their holes like worms of the earth: they shall be afraid of the Lord our God, and shall fear because of thee. 18 Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy. 19 He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. 20 Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob, and the mercy to Abraham, which thou hast sworn unto our fathers from the days of old.

Micah 7 provides a fitting conclusion to the book bearing His name. He prophesies of coming judgment in chapter 1-3, provides Israel a future hope through a promised King in chapters 4-5, teaches Israel to trust in God’s plan as a loving Father who disciplines His children, and calls God’s people to repentance as they trust in His abundant mercy and grace. “Who is like Yahweh?” is the question posed by Micah’s name. While there is much to learn about God from the prophesy of Micah, one thing becomes very clear…there is no one and nothing like God.  Perhaps of all that Micah serves to teach us about God, the greatest revelation of God is found in His salvation of His people. It is in His salvation that God bridges the great gap left between us and Him because our sin. It is in His salvation that He reveals His awesome holiness, His power, His mercy, and His love. In the person of Jesus Christ, God came to us and bridged the great gulf of sin and it is in Christ that we truly see who God is. As our Salvation, we learned in Micah 7:1-13 that God delivers His people from sin and gathers His people into His covenant community to be with Him and represent Him. This week, we will learn two more works that God does in His people as our Salvation.

Micah 7 also teaches us that God shepherds His people. God promises to not only gather Israel, but He promises that they will dwell securely in the land He has promised and prepared for them. Verses 14-15 look forward to a time when Israel will dwell safely in their land and God will personally lead them. This speaks to the future kingdom of the Messiah where He will rule from Jerusalem. That kingdom will be established on earth at Jesus’s Second Coming when He will destroy all of His enemies and gather all of His people into His kingdom. Verses 16-17 speak to the defeat of all of God’s enemies (“lick the dust like a serpent”). This not only speaks to the defeat of Israel’s enemies and the gathering into the kingdom, but also speaks Christ’s defeat of Satan (“serpent”) and His overcoming the enemies of sin and death (Hebrews 2:14-15). In doing so, the Good Shepherd (John 10:11) will lead His people into His eternal kingdom.

Lastly, we learn that God pardons His people. How and why does God deliver, gather, and shepherd His people? The answer is in who He is. Verse 18 begins with the play on the name of Micah with the question, “Who is a God like unto thee?” One of the most remarkable truths about God is that He “paroneth iniquity.” The word “pardoneth” here means “to lift, or carry.” It describes God carrying away His people’s sins. He also “passeth by the transgression,” meaning He passes over their sin. It is certainly a reminder of Exodus 12, when God passed over His people and judged the Egyptians. He gave them a provision of the lamb’s blood on their doorposts and He passed over them. Verse 19 tells us that He will not remain angry forever for the sin of His people. Why? It is because He is God who “delighteth in mercy.” His desire is to show mercy and grace to sinners. He is not a greedy miser withholding forgiveness and desiring wrath toward all people. Instead, He sent His Son into the world to die on a cross so that people might be saved and reconciled to Him (John 3:16-17). He takes “no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live” (Ezekiel 33:11). If God gave everyone what they deserved, none us would be here, and all of us would be in hell. But in His great love and mercy, God is patiently calling people to repentance and faith in His Son, whom He sent to pay the price for sin so that people might be pardoned and reconciled to Him. All of God’s gracious promises are possible because of Christ. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son” is the theme of the Bible. It was never “by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us” (Titus 3:5). God promises to cast our sin “into the depths of the sea.” In Christ, He does away with our sin so that we can confidently trust that “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). Psalm 103:11-14 echoes this sentiment when it says that God removes our sin “as far as the east is from the west.” We will spend eternity and not fully grasp the depths of God’s love in Christ. We cannot begin now to fathom His mercy in that He would take us who are poor, miserable, and wretched sinners, forgive us, cleanse us, and adopt us into His family making us heirs of His eternal kingdom all on the merits of His perfect Son who suffered and died for what we have done. Thank God, He pardons His people.

Who is like Yahweh? The answer is no one and nothing. God stands alone. He is the Judge of all the earth. He is the holy One that no one can be compared to. He is the standard and source of all truth. He is the hope of the world. He is the King over all of creation. He is the Father of all who believe. He is the Savior who delivers, gathers, shepherds, and pardons His people. Have you experienced the saving mercy and grace of God by trusting in Christ for salvation? God stands ready to forgive and ready to deliver. He will gather you into His family and shepherd you into an eternity with Him. All we can do is receive His free offer of salvation. We must simply trust in His Son. Billions of people have rejected His amazing salvation because they refused to humble themselves before Him and receive His pardon. Is God your Savior?